Free Music Resources
I will be using this page to list some of the best free resources for musicians, music educators, and anyone working with music. These are just my own thoughts on them, and in no particular order. I’m only listing truly free resources, not trials or crippled software.
Looking for free and fantastic sight reading practice?
Check out the Sight Reading Shed!
Digital Audio Workstations
Soundtrap is a browser based online DAW that allows for collaboration with others as well as a handful of education features (though that requires a subscription).
This is a downloadable DAW (not browser based) for windows. This may be getting updated to a paid version eventually, but it’s currently free as of January 2024.
A more simple audio editor than some of the above, but works well when you want to edit things such as song speed, pitch, etc.
BandLab is another browser based DAW that has many of the same features as Soundtrap. Made by the same people who own Cakewalk.
Free with every Mac computer. A really good option if it is available to you. No online option and not available at all on Windows.
I don’t have much personal experience with soundation, but it’s worth looking into as they also have tools and features for education. Browser based as well.
A downloadable DAW for Windows, Mac, or Linux. Has great reviews and seems to trade blows with cakewalk for best free downloadable DAW for Windows.
Notation Software
MuseScore is probably the most fully featured free music notation program. I use this as my go-to now. Downloadable.
The free version of Dorico’s downloadable notation program. Like more “free” versions of larger full programs you may run into limitations with this.
Flat.io was my go to program for quickly entering some notes on a page using my browser. Very simple and straightforward. Works well with students.
Free and open-sourced music notation program. It has a unique text-based notation entry that makes it beloved by music engravers.
flat.io’s largest competitor for browser based notation. Also works well for students to use, I just personally find it a bit less simple to enter notation quickly than flat.io.
The inbuilt music composition program on makemusic (formerly smartmusic). There is also the downloadable Finale Notepad on this page, but that’s quite old.
Sheet Music
“One Size Fits All Band Book” - Fantastic resource for flex tunes that can be used with your concert bands. All Free
Click the link, and start sorting by instrument, level, genre, and more to find some great free sheet music.
A great place to browse and find free sheet music (especially piano) but it’s not free to download or export them.
A great place to find loads of sacred music ranging from piano, choir, hymns, and more.
Another free resource to find open source music and recordings. Type in the name of a composer and there should be a nice list to browse through.
A huge resource for finding and downloading public domain music. Probably one of the first places worth looking for classical music.
Another source for free sheet music. Printing/exporting is a bit odd without a subscription but works.
Tools
The simplest metronome and tuner combo on the web. Simply go into google and type “Metronome” or “Google Tuner” and they pop up.
A simple website to practice rhythm identification by listening, and rhythm identification by sight. Good for ear training rhythms.
Contains a list of different music tools, and some unique ones such as an interval memorizer, vocal warm up tool, vocal range test, and more.
Mostly subscription based, but you can get the entire Sound Innovations method books on there and practice with them for free, which is huge.
A fantastic page to quickly throw up some rhythmic based sight reading. The parameters can be edited for more customization in the settings.
Type in a link and it will download whatever you are linking to your computer. Works well with video, audio, gifs, social media, etc.
Free online music theory games, exercises, dictionary, and interactive tools. A lot of different things to explore here and very free.
A neat collection of unique music theory and music tools. Some of paid, but some are completely free.
An online tuner that will allow you to pick your instrument, and then shows you the pitch you are playing on the music staff according to that instrument.
One of the best online resources for teaching students music theory online. You can use the tools tab to create your own music theory exercises.
Worksheets/Warm-Ups
Sign-up to receive all the Mad Music freebies including 108 note identification worksheets, key signature flash cards, and beginner drumset method <3
Fantastic warm-ups and technique exercises for band. There are also play along YouTube videos that allow students to play with a drone or cinematic backtracks.
I specifically linked to the teachers pay teachers free music worksheets. You can adjust the parameters from there to find different freebies. Lots of great elementary music sheets.
Games
A set of games that work in the web browser with no sign-up required. Some really neat music experiments for kids to play around with.
Lots of awesome experiments for kids. Groove Pizza, aQWERTYon, Soundbreaking Tech Tools, and Virtual Piano Duet are all fantastic. Seriously, go try the piano duet.
Different educational games for kids. I especially like the “Composer Map” and “Compose Your Own Music”.
Virtual instruments and music games for the classroom. I’m particulary a fan of “Staff Dungeon” for older students and “Forest of Instruments” for youngers. Tons of fun here.
Different music games and activities geared towards younger students and especially those teaching orchestra concepts.
Gamified note naming, fingering identification, or musical terms based on speed. You can register to keep track of your student’s scores and leaderboards.
Much like Blob Opera, this is an AI experiment that accompanies you as you play through classical music on the violin/cello. You can also “freestyle” on your own as well.
A fun and simple way for students to play around with how to build “beats” by layering different voices. The beats are also a pretty good listen and the kids will like them.
I especially recommend the sight reading game for students who may be starting on piano or percussion. They also have video lessons here.
Create an operatic sound using four blobs and machine learning. You control one of the blobs while the others harmonize along to what you create, and it sounds great!