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.
Two years ago, I created a rhythm play-along and later added a body percussion activity. Due to the varying meters, rhythms, and tempos, I suggest trying it personally before using it in class. This rhythm play-along emphasizes gratitude with a fall theme, incorporating snippets from songs about thankfulness and appreciation.
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🎃 Bring Spooky Scary Skeletons to Your Classroom! 🎃
Perfect for upper elementary and middle school Halloween fun:
Catchy EDM Remix: Students love the fast tempo, pulsing beat, and energetic synths.
Play-Along to Level Up By Changing the Tempo: Practice tempo, dotted half notes, and strong beats with slide manipulatives.
Interactive Lessons: Explore remixing, production techniques, and social media’s impact on music.
Soundslice or YouTube: Currently, this video is found on both of my channels. In the Soundslice version, you can manipulate the appearance and playback more.
👻 Grab the manipulatives on my Buy Me a Coffee Channel for a spooky music class hit! 🎶
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Well, it's that time of year in the States. Personally, I loved Katie's picture of the few pumpkins and the purple packages of tangerines being sold in her area where here, if you turn around, you are presented with a pumpkin patch, hayrides, and pumpkin spice everything...not that I mind. I do love my pumpkin spice.
If you need some Halloween/Fall Play-Along Videos, especially if you are teaching on Halloween, please feel free to use these. If you like my resources, please consider buying me a coffee at buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech.
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This is the seventh installment of my summer project of creating play-along videos of songs and concepts found in the Kodály and Orff Schulwerk approaches. This week, I feature Pass the Pumpkin Round and Round play-along video and steady beat movement activities (Boomwhackers, Percussion, Xylophones, and Game) video.
To break down the video so you can use it as a whole or teach it in parts:
00:19 Melody
01:28 Bass Line
01:59 Percussion
02:29 Steady Beat Game/Activity
03:28 All of the parts together
Read MoreYuStudio is one of the seven creative tools a part of MusicFirst Elementary. It is a digital audio workstation (DAW) that is web-based and can score notation and movies! One of its newest updates is the video timeline. YuStudio can now show the video in the timeline to make it more intuitive to add a sound effect at a certain moment or change the music when the scene changes in the movie. Check this out today!
Free 30-day Free trial: https://www.musicfirst.com/software/musicfirst-elementary
Read MoreThis was one of my first rhythm play-along videos that I created a couple of years ago featuring five songs and various rhythm values and meters. If you can use Halloween-themed songs, this is a good one to reinforce performing rhythm patterns for assessment, retrieval practice, and more.
Read MoreI’m sure you’ve heard me talk about it by now, so I’ll keep this one short and sweet. I wanted to jump in today and let you know that the Middle School Music Summit™ kicks off on Saturday!
This totally free event features 13 amazing speakers who are ready to teach you the skills and strategies to have your best school year yet. Who doesn’t want that? Join us tomorrow!
Read MoreIn the past, I researched Canva's AI tools and had it rewrite the song, Five Little Pumpkins, and turn it into a whimsical tale. It was amusing, to say the least. I had fun using Canva to illustrate and record that tale. Most of this video was produced in Canva, with the recording of the song done in Soundtrap, and the final edits to put the three videos together in Final Cut Pro.
Read MoreNeed a free Middle School music online PD? Look no further!
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Though this is not one of my popular rhythm play-along videos, I have to say that it is one of my favorite ones. This is a Halloween-inspired rhythm play-along video with all live, instrumental selections. Taking five familiar live instrumental selections played often around Halloween time, this is a medley rhythm play-along intended for older elementary and middle school music classes. This is one of many play-along videos for the fall. Click like and subscribe, check out other play-along videos, and if you like my resources, please consider donating me a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech
Read MoreWhen you need lyric videos and play-along instrument videos to assist the students with their learning of songs and their performing of concert songs, what efficient tools and ideas are out there? Here are two freemium ideas.
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Get ready to rock with this boomwhacker play-along for older elementary students, featuring the fun tune "I Want Candy" by Berns, Feldman, Goldstein, and Gottehrer, performed by Kidz Bop. This is a perfect jam to bring out during the Halloween season, as it's all about sweet treats and no mention of spooky stuff.
Read MoreMusicFirst Elementary, Powered by Charanga, offers a well-rounded curriculum designed specifically for young learners that can be used with one device in the classroom to a room with 1:1 devices. Let’s take a moment to explore five important aspects that contribute to making MusicFirst Elementary (MFE) a wonderful curriculum for young learners:
5. Scope and Sequenced, Spiraled Curriculum
When one launches MFE, they will find a scope and sequenced, spiraled curriculum for grades K-5. There are six units in each grade level with 6 lessons per unit. The concepts that are taught are reinforced in later grades so that students revisit and retrieve the information that they have learned in previous years. There are also curriculum maps, standard alignments, numerous lesson plans, assessment checklists, theory guides, progression guides, and so much more documentation that you can use so you do not have to recreate the wheel and you can give to your administration when asked.
4. Original and Traditional Music
MFE has original and public domain music available in their song-based curriculum. These songs are diverse with performers from around the world recording with original lyrics and instrumentation.
3. Kodály and Orff-Inspired Lessons
MFE listened to their teachers and added Kodály and Orff lessons as requested. You will find Kodály Curriculum Maps, Folk Songs, Orff Activities, and Interactive Kodály Songs to help with teaching.
2. Recorder, Boomwhacker, and Ukulele Resources
Click on the Supplementary Tab within MFE, and you will find resources for recorders, boomwhackers, xylophones, and ukuleles. I have personally gone through each recorder song to create a scope and sequence progression for teaching recorders to grades 3 and 4!
1. Seven Creative Tools Including YuStudio, a Web-Based DAW with Video Scoring Capabilities!
MFE has seven creative tools that you could use with one device projected to a screen, as a station within the lesson, or in a 1:1 classroom with intuitive student logins either integrating into a current learning management system or having MFE create the logins and passwords for the students. Each tool makes it possible for you to teach with just MFE, eliminating any need to subscribe to additional notation and DAW services.
NEW! Graphic Score
A graphic score is a creative method for writing music, using shapes, letters, or pictures to show sounds.
Rhythm Grids
Rhythm Grids are a great tool for music learning. They can be used for warm-ups, teaching new ideas like notation and meter, decoding, and for composing.
Quickbeats
Create your own beats with Quickbeats!
YuStudio
YuStudio is a web-based, award-winning digital audio workstation (DAW) that is easy to use for both students and teachers and can score videos!
Music Notepad
Music Notepad is a useful tool for learning music notation and creating your own songs.
Music Explorer
Interactive tools for over 20 instruments to assist with various musical activities such as pulse games, listening skills, notation introduction, improvisation, and composition.
Percussion Writer
Play and compose with classroom percussion instruments.
Try out MusicFirst Elementary today with a 30-day free trial found here: https://www.musicfirstelementary.com/site/free-trial/
Check out more MFE tutorial videos that deep dive (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO2UG241-fB6Ghg2abkM1PvcB-j1TySq-) into the curriculum or shorter videos (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO2UG241-fB5gvd-38w5B9OYFkiwGgLhZ) to get you started.
This week’s play-along video is one that focuses on movements and rhythms so that you can choose how to use them in your classroom. In the States, Autumn begins this week. I chose a medley of songs that include the months of September and October, and the seasonal weather that is associated with fall in certain parts of the world. This video does not mention Halloween or pumpkins, but more in the lines of leaves and the weather becoming colder.
The songs are:
“September” by Earth, Wind & Fire (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs069dndIYk)
“Harvest Time” by Luke Bryan featuring The Bartaks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4QTpRoYLdg&t=20s)
“Just Like Autumn” by The Tuesday Crew · Jordy Searcy · Carly Bannister (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I--bUH-JJdA&t=87s)
“Autumn Leaves” by Ed Sheeran (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vpk9zYYeBs&t=22s)
Added to the blog this year are the digital manipulatives and ideas on how to perform this with students.
Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech
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I love using resources for songs, especially ones that come with extra parts for classroom instruments. When Music K8 sends boomwhacker parts with the song, it gives me options for alternative ways for students to learn the song. However, there are times when my students need manipulatives to assist with their music literacy. How can I create an interactive video for the boomwhacker part to assist with my students’ learning of the song?
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I adore Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September,” and it received plenty of airplay this past weekend as we celebrated the 21st of September. While many have speculated that the lyric, “Do you remember the 21st night of September?” refers to the equinox, the band has mentioned that they considered several dates, but the 21st sounded correct with the meter.
Boomwhacker Edition
I searched for a Boomwhacker version of the song but couldn't find one. Please let me know if there are any available. However, I discovered numerous videos for body percussion and rhythm play-along. As a result, I quickly created my own using Soundslice.
Imported the melody into SoundSlice.
Added Boomwhacker colors.
Adjusted the accompaniment track to C Major and modified the tempo with Moises.ai, while lowering the vocals since the key change affected them significantly.
Uploaded it to SoundSlice.
Synced the melody with the accompaniment, and voila! A Boomwhacker play-along video.
However…
The video is quite basic. I opted not to swing the rhythms, but you might choose to do so. The tempo may still be a bit fast, and it sounds somewhat off in C Major. This might not suit your students perfectly, so no worries! You can always use one of my other play-along videos or find alternatives from other channels. However, if this one works for you, I hope you and your students enjoy it!
Manipulatives
The manipulatives include a fun video of musicians performing a version of the song on Boomwhackers, some interesting facts about the song, and the score to help your students learn it before they dive into the play-along video. Manipulatives can be found in my https://buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech/september-boomwhacker-challenging-edition
Soundslice or YouTube
Feel free to use this YouTube link (https://youtu.be/f8rZ_uqpeGY) or the Soundslice link (https://www.soundslice.com/slices/lpK2c/) with your students. With the YouTube link, you can change the tempo (and key if you have the Transpose Extension - https://transpose.video/). With the Soundslice link, you can change the tempo, key, view, the way it scrolls, add the melody or take it away, take out the note names, and more.
Coming Soon
Brisk Teaching is an AI tool designed to help educators save 10-20+ hours weekly by creating instructional materials and providing feedback. It integrates with platforms like Google Docs and Slides, allowing teachers to generate quizzes, lesson plans, and presentations tailored to diverse learners. Brisk is free and easily added as a Chrome Extension.
One feature allows users to turn YouTube videos into slide presentations, generating content about artists and music styles. Teachers can customize presentations by selecting templates, grade levels, and personalization options once they provide feedback.
Key features include:
Creating lessons based on videos
Starting presentations that accompany videos
Providing additional context about songs or topics
Brisk offers a convenient option for those using Google Slides in music classes.
This is the body percussion version of the rhythm play-along I created over the summer.
This summer, I have been getting into Coldplay’s music. I am not sure why I am so late to join on this bandwagon, but their music has evolved throughout the almost three decades that they have been making music and I am enjoying listening to their progression.
The rhythms included in the play-along are:
Quarter Note - Crotchet and rest
Eighth Note - Quaver
Half Note - Minim and rest
Whole Note - Semibreve and rest
Accents
Crescendo/decrescendo
Dynamics
Use this as retrieval practice for reading and performing rhythms, as a fun play-along to introduce a new concept, to welcome a new school year, or to celebrate that you all made it through a full week of school.
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In this video, you'll see how I schedule a day filled with various grade levels of music classes using Google Slides.
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Check out this rhythmic play-along video tailored for your youngest students, drawing inspiration from the current "everything pumpkin" trend. The video not only features the song created using Suno but it also demonstrates the free tools employed for producing the video, such as Canva and Clipchamp.
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