Five Free Music Websites to Improve Note Reading

A guide to some free music websites available on the Internet to help music students improve their note reading skills.

Two common challenges faced by beginning music students are note learning and identifying a note's location on their instrument (geography). Until note reading fluency is achieved, this can lead to some frustrating practice sessions at home.

It is important to develop note fluency at an early stage. The process of learning new music will become easier. Sight-reading and sight-playing will be less stressful. Students will be able to read through music more quickly and play more expressively.

Online Note Reading Websites & Note Reading Games

The following list is a compilation of some of the sites available on the Internet to help with practicing and improve note reading.

musictheory.net

Musictheory.net has quite a few music drills. Under the "Trainer" section, click on "Note Trainer". Users can specify whether to be drilled on reading in the treble clef, bass clef, tenor clef and alto clef. Hints are available and Note Trainer keeps score. Users can also do ear training drills, watch flash presentations of various topics of music theory and print off blank manuscript paper. Note that the Note Trainer may be too advanced for young beginners as it tests students' reading of the entire Grand Staff plus ledger lines.

Funbrain.com – The Piano Player

Students drill their note reading and keyboard geography in this online game. Four levels of play are available: Beginner (one octave with labels), Intermediate (one octave, no labels), Expert (four octaves with labels) and Virtuoso (four octaves, no labels).  The Piano Player is best suited for younger piano students (12 and under).

musicards.net

Eight sets of online flashcards are available on Musiccards.net: Note Names, Key Signatures, Intervals, Triads, Piano Note Names, Reading Piano Notes, Guitar Note Names and Reading Guitar Notes. Reading Piano Notes and Reading Guitar Notes are instrument location/geography drills. Students try to identify the note. To get the correct answer, scroll over the card. Several "decks" are available – no ledger lines, staff and ledger lines, naturals and accidentals.

Piano Pedagogy Plus

Online flash games are available on the Games page. Users can practice note reading on all four clefs. The games are timed and points are deducted for each incorrect answer. Students can also practice their interval reading.

emusictheory.com

Five note naming games are available on emusictheory.com: Note Names, Paced Note Names, C-Clef Note Names, Piano Keys and Guitar Frets. The first three are straight note identification exercises while the last two are instrument geography drills.

Online Note Reading Resources – Just the Tip of the Iceberg

Each of these websites listed contain a variety of drills and tools to help music students improve their note reading. There are other sites out there. Explore the many sites available and choose what sites work best for the student and his music practice needs.

For more information on practicing music, read Five Free Music Websites to Improve Ear Training, Free Websites to Help with Music Theory or Rudiments, and Reasons to Practice Daily.

Originally published on Suite101.com on November 22, 2009. Updated March 24, 2013. All rights reserved by Rhona-Mae Arca.

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.

Playing Fraction Pies - Help with Rhythm

Hooray! I've been looking for an online game that my students can play to practice their rhythm/fraction recognition. Here's what I found.

David provides a concise breakdown of the pie pieces and then has a game at the bottom of his page.

Happy playing!

(c) 2009 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Online Music Games

If you're looking for something new to give your students (or if you, a student is looking for something new to play), try these online music games:

• Star Jam - Drop blocks into the space in front of the moving ball to create a musical guitar riff.

• Music Catch - Catch musical shapes that fly onto the screen in time to the music. Yellow is good. Purple is good but Red is BAD.

Enjoy!

(c) 2009 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Music Review 101

The one thing that music teachers enjoy about Christmas break is that it's a chance to rest our overworked braincells and catch up on sleep. The downside however, is that some students really take "Christmas Break" to a whole new level. These links are for those students and the teachers that are looking for funky ways to refresh their memories:

Speed Note Reading eMusicTheory.com Practice - everything from note reading to ear training drills Pedaplus.com - Games

And let's not forget my all-time favorites: musictheory.net - Head to "Trainers"

funbrain.com - The Piano Player

(c) 2009 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.