Resources for at-home music learning (for teachers and parents)

If you know of any you think should be added, please Tweet us @MusicTeacherMag or email the assistant editor on harriet.clifford@markallengroup.com. 

We have split the list into Guidance, Free resources and Paid for resources. (Please note that Music Teacher has not checked the full content of each of these, so we would recommend viewing before using with children, particularly in relation to the YouTube videos.)

Guidance

• “Music Unlocked“: Guidance for Schools and Music Providers from Music Mark.
  
  
• The ISM’s page of up to date guidance for private music teaching and teaching in schools. They have also put together a useful page featuring a mixture of free and paid for resources.

Free resources

• We are offering free access to our online resource ‘Dealing with COVID uncertainty’. Download here.
  
  
• Naxos MusicBox is currently free for all individual schools until 12 February. See our February (published end of Jan) for a full review. Contact Julian Edwards directly on jedwards@naxosmusic.co.uk for access.
  
  
• Music Mark has a comprehensive list of home learning resources available.
  
  
• Music Mark has also created a ‘Supporting Wellbeing and Mental Health‘ resource with lots of links to useful sites and ideas.
  
  
• ABRSM has a Play On page specifically created during the pandemic. It’s filled with lots of useful resources for teachers and parents, including a new weekly session with a musician (Thursday, 4pm).
  
  
• Services For Education has a thorough list of free music resources online. Watch a video about their plans for lockdown 3.0 here.
  
  
• BBC Teach – free online resources for a range of subjects. The BBC is also providing education for children through its TV channels as of Monday 11th January.
  
  
• BBC Teach has created a ‘Bring the Noise‘ page in light of Children’s Mental Health Week. It’s filled with information about music and mental health, as well as plenty of free resources.
  
  
• BBC Teach has also created the Ten Pieces Musical Menu, with primary music activities which are updated each week.
  
  
• BBC Proms at Home has a great page of fun activities and resources for children to get involved with while learning at home.
  
  
• Jimmy Rotheram (@MusicEdu4all on Twitter) and the Benedetti Foundation have launched free lesson plans and resources for teaching primary music. Find out the details and download the books.
  
  
• Music Teachers’ Association (MTA) features a #CanDoMusic page of resources, including these 12 tips for teaching on Zoom.
  
  
• Wiltshire Music Connect has put together a ‘live’ page of musical resources for children and families at home. Most of them seem to be free!
  
  
• The VOCES8 Foundation has a wealth of free resources, including Free Fun Things and the Winter House Resource Pack, which supports their family concert event with Stephen Fry on 20 February (tickets to the event are £5).
  
  
• BandLab‘s music education platform is free and works in all browsers and Android/iOS mobile devices. Watch a short explanatory video here.
  
  
• Artforms Leeds has put together a list of GCSE Music resources for at-home learning, including YouTube channels and other helpful websites.
  
  
• Showcase Music School runs a free Virtual Youth Orchestra each week. Sign up and access the music here. The school also runs Sing With Us – a free weekly virtual singing assembly from 9.10-9.30am on Wednesdays.
  
  
• Oak National Academy has produced free online music lessons for a range of primary and secondary Key Stages. Browse the lessons here.
  
  
• YolanDa Brown‘s website includes free YouTube videos of singles from her upcoming album. Check out our February issue for a full interview with YolanDa.
  
  
• YolanDa Brown has also announced that her bespoke music learning resources will now be free for all children. They can be downloaded here.
  
  
• Sound and Music has a page of resources for music educators during COVID-19, including free CPD, online masterclasses for secondary students and digital listening resources for primary children.
  
  
• The Benedetti Foundation has a YouTube playlist of ‘General Musicianship Warm Ups’ for children to try at home.
  
  
• Music for Youth has launched a free, virtual music workshop series for primary aged children. The sessions are available on demand.
  
  
• Blob Opera from Google! Take a look, you won’t regret it.
  
  
• The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded a virtual performance of The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. It’s available on YouTube.
  
  
• Bergen National Opera has just launched a an opera game: OperaQuest. There’s an English translation, it’s suitable for all ages and is a fun way to introduce children (or adults) to opera and the process behind staging one.
  
  
• Young Voices have a YouTube channel. They are also offering a free online music lesson on Thursday 7th at 11am, which will then be available to view afterwards.
  
  
• Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra created OP at Home during the first lockdown. The series for children features orchestra members recording themselves from home, with some themed episodes. The full playlist is available on YouTube.
  
  
• Sound and Music has created a Google Doc with lots of helpful tips for online music workshop delivery.
  
  
• WHY Music offers free online music lessons and podcasts with accompanying materials. Their books include Where are all the black female composers? and Why is my piano black and white?
  
  
• Opera Holland Park is offering free daily music lessons for ages 7-14 for three weeks (beginning 25 January). These are available to watch on demand.
  
  
• The School Musicals Co is offering a range of songs and scenes, monologues and duologues from some of their musicals for free. They can be downloaded and sung at home.
  
  
• Berkeley Ensemble is offering free access to its new virtual education programme for GCSE Music students until 31 January. Sign up here.
  
  
• Out of the Ark has brought back Out of the Ark Music @HOME – singing resources to help schools, parents and teachers during lockdown.
  
  
• English Touring Opera has made three teaching packs freely available for parents and schools during lockdown. The packs are: Al-Haytham’s Light (7-11-year-olds, KS2); Shh! We have a plan (3-6-year-olds); and Singing lessons (7-11-year-olds).
  
  
• Durham Music has lots of great free resources on its website, including ‘15mins of Music‘ every day at 9.15am!
  
  
• The New London Orchestra has put together a series of short (3.5 minute) videos introducing students to standard orchestral instruments. They are aimed at KS3 but would be suitable for other ages too.
  
  
• The Scottish Chamber Orchestra has a page of fun musical resources for primary age children and young families.
  
  
• Not specifically music, but The Lowry has launched a timetable of free creative activities to support children’s positive mental health in lockdown. These include dancing, colouring, craft, yoga, and creative writing.
  
  
• The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) have created a range of digital activities for schools, young people and families, differentiated by Key Stage and age.
  
  
• Beat Goes On run by Ollie Tunmer has a YouTube page full of free educational videos for teaching children about music and percussion.
  
  
• Education and Bass is offering free online beginner production and DJ courses for students aged 7-16. Email edu@educationandbass.online to sign up.
  
  
• I Can Compose has an inspiration page of free resources, as well as a few free courses.
  
  
• Free weekly online music lessons for children across Norfolk from Norfolk Music Hub.
  
  
• The Diocese of Leeds have a YouTube channel filled with singing sessions for KS1-4.
  
  
• Tri-borough Music Hub has created a list of free music resources to support remote music learning. Find the PDF link in this Tweet.
  
  
• Myleene Klass‘s free YouTube music lessons: Myleene’s Music Klass.
  
  
• Musicca has a free virtual piano and free interactive piano exercises, so children can play the piano at home using their computer keyboard.
  
  
• City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has launched three new ‘Family Fun‘ initiatives for at-home music learning: Music Box, Race Through Space, and Story Corner.
  
  
• Sing Up has created Sing Up at Home, which is completely free – there’s even an A-Z list of resources for at-home singing. They will be running live music sessions on Tuesday mornings at 9am, available to watch on YouTube or Sing Up at Home.
  
  
• PercWorks offers free monthly online masterclasses for young percussionists and drummers aged 11-18 in the UK. Find out more  and RSVP here.
  
  
• London Sinfonietta has a page of online music activities for young people including listening and composition.
  
  
• Birmingham Contemporary Music Group has a BCMG Learning Resources page featuring lots of free resources for teaching and creating music at home.
  
  
• Music Playtime, a website of music activities for children aged 3-7, is free for children to use at home once their school has subscribed.
  
  
• Not specifically music-related, but Creation Theatre Company is currently offering free Zoom training to any teachers looking for a confidence boost in how to use the platform to engage children with online learning. Email boxoffice@creationtheatre.co.uk.
  
  
• Ableton has created a ‘Get started making music’ page for beginners to learn the basics of music making online. No prior experience or equipment is needed and the lessons cover a wide range of musical principles.
  
  
• The London Mozart Players have created an At Home with LMP YouTube channel, which includes musical performances and behind-the-scenes interviews for the whole family. Here is Prokofiev’s Peter & The Wolf with Alexander Armstrong.
  
  
• Belltree Music Therapy has created a series of free videos on Music for Child Development (for adults). They are most suitable for primary ages and SEND children.
  
  
• Jo May‘s ‘June Spoons’ percussion videos are still available on YouTube after she created them for the first lockdown.
  
  
• ORA Singers have extended the deadline and updated the application process for their Composer Competition, an educational scheme for aspiring young choral composers.
  
  
• ORA Singers also have a website for learning how to compose: Composer Create. It’s full of free resources and videos.
  
  
• EarOpener is a series of free video composition masterclasses designed for music students, teachers and independent music makers.
  
  
• BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales has a page of resources and videos, great for online music learning.
  
  
• Composer Stephen Chadwick has created a website featuring free beginner violin tutorials. He is gradually adding more instruments and material commissioned by the London Borough of Havering Music School.
  
  
• Connect: Resound Live offers free access to music broadcasts and accompanying resources for schools and home educators.
  
  
• Ocarina Workshop has a YouTube channel featuring lots of lessons and tips, as well as a ‘Playing Tips’ page on its website. They are also giving Play Your Ocarina Book 1 free with every Ocarina purchased and a free Ocarina with the set of Adventurous Music-Maker books and CDs.
  
  
• LyricLand has a range of free resources, including games, vocal warm-ups, and one-off lessons. More are to be added to the list.
  
  
• Doncaster Music Education Hub has created a great page of free resources to help children stay engaged with music at home.
  
  
• Ted’s List is a new website created in lockdown by Robert Emery. It includes tutorials, reviews, tips and tricks written by more than 75 professional musicians. There is also a YouTube channel.
  
  
• The Voices Foundation's YouTube channel has #VFVirtualSing, #VFIntoMusic and #VFIntoChoral video content all available for free.
  
  
• This Graphic scores gallery from the School of Noise is an interesting way to engage children with music. Take a look.
  
  
• Guitarist Liam Taylor is going live twice a week, creating music in Cubase, exploring music composition and answering your production or music theory questions. It’s a family-friendly stream.
  
  
• Vaughan Fleischfresser (@VFleischfresser on Twitter) has been posting short videos in a ‘Music @ Home’ series. He has created a YouTube playlist which will be regularly updated.
  
  
• A new video calling software for musicians has been launched. Duet is free for unlimited calls up to 20 minutes.
  
  
• Music with Mr McNulty is a YouTube channel of weekly ukulele lesson videos for children. The videos are colourful, fun and are around 10 minutes in length.
  
  
• Mr McNulty has also created a useful YouTube video tutorial on using Garageband on an iPad to programme digital drums.
  
  
• Kay Charlton has a YouTube channel filled with resources for learning the trumpet at home. Includes this video for beginner trumpeters to play along.
  
  
• Rhythm Chaser is a free music rhythm programme created by Kevin Edwards.
  
  
• Andy Pidcock has a YouTube channel with fun music videos freely available.
  
  
• The Good Morning, Mrs Jones! YouTube channel currently has a set of 14 music lessons and body percussion videos suitable for primary pupils. The lessons include singing, clapping, and a range of instruments.
  
  
• Alice Kent also has a YouTube channel with fun, child-friendly music videos available, all around 10 minutes in length.
  
  
• A GCSE music question each day for a whole month! Here’s January. (Sent by Hannah Kirkman on Twitter.)
  
  
• Not music-related, but Emily Coxhead at The Happy Newspaper has put together two free resource packs to help children stay positive.
  
  
• MusicTeacher.com has an Ultimate Guide to Teaching Music Online, giving equipment and set-up recommendations as well as advice for your practice.

Paid for resources

• Mini Virtual Sessions from the Benedetti Foundation. There is a small registration fee, but no one will be prevented from attending due to financial circumstances.
  
  
• All online self-study courses for music educators at Music Education Solutions are now £10 each.
  
  
• This beautiful animated adaptation of The Bear and the Piano has been set to music by Carrot Productions and is currently available to rent or buy from £1.99.
  
  
• Keyshare is a ‘game changing’ app for displaying a MIDI keyboard over video call.  It costs £15 but educators are encouraged to contact David. Read our article here.
  
  
• I Can Compose has a range of compositional courses available for students, all for £15 or under.
  
  
• Beat Goes On also runs online workshops for teachers. Body Beats is £12.99 plus P&P, online workshops are from £150 and they provide bespoke quotes for CPD.
  
  
• AmaSing run weekly wellbeing singing/dancing sessions online each Thursday morning. They are open to all primary ages and everyone is welcome. £50 per half term for a school.
  
  
• VIP Studio Sessions from Charanga. Get a quote or start a free trial.
  
  
• STUDIO: Flashcard Fun – a collection of customisable online games for music teachers to use online or in-person. Available for £12.99.
  
  
• The Hallé Orchestra has produced a digital set works concert for GCSE and A-Level Music students. Reduced prices are available for Manchester schools.
  
  
• Inspire Works has released new dates for its live online leader training for body percussion as part of the recovery curriculum. Places are £18 (incl. VAT).