videos

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

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

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

Julies 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. This link goes to the Youtube station that has shorter segments of the longer shows. The full show can be viewed by anyone with a Netflix subscription.

Price: Free with Youtube; Longer shows need Netflix Subscription

Link: Julie’s Greenroom

Choir Baton is an instagram page that offers practical ways to teach choir. Worksheets, assessments and guided videos are also available on her website via the link on Instagram. Monthly mini-courses are offered as well as a podcast discussing choirs virtually.

Price: Free

Link: Choir Baton

Facetime with Composers is for elementary music educators looking for quality online resources for their students. Students can “Facetime” with a number of famous composers throughout history and learn more about their compositional style in an approachable manner. Each lesson focuses on a different composer and is five dollars a lesson. Bundles are also available where one can buy several lessons for cheaper.

Price: Lessons are $5.00 each

Link: Facetime with Composers

Ms. Pincus Elementary School Instagram is for anyone looking for experience with general music in elementary schools. This page is full of small video clips of singing/teaching quick topics, singing through children’s books, teaching fun musical games, singing echo songs, and more. This resource is always free to the public.

Price: Free always

Link:Ms. Pincus Elementary School Instagram

Students looking to learn acoustic or electric guitar, bass, and/or ukulele should know about this website! This website has over 2.5k online video lessons (and counting!) taught by professional musicians in addition to many different songs they can learn. These lessons are customizable so students can play for as long as they’d like. Students can also track their progress as well as the skills they learn. This site is more appropriate for secondary-age students but could have applications for upper elementary as well.

Price: Free during COVID19

Link: Fender Play

Ideal for younger students as an introduction to jazz, this resource provides different articles and videos on the style of jazz and famous jazz musicians. Each article presents the information in a style geared for younger students. In the introduction, “What’s Jazz?”, there is a video with audio examples and famous musicians explaining the cultural history and unique musical components of jazz. Biographic videos include relevant recordings of the players being studied.

Price: Always Free

Link: Jazz Artist Biographies for Kids

The Shed is a website with online music classes that contain free audio, video, and PDF resources. Classes are provided 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.

Price: Free during COVID-19

Link: The Shed

The Shed is a website with online music classes that contain free audio, video, and PDF resources. Classes are provided 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.

Price: Free during COVID-19

Link: The Shed

The ACDA Facebook Group provides choral educators with a place to post and view comments, videos, and lessons ideas. Posts are geared towards high school and collegiate teachers but some videos and posts include middle school lessons and songs.

Price: Free

Link: American Choral Director’s Association Facebook Group

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.

Price: Free Always

Link: O For Tuna Orff

Mr. S Orff Music Educator is an instagram page run by Matthew Stensrud, an elementary school music teacher and certified Orff Schulwerk clinician, with links to his website which provides additional links to other services such as YouTube videos and webinars. Free during the Covid-19 pandemic. There are also links to a patron page where you can pay for lesson plans at any time. On his website you have access to articles and a free subscription to a monthly newsletter with a new lesson plan attached.

Price: Free during Covid-19

Link: Mr. S | Orff Music Educator @mistersorff

Smithsonian Music provides general music teachers an online museum of World Music. Teachers can browse lesson plans, playlists, albums, and more by genre, geography, or artist. They also provide podcasts and playlists online for free. There are also free lesson plans about world music for every grade level with four different levels from k-12, and free interactive games for students. Subscribe to a Smithsonian Folkways Membership and get a discount on Smithsonian merchandise and free downloads each year.

Price: Free with upgrades available

Link: Smithsonian Music 

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: Always Free

Link: Edpuzzle

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 books review, 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.

Price: Free Always

Link: Classics for Kids

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