Digital Musicking

This website is lesson plans relating to music from the Smithsonian Folkways program. There is music from all over the world located here and lesson plans for various ages and grade levels. They are organized by continent.

I love the resources on this website. I use them in a variety of different ways to teach world music!

Examples to tools used for formative assessment in music classrooms.

A social networking site for Arts Teachers in NYC that supports and enhances best teaching practices.

A site that allows students to study, jam and practice with interactive modules.

A free magazine for Choral directors.

This website hosts over 9,000 choral/vocal scores, texts, translations and other useful information. This is a fantastic resource for choral directors to browse and select music from.

Purpose of this resource: This webpage contains downloadable choral music that is in the public domain. Musical Content: The Choral Public Domain Library contains digital downloads (sheet music, midi files, and notation files) for choral works that are in the public domain. There is a large selection, and CPDL offers useful search features such as listing all musical settings of a text, searching by language, type of piece, and by musical era. Other information: This is a good resource for directors who do not have large music budgets, are looking to find different settings of specific texts, or are looking for music from a specific time period.

Access to FREE choral works in the public domain. Also, you can find scores, texts, translations, and information about composers.

Another site containing FREE choral works in the public domain.

A directory of choral music clips in various formats.

This website provides directions on how to create numerous musical instruments. Using common and inexpensive items, you can follow directions to create instruments such as juice can shakers and jingle bracelets.

This website provides directions on how to create numerous musical instruments. Using common and inexpensive items, you can follow directions to create instruments such as juice can shakers and jingle bracelets.

I use this resource when students are unable to participate in a performance or other activity. They are given the directions from this website (as well as others) to create their own instruments!

These are the new 2014 anchor standards. I reference these often to make sure my lessons are not just meeting district standards, but national standards as well. They also help give me ideas if I am struggling with lesson ideas.

I use the ukulele in class regularly. This website is easy to use and find songs both for my students and for myself to play. It also has easy to read and access chord charts for when I am accompanying my class on ukulele.

I use this website for two different reasons! First of all, I teach my 4th and 5th graders ukulele. Some of these chord progressions are too difficult for them, but it is fun to flip through and find some they can play. Second of all, I use this in discussion of what chord progressions are in other classes. I can then play them on ukulele or piano for the class to hear.

This is a fun song to introduce genres to students! Two guys sing a song in 26 different styles and demonstrate how different genres have different musical elements and non-musical elements.

This is a list of overarching Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions for the New National Standards. I use this as a reminder of what meaning goals I truly want my students to be learning!

This program offers in the moment improvisation with a loop-based accompaniment. There are up to 4 users at a time improvising a melody together. The user can control the different sounds/ colors easily.

The user creates musical loops by clicking on a grid. The loops play continuously and you add and take out sounds. The user has more control than some similar programs. It offers control over speed, and the types of genre or sounds used.

Improvisation games that can be used for icebreakers and teambuilding exercises. They are mostly non-musical, or at least they do not require musical instruments, only the voice. Could be a good introduction to musical improvisation unit.

There are 12 activities that can be used as teambuilding. They are new, fun and innovative. Used with Middle school or high school aged students.

This site includes lessons and music from numerous countries.  This is a great resource for teaching multi-cultural music.

Great resource for music listening activities in class. Contains information about different cultures and traditions, audio files, videos, podcasts, lesson plans etc.

This site offers links to many music files. There are many folk and ethnic songs as well as traditional ensemble music. Everything on this site is free.

The user picks a style of music to compose within. Then short instrumental and vocal loops are available to add to the accompaniment. The graphics are a bit outdated looking, and some of the loops are lame, but the Blues one is fun.