Digital Musicking

Don't have Audacity or your favorite DAW handy to convert an audio file to another file type? What about converting a .pdf file to Word .doc or related file formats? This is a fantastic site that converts practically any file format to other related formats for that file type ONLINE with no need to download software! For example, an audio file to another audio file format; one document format to another document format, etc.

Kahoot.com is a user-friendly free website for all educators to use in the classroom. It is fun way to interact and assess the student knowledge of content. Kahoot quizzes can be created by a user, and quizzes can be shared other users. The quizzes can be formatted differently to keep the game fun and exciting such as, which student gets the most right, or who is the first to answer. The website is free, but with an upgrade and small annual payment, there are a few more benefits to the site.

20 Great Lesson Plans for your Beginning Music Technology Class! Here you will find projects that can be adapted to your own music technology class - very simple, progressing to a more advanced Final project. Great source with PD opportunities! Contact information is on the website.

If you teach Music Technology, check out this FREE resource related to Ableton. There are great lesson plan ideas that can be adapted for use with any DAW. The site links to sample chapters from the book of the same title.

Looking for additional loops to add to GarageBand, Logic Pro X, or Pro Tools? Looperman is a fantastic place to find additional material for your DAW based projects. Music technology classes will greatly benefit from new material (loops) in addition to those already included in their DAW. All of the audio loops, samples, wav files, sounds and other related files are completely FREE!

I have found this website useful countless times!  You can search generally or specifically for pre made presentations for SmartNotebook that you can then download and edit as you wish to fit your own classroom needs.  It could be used in any type of music classroom.

For anyone that has a Smart Board available in their classroom this website it great for finding ways to enhance your music teaching. This website gives available programs and ways that you can use your Smart Board to teach lessons.

A Collection of Music SMART programs that have been created and uploaded for all SMART users to share.

This website features a number of famous classical composers. Biographies and links to important musical works are featured. Additional features include links to classical music stations and stores and recommendations for setting up home audio systems. There is a blog and several interviews of musicians who share the great composers' intriguing life stories and interesting anecdotes.

This website contains biographies and information on many Classical, Romantic, and other composers of different genres.

From the Top is a PBS series that features young performers on the Carnegie Hall stage. Each clip includes background and an interview with Christopher O'Riley (host and sometimes piano accompanist). There are representations of almost every major instrument in band and orchestra as well as vocalists, choral ensembles, pianists, and guitarists. The young performers have selected pieces in a variety of styles and some have amazing background stories, including an Olympic skater and one about the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The website also includes podcasts and a section for teachers that includes lesson plans to incorporate along with each episode. Clicking on From the Top at the bottom of the page gets you to more recent streaming videos from the show at fromthetop.org

Apronus Piano is an online piano that works on both touchscreens and with piano keyboards. As opposed to some online keyboard that play C when you press the letter C, D when you press the letter D, it uses the keyboard as close to a piano as possible. The second row of keys corresponds to the white keys on the piano and the number row corresponds to the black keys as they occur (with one or two exceptions). The bottom two rows can be used to play chords. The range of the keyboard can be adjusted to hear different notes. This online piano can be used as extra practice for general music or piano students or as a substitution for a real piano if keyboards are not available but computers are available. It could also be used in conjunction with composition assignments or for choral students to practice vocal lines.

This page provides a list of repertoire that is suitable for young bands. Along with the titles, arrangers and publisher, it provides a brief description as well as length of piece. This is a great resource with young bands wanting to play higher level repertoire. 

This PDF list of standard repertoire for intermediate bands includes composer, title, difficulty level, and description about the primary thematic and musical concepts of each piece.

It is a good resource when choosing your middle school concert repertoire.

This is a documented series of articles primarily surrounding jazz music and improvisation. Other topics on this website and the articles therein include world music and music education.

Cool resource for Jazz Band students.

Informative page for Band Directors.

Great ideas for music and movement.

Free online music dictionary. Great resource for the classroom when figuring out all those musical terms!

Good resource for students to have for at home practice.

This website is an excellent resource to purchase materials for music themed bulletin boards. Bulletin Boards are organized by category and theme.

MusicTheory.net is a great website to teach theory to students. It has lessons on a variety of topics, interactive exercises to support the theory topics, and tools that could be used in conjunction with other activities in the classroom. There are also apps available for devices. The best part is that the exercises can be customized (scroll down to the bottom of the exercise or tools pages) with a permanent link so that students can take quizzes or have additional practice for specifics without having to change the settings for themselves. For example, note identification can be customized to the clef and range of a specific instrument and sent to those students for practice or quizzes.

MuseScore3 is full-featured, open-source music notation software. This software is installed directly on a computer, and has compatible versions for PC, Mac, and Linux operating systems. There is no online or "cloud" version of this software. Although MuseScore is free, it is a professional music notation alternative to Finale and Sibelius and is capable of producing high-quality musical scores in a variety of formats. MuseScore also has full capability to produce audio playback, export to audio, and generate MIDI files.

MuseScore is a free music notation program that is easy to use and can produce easy to read, high quality sheet music for your ensembles. The interface is similar to other notation programs that you need to pay for. I have been using MuseScore to create etudes and warmups for my ensemble classes.

MuseScore is a music composition and notation software used to write/notate music. It requires the user to download and install the application on their system. This application is easily accessible and is free of charge. It is a software that is updated almost every month to make the features better. Muse Score has an easy to use interface and is a good tool to use in class for children to write down their simple compositions. Students are able to play back their compositions to their classmates, print them out, and/or even share them online. While using MuseScore, students learn many different musical concepts like dynamics, timbre, form, texture, structure, melody, repetition, phrasing, rhythm, tone, to mention but a few. MuseScore enhances the musicianship of students.

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.

Similar to Soundtrap.com; this online DAW is a great resource for student to create music with loops. I've used this in a technology class and students enjoy the variety of loops.

Soundation is a fully functioning cloud-based DAW, similar to Soundtrap. The look is darker and more professional, and the effects processing is more sophisticated. This could be a good option for college-level recording and collaboration, whereas Soundtrap's colorful look and simplicity would be more appropriate for middle- and high-school use.

Soundation is a Digital Audio Workstation similar to sound trap though soundation appears more professional, and the effects are more sophisticated. With soundation, students learn to do recording, editing, mixing, instrument patches, and MIDI input. Soundation is good for university level whereas Soundtrap's simplicity is good for middle and high school. Like soundtrap, it has a free one month trial with limited accessibility and to access the full premium, one has to pay. Soundation helps students acquire the 4Cs i.e Collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. It is a good resource for teaching studio composition and for enhancing the musicianship of non traditional music students.