Digital Musicking

Garritan is a virtual instrument provider often bundled with Finale Notation Software. The virtual instrument player is called Aria, and various sound collections are available for purchase. In my experience, the VST works well with Finale, however, does not work well by itself or with other DAWs. This may be due to the low memory and processing speed of my computer.

One of the original titles of music notation software. Finale was first available in the late 1980's and has been in constant development ever since. The software is available in 3 service levels: Finale, Printmusic, and Notepad. Notepad is a free version and only offers limited features. The full version of Finale has full capability to produce professional-looking scores and is also capable of exporting audio and MIDI files. Finale also comes bundled with Garritan Aria player VST and a decent-sounding instrument pack. Finale also features educational worksheets and templates which are very useful for teachers.

This is the website for the popular Tonal Energy tuner and metronome application for Android and Apple devices. The tuner has a variety of features and settings for different instruments and ensembles. It is particularly useful for tracking sustained pitch accuracy using a variety of graphing options and its distinctive growing smiley face. The website also has a section of educational resources for brass, woodwind, and orchestral instruments.

Music Ace is general music education software that comes in commercial and education editions. The software is installed on a computer (not online/cloud), and includes a variety of games and activities which focus on general music theory. There is also doodle pad feature which allows the user to compose using a variety of instruments and sounds. This software title is generally appropriate for elementary grades, but may have usability for other age groups too.

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 collection of authentic field recordings around the world. These recordings can be used to give teachers and students a deeper understanding of a folk song's musical and cultural context.

This is a music theory learning website from the Sibelius Academy school in Finland. It includes a special focus on jazz theory and has audio and visual support to support the text.

This short video explains how the brain reacts to practice and repetition of activities. It reviews the neural pathways and the process that the brain goes through when something is being learned. An interesting fact mentioned in this video is that a study proved that the performance level of mentally envisioning practicing an activity and actually performing the activity produces similar results.

Here are some excellent ideas for introducing various tempo and rhythmic patters to students of grade levels K through 5. The examples go over steady beats, eighth not patterns, and dynamic changes of loud and soft. The first few examples do not specify grade levels but the later examples do. The grade levels are highlighted in yellow.

This website provides free lesson plans and ideas for various grade levels and subject areas. There are filters that can be set to search for specific lesson plans within a certain subject and grade level. The website provides various lesson plans for grade levels PreK through 12th.

This wiki page categorizes sacred music into holidays and holy days. It not only shows the piano and choral sheet music in a pdf format but also gives a description to each piece and why it is appropriate for a specific holy day.

This Ted Talk, given by Alan Harvey, explains the many ways that music affects the human body and brain. Harvey explained the history and use of music within our lives. In this lecture, Alan Harvey explained the ways in which music triggers signals in our brain. He demonstrated the impact of music on the brain through images of the brain, showing the alpha waves notated by an EEG, and by giving examples of a video with peaceful music and then again with a faster and darker melody. He spoke about how music impacts our viewpoint upon images.

This article discusses the positive and negative impact music can have on a person's emotional state. The article mentions and describes three of the seven categories that individuals use to regulate their mood. It also discusses how music can impact the brain and its functioning abilities.

This is a great website that provides free sheet music for various instruments as well as music theory lessons. For private piano lessons, I search for classical and popular sheet music. There is sheet music for levels ranging from 1 (easy) to 5 (most advanced). The score arrangements appear to be suitable for beginners. The arrangements also make it an easy transition for when students are ready to learn to original scores.

This website has themed worksheet resources for music theory. These worksheets are geared toward elementary students. There are free resources available, but a subscription to the site will provide complete access to their entire catalog of worksheets.

This website has a wide variety of resources such as sheet music, lesson plans, composer biographies written with elementary level vocabulary, music theory worksheets, and much more. This website is geared toward elementary music but could also be useful in some middle school applications.

This website offers various music resources for download, such as sheet music, theory worksheets, composer biographies, and music award certificates. It is mainly for younger aged children, but can also be used for middle schoolers.

A fabulous resource for eye-catching, student-engaging music worksheets that ask students to think critically about music concepts. A variety of topics are covered.

One of the most comprehensive, marching pageantry-specific collections online. Contains shows, news, scores, but also valuable teaching, writing, and equipment tutorials, suggestions, and information. Invaluable to those of us in this line of work.

A local (GA) resource for music technology teachers. Contains lesson plans, advocacy information, and equipment information. Very helpful!

Software used to help transcribe parts and develop arrangements. Incredibly useful!