I’m no way gifted when it comes to music and for many years I have relied on a variety of ICT resources to teach music in my classroom. My first ICT resource is the iTunes account that I set up for my class; my teaching laptop and my home PC are authorised to access this account. Last term an interesting “Music in the Classroom” supplement was included with one of the daily newspapers and this supplement was used during several music lessons. My students were able to listen to several seconds of all of the songs or orchestral pieces mentioned in the article using this iTunes account.
My second ICT resource was always a popular choice – the >>San Francisco Symphony for Kids >>and this website provided excellent material to support my music scheme. The site introduces students to all of the instruments of an orchestra; instruments can be viewed using QuickTime; often they can be rotated and zoomed in on. The sound files provide clear snippets of all of the instruments from the various sections of the orchestra. The music lab section is a great place to explore and experiment with various musical features such as tempo, rhythm and harmony.>
During the summer a participant in a TeachNet course provided a link to another fantastic ICT resource for music, the >New York Philharmonic Kidzone>>, an impressive website that contains a wealth of supporting material for music lessons. This resource immediately became my site of choice for use with my 5th & 6th class pupils. The amount of material on this site is simply amazing; rich colours, cool graphics and a comprehensive range of sound files covering most if not all of the major composers. You won’t be disappointed when you add this website to your Favourites list!>