Top 5 Tech Tips for Music Teachers
Today I’m going to share my Top 5 Tech Tips for Music Teachers that I’m loving this week. It was so hard to narrow it down so I plan to revisit this topic again in the future!
1. Color-Coded Chrome Tabs
First of all, I hope you are using multiple Chrome logins! This has been a game changer for me. (Notice I’m talking about CHROME logins, not Google). I’ve had Chrome logins for school, personal, Tpt, and even one for my son. I change the background color of each login so I can tell at a moment’s glance which browser I’m in. This allows me to save different bookmarks for each login and stay logged in to the appropriate accounts.
Once you have that taken care of, you’ll want to group and color-code your tabs! If you’re anything like me, you have approximately 87 tabs open at any given time. Right click on one of those tabs and select “Add Tab to New Group” and choose your name and color. Now you can go through and do that for each of your tabs, grouping and color-coding as desired. This will enable you to collapse groups and keep similar items together. I love it!
2. Google Slides
Okay, I know. It’s not that exciting and definitely not original. However, I want to encourage you to create your student assignments in Google Slides! If you ever use images or clipart in your worksheets or assignments, Google Docs can sometimes be a pain for formatting. I find it much easier to get my spacing just right in Google Slides. Simply go to the Page Setup and change the size from “Widescreen 16:9” to “Custom” and input “8.5x11in”. As you design your resource, keep at least a ½ inch margin in mind, and you’ll be good to go!
Music Snippet
This Add-On is an absolute game-changer for music teachers!
3. Music Snippet
This one is exciting stuff! This can technically go with Google Slides, but it deserves its own special mention. Music Snippet is an Extension for both Google Docs and Google Slides. It allows you to insert lines of music directly into your worksheet or assignment. It works with Flat.io. How great is that! On your toolbar, click on “Extensions” and select “Add-Ons” -> “Get Add-Ons”. Type Music Snippet in the search bar and follow the instructions for installation. This is a must-have for music teachers!
4. Musescore
There are many music notation softwares available today. And frankly, there are several good ones for free. However, I highly recommend using the Pro version of Musescore. Not only do I enjoy using the platform, it EFFORTLESSLY creates scrolling music videos with a click of a button. I’ve used these videos to teach parts in sectionals, run warm-ups, facilitate sightreading, and more. At $50 a year, I wouldn’t call this a must-have, but it is certainly very nice! Check out this sample video:
5. Adobe Podcast
If you taught in 2020, you probably received a crash course in video and sound editing. Whether you wanted to or not! I definitely created my fair share of virtual choir videos and learned a lot about editing. To this day, I’m pretty comfortable taking audio and popping it into Garageband or Logic to clean it up. However, AI technology is ramping up and the options are starting to open up for teachers. If you find yourself needing to clean up a quick audio sample (recorded concert announcements, musical reveal video, etc), try out Adobe Podcast: https://podcast.adobe.com/enhance# It’s in Beta right now, but I’m pretty excited about the possibilities!
Well, this wraps up the top 5 tech tips I’m loving this week. It was hard to narrow down my list, and I didn’t get a chance to extol my love for Canva so I’m sure I’ll be back later with more!
