Low Cost MusicTechnology Options For The Music Education Classroom
Low Cost MusicTechnology Options For The Music Education Classroom

Finding ways to stretch your budget in a music classroom is always important and even more so when trying to purchase high tech electronics, software, and other materials.  This article provides an updated list of dozens of different low cost or free alternatives to expensive music education products.  It includes such categories as music notation software, drill design software, special needs hardware, and many more.

 

The Star Spangled Banner- Free Sheet Music For Band Inst.
The Star Spangled Banner- Free Sheet Music For Band Inst.

This document contains sheet music for all common instruments to play The Star Spangled Banner, also known as the sheet music to the National Anthem of the United States of America. You can view the sheet music online or download the individual parts arranged for all common concert band instruments.  If you do not see your instrument listed please scroll to the bottom of the page and try one of the the other instruments.  Most musicians will be able to find at least one instrumental part that matches their range and preferred key signature.  If you are seeking a simple piano version of the song please select from the voice, trumpet, or alto saxophone versions.

 

Using Plickers as an Assessment Tool in the Music Education Classroom
Using Plickers as an Assessment Tool in the Music Education Classroom

Music, band, choir, and orchestra classrooms can be huge and assessing the knowledge and retention of individual students in such a large class can be daunting.  Plickers are one of several solutions that can be adapted to work in large groups, making the act of assessing a student’s understanding a little easier and a whole lot faster.  

Is Marching Band A Sport? Pros, Cons, and a Reality Check
Is Marching Band A Sport? Pros, Cons, and a Reality Check

In recent years the question of whether or not marching band is a sport has been brought up time and time again for various reasons and by various groups.  On one side you have the YES crowd who says that marching band is competitive, physically demanding, and every bit as much a team event as any traditional sporting event.  On the other side of the coin are those who say no, that marching band is NOT a sport and it is a musical pursuit that happens to involve coordinated movements.  Both sides are right, but to make a final decision we need to look deeper into the facts.  Read on to find out what they are!

Portable Digital Audio Recorder Buying Guide With Reviews
Portable Digital Audio Recorder Buying Guide With Reviews

Scroll down to view the comparison chart of over a dozen different portable digital audio recorders.

Buying a portable digital audio recorder is a major decision.  The balance between price, features, and quality is a fine line that has many different options to choose from.  There are dozens of different models of portable digital audio recorders, some of which have drastically different sets of features yet sell for roughly the same price.  This easy to read head to head comparison chart and guide to many of the more popular portable digital audio recorders is intended to help potential buyers more easily see these differences and make an educated buying decision.

Apps and More for the Choral Classroom
Apps and More for the Choral Classroom

The number of apps, software, and gadgets available for use in the music classroom continues to grow each year but finding things that can actually be beneficial to your classes grows more and more difficult as well.  We spoke with Dr. Christopher Russell, Director of Choirs at Oltman Middle School in St. Paul Park, Minnesota to get his must-have list of apps.

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Statue of Vaugh-WilliamsPerhaps the most obvious and sweeping change that has affected the first part of the 20th century has been the rapid advance of technology. Radio and television broadcasting, records and compact discs have changed musical life beyond imagination.  Music has now become a commodity, readily available anywhere.  

Against this background of change and development, although traditional sounds of classical music still persist, experiments using these new methods occurred in the early part of the 20th century.

This period saw the dawning of "atonality" and the "twelve-tone" system. In effect, the term "atonal" describes music that does not conform to the system of tonal hierarchies that characterized classical music between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Atonality 

An important aspect of 20th century music concerns new ideas of tonality. Whereas tonality refers to music in which a specific pitch relationships are based on a key "center," atonality is to write music that's not in any key at all or without any key or tonal center. This is called "atonal" music or sometimes referred to as "serial" especially in relation to the "twelve-tone" system. 

These compositions were written from the early 20th century, about 1907, where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a single, central tone (or key) was not used as a primary foundation for the work.  

Twelve-tone System

The primary technique used in writing atonal music has been the twelve-tone system, in which the 12 notes of the chromatic scale are used. The composer chooses the notes either at random or according to guidelines; they are then used once each in a row. As soon as the 12 notes have been used, the same series begins again.

Second Viennese School

The Second Viennese School is a term used for the group of composers in the early 20th century Vienna, who adopted and developed the twelve-note system composition. In particular, the three leading proponents of this system:  Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) and two of his pupils who further developed it, Alban Berg (1885-1935) and Anton Webern (1883-1945.)

Polytonality

One of the more extreme experiments used two or more keys at the same time. This was called polytonality. Other composers broke away from the standard major and minor scales and used the mode developed in medieval church music. Composers such as Ralph Vaughan-Williams and Maurice Ravel have written music like this, called neo-modal music.

Examples of atonal and 12-tone music:

Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra, Opus 16 (atonal)

Schoenberg's excerpts from Pierrot lunaire, Opus 21 (atonal)   

Schoenberg's Violin Concerto, Opus 36 (12-tone)

Schoenberg's Piano Concerto, Opus 42 (12-tone)

Berg's Chamber Concerto

Berg's Lyric Suite

Webern's Three Traditional Rhymes

Webern's String Trio

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