Digital Musicking

This section of the NAfME website gives members access to lesson plans attached to standards. You can search the database based on specific content (band, chorus, collegiate, etc.), based on specific standards, or based on grade level. This area of the website also brings up relevant articles to what you are searching to give you helpful tips and/or links to relevant websites.

Earl MacDonald, professor of jazz at the Univ. of Connecticut, has create this treasure trove of resources for teaching jazz improvisation, jazz theory, and jazz piano. It contains what is essentially a complete curriculum for teaching jazz improvisation that can used with singers as well as instrumentalists.

This Podcast discusses the influence music had during the Civil Rights Movement.

A cloud-based DAW, free and easy to use. It is very similar to GarageBand, and users with little music knowledge can easily create quality compositions by dragging and dropping loops. Users can compose music, record live instruments and voice tracks, use MIDI controllers, and export projects to many known file types.

Soundtrap is a browser-based DAW that allows users to create and collaborate compositions or podcasts. Soundtrap offers a paid subscription allowing teachers to setup a private classroom and monitor/grade/comment on their students work. This DAW can be used for a plethora of creative tasks in music. It's primary affordance is that it is browser-based and compositions are saved via cloud storage.

Soundtrap is a free, cloud-based DAW, with a library of looped sounds and the ability to enter new audio. Users can also easily collaborate with others, and the program can be accessed via computer, tablet, or cell phone. It provides a user-friendly experience that music students can work with to express creativity through composition.

This is a clip with Bobby McFerrin, using the audience to sing. Bobby McFerrin improvises over the top as he creates the baseline for the audience to sing. He also mentions that the pentatonic scale is understood by all of his audiences no matter where he goes. This can be an interesting way to introduce a pentatonic scale to students, or improvising in a pentatonic scale. This is part of a larger TED talk entitled "Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus"

This TED Talk informs students about the natural connection humans have with music. Bobby McFerrin describes the nature of the pentatonic scale. This is a resource I like to introduce when first learning about the pentatonic scale. This shows students that music and nature are connected. I also use this for my students when I talk about the Fibonacci sequence with my math and music unit.

This website list 10 top rated sites that offer free music education resources, e.g., technology, music and instrument lessons, platforms for educations to share ideas, web based curriculum,

This is an interesting website that provides interactive media of famous pieces along with a finale download of the corresponding score.  A great tool to show students specific areas in a score!

This is an interesting website that provides interactive media of famous pieces along with a finale download of the corresponding score.  A great tool to show students specific areas in a score!

This website is a great resource to supplement the teaching of Thematic classical pieces. The website is in German but it contains English translations of all materials.

CadenzaStringsNC is a YouTube channel created by Kevin Yen, Violinist and Violist. He has recorded and created playlists of many books and repertoire lists, including several volumes of the Suzuki Violin and Viola series. Some of his videos are also with the accompaniment for the songs or have practice tracks recorded at a slower tempo. This is a helpful resource for anyone preparing this literature for solo and ensemble performances as students can have an accurate example of the music to listen to at home and follow along with the correct bowings.

This website contains resources and materials for music, theater and dance. It has interactive activities for all arts genres.

This website introduces us to the genre and insruments of Balanise Gamelan. The website contains information on the instruments, culture, and beliefs of the Gamelan tradition

Music K8 is a publication company that provides resources (physical and digital) for elementary/general music teachers. Most of the musical content is organized and packaged around various themes, such as seasons or holidays. There is also a magazine (for teachers) that is published quarterly containing a variety of repertoire and high quality mp3 accompaniment tracks. Individual songs can also be previewed and purchased digitally.

This website is used to help me find new repertoire to work on with my students. Teaching concepts through pieces of music is important even at the younger level. This resource helps me find music for all ages in my school.

A software tool to create visual 'bubble' maps representing the musical form of user provided audio files in mp3, wav, or m4a formats. This is the software that I reviewed for Module 5, and it just works for the purpose it was created. Educational and at the same time just plain fun to play around with!

This makes me seriously want to reconsider learning guitar. I'm not gonna lie, as a pianist, I had a horrible time with the guitar in my undergrad methods course. My piano fingers just didn't want to do what the guitar needed them to do. This piece of technology could be a game changer. It just looks fun... thinking about trying again thanks to www.jamstik.com

I like this particular blog post about being confident in teaching improvisation. It breaks down some great ideas for keeping everyone engaged and growing.

This website contains a free download of a very basic version of the Notation software, Finale.

This website has hundreds of great resources for elementary education and often includes great lesson ideas. Faeries and Giants is one of my favorites to do with 4k when learning highs and lows

Remember when Finale used to be able to import pdf files? PlayScore 2 is a great work-around. Music scanning software that includes the ability to export as a MusicXML file or MIDI file which can then be imported into programs such as Finale, Sibelius, to be edited, transposed, or re-arranged. ALSO - this is a great tech blog to follow / subscribe to.

Another GO TO site for Music Technology lesson plan ideas! A listing of project based assignments for Digital Audio Production or Music Technology. The link to Ethan's Google Spreadsheet is worth the click to this site - trust me!

What a great resource site for music recordings! Our student computers block YouTube, thus this site will be great for my students who wish to research and listen to new music. Currently, a second grade "reading" group will be writing biographies of composers, and I want them to be able to listen to their compositions.

This website offers free music streams and downloads. This is all royalty free music which makes the streams and downloads completely legal and free. The site allows you to search by composer, performer, period, form, and numerous other ways.

A great resource for obtaining recordings of your favorite classical composers. All music is royalty free and can be used in the classroom. Also, the recordings are organized by composer, performer, instrument, form and time period