Amy M. Burns

Elementary Music Technology and Integration

Amy M. Burns has taught PreK-grade 4 general music for over 25 years at Far Hills Country Day School (FH) (https://www.fhcds.org/). She also teaches grade 5 instrument class, directs the FH Philharmonic, is the Performing Arts Department Manager, and teaches privately in the after-school conservatory after being the director for over 20 years. She has authored four books and numerous articles on how to integrate tech into the elementary music classroom. She has presented many sessions on the topic, including four keynote addresses in TX, IN, St. Maarten, and AU. She is the recipient of the 2005 Technology in Music Education (TI:ME) Teacher of the Year, the 2016 New Jersey Music Educators Association (NJMEA) Master Music Teacher, the 2016 Governor’s Leader in Arts Education, and the 2017 NJ Nonpublic School Teacher of the Year Awards. Her most recent publication, Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches (2020), published by Oxford University Press (OUP) is available from OUP and Amazon. Burns is also the Community Coordinator for Midnight Music (MMC) at https://midnightmusic.com/, the General Music Chair for NJMEA Board of Directors, and the Elementary Music Consultant for MusicFirst (https://www.musicfirst.com/), a company built by music educators for music educators, dedicated to helping music teachers and their students make the most of technology in the classroom.

Mrs. Burns's 3rd Grade Music Class: How Technology Enhances Creating, Performing, Assessing, and Connecting Music Across the Curriculum

January 23, 2022  /  Amy M. Burns

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3rd Grade Music Compositions
3rd Grade Music Compositions
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Assessment: Creating Recorder Books
Assessment: Creating Recorder Books

As an assessment for a recorder playing and comprehension, the third graders created recorder books to be used by the next year’s recorder students. We use the app book creator to write about the recorder and create audio files and videos of recorder songs.

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STEAM: Music and Science Making Music Together!
STEAM: Music and Science Making Music Together!

This trimester, the third graders experienced STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) in their music and science classes. In music, they studied how an instrument produces sound, especially percussion, woodwinds, and strings. In science, they explored volume and pitch as they created a woodwind, string, or percussion instrument from recycled materials. 

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Integrating with Integrity: Composition, Writing, and Social Studies (3MC)
Integrating with Integrity: Composition, Writing, and Social Studies (3MC)

In second grade, my student musicians composed a four-measure melody. By third grade, they are ready to compose an eight-measure melody that they can perform on the recorder. The students were given the guidelines of composing an eight-measure melody using the notes B A and G and the rhythms quarter, eighth, half, and whole notes.

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Integrating with Integrity: Composition, Writing, and Social Studies (3M)
Integrating with Integrity: Composition, Writing, and Social Studies (3M)

In second grade, my student musicians composed a four-measure melody. By third grade, they are ready to compose an eight-measure melody that they can perform on the recorder. The students were given the guidelines of composing an eight-measure melody using the notes B A and G and the rhythms quarter, eighth, half, and whole notes.

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Integrating with Integrity: Composition, Writing, and Social Studies (3C)
Integrating with Integrity: Composition, Writing, and Social Studies (3C)

In second grade, my student musicians composed a four-measure melody. By third grade, they are ready to compose an eight-measure melody that they can perform on the recorder. The students were given the guidelines of composing an eight-measure melody using the notes B A and G and the rhythms quarter, eighth, half, and whole notes.

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Performance: Virtual and Acoustic Ensembles
Performance: Virtual and Acoustic Ensembles

I am adoring the virtual instrument apps that I have on the iPad for my elementary music classroom. Some of the apps that I am experimenting with or using in my classroom can be found here. In the recording above, my 3rd grade class is singing and performing “Chatter with the Angels” utilizing orff instruments, recorders, voices, and an iPad using an autoharp app plugged into the stereo amp.

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Mrs. Burns's 3rd Grade Music Class: How Technology Enhances Creating, Performing, Assessing, and Connecting Music Across the Curriculum
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