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.

#techtiptuesday MFE #9 - Spanish Songs in the MFE Curriculum

April 30, 2024  /  Amy M. Burns

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I'm Amy M. Burns, the creator of amymburns.com and the proud writer of "Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches." During the day, I bring music to life as an elementary music educator at Far Hills Country Day School. At night, I step into the role of Community Coordinator at Midnight Music and also work as an Elementary Music Consultant at MusicFirst. Brace yourself for exciting tech tips every Tuesday to enrich your music lessons with MusicFirst Elementary! Immerse yourself in this dynamic K-5 program (soon to include Preschool through grade 6) filled with captivating printable lessons, global tunes, instrumental music for bands, orchestras, and classroom instruments, as well as tools for creating stunning movie soundtracks! Click the links below to secure your spot for a 30-day free trial and explore an exceptional curriculum with cutting-edge resources. Let's create beautiful music together!

This #techtiptuesday is a very quick tip. When needing to find the Spanish songs in the curriculum, especially with Cinco de Mayo coming this week, look no further than clicking on the Supplementary Tab and then click “Spanish Songs in the MFE Curriculum”. You will now see the Spanish songs listed by grade level. For example, I was looking for a Spanish song for an upcoming concert and found La Bamba in the fifth grade curriculum that I felt my fourth graders could sing well. When I click on La Bamba, it leads me to a customized lesson that features the Listen and Respond activity, Learn to Sing, Play Your Instruments, Learn the Song, Improvise and Compose, Melody and Lyrics, and Sheet Music. These activities have helped my students learn to sing and perform the song well. When they rehearsed with our Spanish teacher, she complimented them on how well they knew and sang the song. In addition, since I have many students who study drums privately, I have them learning the drum part from the 5th-grade lesson. If I do not want to scroll down to the drum parts, I can download them and then customize the lesson so that they appear on the left side of the screen. To do this, I click on “+My Lessons”, go to “My Workspace,” “My Lessons,” upload the two parts, and then add them to the lesson to make it a customized lesson.

As MFE adds more Spanish songs to the curriculum, they will also be added to the Supplementary Tab.

To check out a more in-depth look into these features, please click the link below in the description. And don’t forget to try our MFE with a 30-day free trial in the description below. Stay tuned for more MFE tech tips on #TechTipTuesday next week!

Resources:

30-day Free Trial: https://www.musicfirstelementary.com/site/free-trial/

Customize a Lesson in MFE: https://youtu.be/dx2HMXyzmJw

More In-depth Videos of MFE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO2UG241-fB6Ghg2abkM1PvcB-j1TySq-

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