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.
Here is a rhythm play-along that includes 4/4 meter, whole, half, eighth, dotted quarter, and quarter notes, as well as fermata, repeats, rolls, and quarter rest. It is a mashup of six holiday songs listed below. Check back for a body percussion play-along to accompany this mashup, and eventually teaching materials. Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech.
Music:
"All I Want for Christmas is You" written by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff; Performed by Mariah Carey from Merry Christmas (1994) Columbia Records
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" written by Johnny Marks; Performed by LeAnn Rimes from What a Wonderful World (2004) Asylum-CuRB Records
"Puppy for Hanukkah" written by Daveed Diggs with William Huston and Jonathan Snipes; Performed by Daveed Diggs (2020) published by Wonderland Music Company “I Have a Little Dreidel,” written by Samuel Goldfarb; Performed by Maccabeats (2018)
“Happy Kwanzaa,” Performed by FANOKO SINGERS (2015) CD Baby (on behalf of Fanoko Singers); ASCAP, CD Baby Pro (Publishing), and 2 Music Rights Societies
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine; Performed by Shawn Colvin from Acoustic Christmas (1990)
"Blue Christmas" written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson; Performed by Elvis Presley from Elvis's Christmas Album (1964) RCA Victor
Here is the YouTube episode to accompany this post: https://youtu.be/SEaRPVOe0Qg
In the States, the last Friday of October is usually one close to Halloween, or close to a full moon. In many areas, either of these events is bound to cause your elementary students to have extra energy, especially if they are having some sort of celebration right before your music class.
If that is the case, here are five YouTube musical activities (plus a bonus) you can do to promote the following concepts:
Ensemble playing
Listening
Following a conductor
Learning how to trill on a boomwhacker
Pitch
Rhythm reading
Accidentals or key signatures
Finding patterns in music
Performance skills
Melody
Harmony
Bass lines
Tempo
Coordination
Cross-curricular connections of reading words and how syllables relate to rhythm
Musication has become a staple in many elementary music classrooms. From their popular boomwhacker play-alongs to their percussion videos, my students find them so much fun. I like that I am having them experience and practice skills mentioned above. Two of my students’ favorites are Skeleton Dance (they loved the melody and learning how to trill on a boomwhacker with a triangle) and Ghostbusters (learning the difference between melody and the bass line).
Rhythm recess came out this week with two videos involving the song, I Want Candy by Bow Bow Bow. One is for body percussion and one is for rhythm reading. Both emphasize steady beat, coordination, and creativity. If your students cannot stop talking about candy, these will be beneficial and fun.
Cameron creates wonderful play-alongs that involve him conducting the music as he plays it. This is amazing as it includes multiple modalities for your students to perform. They can watch him play, or follow his conducting, or perform rhythm patterns by reading notation or the words. He updated his popular Halloween Percussion Play Along and just added an Autumn Themed Percussion Play Along. All with originally scored music by Cameron.
Back in 2017, Pequeño Mozart created a rhythm practice (Lectura rîtmica) video to Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King. To this day, my first and second graders (current and previous) ask for this video and a pair of rhythm sticks. When I use this in my classroom, I take screenshots of the five rhythm patterns and have the students perform a retrieval practice with that before they perform the song. This play-along is basically the students performing the rhythm of the melody, which I believe, is what they like so much about it. Level it up by having them compare and contrast the song with Trolls Hair Up (found here), and then watch the line rider video to reflect on how that video showcased the song.
Abby Watson is an elementary music teacher who created her YouTube channel for her students at the beginning of the pandemic. She loved creating the videos so much, that she created more for any teacher to share with their students. What I love about Abby’s videos is that she teaches the musical concepts throughout the video and then ends with the play-along portion. Her bucket drumming videos are excellent. They are wonderful to leave as a sub plan.
Bonus: My students have liked the October Rhythm Play-Along and the October Body Percussion very much. This is a mashup (30-second audio clips) of The Addams Family by Vic Mizzy, Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr, The Munsters by Jack Marshall, Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter by John Williams, Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt Kickers, and Werewolf in London by Warren Zevon. This can be used to read and perform rhythm patterns, body percussion, compare the two, and for fun.
I wish you much luck this week if you are experiencing the full moon, the anticipation of a certain day, the sugar highs, and anything else that might come your way this week.
