for pupils

Links to search engines:

(Google's a good 'un)

for teachers

• Musicteachers
  Includes a monthly online magazine.
• Musicatschool
  Worksheets, lessons, links.
• Music-4-schools
  Specialist publisher of very realistic school music resources, run by an ex-teacher.
• NAME
  National Association of Music Educators.
• ABRSM
  Online access to publications, grade exam entries, syllabuses, etc.
• Pearson
  Resources for sale, including Internet worksheets.
• Music teachers' resource site
  MIDI files with lyrics, loops for improvising, equipment reviews, SoW (by subscription), links
• Bunce
  Free handouts about music technology for those that want to know more technical detail.
• Philip Rees technical articles
  Plenty of helpful information here for those interested in the technology behind music computer applications (for technically advanced readers).
• Early birds
  Ideas for nursery/KS1 teachers.
• Zone
  Magazine for music education.
• AECT project
  Big American teacher support project with lots of online information about operating software, etc. It ranges from basic skills to more advanced stuff.
• MusicEd
  Magazine-style approach with areas to support teachers and learners in several styles of music.
• Hot Potatoes
  Software allowing you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises. Free of charge for publicly-funded education institutions who make pages available on the web.

for pupils

• Orchestral instruments (Secondary)
  This BBCi area has good quality audio examples, plus background info and interviews with orchestral players. The online streaming audio files are not downloadable.
• Orchestral instruments (Primary)
  Has sound clips of orchestral instruments and online instrument recognition games. Again, sound clips are not downloadable.
• Downloadable audio instrumental clips
  Has short .aif clips that can be downloaded and then embedded in pupil PowerPoint presentations etc.
• LoopLabs mixer
  There are lots of web-based loop mixers around - this is the best I've found yet. First you set up some presets for the mixer. Then you hit the record button and anything you do, like recalling a preset or tweaking a knob or slider, gets recorded so that you can replay your whole performance. The track mixer has some great features too: mute, solo, auto-pan, auto fade-in/out. There's a choice of loops, examples to play back from other users, etc.

general reference

• Eyeneer
  Audio archive,accessible by genre - mostly USA contemporary. Some pics too.
• BBC Radio 3 'Discovering Music' Library
  Many hours of instantly available archived 'Discovering Music' programmes (RealAudio format), with commentary/analysis on many varied musical masterpieces. Wonderful for classics lovers. Nobody needs to set a timer for recording any more!
• Classical Composers archive
  Does what it says on the tin.
• Computer Music
  Website of the magazine of the same name. Not specifically for teachers, but there is some helpful info in the more recent articles. There's also a 'getting started' area for beginners.
• Naxos
  Intro to classical music - much info and lots of audio.
• The Recording Website
  Articles and discussion forums about all things to do with audio recording, microphones, etc.
• D'Accord Guitar Chord Dictionary
  Want to know a guitar chord? Then try out this software (free trial period). It can print out lyric sheets with added chord diagrams too.
• Folk Archive Resource North East (FARNE)
  4,000 freely accessible archive sound recordings of the folk music of Northumbria. Beginners guides to the music and instruments too.

MIDI files

Collections:

• The MIDI Farm
• The Classical MIDI Connection
• The Classical Music Archives

Newsgroups:

• alt.binaries.sounds.midi
• alt.binaries.karaoke

Directories:

• Standard MIDI Files on the Net
• Joe's Links - (MIDI and other links)

government-funded bodies

• Youth Music
  Lottery-funded body with money to give away for the right project!
• Teachers Resource Exchange
  A potentially useful idea where teachers offer up their ideas for others to use
• Teachernet
  DfES's gateway to the world of education online.
• DfEE standards site
  Contains QCA Schemes of Work, etc.
• QCA - Music Curriculum in action
  This website uses pupils' work and case study materials to show what the National Curriculum in music looks like in practice. Includes links to the NC texts etc.
• Music Online 5-14 Scotland
  The Scottish music curriculum is a little different from the English and resources are generally very practical.
  

school/music service sites

• St Mary's College, Hull
  Visit the music department's area here.
• Cheslyn Hay Primary School
  This is a fairly active site with several audio clips of pupil performances in the music area.
• Sir Robert Hitcham's Primary School, Suffolk
  This beacon school offers much advice and information on using ICT in music in foundation and years 1 to 6. From the front page, go into the ‘Work at School’ area and choose music. You will then see a list of links to various school music projects. The last link takes you to their music and ICT area.
• Staffs. Music Service
  There are many areas to explore on the Staffordshire Music Service website.
• Music for Life
  The Warwickshire Music Service site claims it's the best UK music education site. Decide for yourself.

other lists of links

• BBC webguide
  Includes a list of music education sites.
• Live Radio
  Huge international directory of internet radio stations (but prone to advertising pop-up).
• Musician jokes
  Lots of jokes about drummers, viola players etc.

software + plug-in downloads

• Free RealOne Player
  For playing back streaming media the free version is quite adequate. 'RadioPass' version costs money if you want enhanced features.
• Helix Producer Basic
  For producing compressed streaming audio/movie files that play in RealPlayer. The 'Basic' version is free and quite adequate for school purposes. (Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the free version.)
• Acrobat Reader
  Reads standard web filetype for fixed-format printed pages (free download).
• Audacity
  Excellent beginner's sound recorder and editor for Widows, Mac and other operating systems. Free download. (Highly recommended - see musicwing viewlets.)
• AudioMulch
  Excellent tool for processing sound, adding reverb, echo effects, etc. Works from live microphone input or from a pre-recorded sound file. Output can be captured to file. Fully functional shareware download with optional $50 registration fee. ((Highly recommended - see musicwing viewlets.)
• Goldwave
  Another shareware audio editor - from Canada this time. Don't know much more about it, except that people say it's good and its only £25 to register
• Sibelius Scorch
  Free browser plug-in allowing you to view and play back music notation produced by costly (but pro-quality) Sibelius scorewriting software. Huge database of varied notation resources then accessible from sibeliusmusic.com.
• Virtual Stylophone
  Remember that little battery-powered buzzy thing promoted by Rolf Harris when synthesizer technology was just starting out? Well, now you can now download a virtual version from this site.
• Windows Media Player
  Microsoft competitor to RealPlayer. Comes automatically with Windows, but update downloads, plugins and further info are available here.
• Tucows
  Huge site, from where you can download lots of freeware and shareware. Separate music area.
• AudioMelody
  Specialises in listings of music-related freeware and shareware, with screen shots and short reviews.
• vanBasco's karaoke player
  This is a truly excellent piece of freeware for education. It shows large size lyrics and you can alter tempo, alter key, mute and solo tracks, etc. It plays ordinary .mid files too. Really worthwhile getting.
• midiX karaoke player/creator
  Worthwhile having as well as vanBasco, because it shows sets of lyrics as complete pages, and also because it lets you create your own .kar files.
• Leafdrums
  Basic drum machine software. Free. Nice and simple to use but with plenty of flexibility (e.g. reversing cymbal sounds, exporting patterns as wav files).