Music education has long been a passion of mine, it’s what prompted me to become a piano teacher 23 years ago. Even though online music resources are still in their infancy (at least in the United States), they’ve come a long way over the last decade.
This blog post is about my favorite online music resources for teachers which I’ve found to be particularly valuable.
ELEMENTARY MUSIC TEACHING RESOURCE: INSTRUMENT FAMILY LESSONS AND ACTIVITIES
Instrument Families Bundle
Not only will students will learn all about the instruments from this amazing bundle of interactive activities including, VIDEOS, Presentations, posters, flashcards, sound files, games, a story and a variety of worksheets, but you can decorate your room too!
Please note that all instrument sounds were recorded on a synthesizer.
Bonus File! Specific activities for Grades K-6
*BONUS FILE: 3 Activities Matching, Identifying and Naming 50 Instruments.
OVERVIEW OF THIS RESOURCE:
- INSTRUMENT FAMILY PRESENTATION teaching video and power point presentation.
- INSTRUMENT POSTERS (50 images)
- INSTRUMENT FAMILY GAMES AND ACTIVITIES
- INSTRUMENT FAMILY STORY VIDEO “How the Instruments Learn to Make Harmony”
Here are some ways to use this resource:
- Teach the lesson on sound to help students understand the different ways each instrument makes sound.
- Assess student’s abilities in identifying and reciting the names of the instruments.
- Play the games to practice and assess.
- Decorate your classroom using these colorful water-color splash graphics.
ELEMENTARY MUSIC TEACHING THEORY RESOURCE
Music Theory Lessons, Games, Activities, Worksheets Bundle
Wouldn’t it be nice to have one resource with the basic music theory concepts?
Get all the music theory essentials in this bundle! Note and Rest names, values, pitch, rhythms, symbols for your music classes.
This resource is especially helpful for upper elementary and middle school students.
Lessons, presentations, posters, flash cards, animated videos and worksheets provide interactive opportunities for students to learn basic music theory essentials.
Catch up your students so that the music making can begin!
Level 1-6 Rhythm Videos. Best for 1-8 grades.
Check out what the Music theory resource includes:
- Alphabet Lessons with song, presentation, flashcards and games.
- Note and Rest Values with Animated Rhythm Practice
- Symbols with presentation posters, flashcards and worksheets.
Here’s the teaching materials you’ll find inside:
- Teaching Presentations
- Lessons
- Games
- Activities
- I Can Statements
- Posters
- Flash Cards
- Worksheets
- Videos
- Song Mp3 Tracks
ELEMENTARY MUSIC TEACHING RESOURCES: LESSONS
BACK TO SCHOOL Music Class Songs, Activities, Games, Chants, Lessons, BUNDLE
Wow your K-6 Music Classes with these interactive songs, games and lessons during the first month to six weeks of school.
Establish classroom community through songs, games and activities that teach and develop music skills right on the first day. Guide included.
Make your back to school year easy and stress free with this amazing Music Class bundle.
Apple Tree Game Song (so-mi-la)
Hello Song and Game
Sing this fun back to school “Hello” song to build classroom community and develop solfege skills. Games and Activities are a great way to welcome students back to school and make music class fun! Best for primary grades. Includes Create Your Own melody and rhythm pattern Graphics. Best for Grades K-3
WAYS TO USE THIS RESOURCE:
- Sing Sol-Mi, Play a Rhythm, Play the beat.
- Teach Call and Response FORM
- Use the steady beat, rhythm and focus rhythm and melody pages to guide your students according to their abilities. Use the blank slide to fill in rhythms. (If you have a smart board)
- The pages are divided into three sections: Rhythm-Lyrics-Solfege/Melody
- The objective is to build classroom community first.
- Then develop singing and solfege skills.
And for your upper elementary classes-
Get to Know Ya Rhythm Music Lesson
“Get to Know Ya Rhythm”
Play a fun Rhythm Game with your upper elementary students on the first day back to school or after a break.
The chant, activities and printables work well for grades 3-8. Smart Board Graphics now included.
RESOURCE INCLUDES:
- PDF for printing or projecting
- Teaching pages
- Student Activity pages
- Game Directions
- I Can Statements
- Practice Worksheets in Black and White
Concert Manners Poem
Choral Song “Come Along and Sing with Me”
Body Percussion Activities
ELEMENTARY MUSIC TEACHING RESOURCES: GAMES
Playing games in music class is one of the most successful strategies teachers can use to help students learn music concepts.
MUSIC CONCEPTS:
Eighth, quarter, half, whole notes and rests
BASIC OVERVIEW OF RESOURCE MATERIALS:
- 8 (Eight) Games with directions and adaptations for grades K-6 in Poster size and Mini-Card size.
- Printable Black and White Booklet of the game directions.
- Print, cut and laminate the mini-cards to hang on a ring for easy use.
- Use for a substitute in your sub plans.
Flash Cards:
- Notes and Symbols
- Note Values
- Note Names
- Instructions
Instrument Game:
- Improvisation
- so-mi-la-do
- Playing a Melodic or Rhythmic pattern.
- Dynamics
- Note Identification and Reading
SOLFEGE SCALE KEYS with and without Pitch Names
- Curwen hand signs with pitch names.
- without pitch names.
- with pitch names and images of clip art kid making the hand sign.
- black and white with pitch names.
- black and white without pitch names.
3 SOLFEGE GAMES:
- “Match the Secret Sign & Secret Code”
- “What’s the Secret Sign?”
- “What’s the Secret Code?”
Music Memory
Garageband has an app on Apple devices and is available online. You don’t need to be connected to the internet to play this game.
Garageband is a music writing and arranging program for beginners and advanced musicians. There are different instrument sounds available, and you can layer different sounds on top of one another to make songs.
Garageband has an app on Apple devices and is available online. You don’t need to be connected to the internet to play this game.
Garageband is a music writing and arranging program for beginners and advanced musicians. There are different instrument sounds available, and you can layer different sounds on top of one another to make songs.
For those looking for a Windows or Chrome equivalent. Audiotool does much the same thing as the music mixing giant.
Extension: Give students specific instructions on building a song with different sections, layers, and instruments depending on their age level and musical understanding.
Kahoot
Kahoot is a online quiz platform you can assign to kids and go through together in person or on their own. It’s super fun to play and free to use.
While not strictly a music-only platform there are a ton of options out there for Kahoot’s using muscial concepts. Making them is super easy as well.
My students of all ages LOVE using this.
Magic Flute Orchestra Game
This Magic Flute Orchestra game is designed for elementary music ages. The graphics and game are somewhat basic, but this doesn’t mean it isn’t a good game for kids.
One of the reasons I love this game is that it pulls music from Mozart’s opera. I believe the more familiar students become with classical music, the more they’ll learn to enjoy it.
The game revolves around hearing an instrument playing music and selecting the correct picture. This is a great way to reinforce the instruments of the orchestra including piano and harpsichord.
Note: This game does require Adobe Flash Player meaning you may have some trouble using this one Chromebooks.
BBC Instrument Matchup
Along the same lines as the game above, BBC’s Instrument Matchup game is a fun, educational music game for…well, matching up instruments with their sounds.
While the game may be simple, there are other games available through their site along the left-hand side including:
- Sound
- Rhythm
- Mood
- Music Quiz
Note: This game also requires Adobe Flash Player.
Inside The Orchestra
With Flash going out of style and not being supported, a lot of simple and free games are becoming unavailable. But this simple set of games is still usable and perfect for many people.
Check out the Inside the Orchestra games including:
- Woodwinds and Strings Match
- Brass and Percussion Match
- Compose a Song
- Compose a Rhythm
- Musical Memory
- Music Maps
- Music Bingo
- Pick the Parts
Theremin
This learning music (check out other music distance learning resources) game is a synth-soundwave player. With Theremin, students create different types of soundwaves by changing elements with the mouse.
This is fun for elementary music students to play around the different sounds (and is a great way to reinforce timbre).
Older students can dig into the scientific aspect of the soundwaves more than the younger one can.
This is available online as well as through an app.
Extension: Create your own sound and take a screenshot of the wave. Play the sound for the students and challenge them to create a sound as close to yours as possible.
The team or student closest to your actual setting wins.
Carnegie Hall Listening Adventures
Honestly, I believe most people naturally enjoy classical music, but because they don’t have the framework to listen to such longer pieces, their minds have trouble organizing it.
By the same token, one of the reasons most people love music in the popular genres is because it is very similar in form and harmonic structure.
I believe if we could help students and others understand the pieces better, they would be able to enjoy it more.
Along these lines, listening maps have been a great way to help inexperienced ears through complicated pieces for decades.
Online interactive ones are great fun too!
Carnegie Hall’s Dvorak Symphony No. 9 listening map is perfect for helping listeners understand the piece and stay engaged.
Conclusion
There are a lot of books, websites and other places where you can learn how to play an instrument from home. We have put together a list of our favourite sites to help you along the way.