Hello! I'm Amy M. Burns, the elementary music educator behind amymburns.com and the author of "Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches." By day, I share the joy of music with students as an elementary educator at Far Hills Country Day School. In the evenings, I serve as the Community Coordinator at Midnight Music and work as an Elementary Music Consultant at MusicFirst.

Get ready for weekly tech tips every Tuesday to enhance your music classes with MusicFirst Elementary! Dive into this interactive K-5 program (soon expanding to include Preschool through grade 6) that provides engaging printable lessons, a variety of global melodies, instrumental music for bands, orchestras, and classroom instruments, along with tools for creating impressive movie soundtracks! Click on the links below to register for a 30-day free trial and explore a high-quality curriculum with state-of-the-art resources. Let's make beautiful music together!

This week, MusicFirst Elementary introduced new instruments to the Music Explorer Creative Tool. In case you didn't know, MusicFirst Elementary offers six creative tools to enhance musical knowledge and creativity, promote music-making, and assist children in developing their musical ideas and choices. The Music Explorer tool is an engaging, interactive platform featuring over 20 instruments designed to support various musical activities such as pulse games, listening skills, notation introduction, improvisation, and composition.

The Music Explorer tool has now included ukulele and boomwhackers among its classroom instruments. This enables students to compose individual or group songs using various diatonic boomwhacker notes and using C pentatonic or open ukulele strings and rhythms like whole, dotted half, half, or quarter notes. For instance:

• Access MFE on your device and project it onto a screen/interactive whiteboard.

• Navigate to Creative Tools > Music Explorer > Ukulele.

• Select open strings for intuitive performance.

• If you require a virtual ukulele, refer to the resources provided below for a suitable alternative.

I will then offer my students three musical style choices and narrow them down based on their preferences. Typically, my students enjoy the Jazz (Big Band) style at a moderate tempo. Depending on the grade level, I might opt for the Note Grid or Notation with Note Names. I appreciate the six options provided by MFE, ranging from steady beat to rhythmic and pitched notation. Using the Note Grid, students can place notes on the grids, identifying whole, dotted half, half, or quarter notes. After practicing the song, we perform it with the chosen Jazz (Big Band) style.

Advantages of using the Music Explorer Creative Tool include:

• Collaborative song creation opportunities for students using various devices.

• Inclusion of over 20 instruments for classroom, band, and orchestra settings.

• Student ownership of melodies created for performance.

• Setting guidelines for successful melody creation, including notes, tempo, and style.

• Focusing solely on melody creation without focusing on creating an accompaniment.

• Utilizing Yumu for student assignments, sharing resources, and setting guidelines without requiring email addresses.

Explore Music Explorer in MFE today! Look forward to more MFE tech tips on #TechTipTuesday next week as we delve deeper into MFE together.

Virtual Ukulele Resources

Dr. Musik’s Virtual ukulele: https://www.doctormusik.com/apps-and-games/virtual-ukulele/

Virtual Ukulele and Fretboard: https://muted.io/ukulele-fretboard/

Free trial of MusicFirst Elementary: https://www.musicfirstelementary.com/site/