Music Resources

Listening to music can be inspirational, soothing, invigorating, thought provoking. Playing music of a specific time period can help history come to life.

Studying music at an early age creates an innate sense of rhythm, increases coordination, and develops intelligence. There have been studies published showing that children who learn music become better at math, academics, even at sports. The hand-eye coordination developed by playing the violin will, for example, make you better at baseball. Finding the rhythm in you and in your life, recognizing it, developing and fine-tuning it, may be one of the secrets to a good life.

General Music Education

• The Arts Standards from NYS Board of Education.
• M.U.S.I.C. - Musicians United for Songs in the Classroom, Inc.. A nonprofit org. putting musicians in the classroom, this site has lesson plans, teaching ideas, tons of music links, and an index of over 3,000 songs.
• Music Education. Free lesson plans etc. from Educational CyberPlayground.
• New York Philharmonic Kidzone. Find out about various instruments, learn about musicians and composers, make your own instrument, and more.

Instruction - general and specific

General

• 8 notes.com. Free sheet music and lessons for voice and many instruments.
• Highly recommended by NYC Homeschooling parents, Meryl Danziger has created an innovative approach to teaching music, called The Music House.
• Folk of the Wood - free lessons for acoustic instruemtns (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, etc.)
• Berklee Shares, from Berklee College of Music, has free lessons you can download. Topics include Production & Technology as well as specific instruments.
• The Free Music Education Center has an online music dictionary, biographies of musicians, a history of music, as well as lessons.
• Homespun Tapes has a catalog of instruction tapes and videos for a wide range of instruments and styles.

Guitar / Mandolin

• Free online lessons for some Bluegrass tunes.

Piano

My kids studied the piano. We enjoyed using the Bastien series. This method was developed by a family of musicians. They offer a theory workbook with lessons to match each piano lesson in their series, from young beginner to adult.

For finger exercises, we used Edna Mae Burnam's series, "A Dozen A Day."

Musical Instruments

• Banjo Hangout includes some free lessons.
• Fiddle Hangout includes some free lessons.
• At the Instrument Encyclopedia you can browse for instruments by their geographical origin.
• Celtic instruments from Ceolas.
• Ethnic Instruments including drums, flutes, gongs, singing bowls, winds and more from Carousel Publications.
• Make your own instruments, including Drums, Blowers (Wind Instruments), Scrappers, Rattles and Such, Gourd Rattles, Bongos, Banjos, Fiddles and more.
• The Violin, a website developed by three teenagers, including violin history, manufacture, playing, and science.
• Violin-making

Recordings, Sheet Music, etc.

• EasyByte, free piano sheet music.
• Traditional Music. A library of folk music, including sea shanties, children's songs & nursery rhymes, bluegrass, Irish, Scottish, bawdy tunes, cowboy songs, and educational materials.
• The Mutopia Project offers free sheet music with everything from classical to ragtime, for several different instruments.
• CDs for sale, a series called Classical Music for Kids
• The Civil War musical "Reunion" has 26 period songs to download.

Music Museums, Organizations, etc.

• American Musical Instrument Society, an international organization founded in 1971 to promote better understanding of all aspects of the history, design, construction, restoration, and usage of musical instruments in all cultures and from all periods.
• Musical Instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• The National Music Museum, in Vermillion, South Dakota. The website offers virtual tours.
• New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10023-7498. Phone: (212) 870-1630.

Music Camps

• Fiddle Workshops and Camps. A great listing of fiddle camps all over America, and even including Scotland, Ireland and Canada.
• Music and Dance Camps run by the Country Dance and Song Society, at Pinewoods Camp in Buzzard's Bay, MA; Timber Ridge Camp in Highview, WV; and Ogontz Camp, in Lyman, NH. Family Week and Campers' Week are recommended. Lots of informal music-making, mostly folk music of various kinds.

Websites by and for Kids

• Bach's tour of musical instruments, information on various instruments from three pre-teens.
• DSO Kids - a website for kids from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Includes "Make your own Instruments," "Composers' Corner," games, lesson plans, and more.
• Energy in the Air, a website of sounds from the orchestra.
• Fun Facts about Happy birthday to You
Online Music Encyclopedia - everything you've ever wanted to learn about music.
• Music Mania - learn about instruments.