Mastering Music Online for Education
The story of the development of Mastering Music Online started in 2000 when Datasonics was approached by school teachers who were struggling to implement music technology in their classrooms. These teachers were already using Music Master (our powerful sequencing, notation and audio tool) because of the unique tight coupling of the MIDI events to the notation symbols for fast and accurate song composition. This provided the best experience to students leading to only one version of the song to both play and print. However, these teachers faced several challenges, including limited time for lesson preparation, the need to meet individual student needs, and a requirement for user-friendly tools that aligned to the curriculum.
At that time, most music software products were installed tools (including our own Music Master). Even though these tools can be useful, without music lessons to guide their use they are limited in their ability to teach and learn music. Therefore, Datasonics solved this issue by developing a set of browser-based music lessons that cover the curriculum and interfaced directly with Music Master to provide the best framework for increased musical knowledge and the freedom to generate creative ideas. Mastering Music resulted and was embraced by hundreds of schools who were using it in their computer labs showing Datasonics as a leading-edge innovative company.
As technology and the internet advanced, the computer labs were replaced with laptops and a school policy of 'Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)'. With a BYOD policy, the use of installed music software became a nightmare for music teachers as not all music software is compatible with all platforms and Chromebooks in schools do not allow easy installation of software. Datasonics realised this and started re-developing Mastering Music to totally work in the browser so that it could work on all devices with nothing to install. This resulted in Mastering Music Online being released in mid 2020 during the start of the COVID pandemic.
Mastering Music Online is Datasonics' commitment to addressing the needs of music teachers and students by providing comprehensive, user-friendly, and innovative music education solutions.
- aligned to the curriculum for Years K-12
- self-paced lessons for personalized learning
- over 400 lessons categorized by year level & activity type
- covers theory, ear-training and creative activities
- assign lessons using Google Classroom or other LMS
- online Professional Development Courses for Teachers
- admin interface to view, monitor and mark student work
- complete freedom with custom lesson plans
- compose, arrange, mix and print music
- powerful editing tools across 6 editors
- import and export MIDI files and Music XML
- in-built virtual keyboard and synthesizer
- record from external keyboard in real-time
- single login from Google or Microsoft Education Account
- nothing to install
- works on all devices any where, any time
- all work stored in the cloud for privacy and security
- narrated text, instructional and video help on all lessons
Music Teacher Blog on using technology in the classroom
Online Music Lessons
The music lessons have been categorized by year level and activity type for easy reference and selection.
Each lesson topic is color-coded to indicate its primary activity type and shows the musical concepts covered.
Lesson Topic | Lessons |
Musical Concepts | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rhythm |
Pitch |
Dyn/Exp |
Form |
Timbre |
Texture |
||
Musical Stories | 1 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Instrument Families | 1 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Instruments Aural | 18 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Staff, Clef and Notes | 10 | ✔ | |||||
Note Durations | 9 | ✔ | |||||
Rest Durations | 6 | ✔ | |||||
Beginner Songs | 3 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Changing Instruments | 6 | ✔ | |||||
Correcting Instruments | 4 | ✔ | |||||
Easy Songs | 3 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Tempo Marks | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Tempo | 2 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Identifying Instruments | 3 | ✔ | |||||
Play-along Songs | 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Musical Forms | 9 | ✔ | |||||
Folk Songs | 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Adding Lyrics | 3 | ✔ | |||||
Drum Grooves | 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Intervals Aural | 17 | ✔ | |||||
Intervals Written | 16 | ✔ | |||||
Note Recognition | 5 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Bar and Time Signature | 5 | ✔ | |||||
Time Signatures | 2 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Writing Manuscript | 5 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |||
Writing Counts | 6 | ✔ | |||||
Rock Songs | 3 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Clefs | 4 | ✔ | |||||
Dynamics | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Using Dynamics | 3 | ✔ | |||||
Writing Dynamics | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Accidentals | 8 | ✔ |
Lesson Topic | Lessons |
Musical Concepts | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rhythm |
Pitch |
Dyn/Exp |
Form |
Timbre |
Texture |
||
Editing Notes | 1 | ✔ | |||||
Selecting Instruments | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Orchestral Songs | 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Accent Marks | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Staccato Marks | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Arranging | 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Compose in Keyboard | 2 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Christmas Solos | 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Semitones and Tones | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Ties and Slurs | 3 | ✔ | |||||
Ensemble Arranging | 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Enharmonic Notes | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Major Scales | 5 | ✔ | |||||
Minor Scales | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Major Key Signatures | 4 | ✔ | |||||
Quantizing | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Folk Advanced | 3 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Ensemble Balance | 3 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Solfa and Transposition | 4 | ✔ | |||||
Syncopation | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Performance | 1 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Chords Aural | 13 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Chords Written | 13 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Adding Chords | 3 | ✔ | |||||
Chord Symbols | 3 | ✔ | |||||
Creating Chords | 1 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Chord Inversions | 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Choir Songs | 3 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Major Key Harmony | 6 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Minor Key Harmony | 2 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Film Scoring | 3 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Lesson Topic | Lessons |
Musical Concepts | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rhythm |
Pitch |
Dyn/Exp |
Form |
Timbre |
Texture |
||
Rhythmic Exercises | 6 | ✔ | |||||
Rhythmic Dictation | 6 | ✔ | |||||
Melodic Exercises | 6 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |||
Melodic Dictation | 6 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |||
Jazz Songs | 6 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Scales Aural | 17 | ✔ | |||||
Pentatonic Scales | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Blues Scales | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Whole Tone Scales | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Instrument Ranges | 8 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Mixing | 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Anacrusis | 8 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Repeats | 3 | ✔ | |||||
1st and 2nd Endings | 3 | ✔ | |||||
Advanced Performance | 1 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Changing Tonality | 2 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Christmas Ensembles | 3 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
DC al Fine | 3 | ✔ | |||||
DS al Fine | 3 | ✔ | |||||
DC al Coda | 2 | ✔ | |||||
DS al Coda | 2 | ✔ | |||||
Radio Remix | 2 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Composing Parts | 3 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Note Comparison | 10 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Publishing Layout | 3 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Improvisation | 3 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Cadences Aural | 7 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Cadences Written | 19 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
Modes | 2 | ✔ | |||||
4Part Writing | 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |||
Sight Singing | 12 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Mastering Music Testimonials
Dr Philip Cooney, Wycliffe Christian School, NSW, Australia
Excerpts from Mastering Music Workshop in USA
Pricing
- No credit card required
- Try all features for 30 days
- Unlimited users during trial
- Upgrade license at any time