Using Music on the Web

I love music! My whole life i have grown up being surrounded my different kinds of music. I play numerous instruments and never go a single day without listening to a CD. i am a strong believer in

Recent reports have shown that less than half of Australian schools recieve any music education. Needless to say i was particularly disappointed by these findings. However i do understand that this is due to a lack of trained musical educators and resources, I also feel that music does not have to be restricted to the Arts subject area.

As we know, most music is subject to copyright and therefore using music for educational activities can require we as teachers to jump through a few loop holes. The website Incompetech (2008) offers a range of royalty free tunes which can be downloaded to your computer and used as you wish. Websites such as this provide new options for teachers who wish to use music in their teaching. Some examples of ways that music from Incompetech (2008) could be used in a classroom include:

• Students could use these songs as background in a presentation or a video clip they create.
  
• Students could listen to a piece of instrumental music and identify sounds and recognise themes in the songs.
  
• I have often thought that it would be a fun activity to do with children of any age to have them hear a song, and write a narrative to match the feeling of the music.
  

Not only do activities like this increase creativity, it also appeals to a broad range of the students multiple intelligences (Gardener, 1975).

BGFL. (2009). Multiple Intelligences (Primary). Retrieved July 16, 2009 from http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/ict/multiple_int/what.cfm

Crittenden, S. (2009, July 19). Who Stopped the Music? [Radio Broadcast]. ABC Radio National

Macleod, K. (2008). Incompetech: Royalty Free Music. Retrieved on 20 August, 2009 from www.incompetech.com