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.

5 #ElMusedTech Tools I am Thankful for in the Elementary Music Classroom!

November 25, 2021  /  Amy M. Burns

After our teaching environments and the performing arts were upended by the pandemic, I reflect on five #ElMusedTech tools that I am thankful for in my elementary music classroom.

  1. Canva

    • Canva is your one-stop shop for creating manipulatives, slideshows, posters, video frames, and more. It allows you to create all from the app as opposed to searching throughout the internet to find the certain elements you will need. Educators can access a free version with their school email address.

  2. Chrome Music Lab

    • Chrome Music Lab has been one the favorite tools for music educators as it gives their students the opportunities to explore, create, perform music, as well as connect music with other subjects.

    • Here are some ideas to use in your classroom.

    • Here is an example of a project my first graders performed in art and music classes using the Kandinsky app,

  3. Play-Along Videos

    • Play-Along Videos became a necessity in our classrooms when we had to teach remote, concurrent, or in-person with numerous restrictions. However, Play-Along Videos can be beneficial for days when we have a sub, or as retrieval practice for concepts we have been teaching, or as an assessment tool, or as an activity before a holiday break.

    • Here are some favorites in Play-Along Videos.

  4. Playxylo.com

    • playxylo.com has been a fabulous tool so that any student with a device can perform with an instrument. Even before the restrictions on in-person teaching where we could not share instruments, virtual instruments gave students who could not play instruments traditionally, a way to perform and create music.

    • Here is my Virtual Instrument Closet that contains numerous instruments from websites to coded ones in scratch.

  5. Music Education Communities

    • Music Education Communities should be a source of comfort, advice, and support for music educators. Some that are wonderful because they support and help each other are Midnight Music Community, Music Ed with Missy, Music Teachers, Elementary Music Educators Idea Bank, Music Educators Creating Online Learning, E-Learning in Music Education, and more.

What are your favorite tech tools you are thankful for?

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