Looking for some ideas

[Heather Bryson]

I teach a high school level music appreciation course. The class is primarily freshman. There is no textbook. This year all freshman have MacBooks. I'm looking for student-centered activities in the areas of: musical instruments, basic theory, history, technology using GB.

Anyone have anything to share or sites to direct me to?

[Chad Criswell]

I started a project a few years ago when I did some high school level music history stuff in class. It is a java based music history research database and timeline that you are more than welcome to take a look at and use in your classes. I tried to set it up to be used as a teacher tool on a video projector, but the resource materials it links to (public domain music history textbooks and other references) are very useful for students who need to write a paper.

I intentionally made it so that kids could not simply cut and paste from the pages, rather they have to go out and actually read the books and other online materials that are linked to from the database. Just be sure to click the Show All Info button to see the actual reference links and audio files.

[Cynthia Yuschyshyn]

I don't know if you know about this music theory site yet or not but it is Ricci Adams Musictheory.net

It is a fabulous orobram that I use every day with my music students. It has theory lessons, ear training, guitar and brass trainers and the site keeps adding tools all the time. You can find the link at www.musictheory.net

Hope this helps.

[Cynthia Yuschyshyn]

My apologies to everyone. Musictheory.net already mentioned.

[Fritz Benz]

You could teach basic music theory concepts using a couple of excellent free websites:

1. MusicTheory.net
2. Teoria.com

Since they have Macbooks, they would love to create and compose using Garage Band!

I agree with Carol below about history, but the above mentioned websites do make Music theory more engaging!