My Favorite Music Resources

Hey friends! I don’t know about you, but I am always on the lookout for good music resources, especially Christian ones. As a musician and teacher, these resources are ones that I have personally found helpful, and today I’m excited to share with you some of the favorites I’ve found! Even if you’re not a musician, perhaps you know someone who is; if so, feel free to pass along the link to this post.

Koerts Music. This is one of my absolute favorite places to find beautiful hymn arrangements. Mr. Koerts’ arrangements are tasteful, worshipful, and the perfect time length for a special at church. He offers piano solos and duets, choral music, subscriptions, orchestral arrangements, and courses on writing, arranging, and music theory. There are also some free piano hymn arrangements available. I love that most of the solos or duets have an accompanying YouTube video so that you can hear the arrangement before deciding to buy it or not.

Kardia.com. Another favorite resource! Kardia offers a quarterly print or e-magazine, Kardia Music Journal, that includes interviews, music theory, poetry, historical research, and more with an emphasis on Bible-based conservative music philosophy. You’ll also find free hymn arrangements on the website, along with duets and orchestral arrangements for sale. I am so thankful that my friends at Kardia are meeting a real need among conservative Christian musicians for these resources.

J.W. Pepper/Soundforth. From the best I can tell, J.W. Pepper is a secular source, but it carries some great music, including hymn arrangements from Soundforth. I so enjoy this book of violin/piano duets, More Love to Thee. Soundforth offers beautiful instrumental hymn arrangements that I would highly recommend!

The Church Pianist. This website offers some free hymn arrangements and has a music store with piano solos, duets, vocal resources, music for flute and violin, and wedding music collections. Jennifer Cook also has a blog where she regularly posts tutorial videos on her arrangements and other topics helpful to church pianists.

Hymnary.org. “A comprehensive index of hymns and hymnals.” A great resource for any hymn-lovers!

The Cyber Hymnal. This website has a huge, alphabetical database of free pdf hymns, many of which are old or almost impossible to find anywhere else. I’ve found it really helpful when I hear a hymn somewhere that I love, but then can’t find it in any of our hymnals. It’s also fun to browse for new hymns to learn!

FJH Music. Though a secular resource, this company offers sacred music resources (use discretion since not all are conservative), and a goldmine of books for music students. They offer a comprehensive catalog with activity, recital, solo, theory, exercise, and method books for students from beginning to advanced.

Specific Music Teaching Resources

John Thompson’s Modern Course for the Piano. This is my favorite foundational series that I use with all my students. If the student is a young child and beginner, I start with Teaching Little Fingers to Play. Although I supplement with other resources as well (typically flashcards/theory/exercises, a hymn arrangement book, and a classical piece), this series is what I use with my students until they get to about the intermediate level of playing and can play classical pieces in their original format.

Color Coded Flash Cards. These are amazing for beginning child students! They include all terms, symbols and notes needed for the first two years of study on any instrument. I love using these to reinforce what the students are learning as they play through a book. As a teacher, I prefer not to stress the theory too much in the beginning; I don’t want my students to get bogged down learning all the theory without being able to actually play. However, theory is also important and so these are a fun way to teach the basics of music to children!

Printables from Color in My Piano. Free, printable theory sheets designed for young students? Yes, please! Joy Morin offers so many helpful resources for piano teachers on her website! She also offers games, sheet music, lesson plans and more. I particularly love the theory printables, though; they are such a time saver and so well designed.

Free Simplified Classical Sheet Music from Making Music Fun.net. Although I linked the piano music page, this website offers music for other instruments as well. I put an emphasis on teaching my students classical music as early as possible, and this is one of my favorite places to find simplified classical pieces. You’re allowed three free downloads per day, and they are available for various levels of playing. A great way to get your students introduced to classical music before they are ready to play the original versions.

If You Enjoy Listening…

Abiding Radio. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I have greatly enjoyed listening to Abiding Radio. I especially enjoy their Sacred, Instrumental, and Seasonal music streaming (it is all sacred music).

What are your favorite resources? If you have anything to add, please feel free to comment below; I’d love to hear your recommendations! 😊