Hey, Drooble readers. Let’s go back to a topic we’ve touched before, though in a different context – when considering music education, most people don’t immediately think of studying online. Music is normally regarded as something best learnt and experienced in person. However, it’s quite obvious for the curious mind (which has also spent some time on Google and a few forums), that a good music education is perfectly possible online, especially when it comes to solfeggio, music theory and the like. If you haven’t had the time or occasion to delve into the vast sea of opportunities online music education offers, you may find yourself surprised by the great amount of high quality resources currently existing on the web. Whether it’s full courses you’re after, separate lessons, sheet music or even just artistic exhibits – it’s all there, available for study, 100% free – online. We’ve taken our time to discover a few of the best resources and we gladly share them with you.

1. MIT OCW:

MIT’s Music and Theater Arts course materials contain tons of lectures, projects, multimedia and others. Resources include Early Music, Schubert to Debussy, and The Supernatural in Music, Literature, and Culture.

2. Exploratorium Science of Music:

Learn how to compose, mix, listen, and experiment through various exhibits, movies, and questions.

3. Berklee Shares:

Here you’ll find numerous music lessons (even music business lessons!), guitar chords and voice lessons.

4. Soundation Studio:

An awesome free tool for creating music online, including an introduction to audio production, effects and mixing.

5. San Francisco Symphony Keeping Score:

This website offers many great online exhibits in music, TV, and radio.

6. Gresham Music Lectures:

Great past and current lectures on music, operas, innovation, and musical legacies.

7. Open Yale Courses Department of Music:

“Listening to Music with Craig Wright” is the only available course currently but it’s really great. It explores an understanding of Western music for novices and teaches how to listen to a variety of musical styles.

8. Library of Congress National Jukebox:

Historical recordings, featured artists and playlists of ragtime, opera, African-American recording pioneers, even Hawaiian music.

9. The Morgan Library & Museum:

Amazing highlights, including music manuscripts and works from some of the most famous composers of all time.

10. Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia:

Online exhibitions, lectures, symposia and lots of great reads.

11. ArtsEdge:

The Kennedy Center’s Arts Education Network has a multimedia library where you can find good music, lots of lectures and cool online exhibitions.

12. Free Music Manuscript Staff Paper:

Free blank music sheets to write down your own compositions on. Guitar tabs, piano staff, all kinds.

13. Classics for Kids:

Lesson plans, activity sheets, books, and more for teaching children about classical music.

14. The Open University Arts and Humanities:

The ever-so-amazing Open University offers resources for music theory and voice-leading analysis of music.

15. ActiveBass:

You guessed it – here you can learn to play bass online. They have plenty of member-created content, including  lessons, lines, tracks, and “bassics.”

16. TES Music Teaching Resources:

Lesson plans, activities, worksheets, revision, and teaching ideas for anyone above the age of 11 🙂

17. G Major Music Theory:

Sheet music, music theory resources, even music humor. They basically cover everything – from fundamentals to writing music.

18. The Virtual Museum of Music Inventions:

Lots of inspiring stuff like photos of musical instruments made by students, plus a great resource on how sound is made.

19. EarMaster:

Great ear training software. They have this thing called Interval Examples Chart which is  a very useful tool for learning how to identify intervals, plus daily challenges to keep you aware and entertained 🙂

20. BBC Learning-Music:

Мusic resources and online courses with the BBC seal of quality – including tips on starting out in the music industry.

Not promising anything but you maybe up for another round of these. There’s just too much amazing and useful stuff on the Internet to help you learn and be a better musician. Actually you know what? We ARE promising a “part 2” so stay tuned 🙂 While you wait, why not head over to Drooble where you can find thousands of other people who are just as interested in music as you are and equally awesome 🙂