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.
Get ready to rock with this boomwhacker play-along for older elementary students, featuring the fun tune "I Want Candy" by Berns, Feldman, Goldstein, and Gottehrer, performed by Kidz Bop. This is a perfect jam to bring out during the Halloween season, as it's all about sweet treats and no mention of spooky stuff.
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In the States, as we approach the end of May and then the month of June, many schools are having graduation or “moving up” ceremonies. These time-honored traditions can include a graduation song that the students sing during the ceremony. These songs usually consist of a message of hope, growing up, or something else that is very positive. This does limit our choices for songs and many teachers ask for advice on what songs would work well. In this blog post, you will find a Wakelet of song choices and a rhythm play-along medley with five songs that my students have liked over the years for these ceremonies. Come back next week when the medley will include boomwhackers.
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Join in the fun with this exciting play-along for the song, "Puppy for Hanukkah" written by Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes. Gather your instruments, including C, E, F, and G boomwhackers, tambourines, rhythm sticks, and maracas and shakers, and get ready to play!
Read MoreAs the holiday season approaches, some elementary music educators are gearing up for their upcoming concerts or integrating holiday themes into their general music curriculum. If you're able to incorporate the classic song Silent Night by Gruber and Mohr, this ukulele play-along is a great way to do so. With only four chords – C, F, G, and A min – this intuitive play-along is an excellent addition to any music classroom. Continue reading to see how I approach this in my own classroom!
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In this video, I am using Canva's animation tool to record the movement of the snail. This can be used as a play-along video and a sing-along video. You could also use this as an assessment and place it in an LMS platform or Seesaw to share with your students. Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech
Resources: Blog Post:
Seesaw Activity: https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?prompt_id=prompt.e995c45f-2425-4b93-a737-abe664e428c4&share_token=b-lfU1JtS6qZy3NrDJH-4g
Snail, Snail: https://kodaly.hnu.edu/song.cfm?id=833
Canva for Education: https://www.canva.com/education/
Read MoreHave you ever needed a one-stop shop of audio, video, image, doc, and converter tools that is web-based, free? Take a look at 123.apps.com!
Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech.
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Last month, I was thrilled to be able to present at the ISTE Live23 Conference in Philadelphia, PA. I presented a poster session titled “Making Elementary Cross-Curricular Connections Intuitively With Book Creator”. It was a 90-minute session that explored the following:
“Elementary special subject areas like music, STEAM, and more have numerous cross-curricular connections. However, showcasing those connections to administrators and parents can be challenging. Book Creator gives educators ways to achieve cross-curricular connections and allows students to use multiple modalities to showcase their work.”
Check out the webinar and the blog post. Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech.
Read MoreThese are two tips that let you change a video so that it is mirrored. This is helpful for any movement videos or choreography videos where you need to mirror the teacher on the screen and they are using the terms left and right. Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech Tools Used: https://www.mirrorthevideo.com/ https://clipchamp.com/en/
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Day 1 of TMEA: TI:ME National Music Technology/Education Conference. Click here to read about tow highlighted sessions from the day.
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New! Valentine’s Rhythm Play-Along Video to That Thing You Do! Here is a fun, simple rhythm play-along video to the song, That Thing You Do, written by Adam Schlesinger. The song is performed by the fictional 1960s band The Wonders, who are the focus of the film with the same title. The song peaked at No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1997. The note values that are covered are quarter, eighth, and half notes, as well as quarter rests. It also includes a dance party in the middle of the song. This song will be featured in my TMEA/TI:ME session tomorrow where you can see how to create the video in two different ways using free tools! Have fun with this!
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Countdown to 2023-10 Tech Tools or Tips for Elementary and Middle School General Music: #10 Two Important YouTube Tips
For the past few years, I have counted down to the new year with a top ten list. I begin on 12/23 and end on 1/1. The list is comprised of 10 tech tools or tips for elementary and middle school general music. This top ten list will have a tech tool or tip featured each day in a short video and blog post. When we reach number one, I will follow it with a video of all ten tools and tips. Therefore, you can follow me daily, or come back on New Year’s Day and catch all ten at once.
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