One of my all-time favorite DVDs that I used to show my students was Animusic. There were two editions of the DVDs - Animusic and Animusic 2 - and my students would sit there mesmerized at the incredible computer graphics that were magically synced to the really cool music for each track.

I am excited to announce that I will be heading back to Villanova University this summer to teach a music technology course on behalf of the University of the Arts Summer Music Studies Program on behalf of MusicFirst Summer Teacher Academy. It’s been almost 10 years since I’ve taught a week long summer course at Villanova and I’m thrilled to be back!

I recently did some research into microphone and interface solutions that are built specifically for podcasting and came across an amazing product line from Focusrite called the Vocaster. Wow. I immediately loved the design and simplicity of the two units and decided to take them for a test drive. I love them. In fact I love them so much, I decided to write a podcasting curriculum that featured them and started reselling them at MusicFirst. They are IDEAL for music education. Here’s why.

To help celebrate Pi Day (March 14th - 3/14), here is a very easy lesson plan to get your students composing in Noteflight using the first 10 digits of Pi. This lesson is one of thousands from the MusicFirst Classroom Content Library. If you are a MusicFirst Classroom subscriber, just add shared/view/lesson/8276# to the end of your site URL to access the full lesson plan.

The following is an excerpt from my chapter in the amazing publication, Places and Purposes of Popular Music Education: Perspectives from the Field, edited by Bryan Powell and Gareth Dylan Smith. If you’d like to read the full chapter, pick up a copy on Amazon.

I stumbled across one of the most incredible tools yesterday. If you’ve never heard of Lalal.ai, you can thank me later. Using the power of AI, this tool will extract the individual tracks (stems) from any audio file. You read that right.. Best part - you can try it out for free and if you love it as much as I do, it’s $30 to extract a LOT of audio.

Hyperscore is a music composition program designed to unlock students' creativity, regardless of their level of prior music experience. The software was what I consider “the missing link” between notation-based programs and digital audio workstations (DAWs).

To help celebrate Women’s History Month, here is a lesson plan about one of music’s most celebrated modern composers, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, from Iceland. This lesson plan is one of MANY from the MusicFirst Classroom Content Library. It is intended for students in middle and high school. You can get a free trial to access this lesson as well as tons of other content and software to explore everything MusicFirst has to offer.

March is Women’s History Month - celebrating, commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history. What better way to celebrate in your music classes than to create a podcast with your students?!?

Come study with me - it’s FREE, it’s online, and it starts THIS WEDNESDAY! This course will cover EVERYTHING you need to know to implement podcasting into your curriculum. All participants will come away from the course with a certificate for 10 hours of professional development, a ready-to-use lesson plan and project for your students, and the opportunity to have your work included in our curriculum! I really hope you’ll join me! To register for the course, click HERE today!

One of my favorite shows of the year for MusicFirst is the Music & Drama Education Expo in London, England,. It’s been 3 years since I have been here in person, for obvious reasons, and it was GREAT to be back. It is a FREE show for all attendees so there are LOTS of teachers here, and almost every company in the music education space here in the UK are in attendance.

BBC Ten Pieces opens up the world of classical music to 7-14 year olds. Explore our exciting films, lesson plans, instrumental arrangements & live events!

The screenshot tool on a Mac and PC is one of the most useful tools for teachers who want to create worksheets, handouts, and quizzes for their students.

Just in time for Presidents Day/Week, here is a podcasting project for you to do with your students. It is from my Podcasting Across the Curriculum book, available exclusively from MusicFirst. Also, there is still time to sign up for my FREE podcasting course that begins on March 1. You can register for the course HERE.

Check out these amazing posters that cover all aspects of music theory, created by Toby Rush - Assistant Professor of Music Theory & Technology at the University of Dayton, in Dayton, Ohio.

If you are interested in finding public domain band music to download and perform with your ensemble, this is the site for you.

Here are some of my suggestions to help you keep your personal life private. In my opinion every educator, especially those in public school settings, should take these steps to protect themselves from curious minds.

This post has all of my session materials from the TMEA/TI:ME 2023 Conference in San Antonio, TX.

Check out this simple site for helping your students find rhyming words when writing lyrics. Shout out to Meaghan O’Connor-Vince for introducing me to it!