Author: Matthew Cline

  • Free Xylophone / Glockenspiel App to Practice Without an Instrument

    Free Xylophone / Glockenspiel App to Practice Without an Instrument

    Update (3/17/20): It seems the app reviewed below is no longer available for Android. Not to worry, it is still available for iOS and there are plenty of xylophone apps for Android. I will be testing the other Android apps soon and I will then update this article with my recommendations. In the meantime, here […]

  • Best Glockenspiels for Beginner Home Practice

    Best Glockenspiels for Beginner Home Practice

    This year at Open School, Red and Silver Clusters are learning basic keyboard percussion, mostly on glockenspiels. And, Yellow Cluster is learning more advanced percussion on glockenspiels, xylophones, metallophones, bass bars, hand drums, and other percussion instruments. Students are not in any way required to have a mallet percussion instrument for home practice. However, students […]

  • Live Looping Fun with Percussion and a Single Ukulele

    Live Looping Fun with Percussion and a Single Ukulele

    For the first week of music class this year, I chose two great videos to share with the classes as motivation for the coming year. Both videos involved a concept called “live looping”, which involves the use of a electronic pedal or a computer to produce a loop or repetition of a sound. Live looping […]

  • The Basic Tools for Home Drum Practice

    The Basic Tools for Home Drum Practice

    Though a full drum kit can be pricey, getting started practicing drums at home is a relatively inexpensive endeavor. There are really only two essentials: drum sticks and something to drum on. Below are some recommendations for drum sticks and a practice pad. However, if you want to be sure you are playing the correct […]

  • Small Group Music Lessons at Open School

    Small Group Music Lessons at Open School

    In the spring of 2018, I made a significant shift in the nature of lessons offered in my after-school music program. Now, most all of the lessons I teach are some sort of “group” lesson. This came partially as an experiment because I simply had too many students interested in lessons and I did not […]

  • Recommended Soprano Ukuleles for Beginner Home Practice

    Recommended Soprano Ukuleles for Beginner Home Practice

    Over the past couple months, students at Open School have been introduced to new and exciting instruments. And, in the last few weeks, we began putting the instruments in their hands. The fourth and fifth grade clusters have a special treat: ukuleles! Over the course of this year, we will be learning all about the […]

  • Recommended Electric Guitars for Home Practice (Kid’s Edition)

    Recommended Electric Guitars for Home Practice (Kid’s Edition)

    It is true that electric guitar are generally easier to learn more quickly than acoustic guitars. But, few young students think about the possibility of getting a guitar appropriate for their size. Even electric guitars with full size fretboards can make it difficult for young students to reach the notes they wish to play. The […]

  • Using the MuseScore App to Learn Music Faster

    Using the MuseScore App to Learn Music Faster

    I have wrote before about the amazing free MuseScore program for music notation. With it, you can write sheet music and advanced musical scores on your computer for absolutely no cost. It’s 100% free and incredibly rubust. For just $2, you can take MuseScore with you on your mobile device. It is currently available in […]

  • Free Ukulele App to Practice Without an Instrument

    Free Ukulele App to Practice Without an Instrument

    At Open School this year, the Blue and Purple Clusters are learning the ukulele! Learning any instrument takes hard work. And, I would love for all of my students to have the opportunity to practice at home. Ukuleles are not at all the most expensive instrument. In this post, I have listed suggestions that are […]

  • An Introduction to Music Practice with Trello

    An Introduction to Music Practice with Trello

    UPDATE: As of the summer of 2018, I have switched to using MyMusicStaff’s Student Portal for keeping track of assignments. Admittedly, it is not quite as flexible or robust as Trello. However, it is simple for students to use and offers a lot of other useful features for overall studio management. I still use Trello […]