Music Tech Teacher Podcast

In this episode: I’m super-excited to welcome my first guest to the Music Tech Teacher podcast: Tim Topham, a Melbourne based creative piano teacher, blogger and podcaster who uses technology on a daily basis.  Tim has his own website – timtopham.com – and also heads up the Inner Circle – an exclusive membership community designed [...]

How technology has revolutionised the way I arrange music Since the time I began arranging (in my teens!), the advancements in technology have greatly influenced the speed at which I can arrange music. Back then, you couldn’t Google song lyrics, you had to buy an entire album for a single song and notating was done by [...]

Best notation apps and software for music educators Notation apps for desktop computer, iPads and other tablet devices – what’s currently available? Which ones are the best? What should I use if my students have Chromebooks? Or iPads? In this episode I’ll talk about the available notation options for music teachers.   Resources and links [...]

Where to find free sheet music If you’re a music teacher on a tight budget it can be difficult to find the money to purchase sheet music for the myriad of music ensembles, instrumental and vocal students you may have at your school. It’s good to know that these days there are LOTS of websites [...]

From technophobe to tech “expert” – how I ended up doing what I do I’m often asked how I ended up where I am – as a music technology in education trainer. I share my accidental journey from technophobe (it wasn’t that long ago!) to tech “expert” and talk about the things I’ve learnt along [...]

Free NASA sounds and how to use them in music education Some time ago, NASA released a whole collection of recorded sounds for the public to listen to and use freely. The collection includes sounds from space – stars, planets, satellites – sounds from rocket launch sequences and even iconic dialogue spoken by astronauts, NASA [...]

Recording school kids – why, how, where and what to use With the changes to technology in recent years, recording has become incredibly accessible and there are many great ways you can use it in music education. I talk about the “why, how, where and what to use” of recording in the classroom: the types [...]

Productivity tips for music teachers – part B This is part B of a two-part series on productivity for music teachers. In this second part, we’ll look at how to safely back up all of your data, how to overcome website loading issues, how to retrieve a webpage that’s disappeared, how to effectively save links [...]

Productivity tips for music teachers – part A Technology is a big part of my everyday life and has helped me improve my productivity in many ways. Over the next two episodes I’ll discuss some of the tech tools that I use on a daily basis to make me more efficient and organised (well, most [...]

15 ways to use a single computer in the music classroom In episode 4 I talked about 19 different ways you can use just one iPad in music education, and I wanted to follow that up today with some ideas for using a single computer with your students.  I know that some of you don’t [...]

How to scan sheet music Scanning music can turn your paper music library into a portable digital library that’s with you at all times. It can also help you get notes into a notation software program like Sibelius, Finale, Noteflight or MuseScore super-fast. But what exactly is the process? I’ll share the step-by-step process, my [...]

In this episode: What if you don’t have access to multiple iPads in the music classroom? What can you do with just a single iPad? As it turns out – quite a lot! I’ll discuss some of the ways you can use your own iPad with your students, from identifying notes of the staff, to [...]

4 Fun formative assessment tools for music educators   There are many times during the school year where you need to assess the progress or understanding of students in your classes, but with the technology tools available these days that process can be fun for both you and your students. I talk about 4 different [...]

How I arranged a song using only my iPhone I recently arranged a song sitting at my keyboard and realised afterwards that I had only used the resources available to me on my iPhone (which I was holding at the time!). Using a small number of apps on my phone, I worked out lyrics, chords, [...]

Learning on-the-go: why I love podcasts for free professional development and inspiration In this episode of the MTT podcast, I talk about why podcasts have been one of the best sources of education and inspiration for me over the past 8 years and why I think they are an effective and convenient way to learn. [...]