Hi! This is Amy M. Burns and I am a preschool through grade four general music teacher, 5th grade instrument teacher, and 4th through 8th grade band teacher at Far Hills Country Day School along with Community Coordinator at Midnight Music and Elementary Music Consultant at MusicFirst.

Today's #techtiptuesday comes from the many new users we have received recently. Here are five ways to begin with MusicFirst Elementary!

#5 Lesson Plans/Curriculum Maps/Scope and Sequence :32-1:19

Were you captivated by the engaging lesson plans, curriculum maps, scope and sequence, or any of the fantastic resources from MusicFirst Elementary? Whether you're an experienced educator seeking new materials or a beginner teacher in search of lesson plans and documents, this platform has you covered. Navigate to the homepage to access these resources or select a specific grade level for tailored materials. Simply click on the desired document, such as a curriculum map or musical progression guide, or download a lesson plan to use in your classroom and for presentations during evaluations.

#4 Sheet Music 1:19-1:49

Are You a Band/Orchestra Teacher who had Elementary General Music Added to Your Schedule? Then you can begin with the sheet music found in grades 3, 4, and 5. Whether you are teaching band instruments, orchestra instruments, or classroom instruments, MusicFirst Elementary offers comprehensive support for incorporating these instruments into your lessons. If you have many guitarists in your class, invite them to bring their guitars to the lesson and have them play along with one of the parts in the sheet music.

#3 Supplementary Tab 1:49-2:24

If you are a teacher who has a set approach to teach from, then starting with the supplementary tab might be just up your alley. Within this section, you will discover play-along videos for boomwhackers, ukuleles, glockenspiels, and recorders. Additionally, you will come across Spanish songs integrated into the curriculum, Interactive Kodály supplementary songs, music-related games, and more. Engage your students by having them use boomwhackers to boost music literacy by playing along with a song and enhancing your current teaching strategy.

#2 Creative Tools - Music Explorer and YuStudio 2:24-3:24

Perhaps you decided to try out MusicFirst Elementary for its creative tools. MFE has six creative tools designed to deepen musical knowledge and understanding, connect and enhance music-making as well as support children with the development of their original ideas and musical decision making.

Begin by having you and your students create a BAG song with Music Explorer using traditional or iconic notation and rhythms. Then choose one of the ten musical styles. Finally, have them practice their newly created composition and perform it for you and the class.

Jump into YuStudio, the only web-based Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that can score a movie. Explore the tutorials then demonstrate how to score a movie with one of the premade movies available in the video tab. Have your students then score a movie with a drumbeat, bass, piano, sound effects, and one of the videos included in YuStudio.

#1 Interactive Lessons 3:24-end

Maybe you decided to try MFE because you liked that it had song-based lessons with music that is contemporary or from the public domain, and included interactive music-making activities. For example, jump into 3rd grade Everybody Loves the Sunshine and click on the Listen and Respond tab, and have the students answer the higher-order thinking questions and learn about the musical elements found in the song and the cross-curricular connections. Or open a lesson like Kindergarten's Days of the Week and jump into the play-along tab with glocks that can easily be substituted with rhythm sticks, the improvise tab to improvise with instruments or voices, and finally the composition tab, where the students can create a pattern using the composition squares that have the same colors as the boomwhackers and bells found in many elementary music classrooms.

And There's More!

Take a look at my YouTube channel, where I have a MusicFirst Elementary Playlist with in-depth videos and a #techtiptuesday playlist with videos like this one that give you quick tips and ideas on how to use MusicFirst Elementary in your music class today!