Birthdays In Music on this Day in History

Sometimes on the morning announcements at school, I like to include "On this date in history..." facts.  Here is a great website featuring 20,000+ musicians' birthdays and deaths, as well as musical events in history.

Rowan Atkinson's (Mr. Bean) Attempt at Being a Musician

Here are a few clips I enjoy. It is amazing to me how accurate his acting can be!  Appropriate for your students too!
Enjoy!

Invisible Drum Kit

The Piano Player

The Conductor

Interactive Music Theory Drills

This Theory Games website is a must!!
I encourage my students to practice their music theory skills using this website at home.  The site offers interactive lessons with the keyboard, pitch, rhythm, scales, key signatures, intervals, etc.  Most exercises are timed and increase in difficulty with correct answers.  

Copyright Center

The web address to the MENC resource regarding information about copyright issues that was mentioned in one of the articles for this week has changed slightly.  The Music Education Copyright Center is a valuable site that features access to information about:  Licensing Resources, Asking for Permission, Teaching Students about Copyright, Deciphering "Fair Use," and Helpful Links.

Marcel the Shell

Thought I would share this video... Sorry, this has nothing to do with music...it made me laugh!!

2011 Music Education Blog Carnival

What is the Blog Carnival?  I read about it on the MusicTech.net blog I follow.  It is a way to promote the great work of Music Education bloggers.  From what I gather it is like a journal of music related thoughts.  I thought it sounded neat, and you can even submit your own blogs!!

I also enjoyed this quote by Oscar Levant from the same blog...he was explaining his way out of a speeding ticket:   "You can’t possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven’s Seventh and go slow."

Guitar Tuner

This site has a free guitar tuner, it is pretty cool.  Once you select the string and pitch you want, just press play and it will sound the pitch over and over again until you stop it.  There are also preprogrammed chords.  Guitar Tuner would be a great site to bookmark!

112 Ways to Celebrate Jazz

Click here to skip the articles on the JAM page and access a list of fantastic ways to acknowledge, experience, and celebrate jazz with your students. This list even has suggestions for parents.

JAM

April is Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) and this year marks the 10th anniversary.  The National Museum of American History offers a very nice website with a load of valuable information.  Check it out!
Jazz Appreciation Month Info

The Sound of Music - quiz page

Quizzes for "The Sound of Music"

I love to show this musical to my third graders at an end of the year as a treat before summer break. This website has easy, average, and tough quizzes to go with the movie.  My favorites are the "fill in the blanks of the lyrics" quizzes.