Music lessons are more dependent on accessories than almost any other subject. Here are a few of our most popular to make your teaching that little bit easier.
Classroom headphones
These need to be cheap, robust, and reliable for decent sound quality. Thankfully there are loads of terrific options out there, including:
Numark HF125
Wildly popular in schools, the HF125 headphones are sturdy, convenient, and very cost-effective – the perfect combination for the classroom! 7-position independently adjustable ear cups, large 40mm Mylar speaker drivers, and a 1.8m tangle-resistant cord all contribute to Numark’s education excellence. To make sure you're never caught out, the HF125s are offered with a 6.35mm plug, a 3.5mm plug, or a handy adaptor option which gives you access to both.
Soho Sound EDphones
With mega-strong polypropylene housing providing impressive longevity, Soho Sound’s EDphones are backed by 30 years of UK manufacturing experience. A notable innovation is that 3.5mm and 6.3mm jacks are hard wired as standard - no more loose adaptors going missing and wasting valuable lesson time!
Read more about the EDphones from Soho Sound Company here.
Roland RH5
From solo practice on digital pianos, electric guitars or electronic drum kits, to studying a mix or just enjoying a playlist, Roland’s RH-5 headphones deliver in every setting. Although they are priced higher than standard education models, they are still a useful asset for classrooms, practice rooms and even school studios and breakout rooms, especially with their extended 3m lead.
Any of these might be the right ones for your circumstances, so budget will likely play an important role in which ones you choose.
Roxtone Splitters
For certain projects, it’s crucial to have multiple students listening to the same output, from the same device. That’s where Roxtone Splitters come in – they have all sorts of options with different plug sizes enabling versatile headphones connectivity, and making sure lessons run smoothly. Splitters are often used to connect multiple pairs of headphones to the same computer or keyboard for composing projects.
Roxtone Splitters come in two different types:
- Cable splitters – these splitters have a 10cm lead for easy positioning, and the high quality moulded connectors which Roxtone are renowned for.
- Solid body splitters – with their attractive red casing, top grade moulding and reliable connectors, these are the ultimate robust classroom splitters.
MIDI controller keyboards
MIDI keyboards connect easily to computers and tablets, enabling students to compose, record, and edit music using a keyboard tool. Their compact size and affordability make them suitable for classrooms, while built-in features like velocity sensitivity and octave shifts provide hands-on learning that can accommodate all skill levels. They allow students to explore a wide range of sounds and instruments digitally, and they can be connected to recording and notation software for compositional use.
We highly recommend the M-Audio Keystation MKIII, a compact MIDI controller for sequencing music and playing virtual instruments on your Mac/PC.
Portable keyboards
We’ve covered classroom keyboards extensively on the Teacher Hub; there a lots of brilliant options for students to generate ideas and have fun on. The bonus of using these instead of straightforward MIDI keyboards is that whilst they often do have MIDI functionality, they can be used standalone too as they have built-in speakers.
Read William Thompson's advice on choosing the best keyboard for your classroom here.
Audio Interfaces
Whilst classroom computers can go without an audio interface, in many cases it is convenient to have one. William Thompson has outlined the reasons for this in his audio interface article, including adaptable placement, variety of audio inputs and great usability for beginners if you buy an entry-level model like the Scarlett Solo.
The Monarch Keyboard desk
A brilliant addition to classrooms, this features a sliding shelf for keyboards, allowing for convenient storage solution as well as a well-structured desk letting you to use both keyboard and computer concurrently, by placing the latter on the top shelf. All of Monarch’s extensive education range is hand-built in the UK. They use high quality materials and components to ensure each unit is robust, rigid and sturdy.
Ukulele wall hangers
These provide an easy way to store and display lots of ukuleles in a very small space, ideal for schools to use in classrooms! Each wall mounting ukulele rack is quick and easy to fit, easily adjusted and guaranteed for life, with options for either 15 or 25 ukes available.
Percussion Plus instrument trolleys
Another key storage solution, these mobile trolleys are made with wire-mesh shelves and lockable castors for ultimate strength. Manufactured in Percussion Plus’ UK workshop and available with movable trays or just the mesh shelves, these are an excellent classroom solution.
Education wall posters
Topical decorations are a great way to enliven a classroom, and we supply a large range of posters and wallcharts for exactly that purpose. Genesis make plenty of excellent graphical education posters covering a range of topics, all at A1 size to make sure the information is easy to read. Exceedingly popular are the 3m ‘Musical Timeline’ and the Keyboard note chart, which are very useful resources to keep near the front of any classroom for quick reference.
Chamberlain Music mini-whiteboards
A superbly valuable tool for classrooms, our mini-whiteboards are very popular with teachers for their versatility. Ideal for testing students, these whiteboards are available blank (for games and quizzes) or with staves (for musical dictation, compositions and arranging). For more on making the most of mini whiteboards, read Anna Gower’s article here.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but just some of the classroom tools that we've found prove useful to many teachers. Hopefully they can help you too!