The Alberta Band Association is working on compiling resources to help you teach music and work with students in an online setting and to advocate for your school programs. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and if you have found something that works for you, please let us know and we'll help spread the word. Contact our Managing Director, Kimberley Denis.

Changing the How, Not the What: ABA Round Table on Music Education and the COVID-19 Pandemic June 24, 2020

Current Studies on Aerosols and Wind Instruments
The University of the Bundeswehr Munich has released their preliminary results regarding the production of aerosols while playing wind instruments.  
Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Aerodynamics

The University of Colorado is currently pursuing a study on aerosol production and wind instrument playing with preliminary results available July 10.
COVID-19 Aerosol Study

Advocating for Your Program
List of Alberta Members of the Legislative Assembly
List of Alberta School Boards and Contacts

The Letter that the ABA is sending to School Boards across the province.
Letter to School Trustees

A letter written by the ABA Board for teachers to share with administration colleagues to help teachers advocate for their programs.
Letter to Administrators

A letter provided by the ABA that teachers can send out to their parents to get their parents on board with advocating for school music programs.
Letter from Parents

A Template from the Women Band Directors International of Parent/Director Letters

NAfME Unified Statement of American Arts Organizations - Art Is Essential

Information on Social Emotional Learning and the Arts

Re-Opening Guidelines:
The following guidelines and documents have been created by Music MMEA along with the Association of Music Administrators in Manitoba.    

• Recommendations for Schools Re-Opening Music  (Manitoba Recommendations)
• Recommandations en Musique pour la Reouverture des Ecoles en Education Musicale (Maintoba Recommandations)
• Letter to Administrators (Manitoba)
• Recommendations from the Manitoba Music Educators Association

Planning Resources for Online and In-Person Instruction:

• A link to a google sheet of shared planning resources and in which back to school scenario they might be appropriate
• Essential Elements Online Interactive Resources
• Band-Ninja-Warrior - an interactive listening and analysis challenge writeen by ABA Board member, Peter Sicotte
• Flipgrid - An online resource to develop your own version of Band Ninja Warrior

Instrument and Classroom Hygiene:

• Covid-19 and Cleaning Instruments - Guidelines from NFHS, NAfME and NAMM
• US Environmental Protection Agency Approved Disinfectants for COVID
• Instrument Hygiene
• Cleaning Your Instrument
• Guidelines for Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Facility from the US Centre for Disease Control
• 3D Printing for Mouthpieces

 
Practice Tools:

• Smartmusic
  • For schools impacted by COVID-19 closures who do not already have a SmartMusic subscription, they are offering free access through June 30, 2020. Please contact smartmusic directly.
• Play Along with Brian Balmages and Virtual Conductor/Smart Music
• Distance learning made easy with Tradition of Excellence
  • Use online tools available with other band methods, like Essential Elements Interactive, and Sound Innovations.
• Sight Reading Factory
• The Virtual Education Series
  • Fun and enriching online clinics for music teachers and their students. Produced in partnership with the International Music Education Summit, the weekly sessions are presented by highly regarded professionals and address a variety of music education topics. The clinics can be seen “live” every Thursday at 2 p.m. EST between March 26 and April 30. Archived clinics will also be available for viewing or revisiting at the viewer’s convenience after their initial airing."

 
Film:

• Composed - watch for free!!
  • Through the lens of professional classical musicians, Composed explores the many ways we experience and can address performance anxiety. Faced with the judgment of peers, audience, conductors, and worst of all themselves, these musicians spend years trying to understand and overcome the physical and mental manifestations of their anxiety. Through their stories, we learn valuable lessons learned over a lifetime of professional performance; and we find that we are not alone in our quest to overcome the fear of failure and embarrassment. For anyone wanting to feel strength over fear and compassion over judgment, or simply seeking a closer look at anxiety and what makes us tick, Composed opens the door to a world of high stakes, high pressure, and peak performing.

Online Concerts:

• Berlin Philharmonic - free access to all concerts and films in the Digital Concert Hall
• The Guardian has created a Lockdown Listening List 
  
  

Theory and Aural Skills:

• Musictheory.net 
• Internet Music Theory Database 
• Teoria 
• Good Ear
• Practice Sight Reading
• Breezin' Thru Theory
• Tone Savvy - The use of this system is free to schools while they are closed

 
Composition:

• Note Flight
• Muse Score

 
 Jazz/Blues:

• All About Jazz - Teaching the Blues
• Jazz at the Lincoln Center

 
Copyright:

• Publisher Permissions and Distance Learning
• Fair Dealing Decision Tool