Imagine a world in which you a are a teacher. Maybe you don’t have to imagine it. But if you do, in this world you are a teacher and you are trying to create a new instructional video on fractions for your Math class. You want to create this video so your students can access it when you’re not available, and you’d like to use some background music in that video. Where do you find this music? Spotify? YouTube? It’s very difficult to take music from streaming services, and sometimes doing so violates copyright laws. Maybe you can use the old CDs in the glovebox of your car. Or…maybe there’s another way.
Music found online that uses a Creative Commons license is the perfect solution for this problem of yours. Where do you find such music? I’m so glad you asked. Here is a very solid list of music resources that are royalty-free and open-access. Some highlights from this list include YouTube Studio, the Free Music Archive, and Citizen DJ. YouTube Studio holds a large collection of music expressly made for use by content creators royalty-free, whether those creators be YouTubers or teachers or anything else. The music on Studio is not a collection of pop hits or rock chart-toppers, but is largely instrumental and somewhat neutral. So, when using it in a video, it doesn’t take away from the subject of a math tutorial or a Top 10 Greatest Movies List. Free Music Archive holds largely the same type of music as does Studio, but an even larger collection of Creative Commons-licensed tracks. Citizen DJ is a different type of site, where users can create their own electronic music mixes with a wide range of included loops, tracks, and sound effects. This is a fantastic resource not only for teachers but for students as well. It blends technology, music, education, and Mathematics in a rich and user-friendly way. The same could be said for any of these resources, to be fair.
So, Math teacher, go and grab a classical track from YouTube studio and add it to your teaching resource. Share the Citizen DJ link and let your students create something inventive and on-theme. Teach them about open-access resources not only as tools that you use for your teaching, but as tools they can use in their learning and in their futures. Sure, you can play music from Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube in your classrooms. These platforms do have pop hits, student favourites, and probably your favourites, too. But these platforms keep their content behind a paywall or an ad-wall, and are not exactly ethical about how artists are compensated.
Below, please find a short track that I made myself on Citizen DJ. I recommend you go out and make soem music yourself, too!
