Thurnauer Music Education Resources
This page provides resources that may be helpful and enjoyable to Thurnauer families and others. From the benefits of studying music, to apps for a metronome, tips for practicing, humorous videos, and lists of where to hear local concerts, there are many valuable resources.
These resources are not comprehensive and the school does not officially endorse any site, store, magazine, app or book.
Tips For Parents
Tips for Parents of Young Musicians
Tips On Practicing
Books
The Young Musician’s Survival Guide by Amy Nathan (highly recommended!)
Music Parents Survival Guide by Amy Nathan (highly recommended)
Nurtured By Love- Suzuki by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki
The Musical Child by Joan Koenig
A Survival Kit for the New Music Parent by Anthony Mazzocchi
How to get your child to practice–without resorting to violence by Cynthia Richards
Blog Posts & Webinars
Music Competitions
For a list of competitions, including details such as eligibility, nomination deadlines, audition dates and more: click here
These are in addition to competitions at Thurnauer – concerto, master classes, Kaplan Honors Recital, Mayadas Piano Honors Recital, etc.
Summer Festivals and Camps
For a list of summer camps and festivals, including those at Thurnauer, click Summer Festivals and Camps.
Benefits of Music Education
The Benefits of Music Education (from PBS)
20 Benefits of Music in our Schools (from the National Association for Music Education)
Benefits to the Brain (from VH1 Save the Music)
NAMM Foundation: Music Research Ted Talk – The Value of Music Education
About Instruments
Instrument Rental, Purchase, Maintenance and Repair
For resources about Instrument Rental, Purchase, Maintenance and Repair, click here.
Click here to read a blog post about the Basics of Instrument Care and Maintenance.
Young pianists sometimes need a piano footrest, seat cushions, or a piano pedal extender, if they cannot reach the piano pedals. Please discuss this with your child’s teacher.
Discover Musical Instruments
“Choose Your Instrument” series from The Cleveland Orchestra
Introductions to Wind, Brass and Percussion Instruments (Instrument Demonstrations)
50 Western Musical Instruments
9 Traditional African Music Instruments
75 Popular Asian Musical Instruments
Percussion Instruments from around the World
Guide to the Orchestra from the Minnesota Orchestra
Children Talk With a Professional Opera Singer
Introduction to Opera’s Voice Types
Videos from The Philharmonia Orchestra (in London):
The Horn; Trumpet; Saxophone; Violin ; Cello; explore more here.
Music Theory
Note Reading and More
Websites
Tone Savvy (note: you can customize the drills; be sure the sound is on.)
Music Theory.net (you can customize the drills to a particular clef and/or to only notes within the staff).
Chrome Music Lab – fun, experimental ways to make music (including an online keyboard, customizable to show note names and modifiable number of octaves).
Teoria.com – many tutorials and exercises!
Musicca – online exercises and learning tools in music theory, music notation, and ear training.
MusicPlayOnline.com – rich site of resources of songs, cataloged by rhythms, solfege patterns, and more (go to “Kodaly Directory” within the site)
SightReadingFactory – for practicing sight-reading (exercises with just rhythm and with pitches); annual fee: $35
Videos
Tim Hansen’s How to Read Music
How to Read Notes – beginner piano lesson (using landmark notes)
How to Read Music – landmark method (more than 5 million views)
How to Read Sheet Music (more than 7 million views)
Solfege
Solfege Hand Signs videos:
Intervals
Video demonstration about the harmonic series (on a natural horn)
Video: What is an Octave?
Video: Perfect Fourths and Perfect Fifths – on the piano (from the Berklee School of Music)
Scales
Video: Major & Minor Scales on the keyboard (from the Berklee School of Music)
Music Theory Summary Pages
Music Notation Software
Practicing Music Skills
Websites
Tone Savvy (note: you can customize the drills; be sure the sound is on.)
Music Theory.net (you can customize the drills to a particular clef and/or to only notes within the staff).
Apps
NameThatNote (search for it in your app store)
Chet (for ear training and more)
Other apps
List of apps from OrchestraTeacher.net
Note Trainer Lite (or Pro) for learning notes on the staff and on the piano
Metronome apps (or search “metronome” in your app store)
Listening to Music
Online Concerts
Many orchestras, concert halls, chamber ensembles, jazz clubs, and other venues have online concerts. Examples include: The Baltimore Symphony, The Royal National Scottish Orchestra, The Detroit Symphony, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Smoke Jazz Club, Birdland, Village Vanguard.
Recordings for Children
Specific Pieces of Music
- The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
- With video of an orchestra performance
- With pictures of instruments
- With animated instruments
- Peter and the Wolf
- Tubby the Tuba (narrated by Danny Kaye)
- Ferdinand the Bull
- The Composer is Dead
- Finale from The Overture to William Tell (aka: The Theme to “The Lone Ranger”)
Maestro Classics – recordings and resources
Jazz for Kids featuring the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
List of music written for children, from Classical FM
Classical Kids recordings – Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Mr. Bach Comes to Call, and others
Radio
WQXR Radio 105.9 FM
WGBO Radio 88.3 FM (jazz)
Recordings of Rob Kapilow’s “What Makes it Great” series on WWFM
Exploring Music with Bill McGlauglin – on WQXR radio, 89.3 FM, weeknights at 11 pm.
NPR’s Jazz Profiles
Concerts Venues in New Jersey and New York
Podcasts, Videos, Magazines and More
Podcasts
Sticky Notes – with conductor Joshua Weilerstein
Speaking Soundly Podcast | Artful Narratives Media – Your ticket to backstage conversations with world-renowned musicians. Join MET Opera Principal Trumpet David Krauss for candid and compelling discussions with today’s top performers as they speak about their creative process and lives as artists.
Magazines
Movies
Talent Has Hunger (featuring cellist Paul Katz)
Music of the Heart (about violin pedagogue, Roberta Guaspari)
Itzhak (documentary about violinist Itzhak Perlman)
Troubadour (documentary about guitarist Sharon Isbin)
Television
Educational Videos
Michael Tilson Thomas- Keeping Score series
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center- Watch and Listen
Inside Chamber Music with Bruce Adolphe
Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts (this link is to “What is Melody?” – and there are many, many others.)
Fun & Games
Music Humor Videos
Sesame Street Episodes
Music Games
Music Education Organizations
Music Conservatories and College Music Departments in NJ
The John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University
William Paterson College Department of Music
The Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University
New Jersey City University Department of Music
Kean University Conservatory of Music
Rowan University Department of Music
The College of New Jersey Department of Music
Westminster Choir College at Rider University (Princeton, NJ)
National Music Education Organizations
National Guild of Community Arts Education
American String Teachers Association (ASTA)
National Association for Music Education (NAfME)
From the Top (NPR radio show featuring young musicians)
The Sphinx Organization (promoting diversity in the Arts; also has an annual competition and summer camps)
Organizations Dedicated to Diversity in Music
Instrument and Ensemble Focused Organizations
Regional Organizations
National Organizations – Instrument Focused
Violin: Violin Society of America; The Violin Channel; StringPedagogy.com
Viola: American Viola Society
Cello: Internet Cello Society
Double Bass: International Society of Bassists
Flute: National Flute Association
Oboe and Bassoon: International Double Reed Society
Saxophone: North American Saxophone Alliance
Guitar: Guitar Foundation of America; The Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival
Harp: American Harp Society
Piano: American Pianists Association
Percussion: Percussive Arts Society
Strings: Strings Magazine
National Organizations – Ensemble/Genre Specific
Jewish Music
Jewish Music Organizations
Milken Archive of Jewish Music
Links to Jewish Music Resources from the Zamir Chorale of Boston
Orel Foundation – “Recovering suppressed musical treasures of the 20th Century”
American Society for Jewish Music
Neranenah Music & Culture Series (based in Atlanta)
Jewish Music Institute (London)
Sheet Music of Jewish Music
Other Resources
Audio and Video Recording
NV Factory (Englewood Cliffs, NJ) – audio/video recording on site. For professional recording of student and faculty performances and auditions – both at their venue and at other sites.
Forte Piano of Paramus Recording Studio – Audio video recording and editing; multiple pianos available
Zach Herchen – audio/video recording and editing.
Arts Advocacy
New Jersey State Council on the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
Americans for the Arts (national)
ArtPride NJ (NJ specific)
Master Classes
Juilliard Open Studios (an app and website)
Thousands of master classes are available on www.YouTube.com
Examples:
Mimi Zweig; Emmanuel Pahud; Steven Isserlis (this one features Thurnauer alum, Ani Kalayjian); Pepe Romero; Wynton Marsalis (on YoungArts)
Opportunities for Adults
Road Scholar music-themed tours