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This informative website is designed to get young students interested in the arts, namely music, theater, and dance. Designed by Canada's National Arts Centre, the music section offers a wealth of information on composers, instruments, the orchestra, and other musical topics, with games and activities to deepen understanding. It also has separate pages for teachers, students, parents, and artists that have different resources.

Music for All is one of the more influential national music education organizations that advocates the importance of music education. They have created programs such as Bands of America and Orchestra America. This website is a great tool for educators to find information for promoting music education if ever needs to present to administration or teachers. It provides resources as well as tips on how we can try to achieve music education for all.

An online music education for children. 

The Children's Music Workshop website provides numerous resources for students, parents, and educators involved with band or orchestra.  It includes advocacy information for parents and helpful videos for students that show the basics of each instrument.  

This site is geared towards younger students and students who play orchestral instruments. It includes several music education games, a teachers guide for concerts, listening activities, famous composers and information about he Dallas Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Tonal Energy provides individualized instruction and videos for band and orchestra students. Each instrument is listed and linked to a fingering chart, exercises, scales, instrument care, and videos of professional artists. The website also has a place for discussion between other musicians, teachers, and students. One of the best items about Tonal Energy is the tuner App. The TE Tuner provides a visual representation beyond the original needle and shows the students proper intonation through a smiley face and colored circles.

All things clarinet!  This site has free music, midi files, recordings and videos!

All things clarinet!  This site has free music, midi files, recordings and videos!

This is a site that I use frequently. Not only does the site provide useful information regarding musical ensembles and private instructors for those who live within the institute's service region, but it also serves as a resource for videos and recordings of professional clarinet players students may use as models. Furthermore, the site contains a variety of sheet music for all band and orchestra instruments. Sheet music may be downloaded from the site, or entire libraries may be purchased on a CD containing pdf files. This site makes access to solo and other forms of music literature a breeze! 

NY Philharmonic Kids is an interactive website. There are a variety of games, and interactive tabs on music, instruments of the orchestra, and composers.

This is a great website that has a ton of information. It includes interactive games, sections about each orchestral instrument, a composer's workshop and many other fun activities.

This website is clearly geared toward younger students. A website like this is probably most useful in a general music setting. The website provides activities to learn about many music concepts that are relevant to younger students.

This website is part of the School Band and Orchestra page. It contains links to concert band repertoire reviews. Reviews are posted by Frank Ticheli, however he does not necessarily write the reviews. This is a great resource when considering music for future concerts.

Pandora can be used for my students to listen to songs the orchestra is presently learning or planning to learn in the future. This always comes in as an asset because of our rote style teaching method and performing from memory. If the basic melody, bass line and chord progression is familiar; it makes the music easier to learn.

This collection of videos is a great resource to use during general music classes when introducing instruments of the orchestra. This is a great way to get students interested in the different instrument families. It offers a great deal of information on the instrument, how it works, and even gives students examples of how to create their own instrument using found objects.

I use this website with my beginning bands when they are first starting to pick what instrument they want to play. It categorizes instruments by family and gives a brief description of each with a sound clip. There are strings, percussion, woodwinds, and brass. The woodwind section is missing tenor and bari sax, and the brass section is missing euphonium but otherwise it is quite complete. I usually show this while having the actual instrument out.

This website has a series of games meant for younger children to understand sound, rhythm, mood, and sounds of the orchestra. I would use this in my beginning band classes, even though it's middle school, just to ensure that they understand instrument sounds.

On this site, students can gain further understanding in a variety of musical topics, some that they may be learning in school. Most of the activities are game-oriented, so this is a fun outlet for kids to explore outside of the music classroom. Students can learn about the instruments of the orchestra, famous musicians and soloists, and popular composers. One thing to note is that the descriptions are rather text-heavy. Therefore, this site would be appropriate for an older elementary student or middle schooler as far as reading readiness is concerned.

This website has fun games to use to enhance music learning. I would use it for complementary only.

This website is a very interactive source for children designed by the New York Philharmonic to educate them and pique their interests about classical music. Features include games, facts about composers/instruments, tests/quizzes, etc. Children visiting this website are also able to watch archived concert performances.

Texas Music Educators Association website has great information about music education advocacy. Members can access clinics and handouts that support music education.

Texas Music Educators Association available choral resources

Educator Seth Gamba provides his audience with a plethora of strategies for teaching rhythm in the ensemble setting. These include but are not limited to repeating exercises and excerpts as well as counting out loud. Most notably, each of the strategies he suggests can be adapted for use in just about any music classroom, including band, orchestra, chorus, and even general music. Therefore, music teachers are sure to find this resource to be particularly valuable, especially in instances where students are beginning to learn about rhythm.

Authors Nicole Springer and Ella Wilcox summarize strategies for effective classroom management in the ensemble classroom. By citing the experiences of former high school orchestra director Gretta Sandburg as well as her tried-and-true teaching methods, they provide their audience with four substantial tools that enable directors to make the most of their students' rehearsals; reading suggestions pertaining to this same topic are also provided at the end of the article and are accompanied by downloadable handouts. 

Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra:2015-2016 Concert SeasonTickets and Season Passes are on sale now!  UFMUE

This site provides teachers and students with a rich history of jazz music. Teachers and students can find videos of jazz musicians, repertoire and resources for Jazz Appreciation Month and tips and tricks for teaching jazz concepts such as swing and improvisation.

Smithzonian Jazz has a vast resource of archives, recordings, timelines, lesson plans, and interactive resources support Jazz Education and Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM).

This area of the Midwest Clinic website features the clinics and accompanying handouts (if available) that were presented at every Midwest Clinic dating back to 2000. The purpose of this section of the website is to share the sessions and their materials for teachers to access. This is a great resource for teachers to experience the sessions, especially if they were unable to attend. The sessions cover concepts from all areas of music education focused on both band and orchestra. There are many unique concepts and approaches to teaching music available on this website.

On and off the Podium is a blog centered website focusing on both administrative resources and classroom pedagogical concepts. The purpose of the website is to share ideas and concepts that the author has used in her classroom. There is a wealth of information available specifically on recruitment for middle school performing arts teachers (band, orchestra, and choir). Visitors have access to materials that the author has shared that coincide with the blogs on the website. There is also a list of recommended websites that the author recommends for visitors to check out associated with music education.

Another string specific music website. It is a wonderful resource for orchestra students of all levels and their educators. It covers the basics of how to hold an instrument as well as other specific advanced techniques.There are also resources to help with practicing and repertoire.