Music Blogs for Musicians, Music Students and Music Teachers

The number music-related blogs has exploded since 2008. When Dolphin Music published its list of the "Top Ten Music Related Blogs", music blogs did not make many top ten lists. In 2010, a Google search on "music blogs" yields over 250,000,000 results and nearly 100,000,000 results for "top music blog sites" and subdivided by genre, instrument and musician level.

The following is a compilation of some music related blogs in the blogsphere:

Music Teacher Blogs

There are countless more blogs written by musicians and music teachers which share everything from dealing with teacher burnout to tips on writing studio policies. Two blogs that share a wide mix of information and resources for music teachers are the Music Matters Blog and Layton Music – Games & Resources.

The Music Matters Blog was developed by Kansas-based piano teacher Natalie Wickham. She launched Music Matters in September 2005 and offers "creative, practical and up-to-date resources for the independent music teacher." Entry categories include: group class ideas, ideas for parents, music history, recital ideas, resource reviews, compositions and computer help, and on-line resources. Wickham even welcomes guest posts.

Layton Music – Games & Resources – Where Music Teachers Come to Play was developed by Arizona-based piano teacher D’Net Layton. Her blog includes reviews of music teaching resources, articles about composers, group lesson ideas, student incentive programs and games.

Helpful Blogs for Music Studentsand Their Parents

Many music blogs available are written by music teachers to help music students and their parents with their at-home practice routine. Common blog themes include: quality versus quantity practice, how parents can help their child practice and practice requirements. Two such blogs are Learn Theory of Music Blog and Music Noodle.

Learn Theory of Music Blog was developed by British musician Julian Partridge. To him, "Music education is an emotive subject and this country has seen it's fair share of neglect over the years." Some of his recent posts include: "What Is Stage Fright?", "The ABSOLUTE Beginners Music Dictionary" and "The Best Music Recording Programs". Partridge, a bassoonist for the Ulster Orchestra, launched his blog in 2007.

Music Noodle offers music practice advice to parents of young musicians. It offers a discussion forum where teachers and parents can discuss practicing, motivational challenges and how parents can set their children up for musical success. Some recent posts include "Create a Good Music Practice Environment", "Is Music Practice Supposed to Be Fun?", "No More Music Practice Disasters" and "Bagged! Are You a Pushy Music Parent?"

Useful Blogs for All Musicians: Performers, Students and Teachers

Another growing category are the musician blogs, where they can discuss industry challenges, career paths, practice strategies and more. Two helpful music blogs in this category are The Collaborative Piano Blog and The Practice Blog.

The Collaborative Piano Blog looks at the art of the piano in ensemble, various piano-related resources and events, classical music, music education, technology. Launched in 2005 by Ontario-based pianist, teacher and vocal coach. Some of his popular posts are "How to Get Work as a Freelance Collaborative Pianist", "31 Days to Better Practicing" and "15 Ways To Add 10-minute Practice Blocks To Your Routine."

Foley regularly posts news about upcoming performances, online resources and some humorous posts for stress relief.

The Practice Blog is an ongoing music practice resource for students, teachers, parents and performers. Some popular posts include: "Music Practice Books", "Digital Audio Recorder", "Zoom H4n Review", "Lesson Notes and Practice Targets" and "Essential music practice techniques for all instruments".

This list is just a sampling of music blogs available. There are countless more blogs, from jazz music blogs to classical music blogs and from guitar blogs to rock music blogs. The blogs listed above contain a wealth of information for all musicians, from resources and pedagogy tips for music teachers to practicing ideas and advice for music students and their parents. All musicians, regardless of playing level can learn something new from the music practice and performance-related blogs.

This article was originally published on Suite101.com on May 29, 2010. All rights reserved by Rhona-Mae Arca.

Sheet Music Plus and Passive Income Streams

I like to shop locally whenever possible. However, sometimes it's just much more economical and just gosh darn convenient to shop online. Digital orders are just a couple of clicks away. You see with the ads on the side that I'm affiliated with Amazon. If you check out the ads, you'll see that I'm actually able to tailor them so that you will see music related items. Teachers, you can do this on your studio website and/or your blog, providing that your account allows you to host ads (for instance, Wordpress.com blogs don't allow ads but Wordpress.org blogs do).

Now, there is another joint in town though that sells a great selection of print and digital sheet music, learning aids and other musical goodies - Sheetmusicplus.com , This is the place that Rideau Music directed their customers to when Gill brothers closed their doors last year.

One of the cool things is that music teachers can create music lists for their students. Anything to make it easier for our busy piano parents to buy the right materials, I say. Some of my piano parents already shop online for sheet music.

Here are my lists:

• Beginner Students Music List

• Supplemental Music List

• Fake Books & Jazz Materials List

• Conservatory Canada List (sadly, very limited. Mayfair Publishing has the full product offering)

• Royal Conservatory of Music List

• Technical Exercises & Study Aids List

Fellow music teachers, if you sign up for a teacher account, you can register for their Easy Rebates for Music Teachers program. You can earn 8% cash back on your sheet music purchases. Not only that, by creating music lists and sharing them with your students, family and friends, you will earn a little bit with every sale.

If you're looking for an additional income stream that requires very little effort, check this out. Just bear in mind that as with any passive income stream online, it does take time to build up your presence. You will need to go in an occasionally tweak the keywords and update your lists. You will also need to remember to periodically share the lists with your network of family, friends and students via print, email, your website and/or social networking.

Good luck and happy shopping!

Website Migration and Cross-Posting

Maintaining and updating your music studio website is one thing that should be done regularly. After all, search engines, love dynamic pages. However, how many music teachers have a lot of time to spend on their website? Not I, and although I learned Dreamweaver at my last "regular" job, I feel that website design technology has advanced far beyond what I was taught at my basic "Introduction to Dreamweaver" class. Although, I do know some HTML code, I cannot, for the life of me, get my brain around CSS. I'm sure, with time, I'd get it, but back to my original question, "How many music teachers have a lot of time to spend on their website?" That's when I started blogging. At least, that way, some pages on my site would get updated. However, I am challenged to update even my blogs regularly. My latest experiment is to ask several fellow word-savvy music teachers to contribute to my Musings at Musespeak and Busted Piano String blogs. We'll do some cross-posting on each other's blogs, thereby injecting new life to each other's sites, and share new ideas with a larger audience. Stay tuned for some guest posts. Back to my website. I will be migrating my website to Wordpress with the hopes that simplicity with lead to website optimization. Well I will be, once I'm done watching all Wordpress tutorials published by fellow music teacher and web guru Robert Vimer.

Online Music Resources Spotlight: MusicTechTeacher.com

This little gem has been around for several years. Long enough to amass a wide selection of music games, music quizzes and help pages. The Music Worksheets page gives students extra practice on basic rudiments and composition. There are also print mazes that feature a famous composer and/or performer.

The Links page provides links to post secondary music schools, music software and music educators. MusicTechTeacher.com is a very useful online resources for music students and music teachers alike!

(c) 2012 by Musespeak(TM), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Online Music Resources Spotlight: Making Music Fun

Making Music Fun is a friendly site with music games, music worksheets, free sheet music and music resources. These are geared toward beginner to early intermediate-level students.

There is a nice selection of note-naming worksheets as well as interval worksheets. They are visually appealing to young students. There are also composer word searches.

Making Music Fun is well laid out. Visit the Music Library and learn all about a composer. There are composer biographies, worksheets, lesson plans and sheet music. You can also access this information in the Print It section.

There is also an arcade, which contains two music theory games ("Music Distress" and "Eek Shark!"). All worksheets are available for free.

(c) 2012 by Musespeak(TM), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.