Many of the families who have brought along their children for music lessons (over the last 17 years or so) are either hill farmers or other professional families and they often bring 2 or 3 of their children along at once so they can go off somewhere to do a bit of shopping. As we only have one small room (as LCM examiners will testify) and no waiting area it can be a problem keeping the siblings that are waiting for their one to one lesson amused. Crayons, books and paper don't always seem to do the trick anymore with modern children and because they are sat at my computer desk anyway (and as young people today seem to live, eat and breathe modern technology) I began to allow them access to free music games and puzzles I had downloaded from the web. I could now teach in relative peace.

    I was building websites as a hobby and I had also started producing my own simple music quizzes on the computer as there never seemed to be enough time in a 30 minute lesson to cover much theory. I began using my websites in conjunction with assigning theory homework and also so that youngsters could upload their performances, compositions and vocal recordings. This  proved a  roaring success and 

everyone seems to love this facility.

My theory site (up to grade 5) acts as a supplement to the LCM handbooks because of the way it is structured, but the inclusion of aural training, flash-cards, knowledge of the orchestra, composers, memory aids, music glossary, print-outs, quizzes and puzzles of course, helps to broaden the learning spectrum a bit more and their are many links to sites giving more specialised information. Incidently, I have produced a downloadable version of the whole thing which can be used offline in a stand-alone program (there is a small fee for this though).

    I have wound down my teaching practise considerably recently and the site is not being used as much now. However rather than take it offline I am sure other LCM teachers would benefit from using my website (which has been up to now only accessible to my own pupils) so here is a temporary address and passwords. www.classycoolmusic.com/theory_online   password - anon;  username - freebie;  you should be able to get your browser to remember the passwords so you won't have to keep typing them in.