Music Workshop creates and provides free of charge, high quality, relevant and culturally responsive music history & appreciation lessons on a wide variety of musical subjects, giving students broad and comprehensive exposure to the world of music.

Our Impact

Students we are Educating,
Inspiring and Motivating

Schools Teaching
Our Program

US States Teaching
Music Workshop

Countries Music Workshop
Is Taught In

Our Impact

Students we are Educating,
Inspiring and Motivating

Schools Teaching
Our Program

US States Teaching
Music Workshop

Countries Music Workshop
Is Taught In

About Our Program

  • Music Workshop’s programming is free of charge to all schools
  • All materials are delivered via an online portal, providing easy access for teachers and flexibility in preparing lessons
  • Courses/lessons are prepped and ready to go in your own online account
  • Downloadable videos with supporting materials are included with each course
  • Course materials are segmented by grade levels: K-2, 3-5, 6-8
  • We are currently offering 23 courses educating students in music history & appreciation of musical genres, instruments, careers in music and music from cultures around the world
  • Each course is approximately 50 minutes long (including teacher-led Q&A) broken into four segments to allow for teacher flexibility
  • Each course is a combination of a video, teacher-led question & answer sessions, an active listening exercise and a movement activity

Our Program is Unique

  • We intentionally expose students to a broad spectrum of music so they are empowered to choose their own musical paths
  • Music Workshop’s Culture Series is especially unique within grades K-8. The series creates and presents music education that informs students about music and musical traditions from cultures and heritages around the world, providing students a connection to the global world they live in
  • Music Workshop is designed and intended for use in the classroom, yet flexible enough to be used for distance learning or home schooling
  • Courses integrate music education with reading, physical activity, active listening and critical thinking
  • Each course uniquely weaves in multiple educational disciplines and aligns with national education standards
  • All Music Workshop courses are accessible to any educator, regardless of their location, means or musical expertise
  • Music Workshop strives to inspire students to appreciate the arts, motivate them to play an instrument and educate them on incorporating music to enrich their lives
  • Music Workshop is offered FREE of charge to all K-8 schools, students and their families

How it Works

It’s as easy as:

Our Courses

Currently, Music Workshop offers 23 courses on a variety of musical subjects. Each course is approximately 50 minutes long but is flexible to accommodate all school schedules. Segmented by grade levels, our programming makes music education accessible, inclusive and engaging, with the ultimate goal of educating and inspiring students through music to discover their musical path.

Instruments

  • Piano
  • Guitar
  • Voice
  • Instruments of the World
  • Percussion
  • Strings
  • Brass
  • Woodwinds

Genres

  • Jazz
  • Birth of Rock & Roll
  • Evolution of Rock & Roll
  • Rhythm & Blues
  • Country
  • Pop
  • Classical
  • Musicals

Cultures

  • Traditional Music from Africa: Part One – North and East
  • Traditional Music from Africa: Part Two – Southern, Central and West
  • Latin American Music – Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America
  • Latin American Music Part 2 – South America
  • Native American Traditional Music

Careers in Music

  • Careers in Music: Part One
  • Careers in Music: Part Two

What Teachers Are Saying

“I am loving this program. The videos are interesting to the students, have an excellent overview of information, and are excellent productions. It’s great for in between instrument units, to share with classroom teachers, and for substitutes.”

A few students that normally don’t seem very interested in music were very eager to answer the questions and learn about classical music. The program provided differentiation in my classroom so all students could be reached through a new aspect of music.

My school has a very high Latinx population. During the Mariachi portion of the video there was a clip of a little boy singing in a band, I paused and explained to a 5th grade class how brave the little boy is to be singing in front of everyone. One of my students who is from central america said, “Actually, miss, it’s not uncommon to see this type of thing,” and a few other students nodded. This proved my ignorance and was a wonderful moment for my students to teach me and contribute to the lesson. A lot of them also recognized Vicente Fernandez and said things like, “My mom loves him!” and “My abuela listens to him all the time!”

One of my students with autism who is a reluctant learner devoured the piano course. So much so that he skipped his break to make sure he didn’t miss music! After viewing the parts of the piano the kids were SUPER interested in seeing the inside of MY piano so I opened it up and let them see the hammers in action. They were enthralled! 

I have noticed the kids remember what a “conductor” is after actually conducting.  They were great at answering the questions from the Q and A.  I was amazed at how much they retained!

Love it!   I know that a sub could easily show the videos and do the followup, so it is nice to have the option to leave it for him or her.  But I enjoy them so much that if I don’t need a sub, I will probably still use them periodically through the year.
Thank you!!!!

Music Workshop is amazing and I would love to use it each year with my students to learn more about music education.  I would highly recommend this program to all.

I presented this lesson to a group of 1st thru 5th Grade students. I also used this lesson as sub plans for two days and both subs told be it went very well. It was easy to present, and my sub with zero music knowledge said she had a blast giving the lesson.

The students always want more. They are anticipating the fun things like “Fun Facts.” During the music “Take 5” I explained about the meter and then let them connect it to the name. Then they counted out the 5 beats and told me how they were subdivided.

In addition to having a good music program, this is a great way to supplement, and give examples that are outside of the classroom

It was easy to use and simple for me as the teacher to navigate…I have already recommended it to all the teachers in my building.

Music Workshop has been so beneficial in my music classroom this year because without a curriculum and limited supplies, free resources such as this provide interesting and informative lessons that are easily implemented in any classroom at any point in the year.

I think that Music Workshop is an excellent supplemental tool. Kids have been asking me about it because they’d like to share the information with their families.

Music Workshop has been so beneficial in my music classroom this year because without a curriculum and limited supplies, free resources such as this provide interesting and informative lessons that are easily implemented in any classroom at any point in the year.

I had a 5th grade student that was so excited to see Janis Joplin and other musicians on the program because that is the music he listens to at home with his mom. He was naming the bands and musicians before their name even came on the screen and it made the other kids excited about the program as well.

I thought this was a great supplement to our music curriculum. Your materials are fresh, well-presented, and not often included in other curricular materials. Keep up the good work!

One of our new music standards is to relate music to students’ personal lives. One of my boys kept commenting on how each song belonged to a person in his family – he had a memory of each song being listened to by a family member. Katy Perry’s music was his sister, but when it came to Pharrel Williams, he said “now this is my music.”

I am glad to see MW use musical examples that represent both genders and a variety of ethnicities.  The people in the videos look like the kids in my classroom and are, on occasion, the same age as my

This was my first experience with Music Workshop and my students loved it! I broke it down into 2 classes as a follow up to what we were working on. Students were attentive and LOVED how modern the music and careers were. They especially loved the club dj and radio dj. The length of each segment was appropriate and was easy to stop and continue next class. I plan to share this on Thursday with my elementary Music Council as we don’t have access to any other resources like this!

For our virtual learning experience during COVID-!9, your program is my curriculum. Thank you!!  I really appreciate the thought and planning put into Music Workshop and really appreciate being able to use it. Music Workshop will continue to be a part of my curriculum even after COVID. Consider me your number one fan!!!

They were so overjoyed to see musicals that were current and relevant!  One student was so thrilled when he saw a musical that he had watched with his parents that he almost popped when asked about it!  Great connections! This is an incredible and valuable resource at our school. Thank you for all of the hard work that you do!  It makes an amazing difference!C

They LOVED this first course!  The information presented was easy for them to understand and extremely engaging.  Keeping it relevant and somewhat contemporary is key! I am so excited about using this program.  I haven’t been this excited about supplements to my curriculum ever and this is my 29th year teaching!  THANK YOU!

The song “Sky World” moved so many of my students and me. I lost a friend the weekend I shared this course so it totally moved me. I even had a first grade girl understand the lyrics and say, “It’s about people passing on and going to the Sky World.  Wonderful course! /I love what you are doing with Music Workshop! Thank you!

I teach near a Indian Reservation so most of my students are Native American. It was really neat to see those students “brighten” up when I played this; they had so many connections and were willing to talk about their experiences. Great experience for ALL my students, thank you for doing this course I requested!! / My students love the fun facts and movements so please continue those. Your resources are teacher aides are great! LOVE this program – thanks for all you do!

The kids loved the program – particularly one student who is a foster child with Native background. He was thrilled that I was presenting things he knew about and the others didn’t. He confirmed all kinds of facts for us and he’s still talking about it days later!

My students enjoyed it very much. they were very engaged! I love your program! Great teaching resource! Thank you very much// Your program provides great tools for teacher and students! // perfectly designed recource!

During this Covid crisis, these lessons are incredibly helpful! As for this Jazz lesson, I am not the best jazzer so it is a difficult subject for me to teach. These lessons helped me a lot!