I’m becoming more and more impressed with the usefulness and well-thought purpose of what just may be the only print magazine written specifically to merge the current mainstream music paradigm(s) with the traditional-based music 7-12 public curriculums. For years, In Tune Monthly has been publishing some of the best music making materials and ideas available today that are specifically targeted to cultivating a sound musical foundation by utilizing the music that the younger generations are passionate about. Not unlike any good music education program, In Tune Monthly explores all aspects of music making from how it is created and learned to how it is performed, recorded, and distributed.
Each issue features music groups, bands, people, and places that are both current and timeless From Beethoven and Henry Mancini to Quincy Jones and High School Musical, this magazine is a one-of-a-kind amalgamation of all that is best in music and music education. This is a magazine specifically written, in both an educational and entertaining manner, that targets the middle-to-high-school age student or musician (..although I find it very informative myself!).
As a music educator, it is quite easy to see the appeal that the students see with In Tune Monthly, the magazine itself has a beautiful “eye-popping” and “fun” layout and is full of the latest gear reviews, artist write-ups, and song and composition evaluations. A very wide range of topics can be found within each issue from how to write pop-song lyrics to in-depth information about the anatomy of the french horn. While there are many instrumental or group specific “trade” type magazines, In Tune Monthly has not catered to any specific music performance niche. Within it, you will find articles about choirs, marching bands, orchestras, jazz, classical music, rock, hip-hop, recording, brass instruments, guitars, electronic and acoustic gear, and anything else that you might imagine. Through it all, In Tune Monthly surprisingly, makes such seemingly diverse content blend perfectly into one smooth and interesting “read”.
The magazine puts a tremendous amount of thought into teaching pedagogy as every issue has various articles related to music theory, music practice, music business, or the industry in general. For example, the February 2009 issue included a great article called “Arpeggios and altered chords” and gave a good, fairly in-depth, analysis of breaking up, suspending, altering, and clustering chords. Also, each issue has a special “teacher’s edition add-on” that relates almost all of the articles to the National Music Standards, suggests further listening and reading options, and even provides student worksheets and assessment materials such as quizzes and testing ideas. The magazine really is well thought out and implemented.
In addition to the “physical magazine”, there are a number in-tandem web related resources and online “bonus materials”. One of the great issue-related features that may be found on the web is their “In Tune Listening List” that allows anybody to listen to related music and bands written about in the magazine articles. They even have a great FACEBOOK integrated presence.
I’m not sure why there is such a great dichotomy and so many self-imposed distinctions between mainstream music and musicians and those of the traditional “older schools”. There doesn’t have to be as, in the final analysis, all musicians are creators and makers of music -regardless of the specific music genre or venue…. We all partake from the same wellspring of creative abstracts, melodies, and harmonies. Regardless of which side-of-the-fence you are on with regard to either traditional or mainstream forms of music, In Tune Monthly does an excellent job of ignoring the fence-work altogether and provides a solid, informative, and useful music product with each printed issue. Calling it a “musician’s textbook” really is not too far from the truth.
InTune Monthly Links:
The Main In Tune Monthly Site
Lesson Links
Get a free In Tune Montly sample issue (PDF)
Hear the music related to each issue
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I’d love to hear from any of you that are using this magazine in your classes and how you are implementing it into your teachings either via the comment section below of drop me an line using our contact form.
Joe — you bring up an interesting topic, the issue of old school / current school. One solution is constant education. We have all witnessed music teachers who started teaching and stopped learning. So in classrooms today, we still find teachers spending 100% of their time on musical greats prior to 1800. With limited knowledge of what musical … Read Moreactivities kids are taking part in at home, on their own, teachers risk becoming irrelevant. I know this is controversial. It should be – it will get all music teachers talking and striving to create engaging current day music curriculum.
Mark-you made some excellent points. I agree that teachers need to be aware of what their students are listening to at home and what they are teaching themselves on an instrument and more. I have had teachers argue me that students can listen to their ipods at anytime, but when will students hear and learn about the great composers from the various… Read More eras of pre-1900? And I do not deny that. We should teach about those great composers. However, I feel that we should not ignore the present. There is a great aspect to music teaching when you teach a student how to listen and appreciate all types of music. Just my 2 cents.
Amy – yes!!!! A great example of what young musicians are doing at home – Jim Frankel shared this in a recent session — do a search on YouTube for multi-tracking quartets. Some amazing lessons in creating music, harmony, melody, blending, etc. And, young musicians are doing this on their own. Pretty powerful stuff.
a great tool! and very useful in linking music education with students and age groups all over the performing spectrum!
from my own personal experience the monthly printing kept me in the loop of what was going on in the music scene. i was always looking froward to getting the monthly issue to see what was new in the music business.
this is a vital resource that can spark interest in students and inform them of what is going on with music outside of their own knowledge base.
I agree, this is a great tool. And it definitely is the perfect “musician’s textbook,” like it says. I took a look at the site a little bit because I had never heard of it before. I was incredibly impressed with the amount of diversity I found on the site. Everything you could possibly think of in a music website was there.
I glanced over the sample issue and was pleased to see the array of articles. There are not only popular articles of the day (like music in movies, etc.), but articles on music education, finding the right music school, and articles written by music teachers or critics.
The articles showcase many different types of music and groups. I was very interested to read more after looking at the one issue. This is definitely something that could be a helpful teaching tool in the future.