Music Related Websites

Music Teacher's Resource Website: This excellent website was created by Rob Jones in 1996. There is a wide range of free music teaching materials for KS3 and KS4 pupils including songs, royalty free sheet music, arrangements and documentation for music teachers. Also, there are sections on reviews of equipment, instruments and software and an on line help desk staffed by various experts in areas of music education. Complete and structured schemes of work, written by top UK music teachers are available on a subscription basis. This represents the largest collection of music teaching resources on the internet which includes all supporting materials, flashcards, pupil worksheets, teacher manuals, audio clips, video clips and interactive pupil interfaces.

8 Notes: This website provides free classical & traditional sheet music, popular and jazz riffs, music lessons and music resources. The material can be accessed by instrument: Guitar (291), Piano (1034), Violin (117), Cello (64), Trumpet (48), Clarinet (76), Saxophone (54), Flute (95), Recorder (47), Oboe (37), Trombone (24). The material is also organized under genres: Classical (1,895), Rock & Pop (113), Film & TV Themes (16), Jazz (24), World (43) and Traditional (201).

Music for Teachers: The Music for Teachers website is being developed to provide practical support for the design of Music Schemes of Work to match the requirements of the revised National Curriculum in England. Clear teaching objectives are suggested to provide a series of progressive 'steps' within the seven 'elements' of music and these are applied from Key Stage 1 to the end of Key Stage 3. This attempts to address the difficult issues of skills progression over the whole of the 3 key stages. Many other files and support materials, including extensive databases of songs and teaching ideas, are also available to download and the entire series of support materials can be made available on CD/ROM."

Music at School: Liza Shannon's excellent website containing downloadable worksheets and schemes of work together with online quizzes and lessons plus categorized links to topic areas.

Staffordshire Music, the LEA's award winning music and music education website. Local and national news, information articles and features. A listening room, an interactive on-line forum, an "Ask a Musician" service, some downloadable resources and much more.

Cris Freeman Music: A website that describes itself as a website for music teachers by music teachers. The site contains information for all types of music teachers, old and new, giving advise and equipment reviews. The site contains links to a wide variety of sites most music teachers need to survive. The site provides on line lesson plans, schemes of work, homework sheets and a way for students to upload work to the instructor. There is an online chat room and a monthly equipment review. Starting in April there will be a feature on equipping a department which will run for 12 months. With the online classrooms this is a site for every Music Teacher.

Music88 Recorder Resource: Most people do not consider the recorder to be serious musical instrument. The mission of this website is to promote the understanding and learning of recorder as a serious yet versatile musical instrument suitable for everybody. Even King Henry VIII played and collected recorders and Shakespeare used it in his plays! A brief history and interesting facts as well as FAQs about the recorder can be found here. There are pictures on the different types of recorders and a mention of their sizes. There is a section on composing, methodology, fingering charts and recommendations of recorder instructional books and music. The presentation of content is geared towards teachers and students researching on recorders for the first time. They may then choose to visit our featured links to other specialized sites for more in depth information.

The Music Land: Gavin Richards provides a wide range of teaching and learning resources for students and teachers plus online tests and aural exercises. The website now features the popular GCSE Music Net.

South Hunsley Music Department: Ray Burrell's website contains online guides for KS3, GCSE and AS/2 level students. Uses exciting graphics, MIDI files, and downloadable MP3s of students' work, and links to other useful sites.

Classical Net: Dave Lampson has produced a marvellous website for all lovers of classical music. He has created over 5,500 files himself and provides links to another 3,800. There is a Composer Master Index that list an amazing number of classical composers. Each biographical entry includes several pages of hyperlinked text, a portrait of the composer and a list of their major works. The website also includes sections on Reviews & Articles, Books & Scores, Classical CD Buying Guide and Recommended Classical CDs.

BUBL Music Reference Library: BUBL Information Service, based at Strathclyde University Library, is a searchable database of Internet resources of academic relevance. The websites are organized by Dewey Decimal Classification and is browsable by subject or class number. The music main page has twenty-one categories that include: Music: General Resources, Journals and Magazines, Ethnomusicology, Composers, Vocal Music, Opera, Musical Instruments, Chamber Music, Keyboard & Percussion Instruments, Stringed Instruments, Wind Instruments and Brass Instruments. Each website listed has a brief review with information on the people and organizations that have created the website.

Rough Guide to Rock: The Rough Guide to Rock Music was first published in October 1996. It is currently being revised and expanded and the publishers have decided to make this major work in progress, available online. The Rough Guide to Rock Music website currently contains details of the careers and recordings of more that 1200 bands and artists. If you discover that your favourite musician is missing, you can either request it to be added or you can write and submit your own entry. If it is good enough, it will be added online and will appear in the next edition of the book.

Naxos Learning Zone: The website includes a very comprehensive Glossary of Musical Terms. Other sections include An Introduction to Classical Music, Composers' Biographies, Chinese Music, and Classical Music in Films. As one would expect, the website includes details of the CDs published by Naxos.

Encyclopaedia of Percussion: An encyclopaedia of percussion instruments from all over the world. If you want to find out what a angklung is, this is the place to visit (its an Indonesian instrument consisting of tuned bamboo tubes hung from a frame). The instruments are listed alphabetically and contains descriptions, photographs and links to other relevant websites.

Sony Music: This website has been produced to promote the Sony Music company. However, it includes a wealth of information for anyone teaching or studying music. Visitors will find a complete list of Sony Music artist websites where they can obtain the latest news, sample audio and video clips and communicate with other fans. They can also find information about the recent releases, hear unreleased music by their favourite bands, search the Sony catalogue, and watch the latest music videos.

Music Education: Created by Deborah Kay Jeter, the editor of Diversified Learning, this website is a collection of hypertexted articles on music education. Articles include Multiple Intelligences (using music to teach other subjects), Sound Stories (musical story telling), ESL Songs (music and special needs), Does the Gesture Matter? (directing musicals), Songs to Soothe the Savage Beast (using music to reduce school violence) and Musicals for the Musically Timid! (teacher's guide to the musical).

Music Education Launch Site: Created by Jeffrey S Brenan, The Music Education Launch Site was created to serve as a launching point for web travelers interested in music and music education. It includes lesson plans and Mr. Note's Gameland to teach children musical notation.

Songfile hopes to establish itself as the website that "brings the entire world of music to everyone with Internet access." Songfile currently has seven channels of music information on lyrics, sheet music, recordings, live events, instruments, licensing and music business links.

African Music Library: The International Library of African Music is based at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. You can take a tour of the library or search the archive. This includes the Sound of Africa and the Music of Africa. A sound sampler of African instruments is also under construction.

Internet Chinese Music Archive: The Great Empire of China website provides a large collection of Chinese music under the headings: Traditional Music, Modern Music, Popular Music, Ceremonial Music, Music from Other Places (Hong Kong and Taiwan) and Anthology.

Music India Online: A comprehensive website on Indian music. The material is organized under the categories: Carnatic, Hindustani, Jugalbandhi, Light Music (Devotional, Folk Music, Ghazals, IndiPop, Qawwali, Patriotic) and Regional (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarathi, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Sindhi, Tamil and Telugu).

Music in Latin America: An impressive website run by the University of Texas. The material is organized under the categories: Latin American Resources, Regional Resources (Andean, Caribbean, Hispanic/Latino) and Country Resources (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela).

Silent Night Museum: Silent Night has become an anchor for Christmas celebrations throughout the world. Its lullaby-like melody and simple message of heavenly peace can be heard from small town street corners in mid-America to magnificent cathedrals in Europe and from outdoor candlelight concerts in Australia to palm thatched huts in northern Peru. This cyber-museum was created by historian Bill Egan to provide a world wide audience with the true story behind the composition of "Silent Night" by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber.

Pure Eighties Pop: Relive your memories of the decade that gave the world the sound of pop, the unforgettable 80s! Try the quick quizzes, search for that certain song through our sound files, tell us your top tens or look at our links to find out about those eighties icons. All this and loads more at the ultimate UK tribute to the decade of pop. This site is regularly updated, so always check out the noticeboard and the what's new section for latest additions.

Richard York - Musician: Richard York’s slightly unusual site has a large section offering resource information, though it was first intended to show his work as a education workshop leader & historical interpreter. Since he deals mainly in medieval, Tudor and Victorian periods through music and drama, these are the periods featured, together with much information about the instruments of the times, and an eclectic mix of other social history. The Instruments section is not period-specific, but shows how a wide range of instruments developed; e.g. the harp section shows a very early harp image, from Iraq, about 4,000 years ago, with modern reproductions of renaissance and medieval harps. This whole instruments section is written by a practising musician regularly using such instruments, not just looking into reference books. The Victorian section offers a variety of source material, pictures, references, and links to other sites, and some period English Language.

Herbert Von Karajan Center: Herbert Von Karajan became famous when he was conductor of the Berlin Staatsoper (1932-1942). As he was a member of the Nazi Party he was not allowed to work for a time after the war. However, in 1955 he was made principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. This website provides a biography of Herbert Von Karajan, brief multimedia clips of his recordings and a chronology of his life. It also has a complete archive of his musical recordings, searchable by composer, composition title, or musician.

Music Teacher Resource Exchange: This website is designed to help teachers develop and share ideas for activities and resources. Contributions take the form of simple ideas and questions, to complete lesson plans or schemes of work, which will enable other teachers to use these resources within their own lessons. You can browse and download resources without registering. You will, however, need to register if you would like to submit new resources and add comments or materials to existing resources.

Vocalist: This site for singers of all standards provides free online singing lessons, vocal exercises and singing tips for beginners, whilst the more advanced performer can find repertoire books, news, humour plus articles on various aspects of the music industry including music law, management, marketing, advertising and merchandising your act. Even voice teachers have their own sections with a free online singing teachers listing service, resources and links to free online lesson plans.

Classical Music Archives: This website provides 24,203 full length classical music files by 1,558 composers, in MIDI; live recordings downloadable in HiFi MP3, and streamed in Windows Media Audio. The website also has illustrated biographies of J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Boccherini, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Delius Handel, Haydn, Liszt, W.A. Mozart, Mendelssohn, Satie, Scarlatti, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi.

About Music: This outstanding BBC website allows you to discover everything you wanted to know about your favourite artists, with music clips, interviews, images, buyer's guide and more. Features presents in-depth coverage of music, with Echoes of Africa, Paris In The 1920s, A History of Vinyl, The Reykjavik Underground and Reggae Memories. The Rock & Pop Years presents exclusive audio & video clips from the BBC archives, putting music into context. You'll also find key events of the year and legendary sessions and unofficial charts with audio clips revealing what tunes are hot from Havana to Helsinki.

Beauville Arts: This performing arts company runs international Summer Schools for 8-18 year olds in South West France. Bringing together numerous nationalities from a broad academic background - schools across Europe, international schools, home-schoolers etc. students keep in touch via the site's 'Beauville Reunited' webpage. Founder, Jonathan Mallalieu, former Director of Performing Arts at the International School of Toulouse, also provides INSET training in Music Technology for teachers. During the academic year the company welcomes school groups for tailor-made educational and recreational courses. These range from rehearsing and producing musical shows within the week, to choir/orchestral tours and welcoming exam classes to complete and record to CD compositional course work in the company's recording studio. Summer school dates for 2003: 12th - 19th July: West Side Story, 19th - 26th July: James Bond 007. For further information contact: claire.mallalieu@wanadoo.fr

Piano on the Net: This excellent educational site is a free public service brought to you by PianoNanny.com and The Nanny Group. Your instructor for the course is film composer and jazz musician, Clinton Clark. Each lesson takes about 35 minutes to complete. However, work slowly and at your own pace. It's important to learn each lesson before moving on to the next. Beginning with Lesson Number 5, this course uses audio, with the Apple QuickTime(TM) plugin, and 4.0 browser enhancements including JavaScript. Some of the classroom accessories, such as the 12 note keyboard companion, require FLASH 5.0.

Black History & Classical Music: It's a little-known fact that composers and musicians of African descent have been contributing to classical music since Mozart's time! Marie-Antoniette's music director was Black. Ludwig van Beethoven wrote a violin sonata for a Black violin virtuoso, and accompanied him on piano at its first performance. This website provides an excellent introduction to Black History and Classical Music.

American Lynching and Music: Lynching is the illegal execution of an accused person by a mob. It was originally a system of punishment used by whites against African American slaves. There was a decline in lynching during the First World War but more than seventy blacks were murdered in this way in 1918. Ten black soldiers, several still in their army uniforms, were amongst those lynched. Between 1919 and 1922, a further 239 blacks were lynched by white mobs and many more were killed by individual acts of violence and unrecorded lynchings. This website provides recordings that deal with lynching: Strange Fruit (Billie Holiday) The Death of Emmett Till (Bob Dylan), Vigilante Man (Woody Guthrie), Taneytown (Steve Earle), Ballad of Medgar Evers (Phil Ochs) and A Pawn in their Game (Bob Dylan).

The Music Finder: The search engine has a database of over 13,000 bands and artists. Enter the names of several bands or music artists that you like. Based on your preferences, the search engine finds new bands or music artists that are likely to fit your taste. You can then refine the results by eliminating bands that you already know. You can also search albums by a particular band or artist.

Music By Women: This website provides a catalogue of recordings (CDs and tapes), books and resource packs in 12 main sections, including acappella, feminist and political, folk, world music and women composers from the 11th century to the present day. Women composers featured include Hildegard of Bingen, Francesca Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, Isabella Leonarda, Lucretia Vizzana, Maria Margherita Grimani, Anna Amalie, Maria Agata Szymanowska, Louise Farrenc, Louise, Josephine Lang, Clara Schumann, Cecile Chaminade, Ethel Smyth, Amy Beach, Alma Mahler, Rebecca Clarke, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Elizabeth Lutyens, Grazyna Bacewicz, Minna Keal, Lili Boulanger, Germaine Tailleferre and Priaulx Rainier.

Lionel Hampton is one of the most extraordinary musicians of the 20th century and his artistic achievements symbolize the impact that jazz music has had on our culture in the 21st century. Hampton had a long association with the School of Music at the University of Idaho, and this website serves as a testimony to his talents. It includes a biography and material about his long performing and recording career. There is also a video section that provides some clips of Lional Hampton performing at the University of Idaho.

Duke Ellington: By the time he died, Duke Ellington was considered amongst the world’s greatest composers and musicians. The French government honored him with their highest award, the Legion of Honor, while the government of the United States bestowed upon him the highest civil honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. By the end of his 50-year career, he had played over 20,000 performances worldwide. This website is devoted to the life and works of Duke Ellington. The material is divided into seven sections: Biography, Music, Quotes, Achievements, Photos, Library and Orchestra.

Ralph Vaughan Williams Society: This website is dedicated to promoting the music of Vaughan Williams, along with providing a great deal of material about the man and his life. The site offers a brief biography of Vaughan Williams, a timeline, and a complete list of his hundreds of compositions. Another section provides audio clips of his compositions, including The Lark Ascending, Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra, Sea Symphony, London Symphony, Pastoral Symphony, Sinfonia Antartica, Norfolk Rhapsody and English Folk Song Suite.

The Music House: This brand new interactive resource is a musical activity aimed at young children. The software is for PC. Click on the picture to use the music programme online or click below to download it onto your own computer. The activity is in four parts: Listen to and learn the names and sounds of four percussion instruments. Hear a sound and match it to an instrument. Listen to a rhythm and copy it on the onscreen drum. Hear a piece of music which uses three of four instruments and find the instrument which doesn't play.

BUBL Music Reference Library: BUBL Information Service, based at Strathclyde University Library, is a searchable database of Internet resources of academic relevance. The websites are organized by Dewey Decimal Classification and is browsable by subject or class number. Each website listed on BUBL Music Reference Library has a brief review with information on the people and organizations that have created the website.

iTunes: You can set up iTunes to automatically add tunes from a CD to your library when you insert a disc into your computer. iTunes will even eject the disc when it’s done. Of course you can start the import process manually, too; it’s your preference. By default, iTunes compresses your music so you can fit thousands of songs on your computer or iPod, and stores your music in the same format as the iTunes music store. It’s called AAC, and builds upon state-of-the art signal processing technology from Dolby Labs.

Freeplay Music: It is claimed that Freeplay Music is the biggest, the best and the fastest growing "free" broadcast music production library in the world. Freeplay recently announce the launch of it's new web portal and online music library to the masses. Based on global acceptance, it has added a number of exciting new features, including our newly refined Terms Of Use, Rate Card and Automatically Generated Licensing Contracts. It has also added support for the entire library in Apple's new MPEG-4 AAC audio format.

FARNE: Folk Archive Resource North East (FARNE) is home of Northumbrian music online. From here you can access 4,000 songs, tunes, sound recordings and photographs from across North East England, bringing the musical heritage of the region alive. Sections include Learn, a beginners guide to the music, instruments and dance traditions of the region and Listening Post where you can hear and read about Northumbria's musician.