Introducing Music Theory Online for Schools

With the emergence of the Internet in schools some 30 years ago, Michael Luck founder of Music Theory Online for schools had a vision of utilising the flexibility of the world wide web to enhance the study of Music Theory.

During the early 90’s, Michael set about creating his first website Music Theory Online. During the following years, Michael added more content to create a website that boasts over 1800 pages. The website covers the requirements of the ABRSM music theory Grades 1 – 5. For each grade, there is information about the requirements, short video tutorials covering all the major aspects, and Q&A sections to allow the student to monitor their progress. There are also online tests which are timed and provide automatic marking; providing an additional layer in the learning process, and hopefully enhancing students’ confidence in an exam situation.

During the pandemic, the website was redesigned to help teachers and students overcome some of the difficulties associated with teaching and learning online. There is now a section for schools that can help reduce teacher workloads, whilst providing a comprehensive educational experience.

There are several new initiatives to this section of the website. Teachers can: manage students, provide assignments, monitor progress, set tests and examinations, access automatically marked work, and view results on a PDF or CSV format.

The teacher can browse the system to monitor student progress, and if required can even view individual answers if there is an issue. Teacher groups can be created, which allows any number of teachers within a school to use the system. Progress charts can be accessed quickly giving the teacher a birds-eye view of student progress.

Future developments will include the addition of materials for Grades 6-8, translation initially into Welsh and Dutch, with other languages to follow, and a function where students can print out a certificate when they pass their final test.

Access the schools materials free of charge

Michael will soon be rolling out the new website to schools around the world. Before this happens, he is inviting teachers to use Music Theory Online for Schools totally free of charge for three months in exchange for providing feedback on their experience of using the site.

For further information and to register for the free trial, please visit:https://www.musictheoryonline.co.uk/mto-for-schools/