Recently, a competitor published a comparison chart that contains several inaccuracies. While I generally do not respond to competitor marketing, in this case I believe it is appropriate to address the factual errors presented. I have worked with many products in this industry, including those of competitors, and my approach has always been to let educators determine which tools best serve their students. In professional settings, I avoid making negative statements about other companies, as the most effective evaluation comes from teachers trying products directly in their classrooms. Our focus at MusicFirsthas consistently been on providing high-quality solutions at affordable prices. A link to this chart was shared with me yesterday, and I would like to provide clarification regarding the inaccuracies it contains. Although the chart appears clear and authoritative at first glance, it employs a typical comparison chart strategy: highlighting features of limited significance while overlooking notable gaps. The headline above the chart claims that they have “more music education-enhancing tools than any other platform”. At last count there are 15 different software titles available - with 6 of them included with the MusicFirst Performance Bundle.

If you’ve read my blog or heard me speak about AI in music education, you probably already know that I am a HUGE fan of Moises.ai. It is a perfect tool for music educators, musicians, and students to go inside any music recording - separating tracks, adjusting tempo and key, finding the chords and lyrics of the song, and much, much more. I always demonstrate the technology behind Moises when I meet with music educators. They recently announced an incredible new instance of their technology called Moises AI Studio, and it’s awesome. Here’s what it does, and why you should definitely check it out. I think it can greatly enhance the songwriting process, and jumpstart any creative music making endeavor.

We are very proud to announce a new partnership with our good friends over at Sweetwater to provide free access to our world-class resources to all students who rent instruments through their incredible rental program for schools. Alongside other online music education platforms including MusicProfessor and Forte, MusicFirst is offering free access to a unique set of resources, curated by our team of music educators, to help students get started on the journey of learning a new instrument. Here’s how it works:

Over the past year, I had the distinct honor of serving on the NAfME AI Task Force along with a stellar group of fellow music educators. Our charge was to help provide clear guidance on the what, why and how of Generative Artificial Intelligence in music education. We met several times as a group and then we all contributed to the final document that can be downloaded HERE. That document is titled Guiding Principles, Frameworks, and Applications for AI in Music Education and it was released today (July 29, 2025). This document offers a comprehensive roadmap for music educators navigating the rise of AI in the classroom. It outlines ethical, instructional, and practical considerations for AI integration. Organized into sections including "Create," "Perform," "Respond," "Assess," and "Productivity," it emphasizes both the promise and perils of AI use in music education.

This past Tuesday, July 22nd, the U.S. Department of Education released new guidance encouraging the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in schools, along with a proposed supplemental grant-making priority to advance AI in education. I was encouraged to see the Department of Education do anything positive, as we all know that the current state of affairs there is anything but. But what does this new guidance say, and what does it actually mean? Obviously you cannot ignore the political implications that this guidance may have. As music educators preparing for the upcoming school year, this announcement is worth paying close attention to—not just for what it says about AI, but for what it might signal about the broader direction of federal education policy.

Later this afternoon, MusicFirst will be launching the second iteration of our amazing MusicFirst Assistant - a powerful feature that harnesses the power of AI to help teachers create Tasks, Lesson Plans, Assessments, and Rubrics inside of the MusicFirst Classroom. In my opinion, THIS is an ideal way for music teachers to use AI tools in their instruction. The previous version of the MusicFirst Assistant only allowed you to generate lesson plans, but our new version (being released around 2pm ET today) will take our original idea to the next level. This is an OPTIONAL feature as we know that some areas of the country are not necessarily thrilled with the idea of using AI in schools, but if enabled, it can drastically cut down on your workload within the MusicFirst Classroom. Here’s what to expect when this is launched:

Every summer, I look forward to events that bring music educators together—opportunities where we can share ideas, spark creativity, and re-energize for the coming school year. Over the past few summers, I’ve traveled around the country on behalf of MusicFirst presenting at a wide variety of in-person conferences, but this year there is an online event for elementary music educators that has really stood out - the Elementary Music Summit hosted by Bryson Tarbet (aka That Music Teacher). It’s a completely online, free conference designed just for elementary music educators, and this year’s lineup is nothing short of inspiring. MusicFirst is a VERY proud sponsor of the event, and we have a fantastic session planned that focuses on our amazing offering for elementary music teachers. Melanie Alexander, Mary Birkner, and Amy Burns are teaming up to present a session titled Sing, Move, Play, and Create with MusicFirst Elementary on July 9th at 1:30 PM EST . If you’re not familiar with MusicFirst Elementary yet, this is the perfect opportunity to dive in.

I’ve been giving keynote addresses and workshops all around the world over the past two years about the impact of Generative AI (GAI) on music and music education. Aside from sharing many GAI tools that can be used in music education, the main theme that I emphasize is that music educators are in control of how these tools can or should be used in their teaching. If you don’t like AI at all, don’t use it. If you’re worried about students becoming lazy and using AI to do all of their homework, it’s probably a little too late for that. If you wish you could just “teach music” and not get bogged down with all of the related administrivia, use AI tools to do the tasks you don’t want to do (or don’t have time to do). I recently watched the video above from one of my favorite YouTubers - Rick Beato. It features a band on Spotify named The Velvet Sundown, a trippy band with over 500K monthly listeners. The problem with this band is that they don’t really exist. They are undoubtedly completely generated by AI - everything from their profile, to their pictures, to their music. This is EXACTLY what teachers and musicians have been worried about when I ask them what about AI scares them. It’s here.

Elementary music teachers are always on the lookout for resources that are meaningful, easy to use, and one that actually works with students. Classics for Kids is one of the online resources that checks all the boxes. The site was created as an outreach project from Cincinnati’s public radio station 90.9 WGUC, the site introduces elementary-aged students to the world of classical music in a way that’s approachable, interactive, and completely free. Classics for Kids feels like it was made by music teachers, for music teachers. It includes lesson plans that are structured to align with NAfME standards, which makes it incredibly easy to plug them directly into your curriculum without a lot of extra prep. You’ll find everything from composer profiles, lesson plans, games and listening activities to worksheets and follow-up questions that are all designed to keep students engaged while meeting your instructional goals.

I was reminded today by dear friend and colleague, Robin Hodson, about the incredible online audio archive that was created by the BBC. It is a PERFECT resource for music educators and their students. Why? Sometimes the right sound effect can completely transform a student project. Whether it's the crash of thunder in a suspenseful podcast, the rattle of a train in a short film, or the bubbling of a rainforest in an electronic composition, sound effects breathe life into creative work - like podcasts or film scores. Let me introduce you to the BBC Sound Effects Archive. If you haven’t visited https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/ yet, you should. This incredible site offers access to over 33,000 sound effects from the BBC’s legendary archive—and yes, they’re FREE to use for educational and personal, non-commercial projects. It’s an incredible collection of audio clips for anyone interested in music production, media composition, or storytelling.

Sometimes, really simple tech tools are really good, and when they’re FREE, they’re even better. I just found a wonderful FREE tool for elementary music educators called Slap Track and all it does is create play-a-long graphics for body percussion. That’s it. There are nine different icons that when you press the play button, will start bubbling up from the bottom of the screen while synced to a metronome. When each icon hits the top of the screen, the students are meant to “do” whatever the icon says. Super simple.

If you’ve ever stood in front of a tangled pile of audio cables wondering which one to grab, you’re not alone. For music educators and students alike, understanding the types of audio cables—and when to use each—is essential for getting clean, clear sound in any setup, whether it’s a classroom DAW project, a live performance, or a recording session. Audio cables all look pretty similar, but there are important differences that dictate how and when to use them. Let’s break down some of the most common types of audio cables, including mono vs. stereo, TRS vs. TS, RCA cables, and when balanced vs. unbalanced cables matter.

As a music teacher, I’m always on the lookout for engaging, intuitive, and accessible tools that can provide an opportunity for students to explore their creativity—especially those that require little to no prior musical experience to enjoy. That’s what makes tools like Beat Blender from Google’s AI Experiments so engaging. It's not just a one trick pony—it’s a powerful and fun way to get into beat - perfect for today’s digitally learners. When you first launch Beat Blender, it might feel more like a music game than a learning platform, but that’s part of its charm. It presents an easy-to-use interface where users can mix and morph different drum loops together in real time. Four beats are placed at the corners of a colorful square, and by dragging a cursor anywhere within the space, you instantly hear a blended version based on your position. It’s an elegant way to visualize and manipulate rhythm and texture—and it gives students immediate feedback on how rhythmic elements interact.

Over the past few years, I have used ChatGPT in many ways - mostly as an editing tool and for generating ideas and emails. I’ve also had lots of fun making all sorts of images. About a year ago, I started experimenting with creating my own custom GPTs after hearing about the ability to do so from a friend. Put simply, Custom GPTs are tailored versions of ChatGPT that can think and respond in exactly the ways you want them to. You get to create them from scratch and train them so that they can create content that is customized for your specific purpose(s). If you’re a music teacher looking for ways to save time, personalize instruction, and make your classroom more dynamic, creating a Custom GPT could be a VERY useful tool. Whether you're running a general music class, directing a band, or teaching AP Music Theory, there are many ways that Custom GPTs can be used to help you teach music. Before we go into specific uses, let’s explore exactly how to build one. For the purpose of this post, I am using ChatGPT.

To honor the late Brian Wilson, I’m sharing a lesson plan from the Introduction to Popular Music course that is included in the MusicFirst Classroom Content Library. The lesson includes a special Spotify playlist, as well as 4 tasks for your students, including a Remix project. I hope that you can use this lesson plan to help celebrate the life of one of popular music’s true icons.

Whenever I go to a conference, I always pick up a few new sites or tools from attending sessions. This past week at APME in Memphis, I found quite a few. Perhaps my favorite is a site where you can find HUNDREDS of songs that are available to download as stems. Stems are the individual tracks that make up a complete song. While there are now lots of AI-powered software tools that allow you to break down a song into individual stems (check out my post on Moises - my personal favorite tool), the owners of those copyrights aren’t all too thrilled about you doing that. Enter the Cambridge Music Technology website - specifically a page that is dedicated to a book called Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio by Mike Senior. It contains 625 projects - all with downloadable copyright-free stems. If you are working with students who are interested in digital music production and remixing, this is the PERFECT site to find great content for them to work with.

I’ve spent this past week on the road on behalf of MusicFirst - first in the Houston metro area, and then I headed to Memphis for one of my favorite conferences of the year - APME. I was joined my SO many good friends and colleagues, including the one and only Jody Underwood, Lee Whitmore, and of course, Barbara Freedman. My favorite part of the conference are the student performances - and there were TONS this year. It’s always so encouraging to hear just how good these students bands are. The future of music education is in very good hands. There were tons of sessions to choose from, and I had the honor of presenting two of them: Empowering Music Education with MusicFirst & Soundtrap, and Reaching More Students with Modern Band.

Let’s face it - many music teachers find writing relevant lesson plans for when they need a sub so awful that they would rather go to school sick than to take the time to write them. I know I did that quite a few times in the 15 years that I taught. A good strategy? Of course not. When I really needed a sick day, my poor students would often watch videos like Beethoven Lives Upstairs or Riverdance. They truly hated it but I couldn’t think of anything really engaging when I knew that the sub would almost NEVER be a music educator, or even know enough about music to teach anything meaningful in my absence. Sound familiar? Enter Focus On Sound - exclusively from MusicFirst. Every teacher needs to take a day now and then - whether it’s a last-minute emergency, a conference, or a well-earned personal day, music teachers need reliable sub plans that won’t cause anxiety, confusion, or chaos in your classroom.

Elementary music classrooms are spaces that are often full of movement, sound, and budding creativity. One of the very cool tools in the collection of Creative Tools within MusicFirst Elementary that utilizes all of these elements is the Rhythm Grids tool. One of the best parts of teaching elementary music is watching students light up when they feel the music come to life. Rhythm is often the first entry point for that, and Rhythm Grids in MusicFirst Elementary is a fantastic tool for helping students not only feel rhythm but see it, create it, and truly understand it. If you're looking for a dynamic way to build rhythmic literacy while supporting creativity, collaboration, and musical expression, Rhythm Grids is your new best friend. The best part? This tool in included with every implementation of MusicFirst Elementary!