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.

Autumn Medley Body Percussion/Movement Play-Along Video

September 29, 2024  /  Amy M. Burns

This week’s play-along video is a review of 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 weather becoming colder.

Medley

The medley consists of four songs that have a variety of tempos and styles from country, to ballad, to R&B. I chose to emphasize movements on this medley so that my students could feel the whole note rhythms, the subdivided eighth note rhythms, and how that leads to the dotted quarter note rhythm followed by an eighth note.

The songs are:

Rhythms

If you choose to focus on the rhythms, the following patterns are used:

  • Four quarter notes

  • Whole note

  • Two quarter note and two quarter rests

  • One quarter note, two eighth notes, and two quarter notes

  • Two quarter rests and two quarter notes

  • Four eighth notes and two quarter notes

  • Dotted quarter note, one eighth note, and two quarter notes

  • Two half notes

  • Two quarter notes, two eighth notes, and a quarter note

  • Dance party

Movements

The movements are as follows:

  • Whole note = Clap on beat one and then wave your hands in the air for beats two, three, and four

  • Dotted quarter followed by an eighth note = Pat your knees on the first best, slide on the downbeat of beat two and clap on the upbeat of beat two

  • Quarter rest = shh

  • Two eighth notes = two snaps or flicks in the air

  • Quarter notes = stomps or claps

  • Half notes = Step then slide

How To Teach Play-Along Videos:

Since this can be performed by reading and playing the rhythms or performing the body percussion, I create a digital manipulative so that the students review the patterns before they perform the song. For example:

  • Display the pattern on the screen.

    • Use Wheel of Names with all of their names on it and spin to see who performs the rhythm pattern.

    • Once they perform it, they can choose an instrument for the song.

  • Or, assign each rhythm pattern to a group of students to perform and teach to the rest of the class.

How to Perform Play-Along Videos

A common concern I have heard and experienced is that with all of the students performing at the same time, the sound becomes too loud and too much to control. There are a few ways I resolve this in my classroom:

  • I assign a pattern to a specific group of instruments like the first pattern is performed by the shakers. The second is performed by the drums.

  • I choose the instruments so that the students have choices, but the instruments are not ones that play excessively loud.

  • During the song, I might call out “Just the metals play now”.

  • I split the class in half so that one-half plays on the instruments and the other half creates body percussion. Then switch.

Manipulatives

The manipulatives can be found on my Buy Me A Coffe Page found here: https://buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech

I hope that you and your students enjoy this medley!

©2024 amymburns.com

Any info, student examples, pictures, graphics, etc, may be used with permission. Please contact me personally before using any info, student examples, pictures, graphics, etc.