Tech Tools, Tips & Training for Music Educators
Over the past 35 years, I have been helping music educators find innovative ways to effectively integrate technology into their instruction. My philosophy of technology in music education is very simple: you are a music teacher - not a technology teacher. As such, you should use any tool at your disposal to help your students learn the musical concepts you are trying to teach. During my 15 years teaching in the New Jersey Public Schools, I found technology to be one of the most engaging and effective tools for teaching. Today, technology has never been more accessible or affordable for teachers and students. I am very proud to be the Founder & Director of MusicFirst - a company dedicated to providing world class software, resources, and content to music teachers and students around the world.
The purpose of this site is to provide you with free and ongoing ideas and strategies for integrating technology into your music instruction. Here you will find blog posts and podcasts that focus on just that. Beginning in 2023, I will begin to offer online courses for all aspects of music education. I truly hope that this site will become your go-to resource for all things music technology.
Podcasting Across the Curriculum
Everything you need to teach podcasting from MusicFirst, Focusrite, and Soundtrap for Education
We've partnered with our friends over at Soundtrap and Focusrite to curate a package of hardware, software, and content to provide everything you need to start teaching podcasting. We're thrilled to announce that "Podcasting Across the Curriculum," authored by Dr. Jim Frankel, is now live in the MusicFirst Classroom. This complete podcasting curriculum explores the history of podcasting, the elements of storytelling, audio recording & editing, podcast distribution and more!
It includes: 20 Lesson Plans, 20 Projects (across all subjects including: Mathematics, Poetry, Music, and more!) and 10 Extra Bonus Projects!
A full curriculum, which takes your students from "I don't know what podcasting is" to "I've got my 10-minute podcast fully produced on Spotify"
This curriculum is designed to be used in conjunction with the Focusrite Vocaster Studio and Soundtrap for Education, and is now available in the MusicFirst Classroom!
