Free Technology Resources for Elementary Music Educators* Amy M. Burns, Elementary Music Educator

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1 Free Technology Resources for Elementary Music Educators* Amy M. Burns, Elementary Music Educator There are numerous free technology resources elementary music educators can incorporate in their classrooms immediately. Burns will highlight many of these resources and show how students utilize them in her elementary music classroom. It should be noted that I will be showing you free resources, however, many of these resources have in-app purchases or are lite versions or are watered-down versions, which makes them free but reminds you For a complete and thorough listing, scan this QR Code or go to my website, and click on Software/Websites that you can get more if you would like to invest the money. Amy M. Burns aburns@fhcds.org Far Hills Country Day School Music Educator and Clinician Author of Technology Integration in the Elementary Music Classroom Author for Online Learning Exchange Interactive Music powered by Silver Burdett Past President of TI:ME Website: Twitter: Pinterest: Facebook: amywillisburns Google+: Amy Willis Burns 1

2 Websites: Audio: Audacity ( - Audacity is a free, easy-to-use, multitrack audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. o Uses: Easily change the tempo and key of any audio file. You can also remove lyrics from some audio files. In addition, your students can record themselves adding some basic audio effects like reverb, in the classroom or from home. Soundation ( - a powerful online music studio with recording, effects, virtual instruments and over 700 free loops and sounds. o Uses: It is like garageband, but in the cloud! Quaver Music Website ( - Quaver Music has set up a resourceful website for any music educator and/or music student to use without having to purchase the program. For a very friendly kid-version of garageband, I suggest QGrooves. All you need to do is set up a free login, create your avatar, go into the store, go into the studio and click on QGrooves. Your students can use some of the loops to create a song and save it to the website. QGrooves is accessible to students and teachers with free QuaverMusic.com accounts. Teachers using any of Quaver s Programs can create and assign custom QGrooves projects via the Teacher Gradebook. Premium features - including some Loop Packets and the ability to publish a song as an MP3 require QuaverNotes. Incredibox ( - Have your students easily create their own beatboxing acapella group! o - The first version of Incredibox where the performers all have shirts o Uses: The students create music as a background accompaniment to a rap that they wrote in class. Resources: Bulletin Boards for the Music Classroom ( - Tracy King, the Queen of Music Bulletin Boards, and music educators, made this website back in 1999 and it has a plethora of resources for the music educator. The downloads page that I showed has numerous traditional song lyrics and/or notation as powerpoint files, as well as rhythmic and instructional powerpoints and pdf worksheets. o Uses: Need to find lyrics to a song at the very last minute? Check the downloads portion of this site and download the powerpoint file. Making Music Fun ( free printable resources, including sheet music, worksheets and lessons. o Uses: Need a recorder song for beginner to intermediate players fully notated? Try this website! 2

3 Music Tech Teacher( - Karen Garrett s website for her 2nd through 5th grade students who are learning to read, write, compose and publish their music to CD's and the Internet. Student work, pictures and music compositions are on this site. The site is also used to provide music technology links, quizzes, resources and information to all music teachers interested in using technology to enhance music instruction. o Uses: Want to quiz your students musical knowledge? This site will either have the quizzes ready for you to use or give you great ideas for ones you can use with your elementary music classes. Jeopardy Labs ( - Create your own jeopardy template online and browse other jeopardy templates. Word Search Labs ( - Create your own word searches online - Many notated songs in boomwhacker colors for you to download. - Loretta Harbertson posts some of her favorite musical activities here for anyone to use. If you are an elementary music teacher you may find some of them helpful. Curriculum: Augusta County Public Schools Elementary Music Curriculum Guide - School District of Osceola County Elementary Music Curriculum Framework - h.9w18ns7oyhmm - This resource details the various areas of the elementary school music curriculum. Aligned to Common Core State Standards: SL.K.1, SL.1.1, SL this is from sharemylesson.com. You will need to create an account to download lessons. Share My Lesson ( - Free lessons by teachers, for teachers. - Youtube in the music classroom has endless possibilities. - View Youtube videos with no advertisements, no comments, and a clean background! - Common Core Standards website Recorder Websites: Recorder Express Game ( - Some traditional recorder songs come to life and assess your students playing abilities. Based on Recorder Express by Artie Almeda. JoyTunes Recorder Master Game ( - Welcome to The Music Interactive web site, a place for music games, activities, and Computer Aided Instruction software for your students. This is where you can download Staff Wars Versions 1.2 and

4 Orchestral Sites/Games: - Consider this site your premier web destination for learning about music -- that's why it's here! - The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's magical doorway to a world of musical fun and learning for students, parents and teachers! - The New York Philharmonic Kidzone is a place for kids to come and learn about the New York Philharmonic and about the instruments, music, musicians, and more. Carnegie Hall Listening Adventures: - Learn about sound, music notation, text, and instruments of the orchestra through a series of interactive games. - Young Person s Guide to the Orchestra - Classical music's great composers come to life through music and stories. o Whack a note game o Orchestrating using a baseball metaphor o Exploring instruments o Lessons/curriculum Some Notable Music Education Pinterest Sites: (there are so many out there!) Interactive Whiteboard Lesson Sites - Smart Board, Power point, and Promethean Music Lesson - Smart Board Music - Cherie Herring s blog with many SMART Board downloadable music activities and assessments. - SMART Board files created 4

5 by The Kodály Aspiring Music Classroom blog. - This website was created by Ms. Rockafellow as a resource for teachers with smartboard software. Many of the smartboard lesson plans that were created, can be used for choral, band, strings, and general music classes. - Ashley s Queen s free downloadable music resources, many include SMART board music files. - Interactive web-based resources for the music educator - Discover more than 50,000 easy-to-use, relevant, classroom-ready resources and a growing online community on the SMART Exchange website. You can access the website by clicking the icon in the toolbar in SMART Notebook software. You can also easily share your lessons on the SMART Exchange website. Apps: (these apps emulate some of the websites mentioned above and are free or lite versions) Audio: Pocket WavePad ( - A free sound editor for recording, editing, adding effects, and sending audio, Pocket WavePad allows you to record voice or music, then edit the recording and add effects to achieve high quality audio recordings. o Uses: Record your students compositions, songs, improvisations, and more. GarageBand ( - Virtual instruments, smart instruments, and recording studio all in one. Common Core Standards ( Pinterest app - About Amy Amy M. Burns is an educator, author, clinician, Past-President of TI:ME, on the Boards of NJMEA and TI:ME, was the first-ever TI:ME Teacher of the Year, and is a proud mother of two little girls. She has been an elementary music educator for 18 years with 17 of those years working at Far Hills Country Day School (FHCDS- She has written numerous articles on elementary music technology, is the author of Technology Integration in the Elementary Music Classroom, contributed to the TI:ME Level 1B curriculum, contributed to SoundTree Elementary Keyboard Lab Curriculum, and is a contributing author for Online Learning ExchangeTM Interactive Music, powered by Silver Burdett. aburns@fhcds.org Website: Blog: Twitter: Pinterest: Google+: Amy Willis Burns 5