Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Open Course Ware: Schubert to Debussy
A complete undergraduate-level online course on Western music history for the period 1815-1915. Includes course assignments.
Library of Congress
Loc: The Moldenhauer Archives
The Moldenhauer Archives at the Library of Congress contain approximately 3,500 items documenting the history of Western music from the medieval period through the modern era.
PBS
Pbs: Geography of Music: Age of Emerging Modernism, 1885 1920
See where and when composers interacted and were influenced by one another in this interactive world map. The map highlights the relationships among the various composers as well as the connection between music to history.
PBS
Pbs: Geography of Music the World in the Age of Revolutions
This interactive map helps illuminate the relationships among the various composers as well as connections between music and its historical and cultural context. It also illustrates the importance of the physical and cultural...
Other
Down Beat: Cecil Taylor
A detailed site containing information in the following sections: photos, biography, and archived news articles about avant-garde pianist/composer Cecil Taylor.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: Music in the Renaissance
Learn how the political, religious and economic changes in Europe during the Renaissance affected the music of the period. A slide show introduces viewers to a variety of instruments which were developed in conjunction with the new music.
San Diego State University
Classical Cards
The underlining object of the musical card game is to learn more about classical music forms, composers, and specific works.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Smithsonian Jazz: Duke's Music Class
Learn about jazz from the master, Duke Ellington. Three activities explore his role as jazz composer, orchestra leader, and pianist.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Musical Theater
A short and concise history of musical theater with two early performers and a composer highlighted.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Smithsonian Jazz: Duke Ellington
This site provides audio clips, photos, and biographical information of this legendary composer and performer. A match game teaches and tests your knowledge of Ellington.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: A Brief History of Jazz!
A lesson plan that helps students explore the roots of jazz music and some of the important jazz musicians in history.
PBS
Classics for Kids: This Week
This website is sponsored by a classical radio station in the Midwest. The site contains audio files and text files of past shows, games, a handful of lesson plans, and lots of energy. You can find information on many composers by...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Documents Gallery: Ellington and Strayhorn
Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, two of the greatest jazz composers, collaborated on hundreds of works. As you explore this exhibition, you will have an opportunity to view original music scores, listen to audio clips, and view videos...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Catherine Schmidt Jones: Scoring Music: Write for Specific Instruments
If you are interested in arranging your own music, you should check out the tips offered at this website. Including a history of how music was arranged, this site also gives several good ideas of how to make your arrangements interesting.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Catherine Schmidt Jones: The Music of the Romantic Era
Here is a nice introduction to the Romantic Era. It describes the various elements and the composers of this time.
Library of Congress
Loc: Today in History: February 13: Victor Herbert/ascap
This is an article discussing the founding of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). It gives a detailed overview of it's first director, Victor Herbert.
Other
"Blind" Boone: History
This resource provides a thorough biography of one of the most influential but overlooked Ragtime composers, John William "Blind" Boone. The emphasis is on his lifetime and the tremendous success of his musical career despite his...
A&E Television
History.com: How Al Capone Spent His Time in Alcatraz
Public Enemy #1 was transferred to the now-infamous island prison a few weeks after it opened. To Americans of the 1920s and '30s, he was the notorious gangster Scarface Al, Public Enemy No. 1. But when he arrived at Alcatraz in late...
Classical Net
Classical Net: Timeline of Famous Composers: 1100 1700
A PDF timeline of composers in the Gothic, Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods.
Classical Net
Classical Net: Timeline of Famous Composers 1600 to Present
PDF document showing composers in various musical eras from the Baroque period to modern times.
Other
Africlassical: Black History and Classical Music
Africlassical profiles musicians and composers of African descent since the time of Mozart.
Classical Net
Classical Net: Musical Periods
This site contains the most significant artistic output of the most important composers within each historical period.
Ducksters
Ducksters: Renaissance for Kids: Music and Dance
Kids learn about the music and dance of the European Renaissance including choirs, madrigal, instruments, composers, and movements.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Guide to Black History: Duke Ellington
Biography of Duke Ellington, one of the originators of big band jazz, and a noted composer.