Resources for Teachers

Educational Software for Primary and Secondary Music Teachers (With Costings)

Notation & Composition Software

MuseScore: Free
Flat.io: Free basic / Premium from £5/month
Noteflight: Free basic / Premium approx. £6/month
Sibelius First: Free basic / Full versions from £9.99/month
Dorico SE: Free / Full versions from £11/month

Music Theory & Ear Training

Musictheory.net: Free
Teoria.com: Free
TonedEar: Free
Tenuto (iOS): Approx. £4 one-time

Performance, Practice & Aural Skills

SmartMusic: Paid; approx. £30/student/year
Solfa: Free basic / Full version ~£5
SingTrue: Free basic / Paid upgrades ~£5-£10

Interactive Music Learning Games & Resources

Chrome Music Lab: Free
Isle of Tune: Free
MusicplayOnline: Approx. £150/year per school
Groove Pizza: Free

DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations)

Cubase LE/Elements/14: Multi student site licence £34 each (available from Steinberg)
Ableton Live 12: Intro version site licence £69 each: Free version available
Garageband: Free on all Apple devices. Also available for PC (Mac/iOS)
FL Studio: Student bundle: £215
Tracktion: Free
Logic Pro 11.2 (recommended for students who are considering a career in music technology): £199 (as part of Apple Pro Apps bundle for education)
PreSonus Studio One 7.1: £129 (recommended as above)
BandLab for Education: Free
Soundtrap for Education: From £4.50/student/year
Audacity: Free
Cakewalk: Free
LMMS: Free
Reaper: Free trial / £60 discounted license
ProTools First: Free version then £95.00 (another one recommended for those students considering a career in music technology)

Music Curriculum Resources

I Can Compose: Approx. £80–£100/year (brilliant range of composing courses for students from Y7-13)
Musical Contexts: Approx. £90–£120/year (complete KS3 curriculum plus considerable resources for GCSE)
Music Department Resources: Approx. £80–£100/year (brilliant curriculum resources, presented on google slides and featuring embedded video and audio clips, including a complete skills based KS3 Curriculum)
Charanga: Approx. £250–£450/year (varies by license) Hubs can subsidies these process to Mainstream schools.
BBC Ten Pieces: Free: features a range of lesson plans, audio clips and musical examples.
NYCoS resources: Mostly free or low-cost
ABRSM: Classroom 200: Free: features a range of lesson plans, audio clips and musical examples.

Recommended Free Essentials

MuseScore
Chrome Music Lab
Musictheory.net
BandLab for Education
Teoria.com
Audacity
BBC Ten Pieces

MusicFirst Classroom Products

MusicFirst Classroom: From £400/year (varies by package)
Focus on Sound: From £300/year (discounts for larger schools)
Noteflight Learn: From £180/year
Soundtrap: From £4.50/student/year
PracticeFirst: From £200/year
Sight Reading Factory: From £30–£100/year depending on license
Auralia & Musition: From £400/year
O-Generator: From £150/year

Highlights of MusicFirst Platform

Cloud-based
Safe & GDPR-compliant
Assessment-ready
Cross-curricular

Particularly Useful Combinations

Primary Schools:

O-Generator
Noteflight Learn (simple notation software)
PracticeFirst
Focus on Sound Junior (interactive lessons with audio clips and quizzes)
Changa now have a suite of software packages that can be put together through the GSW music hub engagement. These include. Auralia, Musition, Focus on Sound, YuStudia and OGEN+.

Secondary Schools:

Focus on Sound (300 interactive lessons with audio clips and quizzes)

Elemental (more interactive lessons/theory/listening)
Noteflight Learn (notation software)
Sight Reading Factory
Auralia & Musition
I Can Compose (composition projects)
Changa now have a suite of software packages that can be put together through the GSW music hub engagement. These include. Auralia, Musition, Focus on Sound, YuStudia and OGEN+.

This list has been collated by teachers who have shared their recommendations. If you have any recommendations you'd like to add to the list then please email us at gswmusichub@gloucestershire.gov.uk

GSW Music Hub do not promote these resources or have any affiliations with any product other than Charanga which is subsidised by the Hub for schools.