Digital Musicking

There are students who love music, but they do not want to sing or play an instrument. Music technology classes allow these students the opportunity to be creative while participating in their love for music. This blog discusses the importance of music technology classes and how fostering this skill can lead to a career in the ever growing music industry.

Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Auditions is a blog article by Marie Grass Amenta about a man who began his career as a demanding and emotionless choir director. His interpersonal skills were non-existant with his choir. After self-reflection he soon discovers this is not really who he is. A young girl who auditioned for his choir was seen crying afterwards and he decided he can't pretend to be someone he isn't. That experience was a life-changing moment after which he left his current position and went to a community chorus and is now in a more relaxed, enjoyable environment for all.

The 2014 Music Standards are the new standards to follow and are available through the National Association for Music Education Music Standards (NAfME). There are links available to the various standards which include PK-8 General Music, Composition/Theory, Music Technology, Guitar/Keyboard/Harmonizing Instruments, and Ensemble. Included with the standards are the categories of create, perform, respond, and connect. There are also links to a glossary and enduring understanding, essential questions, and definitions about the new standards.

Websites for Kids offers links to variety of sites that include performer-based, symphony-based, music game/theory/history/listening, teacher and other resources. Included in some of the links are resources that include games, aural training, music theory/history, composition, music technology, and audit/video about performances. This is a motivating site for learners to engage in a variety of activities.

Sometimes students have trouble with understanding what to listen for while singing or don't pay attention to anything other than their own individual part of the ensemble. This blog describes creative a ways to enhance how students listen within the choral ensemble.

This Podcast includes an interview with Eric Whitacre who is well known for his compositions as well as the use of virtual choirs.

K-12 Resources for Music Education website is a valuable and resourceful page filled with endless opportunities for all types of music educators in grades K-12. There are specific tabs for band, choir, orchestra, classroom, and all music. Once you click on these you are taken to a variety of sites with a variety of topics/activities. This is definitely a resource to have at the top of your list for K-12 reference material.

This article brings awareness of diversity in students and activities music educators participated in to receive a different perceptive pf how to engage with students.

This site allows for downloading sheet music

This site is for professional development that provides videos of changing technology to be used in the classroom. For example, training in Go Noodle, Garage Band, Finale Notepad, etc....

Katie Wardrobe describes a free software called Bandlab that can be used in music education.

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

This article discusses strategies that can be used to continue to encourage students' creativity in music through pedagogical techniques.

This website has access to many professional musicians showcasing their talents through the New World Symphony. They have videos with specific instrumental instruction. If I wanted to show a private bassoon student a website where they can listen to many players, they can access this site and simply search bassoon and listen to famous solos such as The Rite of Spring. This is a great resource to demonstrate what professional musicians sound like in order for them to practice and mimic these sounds.

Mrs. Miracle's Music Room has a wealth of information. Besides the usual blog with free lesson plans and a link to her www.teacherspayteachers.com store, she also has a link to her podcast and facebook group. She includes easy to use labels to sort the blogs as well as a link to highlight her classroom design and organization. Her blogs range in topics from specific lesson plans to teacher self-care and learning styles in the music classroom. She is a Kodaly trained teacher and her blog is geared towards K-6 general music.

The blog has a myriad of resources for the elementary music classroom. I have followed this blog for years and have pulled resources and ideas from it quite often. Examples of resources I have used recently are music centers and music technology/iPad apps.

Mrs. Miracle's blog incorporates a ton of resources for the elementary school teacher. She posts podcasts, lesson plans, and different activities that she does in her classroom. There is also the option to download freebies or purchase activities from her store (similar to Teachers Pay Teachers).The blog also discusses learning styles and best practices that Aileen incorporates in her daily teaching.

Wakelet is a great resource to use when creating a very basic website. Each collection serves as a page and follows the format of a newsfeed. Students are able to access the material at home and can practice what was done in class. This source can deal with whatever musical content you choose to post.

Tanya's blog incorporates musical activities that are focused around the Kodaly method. Each lesson includes books, resources, listening lessons, and songs. There is also a link that has song lists with games attached to them. Each lesson also has a podcast attached through Soundcloud so you can listen to how the lesson was delivered. The blog also has links to similar blogs as well as links to resources on Teachers Pay Teachers.

HotChalk Lesson Plans offer a multitude of online resources in regards to lesson plans. The plans can be modified to fit a specific grade level and it shows what other subject area the lesson plan overlaps with. The lesson plans list materials needed to complete the activity and provides related lesson plans at the bottom of the page. Teachers can also share their own lesson plans on the page. There is also a tab for news and tips that teachers can look at to aid in different types of learning.

This page offers different curriculum maps for elementary school. Katie's curriculum can help a teacher plan their year out better of give ideas on how to format their year. The curriculum maps can also serve as models when creating your own curriculum map. The website also offers grant writing tips, PD opportunities, classroom design, and music center/game resources.

The purpose of this website is to find songs to use in the elementary music room with ukulele tabs. A ukulele is much easier to work with when dealing with young students and this website provides many song resources with the ukulele tab. The chords can also be transposed to make playing them easier. The current song that is linked is a favorite of my Kindergarten students.