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.

MusicFirst Elementary Has Band/Orchestra/Classroom Instruments Arrangements In Its Curriculum

December 12, 2023  /  Amy M. Burns

MusicFirst Elementary (MFE) Powered by Charanga is an exceptional curriculum that offers many features to enhance any elementary general music classroom. One of the most wonderful features is the inclusion of band, orchestra, and classroom instrument arrangements that can be utilized in your general music classroom setting or your band/orchestra classroom setting.

Using MFE with Your Elementary Ensembles

The curriculum for grades three through five includes every song's "melody and lyrics" sheets, which contain the melody for the entire song. The melody sheets are arranged for C treble clef, C alto clef, C bass clef, and Bb, Eb, and F treble clef instruments. Many of the songs also include “sheet music” with three to four options for novice to advanced players. The sheet music is often arranged for a portion of the song where the activity in this lesson promotes playing instruments and composing a new section to the piece.

Adapting the Song to Your Ensemble

I thoroughly enjoy that our school offers an ensemble for any student in grades 4-8 who plays woodwinds, brass, strings, keyboards, and occasionally percussion because the percussionists tend to join our Jazz Band so that they can play the drum set. There have been years where I have had a few keyboards, a few strings, a couple of woodwinds, and a brass player. And then there are years where half the ensemble plays keyboard and the other half plays acoustic instruments. Arrangements for the instrumentation can be challenging to find. Therefore, I tend to arrange most of their music. When I found MFE, I was thrilled to see the arrangements included in the curriculum.

Simple Gifts

For the arrangement of Simple Gifts, I mostly took from the melody sheets. However, since the sheet music has only a portion of the song that can be downloaded as a MusicXML file, I adapted some of the novice parts from that. I then asked MFE creators if I could have a copy of the piano soloist's part found in the recording. They sent it to me, and I began rehearsing with my ensemble. One of our pianists is an excellent drummer, so I moved him to the drum set to perform the bossa nova beat that occurs at measure 29. My colleague is a professional pianist, so she performed the solo part. When finished, we had a wonderful performance for parents, families, caregivers, and the entire school on our Performing Arts Showcase.

Check out MusicFirst Elementary Today!

Utilizing the arrangements for band, orchestra, and classroom instruments is just one of the many advantages of MusicFirst Elementary. Other aspects I value in this curriculum include its six creative tools, authentic and contemporary original music, many public domain songs, and the fact that the curriculum is a scope and sequence that progresses with students as they move up grade levels. Try it out for thirty days for free here.

Find me in CASMEC, TMEA/TI:ME, and NJMEA!

If you are visiting CASMEC, TMEA/TI:ME, or NJMEA this year, please come find me. I will be presenting about MFE, along with other sessions involving early childhood music, music technology, and more!

Coming Soon!

Have you checked out some of the holiday play-along videos from the past few weeks? They include a ukulele play-along to Silent Night, a rhythm play-along to a Nutcracker Medley, and a rhythm play-along to Puppy for Hanukkah. I'll be adding more throughout December, along with our highly anticipated End-of-the-Year Top Ten Countdown. Be sure to tune in from December 23 to January 1 as we ring in the New Year with daily videos you won't want to miss. See you soon!

Special Note: The music you are hearing in the background is my students and the soloist performing MFE’s (Joseph Brackett and Chris Taylor) arrangement of Simple Gifts at the showcase.

To try MFE for 30 days, please click here.

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