I woke up yesterday with reports from our partners in the UK, Charanga Music, with celebratory emails regarding the launch of their latest partnership, and this was a BIG one. Charanga teamed up with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to launch the “Shakespeare Curriculum,” a bold new digital platform that brings the power of theatre, language and creativity into the classroom in a transformational way. What makes this collaboration truly worthy of note—and of enthusiasm among school music, arts and general educators—is how it demonstrates Charanga’s platform is not only built for music but is fully adaptable. There were many luminaries at the launch event, including Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Ian McKellen!

This morning while watching CBS Mornings, there was a story about the new number one hit on the Billboard Country Charts today (Digital Song Sales) - a song called “Walk My Walk” by a band called by Breaking Rust. The reason it was being featured? The song was 100% written by AI, and Breaking Rust doesn’t actually exist. For some reason, this is the straw that broke this camels’ back. While listening to Nate Burleson talk about a new category for Billboard called AI-Generated music, I felt something shift inside my brain. It’s not really about the technology — we all knew this was coming — but more about what we as a society consider music.

The recent announcement that UMG and Udio have entered what is described as an industry-first licensed generative-AI music-creation platform gives us plenty to think about. On the face of it, the headline sounds bold: the major rights-holder has settled litigation with Udio, and then signed an agreement to collaborate on a new platform (scheduled for launch in 2026) that will use AI trained on authorized and licensed recordings and compositions. The promise is to create a “commercial music creation, consumption and streaming experience” in which users customize, stream and share music in a “responsible” environment with filtering, fingerprinting and other protections in place. And yet at the same time my skeptic alarms are ringing. For music educators, especially those working with middle and high school students, this development might raise more questions than answers: about creativity, about the role of the human being in music making, and about how we design learning experiences in the decades ahead.

If you teach music in a California public school, Proposition 28 has opened an extraordinary door - one that many of us never thought we’d see in our lifetimes. For the first time, California has created a dedicated and ongoing funding stream for arts education, including music. The goal is simple: make arts learning a permanent part of every student’s experience, not an optional extra that depends on a principal’s priorities or the success of the booster club’s last fundraiser. But while Prop 28 guarantees the money, it does not guarantee that music programs will automatically receive what they need. That part still requires thoughtful, professional advocacy from teachers. In this post, I’ll try to deliver a clear explanation of Prop 28, along with some practical strategies you can use to secure the materials, tools, and resources that will truly benefit your students.

YuStudio, an online DAW created by the wizards at Charanga, have just introduced some major enhancements that make student creativity and classroom music-making even more engaging and fun. Whether your students are learning about and exploring beat-making, composition, multimedia projects, or even sound design, these updates make the creative process faster, more intuitive, and more inspiring than ever. Over the past year, their team has launched several really cool new features, including an amazing sampler that I wrote about a few months ago. What follows is a quick update on the features they recently launched, and how they can be used with your students:

Yesterday, I saw a Reel on Facebook from our very good friends at Sight Reading Factory showing a brand new feature called Quests. It is awesome. Music educators are always looking for that “next thing” to help engage their students, reinforce their skills, and make sight-reading practice feel less like a chore and more like an adventure. Quests adds a game-infused layer to their already robust sight-reading platform, and promises to deepen student engagement and boost musicianship. As the students that are in our classrooms are already well-versed on the idea of quests and streaks - especially with their games and social media use - I think that the students will love this. So what is a “Quest”? Think of it as a structured challenge: a sequence of sight-reading exercises fashioned together into a narrative or goal-based progression. Students aren’t simply generating one random exercise after another — they are embarking on a mission: advancing through levels, conquering assigned tasks, and earning a sense of accomplishment. Here’s a quick preview:

As music educators, we pride ourselves on creating inclusive, inspiring environments where every student feels seen, supported, and capable of success. We differentiate instruction, scaffold learning, and provide multiple avenues for musical expression — because we know that every child learns differently. But in our increasingly digital world, true inclusion extends beyond the physical classroom. It requires that the online tools we rely on are accessible to every learner — including those with visual, auditory, cognitive, and physical disabilities. That’s where WCAG comes in.

As music educators, we know that culture and tradition are at the heart of musical understanding. Few celebrations blend art, music, and meaning quite like Día de los Muertos—the vibrant Mexican holiday honoring the lives of loved ones who have passed. Día de los Muertos is celebrated every year on November 1st and 2nd. This holiday has a long and complex history that dates back thousands of years. The beginnings of this holiday go back to Meso-American cultures, such as the Olmecs, more than 3,000 years ago. For music teachers looking to connect students with this beautiful cultural tradition, there are many free online resources that make it easy to integrate authentic music, storytelling, and creativity into your classroom this fall. Here are a few of my favorites:

In the ever-growing field of AI tools specifically targeted towards education, I recently came across School AI. This is a FREE tool for teachers, and it’s very similar to its main competitor, MagicSchool. While many of these platforms are marketed primarily toward core academic areas like math and language arts, some have begun to attract attention from arts educators as well. For music teachers curious about whether AI might have a meaningful place in their classroom or rehearsal space, it’s worth taking a closer look at what SchoolAI actually offers—and what its limitations might be. Whether you’re a band, orchestra, or general music teacher who is interested about what generative artificial intelligence can do for your classroom, OR your school has already purchased it and is now expecting you to use it, here are some of my thoughts on how SchoolAI could be used in your music classroom.

This past week, the MusicFirst US-based team, alongside the founders of Charanga and Rising Software, gathered in Murfreesboro, Tennessee - right outside of Nashville - for a set of company meetings - our first in-person gathering since we were acquired by Achieve Partners at the end of 2024. At one point during the meetings, I looked out at this incredible group of smart, talented, and passionate musicians and educators and remembered when MusicFirst was only a dream that I had back in 2012. I am both humbled and beaming with pride at the team I’ve assembled and more importantly, what we have created together over the past 13 years.

One of the biggest challenges for music educators today is assessment. How can we meaningfully measure student progress in a performance-based class? How do we give every student individual feedback—without spending hours grading each assignment? How do we ensure that our assessments align with state and national standards while still being musical and engaging? My doctoral dissertation while I was a student at Teachers College, Columbia University was titled An Evaluation of a Web-Based Model of Assessment for the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards in Music - whew that’s a lot of words. I basically created a website back in 2000 that tried to assess every aspect of a students musical learning - from performance, to fundamental skills and knowledge, and creativity. When I designed the MusicFirst Classroom, I included assessment as one of the main components of the platform. The result is a comprehensive, flexible, and easy-to-use suite of assessment tools designed specifically for music teachers. Whether you teach band, choir, orchestra, general music, AP Music Theory, or anything in between, the MusicFirst Classroom gives you everything you need to assess your students quickly, accurately, and musically.

If you are reading this post, you will likely fall into a few different groups: high school students thinking of majoring in music education, pre-service music education majors, those that teach pre-service music educators, current music educators, or music industry folks keeping tabs on me. In this era of generative artificial intelligence, political turmoil, and a very different group of children in our classrooms, it is a question that many are asking themselves. Whenever I speak with undergraduate music ed majors, I meet at least one college student who asks me whether being a music teacher is still a noble, valued, and worthwhile profession. It’s a question filled with both hope and hesitation — hope for a life spent making and sharing music, and hesitation about the practicalities: the workload, the job market, the salary, the emotional investment. My answer is always yes. I personally believe that teaching music is a wonderful way to spend your life. That said, I left public school teaching in 2007, and a lot has changed since then.

I attended and spoke at the Achieve Partners Annual General Meeting yesterday in downtown NYC. It was a really interesting experience and it was great to meet the CEOs of the other companies in their portfolio. Perhaps the most interesting thing for me however, was listening to a presentation by one of the partners on the future of education and AI. He briefly mentioned an experimental product from Google called “Learn Your Way”. When I heard his brief overview of the platform, my jaw hit the floor. When Google introduced Learn Your Way earlier this year, it didn’t come with fanfare or a big advertising campaign. It appeared quietly, as a research experiment from Google’s education and AI teams. After checking it out as soon as I got yesterday, I believe that Learn Your Way may mark the beginning of a new way of thinking about how students interact with learning materials — not just what they read, but how they experience and internalize information.

If you’ve ever had to defend your music program—to an administrator, a school board, or even a parent—you know how important it is to have clear, reliable information and strong allies. Yesterday I saw a post about a new website called MusicIsEducation.org. The website was built for exactly that reason. It is spearheaded by the indefatigable Bob Morrison and backed by a HUGE coalition of music education partners. It’s not just another advocacy website; it’s a well-organized resource hub that provides data, stories, and strategies that help music educators make their case for music as a core part of every child’s education - and it’s really well done. One of the main messages of the site is that music isn’t an extra. It’s a fundamental part of learning and growing. The site explains that for nearly two centuries, music has been part of American public education. That long history isn’t just about tradition—it’s about evidence. Decades of research show that students involved in music do better academically, socially, and emotionally (and as music educators we all know this). They learn persistence, creativity, teamwork, and focus. But as every music teacher knows, these facts often get lost in the noise of testing requirements, budget cuts, and shifting priorities. That’s where this organization steps in. The clearly laid out website emphasizes that music education builds skills that prepare students for the future—skills that can’t easily be replaced by technology or automation. Music students learn to listen critically, work collaboratively, and express themselves clearly. Those are not small benefits. They are exactly the qualities employers, colleges, and communities value most.

Here is one of my personal favorite lesson plans that I ever used with my students. I taught this lesson many times, and it was always successful from both a student and teacher perspective.  It can be taught at any grade level with some minor adjustments.  It affords both students with little or no musical knowledge, and advanced students with an opportunity to be creative – where there are no wrong answers.  In the safe environment that the lesson fosters, students will begin to explore their musical creativity and feel a great sense of accomplishment when they perform their soundscape. I don’t think I actually coined the term “soundscape” but I think the word perfectly describes the intention of the learning activity. Students use visual images as inspiration for a wide variety of creative musical endeavors - from selecting a sound to composing an entire composition. There are numerous sources for visual images in magazines, newspapers, books, and of course, online.  For a more interdisciplinary approach, team up with the visual arts teacher in your school and perhaps use original artwork created by the students themselves.  Be sure to record the soundscapes so that you can share them with the students at a later date for reflection. 

Few questions spark more spirited conversation among music educators than this one: Does technology really belong in a performance ensemble? Whenever I am presenting a session or workshop to performance ensemble directors, I often relate my own experience teaching at the middle school level for nearly 15 years. I recount the fact that not once did I ever pull out technology during a band rehearsal, and while I stopped teaching nearly 20 years ago and technology was very different then, the reason for not using it was because I had so little rehearsal time with my students - and every minute was precious. Back then, there were no smartphones, no Chromebooks, no online software at all. I never dreamed that my students could do things outside of my classroom other than responding to written prompts on a primitive discussion board that our school district utilized. If I was still teaching today, my answer would likely be very different but I would still approach the question in a similar way: how can technology help me do my job more effectively? How can I engage my students outside of the classroom? How can technology make more time for me to focus on what I really want to do in the classroom - make music?

As music educators, we’ve long understood that music is for everyone. But for many students with exceptionalities, traditional music-making tools can present real challenges. Whether due to physical, cognitive, or sensory disabilities, the barriers to full participation in a music classroom are very real. Thankfully, we live in a time when innovative tools are being developed to help tear down those barriers. One of the most exciting I’ve come across recently is Clarion Lite, a project from Google’s Creatability team, in partnership with Open Up Music. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s time to check it out.

Yesterday Spotify launched a new integration: users can now bring their Spotify accounts into ChatGPT conversations. This means that whether you're planning a concert, creating prompts for creative projects, or just chatting about your favorite genres, you can ask ChatGPT to pull up personalized recommendations, playlists, podcast episodes, and more—right in the flow of your conversation. You will need to connect your Spotify account to your ChatGPT account to make this work. All you need to do is mention Spotify in your prompt and you should see the workflow appear. What’s very cool about this new integration is that both free and Premium users can take advantage of this; while free users may draw from existing playlists (like Discover Weekly or New Music Friday), Premium users can generate more bespoke, personalized picks informed by their listening habits. Spotify makes clear that the connection is opt-in and that user privacy is retained: Spotify will not share its audio content with OpenAI for training purposes.

The Music Explorer tool in MusicFirst Elementary is one of the included Creative Tools that makes this unique and comprehensive K-5 music curriculum a must-have (or at least must-try) products in the elementary music space. Music Explorer lives side by side with other tools like Rhythm Grids, QuickBeats, YuStudio, Music Notepad, Percussion Writer, and more. What makes Music Explorer special is that it presents a collection of (roughly) 20 musical “games” — playful experiences that nudge students to hear, experiment, respond, and create in small, approachable ways. In my view, it’s not about turning every child into a composer overnight. It’s about giving them a sandbox, with musical bits that invite curiosity, questioning, and risk-taking. When students can play in a low-stakes way, they begin to explore their own musical voices. When you select Music Explorer, the first choice you have is what instrument you’d like to use. For the purpose of illustration, I chose Boomwhackers. Once you land on that page (see below) a number of suggestions for what you can do with the Music Explorer are presented. You can launch the tool by clicking on the play button on the left menu.

One of the most common requests we get at MusicFirst is a tool that converts PDF musical score to an editable notation file. PDFs are easy to find, distribute, share, and archive, but they come with a major limitation: they are fixed images. If you want to change a key, simplify rhythms, add rehearsal notes, or adapt the music for your ensemble, you either have to re-enter the score in notation software or leave it as is. The most common method of converting PDFs to editable scores has always been scanning software, and many blog posts have reviewed those in the past, including my own. I saw a very exciting post recently from one of partners, and this is a HUGE step forward for all of their users. Flat for Education has just introduced a feature that addresses this problem directly. Now, when you upload a PDF into Flat, the system will analyze it and turn it into an editable score within the platform. This means that instead of treating PDFs as static, you can work with them in the same way you would with music you’ve created in Flat from the start. Here are the 5 easy steps - directly from their recent announcement: