Group items tagged

Standards of Learning for the state that I teach in.  My county's curriculum content is based on the SOLs.  

Great tips and reminders on both the current state of education and concepts related to every teacher from technology to classroom management, this is a resource that regularly helps to remind one of what the true goals and approaches to education should be centered around, regardless of specialty.

This is the link to the Florida Elementary Music Educators Association, a subdivision of FMEA. It contains important information for elementary music teachers such as All State, upcoming conferences, and scholarships. Teachers can use this to find information on upcoming workshops and grant applications.

There is a supposed "separation of church and state." However, Gospel music can be a key source for teaching elements of harmony and rhythm and can help fill in certain gaps in music history.

The Florida Marching Band Coalition website is a website that almost all Florida high school marching band directors will utilize and should have book marked. The site provides information about marching band competitions in the state of Florida as well as establishing criteria by which marching band shows should be designed and taught.

Iowa Music Educators Association is a great website for a number of articles on advocacy and core curriculum. This site also contains information on the annual conference held during the Iowa All-State Music Festival.

Introducing "Blues + YOU": play-along tracks available online--free of charge--so musicians can practice with mp3 downloads in a variety of configurations! Tailored to intermediate and advanced players, this unique product will become an invaluable resource for both college and high school jazz programs. The newest recording from The U.S. Army Blues, Something Old, Something New: Yours to Borrow From the Blues has tools to use and tunes to enjoy!

Audacity is a great program for recording and editing music. I have personally used the site to record my All-State auditions, as well as plan to use it to record my ensemble rehearsals. The program is easy to use, and a wonderful tool for any music educator.

An education organization dedicated to all aspects of music education. They advocate at the local, state, and national levels. They support music educators of all teaching levels.

A religious website but holds good ideas for music that will fit holiday services for public schools but maintain separation of church and state.

Another great website for teaching music. There are many interactive games, some great videos about composers in the time machine, and tools to help kids compose and improvise together.

Quaver's Marvelous World of Music is an interactive music education curriculum and program that integrates, what students love: technology and fun! The host of the video episodes, "Quaver" makes music learning fun and memorable. There are free parts of the program as well as extensive paid sections. If you teach in SC, this is a service paid for by the state. Contact Buz at Quaver Music for your log-in information.

La Nueva Cancion is an entry on the Smithsonian Folkways website. It introduces the reader to the New Song movements in Latin America. It includes a couple of videos on people who has continued that trend in the United States as a consequence of political exile from their home countries.

Arts Education Partnership is an advocacy organization that allows users to understand current policies regarding arts education at the state and national levels. The website also provides links to resources for learning about current arts education research and advocacy. 

The Music Educators National Conference helped to develop national standards for band programs that have been accepted by the United States Department of Education. 

A great resource for music advocacy as well as how other teachers are promotting their programs for the overall development for their students. Music Matters is a foundation that provides funding to schools who are in danger of losing their programs or need assistance in raising funds for their programs.

This site offers resources about the current state of music education as well as useful articles about music advocacy. The purpose of this site is to inform people about the importance of music eduction and keep them updated about the important events happening today that may change the state of music education. My school district was actually recognized as one of the districts to receive "Best Community for Music Education" by NAMM. Not only is this site useful for music educators, but it also has articles about the role of community members and administrators in advocating for music education.

NAMM (National Association for Music Merchants) is a leader in music education. Their trade show every year draws the most important music companies from around the world. NAMM helps music education by providing a place for music educators to learn about the innovations and products available to them. Their website offers grant opportunities for teachers, and information for parents.

Rhythm Syllable Systems - What to use and why! is a blog in which David Row takes a look at the various rhythm syllable counting systems in use today. He gives a thorough explanation of each one as well as providing links for further information about a particular system. He also discusses that none of these systems give instruction or guidance about what to do with rests. Overall, he states that the choice is yours for which system to use with your students.

For band directors in SC Iowa, SCIBA is a support system is resource center. Through their website, directors receive information on honor bands, All-State auditions, and district festivals. SCIBA also provides important resources for directors, such as the JEI (Jazz Educators of Iowa) website. For directors in the district, this is a must.

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

Especially for private instructors like myself, access to core music standards is not always readily available, or exactly the same as state standards. For fellow WI instructors, it is important to stay abreast of changes made to the Standards for Music. This site directly links to the government page on the topic.

WMEA.org is the Washington State Music Educators Association website. Here they provide resources to educators that cover a broad spectrum of topics. These topics include, Job Availability, publications, conference information, student events and advocacy resources.