general music

This lesson unit provides teachers with examples of how to help students make pitched instruments and perform at home. Created by Elizabeth Stavniychuk, students need little technology to participate in this unit.

Price: Free

Teacher Doreen Steinmacher created this 7-week virtual unit on music from the movies. Each unit essential questions, learning objectives, 3 student tasks, editable assessments, and extra assignments. Teachers can easily adapt and use each unit individually or use them as presented.

Price: Free

Teacher Theresa Sharp created this PDF resource.  The pages provide teachers with public domain songs, activities, and assessments for teaching the element ti. For each grade level there are links to videos, editable worksheets, and differentiated lesson ideas for teaching synchronously and asynchronously. Download the PDF for free right here!

Price: Free

Link

The “Composers for Kids” playlist provides descriptions, fun facts, and biographies of composers. The videos vary in ways of presenting information; this playlist includes lectures as well as animations. Videos range in length from two to twenty minutes. Most videos will appeal to younger students, but some are suited for secondary-age students as well.

Price: Free

Link: Composers for Kids on YouTube

Ideal for general music classes of any level, this YouTube playlist provides descriptions and biographies of composers. Contents range from short, animated videos covering information about a single composer to two-hour-long audiobook readings and everything in between. This playlist draws content from several creators/sources, so a wide range of material is available!

Price: Free

Link: Composers for Children YouTube Playlist

YouTube Description:

“Five Minute Mozart is focused on providing quality music theory education for music students and independent learners through condensed, easy-to-understand video lessons.

Browse our collection of music theory educational videos, piano tutorials of classical favorites, and short composer biographies introducing you to some of histories greatest musical minds.

Music theory made easy,

Five Minute Mozart”

Price: Free

YouTube Link: Five Minute Mozart on YouTube

Website Link: fiveminutemozart.com

Lesson Planet provides music educators with a range of dependable, high-quality lesson plans. Those with memberships to this site have access to 10,000+ resources created by music educators for music educators. Lesson Planet also generates music-specific resources with more than 80 AI teacher tools.

Price: Free trial available, $4-7 per month for membership

Link: Lesson Planet

Ms. Powers Music Instagram focuses on secondary general music. The page includes videos from classroom experiences that incorporate guitars, percussion, and vocals. Additionally, there are also occasional livestreams/videos on popular music in the classroom. All one needs is an Instagram account to view posts!

Price: Free

Link: Ms. Powers on Instagram

Aileen’s Music Room features The Music Room podcast and blogs that focus primarily on elementary classroom music. These tools are helpful for elementary music lesson planning and contain ideas and resources for online learning. The Aileen’s Music Room website also features a plethora of K-5 general music lesson plans in a variety of formats.

Price: Free and paid resources

Link: Aileen’s Music Room

BrainPOP is perfect for elementary general music teachers. Topics include basic note reading, scales, and harmony as well as famous musicians and instrument families.  Each topic comes with several interactive activities/games and a video lesson. Some activities and lessons are free, but the teacher account has access to full lesson plans with standards.

Price: Limited free access, paid subscription for full access

Link: BrainPOP

Lauren Marcinkowski’s “Music at Home Bingo” provides students a non-digital activity to enrich their musical experiences. This PDF includes multiple sheets for different ages of learners as well as multiple days’ worth of lessons. With the included instructions, both teachers and parents can administer this activity.

Price: Free

Music at Home Bingo

ETM partners music teachers with schools and parents so that music is part of every students’ life. Their website details how their program works and what resources/services they provide. Their “Think Like a Musician” music education video series provides tips and tricks for improving technical accuracy.

Price: Free (donations accepted)

Links: Education Through Music Online

Teachers Pay Teachers is the world’s most popular online marketplace for original educational resources with more than four million resources available for use. It features ideas for every topic: lesson plans, worksheets, games, and other activities for any age.

Price: Free and paid resources

Link: Teachers Pay Teachers

Created by Google, Word Synth allows students to experiment with language and music. Users input their own words/phrase to be spoken on pitch. Drag the blocks up or down to change the pitch on any given word. Users can change the tonality and pitch center, the voice used, tempo of playback, and the ratio of singing to speaking during playback. The program also includes a tutorial!

Price: Free

Link: Word Synth

Carnegie Hall provides an activity perfect for those who are looking for optional activities for their students to complete. This website turns Benjamin Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” into an interactive game for young students.

Price: Free

Link: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra Listening Game

iListenWI provides listening-based lesson plans created and tested by and for music educators. Students can broaden their exposure to a wide array of musical genres and develop higher-level thinking and listening skills. It features a variety of lesson plans that fulfill National Music Standards for Music Education.

Price: All resources free with a NAfME/WMEA membership

Link: iListenWI

Julie’s Greenroom is a music and performance arts based TV series for Pre-K to early Elementary audience. Hosted by Julie Andrews, the show has a puppet/human cast and guest artists. The cast represents a variety of disciplines from Stomp to ballet.

YouTube description:

“Join Fizz, Riley, Peri, Spike, and Hank, as they explore the magic of the performing arts under the mentorship and teaching of theater legend Julie Andrews. Together, Ms. Julie and her assistant Gus team up with some very special guests to help the Greenies learn about the creative workings of the different performing arts.”

Price: Free with Youtube; Longer shows require Netflix Subscription

Link: Julie’s Greenroom

Face Time with Composers is for elementary music educators looking for quality online resources for their students. Students can “Face Time” with famous composers and learn more about their compositional style. Each lesson focuses on one composer, while bundles including multiple composers are also available for purchase.

From the creator:

“If you are looking for a new, fresh, and fun way to introduce composers to your students, look no further! Face Time with Composers offers your students a humorous, factual, and fun way to get to know famous composers. After watching this goofy and informative video, your students won’t forget the composer they just learned about!”

Price: Lessons are $5-12 each

Link: Facetime with Composers

Singing_with_Ms_Sadie is for anyone looking for experience with general music in elementary schools. This account posts short video clips of singing lesson tips, fun musical games, singing echo songs, and more.

Price: Free

Link: Singing_with_Ms_Sadie Instagram

This site is designed for music educators who need help using technology! In 12 online courses, teachers can learn how to use programs such as GarageBand, Mixcraft, Sibelius, Audacity and more. There are lesson plans to go along with each course, and the program will help you understand iPads, Chromebooks, Macs, and PCs. There are a few free resources in addition to those included in the subscription.

Cost: $39 per month or $390 per year

Link: Midnight Music

Fender Play is for musicians looking to learn acoustic or electric guitar, bass, and/or ukulele. This website has over 2.5k online video lessons taught by professional musicians along with hundreds of different songs to learn. These lessons are customizable, and students can track their progress as well as the skills they learn.

Price: Free trial available, paid subscription

Link: Fender Play

This program teaches general music skills as well as guitar, ukulele, bass, and piano through popular music. The free teacher membership includes a selection of pop and rock music that students can play along with. The interactive play-along mode shows the hand positions and chords in real time while following along on the score. For teachers, there is a collection of lesson plan ideas to use with the program. In addition to the website, Solfeg.io can be used with the app, which is available on all mobile platforms.

Price: Free (Basic plan), Paid ($249, $799, and $1349 per year plans)

Link: Solfeg.io

The Shed is a website offering online classes in music technology, guitar, band and music theory. The site also has PDF worksheets, lead sheets, quizzes, and videos covering subject including harmony, melody, rhythm, and jazz. There are a wide variety of free resources that teach general and specific aspects of musicianship.

Price: Free (premium subscription available)

Link: The Shed

From MathScienceMusic.com:

“aQWERTYon is a browser-based musical instrument that transforms your computer keyboard into a customizable music controller. Designed to be intuitive for beginners and expressive for experienced users, it maps scales and chords across the QWERTY layout, enabling real-time music-making without requiring traditional instrumental skills.

Ideal for music education and creative play, aQWERTYon includes multiple built-in sounds and visual feedback. It can be used to explore music theory interactively, compose melodies, and perform live or in the classroom.”

Price: Free

Link: aQWERTYon

This website gives ideas for elementary music and links to other resources. Included in this resource are links to a Facebook page to ask questions, a list of ideas for hands on dances and movement, Chrome music lab, The New Victory Theater in NYC, and YouTube videos of lesson ideas from other teachers. While this resource was published during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the resources attached are useful in remote learning settings.

Price: Free

Link: O For Tuna Orff

This free site is perfect for creating interactive videos in any music class. Choosing from online video sources like YouTube, teachers can add closed captioning, questions, notes, voice overs, and more. Students can view the videos and submit their responses on the website.

Price: Free for first 20 video lessons, paid subscription required after

Link: Edpuzzle

This source is perfect for creating music in general music or music technology classes. Features include recording, exporting/importing audio, editing audio, and MIDI input.

From the website:

“Audacity is the world’s most popular free software for recording and editing audio. So if you’re producing music, a podcast, or just playing around with audio, Audacity is for you. It is available to download as a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux.”

Price: Free

Link: Audacity

This an incredibly comprehensive website in music for students grades K-5. Having won many awards, the contents of this site include lesson plans for teachers, games for kids, guides for parents, and book reviews among many other resources. All lesson plans link National Standards and use a variety of teaching methodologies including Orff, Dalcroze and Kodaly.  The website also provides links to their podcast and radio broadcasts.

From the website:

“90.9 WGUC, Cincinnati’s classical music radio station, created Classics for Kids® as an entertaining, informative introduction to classical music for elementary school children. The six-minute radio program, also available as a podcast, explains classical music, composers, and terminology in easy-to-understand language that’s designed to appeal to audiences of all ages. The interactive multimedia website classicsforkids.com is a fun, engaging tool for teachers, parents, and kids. It’s full of information about music, including composer biographies, a dictionary of terms, guides to instruments from around the world, games, archives of all the Classics for Kids® podcasts, and much, much more.

The website also provides free, user-friendly materials to integrate music education into the curriculum. In addition to lesson plans, there are pages to explore rhythm, history, composition, and other aspects of music. All of that makes classicsforkids.com a valuable resource for classroom teachers and homeschoolers.”

Price: Free

Link: Classics for Kids

Perfect for students to apply their Solfege knowledge, this video is a review of the Kodaly pattern sol la sol mi. The video reviews the hand signs with an image displaying the hand signs. After the review, there is a pattern hill to show the  includes sol, la, and mi pattern. After the review, the video goes into an animation of the song “I Like Ice Cream” that utilizes the reviewed Solfege.

Price: Free Always

Link: Curwin Hand Sign Review

This is an ideal resource for music educators looking for a web-based digital audio workstation (DAW). Soundation is a DAW for those editing music who prefer a higher quality of output and recording. This resource features virtual instruments and over 700 loops and effects. With subscription, pricing ranges from $1.99 to $6.99 monthly per person.

Price: Free during COVID-19 (3 month trial) with paid upgrades available

Link: Soundation

This is an ideal resource for music educators looking for additional resources for online learning. This blog post gives ideas for remote learning in 4 categories: virtual teaching, online resources, no-tech resources, and professional learning opportunities. The specific resources are all linked for teachers to discover, or they include explanations as to how to implement them.

Price: Always Free

Link: Organized Chaos

The Musical Instrument Museum of Phoenix channel features tours and behind-the-scenes footage including musical instruments from all cultures, musical theater performance videos, and diverse talks from musical professionals of every background.Teachers can use these videos as listening assignments, on a platform like Edpuzzle, or as basis for discussion. An education playlist is also included in the channel with classroom activities as well as videos that show the science behind the instruments.

Price: Always Free

Link: MIMphx on YouTube

Music Education Resources is a Facebook group for music teachers of all areas and levels. It features lots of informational articles, links to additional teaching resources, and some entertainment to lighten the mood. This group should prove helpful to many music educators due to its wide range of content. A Facebook account is necessary for full access.

Price: Always Free

Link: Music Education Resources on Facebook

Talking Up Music Education is perfect for all music educators as well as for interested secondary students. Each podcast features a guest; Vanessa Carlton speaks about being a singer-songwriter, and Eric Whitacre speaks on being a composer. The host, Executive Director of The NAMM Foundation, Mary Luehrsen, speaks with music advocates, parents, teachers, students, and leaders in business and communities to share what they are doing to support the arts.

Price: Always Free

Link: Talking Up Music Education Podcast

Soundfly is an online service offering professional-quality music courses not often offered in traditional school. Topics range from the role of producers to songwriting and performance. Many of the production and electronic composition classes require additional programs/software. Soundfly has many available courses offered for free as well as additional paid courses, and is available for students as well as teachers looking for professional development.

Price: Some free courses, some paid

Link: Soundfly

This blog is perfect for music educators of all grades and areas. The content ranges from articles about supporting one’s students to podcasts with guest professionals about the classroom. Recently, helping the music educator teach from home has come to the forefront of discussion.

Price: Always Free

Link: The Music Educator Blog

Jess Johnson’s Instagram Page, @musicandmotivate, shares creative and engaging ideas for the music classroom. This page offers instructional videos, lessons, activities, and interactive music making ideas. All one needs is an Instagram account for ease of access!

Price: Always Free

Link: @musicandmotivate on Instagram

All music teachers can find something of value in the “Music Educators Creating Online Learning” Facebook group. It contains resources for instrumental, choral, jazz, private instruction, general music, and more! This group is a “teachers-help-teachers” setting where anyone can post about a resource or ask a question to get advice. All one needs to access this is a Facebook account!

Price: Always Free

Link: Music Educators Creating Online Learning on Facebook

Czarina’s Little Upbeat Music Class focuses on elementary general music that connects real world events and the classroom. Teachers use lessons by showing videos of influential men and women in the community and reminding students that they are part of a community. Student then reflect and create music based on what they learned. Through Czarina’s link in her bio, teachers can donate funds to receive additional materials.

Price: Free always with additional paid resources available

Link: Czarina’s Little Upbeat Music Class on Instagram

This playlist is ideal for young elementary students starting to learn the recorder. The playlist begins with a book, “Lazlo Learns Recorder,” that demonstrates how to play the recorder. Following this, the playlist includes videos with backing tracks that show the note name and fingering in time with the song. This playlist adheres to the Recorder Karate curriculum.

Price: Always Free

Link: Beginning Recorder on YouTube

This YouTube playlist is an excellent resource for students to learn and/or review different aspects of sight-singing technique. Each video, ranging from 3-8 minutes, covers different concepts including dictation, meter, key signatures, rhythmic practice, etc. as well as simple tunes, folk songs, and more. Lessons range from beginner through intermediate difficulty.

Price: Always Free

Link: A Year of Sight Singing YouTube playlist

Known for her work as a mentor, blogger, podcaster, and music educator, Jessica Peresta uses her Instagram platform to share ideas and tips for music educators. Music educators from all levels can benefit from her work but especially elementary music teachers! Jessica shares a behind-the-scenes look as a music educator mentor. Additionally, she provides regular words of encouragement and feedback to practicing teachers.

Price: Free Always

Link: Jessica Peresta’s Instagram Account

This is an ideal resource for teachers looking to bring their Kodály instruction to online learning. This YouTube channel features insight into examples of activities and can be an inspiration for teachers to design their own lessons and activities for use in the online learning environment.

Price: Always Free

Link: Kodály Today on YouTube

This resource is ideal for elementary and secondary instrumental teachers but would require some modification for use in online/distance instruction. One can use this board game-like spinner to randomly select an option to play a passage a certain way (staccato, quietly, loudly, and more). There is lots of room to modify this for different musical selections and instructional situations.

Price: Always Free

Link: Wheel Decide | The Playing Challenge

This resource is ideal for elementary and secondary instrumental teachers but would require some modification for use in online/distance instruction. One can use this board game-like spinner to randomly select an option to play a passage a certain way (staccato, quietly, loudly, and more). There is lots of room to modify this for different musical selections and instructional situations.

Price: Always Free

Link: Wheel Decide | The Playing Challenge

This resource is ideal for elementary and secondary instrumental teachers but would require some modification for use in online/distance instruction. One can use this board game-like spinner to randomly select an option to play a passage a certain way (staccato, quietly, loudly, and more). There is lots of room to modify this for different musical selections and instructional situations.

Price: Always Free

Link: Wheel Decide | The Playing Challenge

Ideal for pre-kindergarten through third grade music class, this lesson plan teaches concepts such as rhythm or meter through the use of dance. Abigail Kramer designed this lesson using the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. Her lesson plan includes standards, procedures, and assessment.

Price: Free Always

Link: Dance Lesson Plan

These lesson plan units and resources are ideal for educators planning lessons for third through sixth grade music. Created by Carole Corman, these lessons cover topics such as physics of music, music appreciation, music technology, music theory, and performance. The units also include assessments, worksheets, and additional resources. These lesson plan units are ideal for in-class activities, but are also adaptable to be done at a distance.

Price: Free Always

Link: Elementary General Music Lesson Plans

This lesson plan is ideal for young learners to analyze music. The lesson takes an analytical look at two tunes from Disney’s “The Lion King.” The lesson takes apart the tunes and breaks down analysis of different topics such as high and low voices, male versus female voices, and other musical elements. Some adaptations may be needed if virtual learning is taking place via pre-recorded videos.

Price: Free Always

Link: Does Music Tell a Story?