MUSIC TEACHER RESOURCES
Music Curriculum for Classroom use, teachers suggested resources for kindergarten through High School.
MORE Ideas and Tools for the Classroom
#ORFF Jimmy Fallon, Adele & The Roots Sing "Hello" (w/Classroom Instruments)
INTERDISCIPLINARY
NATIONAL CHILDREN'S FOLKSONG REPOSITORY
YOU CAN TEACH HISTORY THROUGH SONG
WHY WE TEACH MUSIC
Music is scientific.
It is precise, specific, and demands accurate acoustics. A conductor's score is a complex chart that
indicates frequency, intensity, volume, melody, and harmony, all at once and with the most exact control of
time.
Music is mathematical.
It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions that must be calculated, interpreted,
and
applied instantaneously.
Music is foreign language.
Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French, and notation is a highly developed kind of shorthand
based on symbols that represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language
known.
Music is history.
It reflects the environment and times of its creation, including the cultural and social values.
Music is physical education.
It requires exceptional coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lips, cheeks, and facial muscles. It also
takes
extraordinary control of the diaphragm, which in turns uses the back, stomach, and chest muscles.
Music is philosophy.
It demands research and develops insight and perspective.
Music is art.
It allows a human being to take dry, boring, and often difficult techniques and use them to create emotion.
Music is the human experience.
Music pieces are as complex and varied as life itself. Music inspires thought, reflection and emotion-- much
like human relations do. Rhythm and tone simulate moods-- such as joy, sorrow or anger. Music relates to us
the stories of human experience. We do not teach music because we expect you to major in music or become a
professional musician. Nor do we teach music because we expect you to play or sing all your life (although
you
might).
We teach music so you will have more compassion.
We teach music so you can be fully human.
HOLIDAY Music
High School Traditional Music Curriculum
Saline Fiddlers
are the Saline, Michigan teaches who perform bluegrass as a band class.
From the Top
The website for a humorous radio program showcasing the talents of young musicians (of pre-college age) from
around the U.S. The site features a show archive, background about performers, listening guides, photo
galleries, and more. National Public Radio (NPR) distributes the show, which is made possible through grants
from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
IBMA Bluegrass in the Schools program and manual
Teoria
Gaining a basic understanding of how music is composed and subsequently analyzed and performed. Take online
tutorials, complete exercises, and read articles about music all in the same place. In the Tutorials area,
visitors will learn about how to read music and how to identify different chords, intervals, and harmonic
functions. Moving along, the Exercises area lets visitors test their mettle with interactive materials that
will take them through the world of key signatures, jazz, and clef reading. Finally, the site also has a
Reference area which provides answers to such questions as What is a chord? along with offering a detailed
explication of the bits and pieces of information that can be found in a bar of music.
LEARN TO PLAY GUITAR
Educational CyberPlayGround: Funk
Brother
Joe Messina author of Giant Steps
"Joe played guitar for Berry Gordy's Hitsville U.S.A ... others.*** Joe started
playing guitar at the age of thirteen, taking ... 88 issue of "Guitar
Player" magazine.
Educational CyberPlayGround: Joe Messina Sends His
Personal Message
also applied this system to my guitar playing, which gave me a different perspective to
playing.
Joel Bernstein - Musician, Archivist
During High School Joel studied guitar with Tossi Aaron
-
Author, Singer, Dancer, Publisher.
National Children's Folksong Repository
Go grab the free folksongs see Ellis and Orff
Take Lessons online with Phil Shaperio
Online Guitar Archive from June 14 1992
Recipe for homemade boomwhackers
1. Get golf club tubes. (They're black plastic tubes about 36 inches long with a diameter of about
1-1/8
inches.) You can get them at Wal-Mart for about 64 cents each.
2. It is important to have a different color for each note to make It easier to recognize each length.
Hardware stores often sell packages of varied colored tapes. I have also used colored duck tape that works
well and is very durable.
3. Cut the golf tubes with a paper cutter. You may also use a radial arm saw, very sharp scissors (I never
had much luck with scissors), or a hacksaw. I found a good small saw at Home Depot. It was about $10.00. The
paper cutter works the best. Wrap wide colored tape on ends - a different color for each note. On the
C's, I had a wide strip (4") for the low C and a narrow red (1 or 2") for the high C. I wrote
the name of the note on the tape in permanent pen. Here are the lengths:
C (narrow red) 11 7/8"
A (purple) 14 1/4"
G (dark green) 16 1/2" or 16 1/8"
E (yellow) 19 1/2"
D (orange) 21 7/8"
C (wide red) 24 5/8" or 24 3/4"
F (light green) 18 1/4"
B (fuchsia) 12 3/4"
Two G's can be cut from one tube (with at the most, 1 inch of waste)
D and high C can be cut from one tube (exactly)
E and A can be cut from the same tube (exactly)
F and B can be cut from the same tube
Low C takes one tube and the other part is waste.
It is important to use the exact colors if you use the Boomwhackers Games CD and some of the other
Boomwhackers books. They tell what color Boomwhackers to use when.
I have found purple duck tape at Wal-Mart, a variety pack at Lowes, and pink fuscia flamingo tape at Ace
Hardware. Recently I saw orange, lime green and yellow at Walmart. Ive also seen colored duck tape at Big
Lots. ~ by Denise Arthurs