Digital Musicking

The lessons found here are for integrating popular music study into general music curricula. The lessons are all standards-aligned and are almost entirely historical, cultural, sociological, and musicological in nature. The lessons can also be integrated into social studies curricula. There are many opportunities in all of these lessons for students to embark on music and cultural research to enhance and deepen their understanding of the music they are learning to play/sing/perform.

Piktochart has both free and premium accounts. This infographic and presentation maker is a fabulous way for students tap into their visual creativity and present research in the form of an infographic. The possible applications of this in music classes are endless.

Classical Archives is largest classical music site in the world, with access to countless sound files for free in which a teacher can use in the classroom.

As with many sites, this one offers both free and premium accounts. This resource contains thousands of recordings of classical music. Even with a free account, students have access to a large number of recordings (though they are not, as one might say, the authoritative or preeminent performances).

This is the official website for the West Virginia Music Educators Association (WVMEA), the service and professional organization for music teachers in West Virginia. The website provides links, resources, and information pertaining to music education in the state, including the annual All-State conference.

This website has just about everything a band director would ever need. From resources about administration and fundraising, to sight-reading, theory, and ensemble skills, this is a tremendously beneficial resource for all band directors.

This blog contains many posts that would be helpful for novice and experienced band directors alike. Of particular interest are the posts about improving the sound of particular instruments or exercises to help develop a stronger swing feeling in a jazz band.

Band Directors Talk Shop is a website devoted to helping band directors become better teachers. Posts on the site are from current and former band directors, as well as private lesson instructors. The website allows band directors to share suggestions and ideas on how to improve instruction so that students will have a better learning experience.

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 Solfeg.io program is a web- and subscription-based tool for individual or group learning of specific popular songs. There is a list of pre-loaded popular songs with scrolling piano parts and lyrics, along with lead-sheet symbols and drum parts available. The software helps teach music reading and learning by ear using a scrolling video interface.

Learn Jazz Standards is an online jazz resource for musicians. We specialize in helping musicians learn jazz repertoire and become better jazz players. The Learn Jazz Standards website has two main components: the Blog and our Jazz Standards.

This is the hub for the Learn Jazz Standards podcasts and YouTube videos. This is a great resource for learning jazz theory, ear training and approaches to improvisation.

The Learn Jazz Standards website contains a comprehensive list of jazz standards, including lead sheets (in different transposing keys), essential and/or original recordings, and a recording of a rhythm section playing through the chord changes several times (a la Jamey Abersold). Often, these "jazz minus one" rhythm section recordings are offered in a few different keys. The site also includes a blog, podcast, and a list of articles on the topic of jazz. This resource is especially helpful for melodic instrument jazz players, giving them practice with chord changes, and I use this site frequently in my jazz classes.

This site keeps an up to date feed on all technology useful to music educators. This covers basic applications on mobile devices and even classroom technology such as tuners, metronomes and SmartBoards.

Music tech resource page. Author presented at FMEA 2017 - I attended his session. Mostly about hardward, not software. Ipad focus

This blog is heavily centered around technology. There is a navigation bar on the top and categories on the right to help locate topics of interest.

This is a podcast designed to help band directors who are not clarinet players, or clarinet players looking for resources. It dives in the solving clarinet problems including tone, hand position, tonguing, and much, much more.

This lesson plan database developed by NAfME and its members has a large resource of lesson plans. You must be a NAfME member in order to access and contribute to this lesson plan database.

These podcasts discuss band problems and solutions to apply to everyday lessons. It covers a variety of band information including beginning band materials to support the curriculum and even ensemble seating.

I use Charms for keeping my financial records.  Does anyone else use it for practice records or the recordings?  I just found the recordings section.  This has been a great program for me this year and made the record keeping so much easier!

CHARMS is a great management and communication program that places all styles of databases into one central location. Is a great way to manage funds, communicate with members and parents as well as store recordings and inventory. Charms has been used by band programs and other fine arts programs as an office assistant and is proven to be effective in the testimonials section of their website.

This website facilitates organization in a music program by providing inventory and student lists, groups, and budgeting programs on one website.

This website includes a variety of band literature and long descriptions of them. It has tags to organize the music for searching by year, grade, and more. It is to help band directors choose and study music for their ensembles.

This resource is a kind of jazz band syllabus posted on Midwest's website to help directors who are new to jazz or want to get better at teaching a jazz class. Includes suggested method books, warm-ups, repertoire, kinds of scales to teach, etc.

This YouTube channel has many song tutorials for the ukulele. I often use this as a resource when my students have their own ukulele and want to learn on their own time. This resource is great for elementary all the up to adult ukulele learners!

This is a PDF description of warm up methods used in a successful beginning band program to build tone, reading skills, intonation, and more. It is meant for a band director to share what works for them with other directors.

This resource includes a variety of free tone-builder warm-ups for beginning to intermediate band. On the website are also descriptions on how to use the warm-ups and videos.

This website has animated videos of songs, many with karaoke style lyrics to help reinforce early literacy. These resources are especially great for prek or kindergarten classes.