Before taking this class I had always heard of RSS technology, but never done anything with it. After creating an account with Google Reader, I was instantly amazed how easy it is to search for different RSS feeds relating to subjects, associations, and professional groups pertaining to my field of interest.
While searching for archives of various musical genres, I discovered "Classical Archives," which is a giant collection of classical composers, their music in MIDI format, their music in mp3 format, comprehensive biographies, and other tools for the music educator, musician, and amateur alike. Although you must pay a modest annual fee to have unlimited access to this giant network, the site does allow five free downloads a day. You can create a temporary account by signing in as a "limited member." This will allow you to peruse the website, and gain access to five new midi or mp3 files of your choice each day.
The MIDI files can be downloaded and entered into most music notation programs. This has many benefits. Depending on the software, you should be able to view the full score, and keep it on your computer or flash drive for easy access. Although these are not "official" scores, you can learn a lot about a particular composition, and how the MIDI sequencer went about making the file. This in itself is a great free way to supplement classes like music theory, form and analysis, orchestration, and ear-training.
This website also contains the latest information on the newest recordings available, and the "hottest" composers, musicians, and scholars of our time. On my Google Reader, I have been sent fantastic articles such as, "Video Games Exposing Teens to Classical Music," "Maazel, Mahler, and The New York Philharmonic," "The Wall Street Journal - New Ways to Buy Bach Online," and countless others.
I think that this is a great resourse for music educators everywhere. Because classical music is the backbone and foundation of so much material music educators teach, it is imperitive that they take advantage of websites like these to expand their digital library with an almost endless resource. I'm glad I found this link, and I hope it will be beneficial to many of you. I encourage everyone to add it to their PLN!
http://www.classicalarchives.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In addition to the music theory-related uses that you mentioned, I can also see an application for this resource with secondary level ensembles. Perhaps similar sites exist that address other genres of music, e.g. jazz?
ReplyDelete