Write Cartoon Theme Songs, Music Theory Cheat Sheet, Choice-Driven Creativity, Musical Wonder's Apps
🎶 Musical Wonders Edition – February 3, 2025 Edition 🎉
It’s very exciting to welcome everyone to the new Musical Wonders Substack! We’re dedicated to bringing you classroom resources centered on creative music-making, and this week, we have several brand-new tools to spark creativity in your students. Whether you’re looking to demystify music theory, write the next great cartoon theme song, create your own teaching diagrams, or build a framework for creativity in your classroom, we’ve got something for you!
🎼 1. Music Theory Cheat Sheet – A Handy Guide for Scales & Improvisation
Ever wished for a super simple, student-friendly way to teach scales, transposition, and improvisation? We’ve got you covered! This printable cheat sheet lays out major scales, pentatonic and blues scales, and chord formulas—all in one place. Perfect for classroom reference, jazz band improvisation, or just helping students build their confidence in music theory.
📥 Download the cheat sheet and check out the walkthrough here:
🎤 2. Cartoon Theme Song Writing Lesson – Make Your Own TV-Worthy Banger!
Cartoon theme songs are short, catchy, and unforgettable—so why not have students write their own? This lesson walks them through the formula behind great theme songs. We even have a write-along video to guide them step by step!
📝 Get the lesson plan and watch the video walkthrough here:
🧠 3. Choice-Driven Creativity Framework – A New Way to Think About Creativity
What is creativity, really? This brand-new framework breaks it down into one simple idea: making choices. We’ve put together a poster and guide to help you identify ways to make any music lesson more creative—by encouraging experimentation, remixing, risk-taking, and storytelling. A fantastic conversation starter for music educators!
📌 Download the framework and explore the full breakdown here:
🎹 4. Free Musical Wonders Apps – Custom Music Notation for Fretboard, Keyboard & Drums
Need a quick way to create custom fretboard diagrams, keyboard charts, or drum set notation for your students? We’ve built a set of free web apps that let you design and print custom graphic notation for your classroom. These are perfect for creating lesson materials, illustrating song ideas, or helping students visualize music in a new way!
🔗 Try the apps here:
We’re so excited to kick off this SubStack journey with you! If you try out any of these resources, let us know—we’d love to hear how they work in your classroom. And if you have ideas for future lessons or resources, hit reply and let us know what you'd like to see!
🎶 Keep making music, keep making choices, and most importantly—keep having fun!
The Musical Wonders Team
🎵 MusicalWonders.org
Thank you so much for these wonderful resources and ideas!