Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. ~Maya Angelou, Gather Together in My Name

Monday, April 30, 2007

Web Site Critique: Band Director.com

www.banddirector.com

This site, although teeming with advertisements is a less serious version of the TMEA site. From the homepage one can get links to dealers of band-specific materials and resources. A list of current articles and even video demonstrations appear here also. Through this site, deals are also available on instruments and printed music for your program. This site is much less organized that the TMEA site, but once you get through all the banners and adds the information available is of quality.

Resource Library

This section is huge! Short of monthly journals, I have yet to find such plethora of information on music education in one place. There are articles and videos on jazz bands, marching band, beginning band methods, concert band and even orchestral resources. I just located this site for this assignment, but after finding all that is available here I am absolutely going to add this to my favorites.

Free School Website

This is my favorite part of the site. This is a free web builder that allows a school band or orchestra to create its own website. This would be a great opportunity to further communication with parents, and to foster community involvement with your program. Also, this would be a really useful way to encourage the use of technology in the music classroom.

CD, DVD Store

Wow. Short of the TMEA convention in February it is sometimes difficult to come across quality recordings of middle and high school band literature. This part of the site contains cd’s and dvd’s of much of the band repertoire as well as recordings of many of the past TMEA all-state ensembles. Giving your students listening examples is one of the most enriching activity.

Off to the side of the homepage are more links to useful resources. Links to different festivals, recording services, clinics, and uniform makers are available. I checked a few of these out and they were mostly legitimate.

This site is not really that user friendly. The resources center, however, is its redeeming quality, and the main reason I am recommending this to other music educators. I really like the bright, cheerful display, but the banner ads are a bit over the top. I personally will be coming back to some of the articles I found to use later in my college education as well as a great resource for me when I am out in my field

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