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Sound trap is an online Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that one can use to create loops and tracks online. One doesn't need to download any software to install sound trap, it is typically online and is a very good resource for teaching creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking (4 Cs). I like sound trap because it enables students and teachers to continue work anywhere any time (in and outside the classroom). Teachers can easily add projects and invite students to work on the project any time anywhere. The fact that one can invite another person to work on the same project and/or even record a track together is mesmerizing. With sound trap, it is easy to record any instrument, download a track, and best of all, you can record using a microphone and/or use the free loops, MIDI, and effects that come with the software. A school has to purchase the software and add students to start using it. However, the software has a one month free trial which teachers can try out with their students before purchasing.

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.

Getting students to improvise is sometimes a very tricky task--lending itself as one of the most difficult challenges we face as teachers; however, author Steve Treseler provides a concise list of 10 steps, or strategies, for approaching the aforementioned topic with students, which includes but is not limited to building community through improvised games, choosing a piece that remains in one key center, and teaching all students the melody. By following these 10 easy steps, Treseler is convinced that students will receive the support they need to perform with confidence.

This website offers a multitude of resources designed for music-making. This specific organization is devoted to offering musical programs to students who are in the 80% of the population that are not involved in performing ensembles. It offers curriculum, lesson plans, and interactive activities for guitar, piano, drums, bass, ukulele, composition, voice and more. There are free PDF songbooks and lesson plans that are connected to the program, that are extremely helpful towards teacher and student interest. The best part of the program is that the majority of the music is examples that students know already - a lot of pop, rock, and even hip-hop. It connects the bridge between traditional musical concepts with music of today.

Little Kids Rock has a multitude of resources for creating a modern band in your classroom. There are songs loaded on the website that include tab for ukulele, guitar, and bass. There are also drum set patterns included. This website serves to expose educators and students modern band and provides lesson plans to go along with the popular songs. Little Kids Rock also provides workshops on how to effectively teach a modern band program.

This website offers many lessons for instruments that students may be interested in playing (piano, guitar, songwriting, drums,etc). The website offers video lessons as well as current play-along songs for students to put their newly learned skills to work.

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 website provides multiple resources for encouraging musicians at all stages of music education to continue their studies. Band teacher who work with beginning students will find all the necessary videos, documents, and resources needed to inspire young musicians. This website is most relevant for educators who teach band and orchestra. 

Great recruitment site for beginning band students.

This resource can be used by directors to recruit and advocate for their programs. Directors can access and download videos that introduce students to different instruments and templates of documents to share with administrators and parents. Students may also be directed to the site and explore it individually, especially if they want to join an ensemble.

This blog is written by Lindsay Jervis, a Kodaly trained elementary music teacher. She shares her classroom ideas, successes and failures, and so much more. Each blog post is also linked to her TeachersPayTeachers website so that you can purchase the resources needed for a very affordable price.

Blog and resources focused around teaching through the Kodaly methodology. The author also has substantial resources available for purchase through teachers pay teachers.

A series of annotations on the home page of a Kodaly inspired blog. Features 2 articles.

Fantastic supplemental online resource for any of the EE method books. It allows students to practice along with customized accompaniments. Teachers can create assignments and students submit them through this platform.

Essential Elements Interactive is a website that pairs with the Essential Elements string method book. On this site, students can play exercises from the book along with accompaniment, track their practice time, and view assignments as well as a class calendar. The teacher and parents can communicate easily through this site as well.

The link to the program Essential Elements Interactive, a software that allows students to practice with play along tracks at varying tempos with or without melody. Students can record themselves multiple times and submit their favorite to the teacher for evaluation.

This site offers teachers tools for recruiting music students as well as offers students information on the benefits of staying in music. Teachers and students are able to access video interviews of music students, facts and statistics about the academic benefits of music education and flyers to post in schools and communities

This website from PBS gives students (K-5) an opportunity to play games associated with different types of music.  Art and music are combined in some instances to appeal to this age group.  Non-traditional composition is also covered in these games in particular genres of music.

This is a fun and interactive way for pre-school or lower elementary aged kids to learn about music. They can explore many timbres of sound with familiar characters. I use this with my own children and it's a hit!

This website has a wide selection of music games for the young musician. Games are flash-based and are in a variety of musical genres. Many games require the user to compose in a specific style. Would work well on Chromebooks or computer lab.

PBS Kids' Chuck Vanderchuck is an amazing tool for teaching music genre and history. My students love it and ask for it year after year.

Chuck Vanderchuck is a fantastic resource for teaching students about different genres found in music (not just classical!). Kids love the different sounds that genre-based instruments make, fun catch phrases that Chuck repeats throughout the site, and different historical facts about how each genre originated. Students are invited to move to music, arrange their own combos with different instruments, and engage in memory games to help them learn the content provided.

This website allows students to experiment with different genres of music. It gives students a chance to have their own "jam session."

The San Francisco Symphony has created a way for composers and their work to come alive for students. Through this site, students can learn about various composers, musical techniques, musical history, and scores by way of working through "evidence" to arrive at conclusions about given pieces.

An excellent interactive website designed to help students learn about composers, look at the score, listen to specific compositions etc.

The San Francisco Symphony provides a variety of engaging, interactive resources for students to learn about composers, instruments, music history, and repertoire.

The Violin Site is a website with many titles of free sheet music. The music is organized by composer's last name. There is music from composers such as Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Accolay, and Haydn. For some pieces, students are provided with the violin and piano part and for other pieces, students are only provided with the violin part.

The Violin Site is a website with many titles of free sheet music. The music is organized by composer's last name. There is music from composers such as Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Accolay, and Haydn. For some pieces, students are provided with the violin and piano part and for other pieces, students are only provided with the violin part.

The Violin Site is a website with many titles of free sheet music. The music is organized by composer's last name. There is music from composers such as Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Accolay, and Haydn. For some pieces, students are provided with the violin and piano part and for other pieces, students are only provided with the violin part.

NAFME (National Association for Music Education) talks about classroom strategies for teaching students with special needs in a general music class setting.

NAFME (National Association for Music Education) talks about classroom strategies for teaching students with special needs in a general music class setting.

NAFME (National Association for Music Education) talks about classroom strategies for teaching students with special needs in a general music class setting.

Article written to support the use of technology to compliment instruction and enhance student learning instead of technology for technology sake. Teachers should use social media cites, e.g., blogs, to facilitate discussion and feedback from students, create online PLNs. The cross curricular benefit is increasing writing facility and literacy. A couple of concerns are cyberbullying and parents who may question how much learning is taking place with social media. Educators can help others, including students, understand that music learning can take place outside of the classroom through social media and broaden the audience.

Classics For Kids is a great website with fun activities and music resources for use in the classroom. Each month, they feature a different composer and provide activities, handouts, and listening maps that help students learn about various topics in classical music history. There are also online games for kids and lesson plans for teachers.

Classics for Kids is a website that is full of information about classical music for kids/students. It includes links to learn about various composers, listening examples, activities, games and quizzes about music. There are lesson plans also available for teachers, and a parent information link is also available. This is a great site for introducing students to the genre of classical music.

Site for a plethora of music information, games, activities, downloads, broadcasts, listening, all relating to music education.

Music Learning Community is a site for music educators and music students that includes a great deal of information on computer-based learning. Included are games and activities that teach theory and build aural skills. There is a free trial but the site requires a membership fee.

This website offers hundreds of interactive games to teach students music theory, rhythms, ear-training, sight-reading, and notation analysis. Designed to make learning musical concepts and take-home assignments more fun and engaging, these games are broken down into various levels for students. Lower levels can be effective for early elementary students, and higher levels can be effective for students in high school. Games are colorful and entertaining, and they list certain scores that students should strive to achieve. Most games have a lesson version, a practice version, and a quiz version. Teachers can track scores and data of individual students to see strengths and weaknesses.

This website has many games that can be used to learn various musical concepts. Some games are free, but there are more games with the paid subscription. You can pay monthly or yearly and it can be used for 5 to 50 people.

The purpose of this resource is to provide educators and students access to an organization that specializes in a cappella singing. Educators can register their ensembles for competitions where students can be a part of a community that encourages and provides resources to improving the overall quality of student performance in the genre.

SFSKids Classic is an interactive website for kids. Students are able to learn, explore and listen to the instruments of the orchestra.

This website features interactive activities for kids that introduce them to musical concepts. The section titled "instruments of the orchestra" allows students to select specific instruments and hear their unique timbres. Students can also explore other unique aspects of the symphony orchestra. 

The San Fransisco Symphony Kids website allows students to explore classical orchestral music. Students can listen to the radio as it describes what is happening in the music, they can explore the instruments and hear how they each sound, and enter "The Music Lab" to learn about various elements of music such as beat, tempo, rhythm, and pitch.

League of American Orchestras is a site for educators, professional musicians and students can explore. Teachers can look at advocacy and the government to find out what is happening in legislation. There is a career center for teachers and professional musicians who are looking to perform. Everyone can learn about Learning and Leadership development of students and teachers. The Knowledge, Research and Innovation tab is great as it is the latest research happening. You can also find conferences, meetings, journals, conducting, composing and performing tab.

This site is a great resource for orchestra teachers. The purpose of this resource is to provide information about the current state of music programs and opportunities for orchestral students. The content of this site is mainly articles and registration links for different conferences. There are also links to webinars, fellowships, etc. as well as current issues revolving around orchestral music/education. Some sources particularly helpful for teachers are a link with interesting facts about orchestra and articles about how to reach out to bigger audiences. It offers a subscription for "Symphony" Magazine and provdes information about composing, conducting, and performing, all major elements or any music education program.

This website has resources for orchestra students. Students can find practice and performance tips, learn about local and famous orchestras and musicians, and find resources for their specific instruments.