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.

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Tech Tip #6: Guitar Chord Tools Extension

July 14, 2023  /  Amy M. Burns

Elementary Music Summit

This week I was able to attend on-and-off the Elementary Music Summit by Bryson Tarbet of “That Music Teacher Community”. There were numerous sessions presented by music educators for music educators. What I adored the most was that the presenters ranged from early-on in their educational careers to veterans. I came out of the conference rejuvenated and with a lot of new ideas to enhance my music classroom.

Tech Tip #6: Guitar Chord Tools Extension

One of the sessions I attended was tech-favorite and one of the authors of Pass the Baton: Empowering All Music Students Theresa Hoover, who presented a session about Google tricks and tips. Many of them I had experienced or used, but the one that I loved the most and had never used was the Guitar Chord Tools Extension! Oh my goodness!

Here is what it can do:

  • Install the Guitar Chord Tools Extension.

  • Open a Google doc.

  • Copy and paste a song with chords. In this selection, I copy and pasted Bruno Mars Count on Me for the ukulele.

  • Go to Extensions>Guitar Chord Tools>Show Controls

  • I am going to change the key of C to D.

  • The chords are now changed on the doc! Mind-blowing! 🤯

Thank you Theresa for showing this and many other Google tricks and tips. If you would like a copy of her Google Cheat Sheet, click here to sign up and receive one via email.

Check back for the final tech tip #7 in 7 days!

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