Free Apps For Young Composers

I have found two more free apps that allow young students to explore music composition.




Tune Train
The first app is called Tune Train. There are 10 musical worlds available to explore.  Each world features a different musical style.


 
 
On each beat, you see people high and low. They essentially outline a chord. You use the train to draw a path and select people/notes you want in your

Music Centers

During the week of Thanksgiving Break, I didn't want to start a lesson or unit when I wouldn't see all the classes of the week. So, we experimented with music centers. I have 50 minute classes, so I chose 4 centers. It took about 10 minutes to explain the games and then students travelled in groups and had about 10 minutes at each center. They seemed to enjoy them, so I will definitely try this

3 Staff Games

We just finished some games to help reinforce note reading. This was a 50 minute class. The first activity was completed with the entire class together and lasted about 15-20 minutes. My student teacher and I divided the class into 2 groups. My student teacher was the leader of activity 2 and I was the leader of activity 3. They spent about 15 minutes at each activity.


Activity 1: Review the

110 Free Music Education Apps

I've had the iPad for about 3 months and have downloaded many free music apps. I have organized them into the following folders so that all the music apps can be found on one screen. The folders are shown in the screenshot below:





 

Listening

1) Classical Lite
2) SPCO (Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra)
3) NPR Music
4) Pandora
5) Classical Music For Babies
6) iLuvMozart
7) Classical 1
8)

Halloween Music Door

We always have a trick or treat night where the students get to parade through the hallways in the costumes and trick or treat. Each teacher sits outside their door giving away treats. This year, out PTO decided to give prizes (gift cards to a store of out choice) for the teacher with he best decorated door and the best costume. Well, thanks to Pinterest, everyone had really cute doors. So, I

Blob Chorus: Free Ear Training Game

In a previous post, I announced that we would be getting iPads. I have only had the iPad for 2 weeks now and have already found some amazing and FREE apps to enhance my elementary music curriculum. If you love technology, stay tuned and become a follower of my blog; I'm sure I will have many posts about integrating the iPad into music classroom.

If you don't have an iPad, iPhone, iPod, or other

Leap Back Home to Me

I love using children's literature in the classroom. Last spring, when browsing the book fair, this book immediately caught my attention. The title, "Leap Back Home to Me," made me think of how we call the pitch "do" home base. A few weeks ago, this book was used in a second grade lesson to introduce melodic improvisation, phrasing, and ending a phrase on "do."



Even though I had been

FOLLOW UP: Magnetic Hand Signs

"Magnetic Hand Signs" has quickly become one of my most popular posts, currently sitting at #2 in my most popular posts. If you missed the link, be sure to click the link and check it out.




Several people have blogged about how they are using the magnetic hand signs in their classroom. I would like to share some more ideas on how to use the hand signs that I saw on Make Music Rock. I have

Magnetic Hand Signs

Good bye, old hand signs! You have served me well for 7 years . Even though you were laminated, your thin pink paper is still curled on the edges and show years of use. You have been ripped by students who did not treat you with respect, and taped back together with care. But, the time has come for us to part.







Hello, new hand signs! I look forward to using you in many lessons! I

To Stop the Train

To Stop The Train is an easy round for children to learn. It can be found on page 280 of Arvida Steen's "Exploring Orff: A Teacher's Guide." Arvida suggests adding movement to visually enhance the round, although she doesn't describe any specific gestures. 

Dr. Robert Amchin, head of the music education department at the University of Louisville, has often included this round in his

Flipchart Download: Welcome Back Class

For several years, I have used this unit with my 4th and 5th graders to review the musical elements, notation, and get them ready for the school year. I have recently uploaded the flipchart to Promethean Planet, but you could totally teach this lesson even if you did not have an interactive white board. (I taught this unit for a couple years before we ever had this technology!) A few of the

Flipchart Download: Apple Tree, Apple Tree

Another flipchart is available for free download. This flipchart features the game song "Apple Tree, Apple Tree." A preview of each slide can be found on Promethean Planet. 



Introductory Activity

First, students see stick notation and count rhythms. Then, students get to drag the whole apple and apple slices to make iconic notation representing quarter notes and eighth note pairs. Students

Interactive Music Flipcharts

In May, I blogged about Technology In the Music Classroom. I talked about many wonderful tools we acquired during a construction renovation, including the interactive white boards. We have Promethean ActivBoards which run on ActivInspire Software. In this post, I will share some flipcharts that I have submitted to Promethean Planet and are available for free download. There are brief