Full alignment with National Core Arts Standards for Music, renewed planning tools and new additions to 800+ song catalogue help teachers spend less time preparing for a class

10 November 2026 – Hal Leonard, the world leader in sheet music publishing and music education and part of Muse Group, has updated Essential Elements Music Class (EE Music Class), its digital music education platform, to make it easier for K-8 teachers to plan, organize, and deliver music lessons. The update includes improved tools for finding and organizing content, new songs added to the catalog, and full alignment with the National Core Arts Standards for Music. The launch was announced today at Web Summit in Lisbon.

Building on a library of over 800 songs, the platform's music catalog now includes new kids’ favorites, such as songs from Trolls and Moana, alongside classics including Bridge Over Troubled Water. The wider catalogue spans Broadway musicals, Disney songs, pop hits, and traditional music, helping teachers spend less time sourcing material outside the platform. 

Beyond its song library, EE Music Class offers recorder and ukulele resources, social-emotional learning activities, and middle-school materials covering guitar, drums, and modern band. 

The update also introduces improved filtering and sorting options, making it easier for teachers to find the right materials without searching through the entire catalogue. A clearer structure allows them to arrange content into classes, custom lessons, and playlists, and share learning materials with students and parents. Students can access the shared resources without an additional login, and see what to practice straight away.

Teachers can also move more easily between sections of a piece of music using interactive notation. By clicking anywhere in the score, they can jump directly to the corresponding passage in playback, whether they want to demonstrate a particular section or help students practice a difficult part.

EE Music Class is fully aligned with the National Core Arts Standards for Music, with lessons mapped to recognized educational objectives. This helps teachers plan their classes with confidence that the curriculum meets music education standards.

"Teachers have enough to think about during the school day without spending extra time searching for songs or figuring out how to share assignments. We wanted to make preparing for classes easier while giving teachers the flexibility to run them in their own way and spend more time making music with students. Educators can use ready-to-teach lessons or customize the materials to fit their own teaching style, choose favorite students’ songs, and share the assignments", - said Lori Casteel, Education Lead at Hal Leonard.

First introduced in the 2019-2020 school year, Essential Elements Music Class is part of Hal Leonard's wider music education offering, which spans instructional books, sheet music, and digital teaching resources. For the 2022-2023 school year, a full elementary curriculum was released, with 30 complete lessons for kindergarten through 5th grade. Since joining Muse Group in 2023, EEMC has continued to add additional content, middle school curriculum, and now offers over 800 songs, each including a variety of supplemental resources. 

For more information about Essential Elements Music Class, visit www.eemusicclass.com.

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