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 #17B MusicFIrst Elementary’s New Graphic Score Tool!

August 20, 2024  /  Amy M. Burns

MusicFirst Elementary just introduced the Graphic Score Tool as a part of their Creative Tools, which now makes it seven creative tools included in this curriculum.

What is the Graphic Score Tool?

This tool offers an engaging method to compose, inspire, and document musical pieces. Users can utilize shapes, squiggles, letters, pictures, or any chosen elements to symbolize the sounds and melodies they wish to create. Just like the other interactive creative features available in MFE, this tool can serve as a collaborative composition platform for the whole class or can be shared individually with students through Yumu. By simply dragging, dropping, and adjusting symbols and shapes on the score, students can represent various sounds and musical instruments.

Students of all ages and musical backgrounds can benefit from this tool, as it includes both traditional rhythmic notation and icons. From preschoolers to upper elementary students, this tool enables them to compose and craft music with ease. Let's explore the Graphic Score Tool!

Exploring Graphic Score Tool

When launching the Graphic Score Tool, you will see on the left side of the screen the program that you can launch with a blank score and ones that have the backing tracks of songs found in the curriculum. On the right side of the screen, you will find a teacher guide and mini projects, so you do not have to reinvent the wheel!

What Can the Graphic Score Tool Be Used For?

Many things! Here are some, to name a few:

  • Create an icon score with the lines or shapes for your younger students to perform with classroom instruments or body percussion.

  • Choose a listening excerpt that has a patterned form, like a rondo form. Recreate that form using the shapes tool and assign the students to create movements to represent the shapes.

  • Create a listening map to a song. This example shows the shapes and the drawing tools used to create the beginning of a listening map to Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee

  • Use a track in the grade level themed backing tracks to create a rhythmic ostinato pattern using notation, shapes, text, etc, for the students to improvise with using acoustic instruments. Here is an example using Sparkle from Kindergarten.

  • Use one of the many mini projects.

There are many ways to use the Graphic Score Tool to support your students in creating music in the ways that serve them the best and help them to feel successful in your music class!

Want to learn more?

Check out a more in-depth video about the Graphic Score Tool (https://youtu.be/AhcamjG_X1g)! Look through both MusicFirst Elementary Playlists to learn more about this great curriculum!

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