Digital Musicking

This article discusses how homes and schools can encourage a lifelong relationship with music. Singing is an ability that everyone can develop and it is not just based on "talent"

This site offers streaming of programs about young musicians and their lives. The focus is on the music and the impact it can have in a young person's life. The pieces themselves are also discussed and lesson plans are available to go with them.

From the Top at Carnegie Hall is a production where your musicians share their talents at one of the most prestigious theaters in the United States. Teachers can download the videos and programs to share with students in class. Each episode includes a lesson plan with the objectives, activities and music standards.

This site provides lesson plans to accompany full video clips from the PBS series "From the Top." The videos are essentially master classes that introduce or focus on a specific musical element.

Resource for teachers who are interested in somewhat "flipping" their classroom. On this site there is information for accessing the Teacher Tribe Podcast as well as downloading the free e-book "Ditch that Textbook."

In this blog post, Bernadette describes the scenarios and performing experiences she has provided for her students. She focuses on the aspect of student confidence and how performance can build confidence.

An article on starting a Ukulele program. Bernadette explains the types and brands of Ukuleles she recommends for purchasing. She also gives advice for labeling, storing, caring for, and teaching methods.

This is a PDF "cheat sheet" for the functions in Groovy music. This document provides keyboard shortcuts, explains limitations and features for each theme in Groovy music.

Thoughtco.com/music has many articles pertaining to many different genres and styles of music. It has anything from, pop, country, and hip hop, to world music, classical, Latin, and punk. It also has a music education section that has lesson plans, articles on music history, theory, instrument care, and instruction. This would be a great resource for students to research topics in music.

We always need to make connections with what students already know before moving to new concepts. Sometimes it is helpful for us to challenge what they think they know. This interview by CBS is a fantastic look into the life of a very popular artist that has great implications for a variety of teaching scenarios.

Ear Training practice. Set up for easy use for both mobile devices and computers. Easy interface, and step by step progression in ear training. Simple for students to understand, utilize, and be successful.

This is an amazing resource for any type of music class! Scott Bradlee has taken modern pop music and re-made it into jazz versions. This is a great way to introduce students to the fact that a great deal of music has been borrowed from other genres and that music is an ever evolving art form.

The LSO Play website allows for exploration of the orchestra and instruments. There recordings available for few and camera angles may be changed throughout the recording. In addition, there are musician biographies as well as masterclass videos for all the instruments. This is a great tool to share with students in watching and interacting with music recordings and insight from performing musicians.

This site is amazing!!! The purpose of this resource is to provide not only teachers, but parents, students, and kids the tools necessary to enhance musical learning. The musical content on this site includes but is not limited to history lessons, composer biographies and activities, instrument identification lessons, orchestral breakdown, a vast musical library, and tons of supporting pdf documents and sheet music for classroom/non-classroom instruction. It is a performing arts site, so you should also check out or pass along knowledge for french and dance educators as well!

Arts Alive provides teacher, parent, and student resources including lessons of composers, activities and games, instrument lab, recordings, and videos.

"Cloud-Based Pop Music Compositions Open Doors for Students and Teachers," found on National Association for Music Education provides insight into using the cloud as an option to aid in teaching composition in the classroom.

This website provides thorough reviews of music apps, complete with screen shots, videos, pricing, product descriptions, tutorials, and more. It is a great resource for teachers who want to learn about music apps before purchasing them. Having so many comprehensive reviews in one location makes it very easy for teachers to search and discover apps that fit their needs.

For teachers with a SmartBoard, this website gives free music games for use in the classroom.  Most of these games are appropriate for K-5 and cover a variety of music topics.  Intervals, pitch discrimination, listening, and basic music theory are the topics covered in these games.

I'll definitely have to explore these games on my own before taking them into the classroom. So far, some of them seem pretty advanced for my students. I also am not sure about how to play many of the games because of lack of directions. 

A collection of SmartBoard apps for use in a general music classroom setting. Focus is on beginner music theory with such topics as pitch discrimination, basic scales and song structure. Files are Flash-based and can be used on a SmartBoard seamlessly.

Though the songs found on this blog are public domain, she posts them directly here to cut out the leg work of finding them and also tells exactly what she does with each song and what concepts she teaches!  Perfect resource for any general music teacher.

This is a wonderful teacher blog with tons of teaching resources and curriculum. This blog has a huge bank of songs by grade level or activity type and feature activities to accompany the songs.

This is a great resource for discovering new songs to teach. The site allows users to search for short transcriptions by category (ie recorder music, Orff arrangements), alphabetical, or by genre (ie: folk, popular). Music can be saved as .pdf's.

This website offers a free template for printing staff paper. Several customizable options including staff size, clef, indentation, and guitar tab are also included.

Create your own blank sheet music. Tons of customization including TAB.

A Flash-based website that allows the user to print free manuscript paper for personal use. Choose from a variety of clefs, with options of brackets, barlines and more.

This nifty Facebook group asks its members to post a video of improvisation over any given tune. Many use backing tracks while others use rhythm sections or improv by themselves. The content usually ranges between jazz standards to contemporary pop artists. Comments and critiques are welcomed, but sometimes not requested.

A "what's happening" in the jazz world, but also an extremely valuable tool for music educators in North America. Thanks to programs like "Essentially Ellington" there has been a real push to provide music educators with the best resources and opportunities, even going as far as providing free charts for any band program to apply for. Keeping jazz alive in our schools is their mission.

For a Northern perspective on music education, the Canadian Music Educators Association is the authority here in Canada. They release journals, blogs, newsletters and share many other materials that promote the ideals of music education to be used all music teachers in this country.