When I started teaching in the mid 90s (eek, did I just age myself?), a dry erase board and multi disc CD player were considered cutting edge classroom technology.  Now, I don’t even use CDs and I can’t imagine teaching without my SMART projector!  The truth is, technology can be a fantastic tool for teaching and many of us rely upon it for our daily instruction.  Today I’m sharing some of my favorite YouTube Channels for classroom instruction.

The Piano Guys

The Piano Guys have a fabulous YouTube channel in which they cover popular songs using a classical approach.  My students love watching their videos in class and at home.  My students’ favorite, Cello Wars, is a medley of Star Wars songs.  Their videos are great way to introduce instruments, melody, harmony, form, and expression to students in a way that engages even the most reluctant student.

Musication

If you aren’t following the Musication channel on YouTube and you teach music, you are missing out!  I don’t know who this person is, but I want to hug them!  Musication has play-a-long videos for boomwhackers, hand bells, and simple percussion instruments.  The videos are color coded and often have varying levels of difficulty, making the content accessible for children of all ages.  What I like most is that it provides a visual for melodic direction, durations, and harmony that helps my students to see, hear, and experience music in a variety of ways.  

Barefoot Books

Barefoot Books is great channel for your lower elementary students!  Barefoot Books is a publishing company that posts many of its children sing-a-long books online.  The books are animated and accompanied so that students can see and hear the story!  They’re perfect for those days when you have no voice, or something goes awry in your room and you need a quick filler activity.   You can also purchase their books on Amazon! 

Dr. Jill Reese

Teaching ukulele in your general music class?  Then you need to know about Dr. Jill Reese’s YouTube Channel!   It’s a wonderful collection of ukulele play-a-long videos.  The chords are pictured along with the song so that students can easily play along.  We use her channel in my ukulele unit each year and my students love searching for songs to play on her channel.

Doodle Chaos

Have you seen the Line Rider videos?  Doodle Chaos is the YouTube Channel that posts those videos!  From In the Hall of the Mountain King to Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, the Line Rider videos are a great way to show melodic direction, duration, and expressive elements such as dynamics and tempo.  

Of course, if you want to peek into my classroom, you’re welcome to check out my YouTube channel – of course, called SingToKids! 

Do you have a favorite channel that didn’t make my list?  Leave me a comment below – I would love to check it out. 

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