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

Pandora radio offers free customized radio stations that play songs relating to certain genres or artists. Listening is essential for musical development and understanding.  Students can access everything from jazz and classical, to Latin and opera.  

Universal Design for Learning is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. Learn more about UDL

Benefits of music education for children. 

PBS discusses the importance and benefits of music education. PBS explains that music facilitates learning in other subjects. Learning music taps into multiple skills sets. PBS explains the various categories that music helps benefit.

Language development, IQ, test scores, being musical

The College Board's AP Music Theory homepage is an invaluable resource for AP Music Theory test preparation. It contains resources for both teachers and students, including descriptions of the course, articles about teaching AP Music Theory, score reports, and a listing of professional development opportunities and seminars. Most importantly, it contains an archive of past free-response test questions (including both harmonic and melodic dictations) and sight-singing examples, along with (scored and annotated) example responses.

The FAME website provides information on the pedagogical approach advocated by John Feierabend, lesson resources, FAQ's, as well as locations for trainings and additional publications. There are thorough explanations on the First Steps in Music and Conversational Solfege curricula developed by Dr. Feierabend for those who want to learn more or want to advocate for his methodology. A thorough explanation of the musical content and learning objectives (tuneful, beatful, artful) are also available. A podcast hosted by Dr. Feierabend himself is available to members. Some services, like teacher resources, are also only available to members but have incredibly valuable.

This is a discussion by New York Times columnist, David Brooks, and Kathy Fletcher, and the director of Turnaround Arts Initiative about the important work that Turnaround Arts does through the strategic use of the arts. The discussion talks about how music facilitates brain development, why certain things in music leave people fascinated, and what magic music brings to emotion. The discussion also unfolds how the arts, and music education in particular opens the student's mind to memorisation. David Brooks says "Students understand better when topics are introduced through music". I agree with that because most students become more alert when a topic is introduced through song and it fosters the interest of students. Therefore we need arts to succeed in education. A lot of artists came from struggling backgrounds so when they talk to children that would like to succeed in the music world but are frightened that they'll never make it, they tell them "I know what you are going through but you can make it". This encourages those children to push on and excel in the arts. Kathy Fletcher says music boosts critical thinking and confidence which is ideal for students and they end up excelling in all other fields. The arts connect us all through music in a way that music created is shared all around the world. Partnerships are created to perform music and people come together to listen to music. This makes us one.

This is an ear training game using a "matching card" format. It looks simple and almost boring, however, once a person starts playing the game it becomes very interesting, This is well suited for middle school as it does not appear to "babyish".

Note pair is an online music game designed to help children read music notes easily and quickly. This game helps children learn to read music notes step by step, at their own pace. A child listens to a note, and tries to match it to a similar note. This ear training computer game lets you learn music notes and their pitches. Students and pupils who play a musical instrument as a child have a better verbal memory than those with no music training. Aural listening skills enhance brain development and students who listen more to music are calm, critical thinkers, and confident. Introducing such a game as a lesson starter even for classes that are not learning music fosters concentration and interest of the learners. Their brain becomes alert and ready to take in any information.

This page lends itself as a particularly valuable resource, especially for those whose weakness is intonation. In it, you will find philosophies, phrases, analogies, activities, and what the author terms "common threads" for approaching the aforementioned topic with your students. Among the most popular suggestions are singing, practicing characteristic tone quality, and listening down, or back, to the tuba section--all of which can and should be practiced in the early stages of a student's musical development.

This site is for professional development in learning technical aspects of technology programs.

This is a blog post for music educators in search of quality PD podcasts. This article provides a list of many different podcasts that focus on specifically music education, technology integration, and general educational topics.

List of great podcasts for music educators

Great resource for learning about the musicianship building method "Orff Schulwerk". Here you can find resources as well as sign up for professional development opportunities to learn more about Orff Schulwerk.

This site offers a 10 part series of 75 interviews and over 500 pieces of music on the growth and development of jazz. Begins in the New Orleans and takes the viewer through to Lincoln Gardens, Southside Chicago.

Music Blog by Dale Duncan, a middle school choral director. Dale shares tips and resources on his blog regarding middle school choral pedagogy and also sells a sight singing method called S-Cubed that he has developed with his choral programs and has seen great success.

This resource is very beneficial for the improvement of sight-reading skills. Users can choose different levels, keys, time signatures, and specific rhythms to help develop sight-reading proficiency. This is a valuable resource for both classroom and private music educators

The Sight Reading Factory generates excerpts of music based on parameters entered by the user. It is especially useful for practicing specific areas of music-reading skills (e.g. bass clef, odd-meters, difficult rhythms), or reinforcing general concepts of reading traditionally-notated music. While the site is good for the practice of mechanics, one might argue that robotically-created music is less useful for the development of musicality (or that computer-composed music isn't "music" at all). Excerpts can be generated for individuals singing or playing instruments, or for ensembles. There is also a section for solfege pattern practice. This resource creates sheet music excerpts for reading practice, without much regard to form or structure--it does not generate full works of literature for performance.

This website offers specific melodies created to assist students in learning Sight Reading skills. Paying for a membership would be beneficial in order to fully use the website, but not necessary to access activities for classroom use.

All the information you need to know about Modern Band. Excellent resources for those who teach guitar, piano, bass, drums, ukulele and voice.

A website with resources for teaching and learning in a modern band ensemble. There are resources for teachers including lessons, professional development, videos, and songs. There are also resources for students including songs, practice videos, and lessons. Popular music is the main focus as well as song writing.

An online marketplace for teachers to buy and sell classroom resources. I have found many free and low cost worksheets, visuals and even lesson plans online. Resources include worksheets for pitch, rhythm, composers, specific songs, like the Star Spangled Banner and so much more. A valuable resource for a teacher who does not want to "recreate the wheel" OR who is creative and likes to "recreate the wheel" and earn a little cash doing it!

Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT), is a great resource for lesson plans, bulletin boards, and so much more! While most resources are free, some you do have to pay for.

This would be a great source for teachers who need the documentation for certain topics. This website provides every grade level, along with every subject being provided. There are lots of information on this source for free, and there are also many sources that are not free. But it depends on what you want or need. The purpose of this sources is to give teachers a wide range of things, that they may need in their classrooms.

Yousician is a great software resource that teaches students to play a number of instruments including: piano, guitar, bass, ukulele, and voice. The software is set-up in a creative, game-like structure that tracks student progress and ability level through playing assessments. It's a great tool to use during general music units that focus on performance practice of these different instruments. The free version is open to all for a full 20 minutes a day. Great tool for students of all ages.

Yousician is another tool to build independent learners and musicians. Students with access to a computer or other device at home can build their instrumental playing skills on ukulele, guitar, bass, or piano with this self-guided program. Additionally, this resource can be used in the general music classroom to teach interval training, intonation, and rhythmic accuracy.

Yousician is an app for Android and iOS devices that can aid you and your students in learning how to play guitar, bass, ukulele, and piano, while also providing guidance with voice development. The app includes a free and premium version. There are videos and lessons that you and your students can follow along to.

This is the website for the app Complete Ear Trainer. It is an aural skills development app that is completely free to use and allows educators to complete custom lessons and groups for their students. It is available of Android, iOS, and Amazon platforms.