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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It’s beginning to look a lot like…
That time of year when we are about to approach a holiday break and we need activities to quickly and intuitively use in a class of elementary music students. There have been so many wonderful contributions from numerous elementary music educators that I wanted to make this Wakelet so these activities were all in one place.
Check out over 170 music activities to celebrate the winter or December holidays in those last few days before the holiday break! Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech.
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One of my favorite holiday pieces is “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” by Savatage / Trans-Siberian Orchestra (1995). It is a combination of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” played in the beginning of the song by a solo cello, and then in a round with a flute and guitar. The next part picks up the tempo and is the melody of “Carol of the Bells” or “Shchedryk”, the Ukrainian New Year’s song by Mykola Leontovych, written in 1916. I recently arranged this piece for my school’s Philharmonic, which consists of students in grades 4-8 who play strings, brass, woodwinds, and piano. They had a wonderful time learning to play and perform the song, and it inspired me to create this play-along video. For this video, I edited the song and slowed down the tempo so that it could be successfully performed by elementary and middle school students.
Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech.
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Last year, I created a mashup of popular holiday songs from holidays celebrated in the States during the month of December. This year, I include slides for you to teach the rhythm patterns and musical elements that are found in the play-along. Read for more and if you like my resources, please consider buying me a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech
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Need musical activities for early childhood and elementary classes for this shortened week? Take a look at the Being Thankful/Giving Thanks/Thanksgiving Music Activities Wakelet (https://wakelet.com/wake/zeVd8qvk_TuEbRCXzbL4I) and read the blog to see some of the highlights from the Wakelet!
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Need to create a quick ebook or songtale manipulatives? Canva and Book Creator have got you covered!
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Book Creator is a web-based app that gives your students the opportunity to create ebooks using traditional and digital methods. In this case, we read the story by Cronin and Lewin, Click, Clack, Boo! This popular story is about how Farmer Brown does not like Halloween and tried to sleep through the evening so he does not have to listen to the sounds and see the Jack-o’-Lanterns. However, the barn animals have a different idea and decide to throw a party in the barn.
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What happens when you can use Zoomerang to create quick boomwhacker snippets? Currently, a work-in-progress, hopefully by the end of the week, I will find out!
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Need an elementary fall-themed video for preschool through grades 4? Or a Halloween-themed video? Rhythm Play-along? Boomwhacker? Song? Games? Look no further! Here is a Wakelet, along with a YouTube webisode and blog to give examples of how they can be used in the classroom this season!
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The practice of the steady beat in early childhood is so important. Rhythm can help students with their language skills, as well as their gross- and fine-motor skills. Using a play-along video is a great way to have young children practice and perform the steady beat.
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It is the start of a new school year here in NJ and I am looking at a song that will describe the feeling of starting a school year with a more normal feel. I chose the Lego Movie’s Everything is AWESOME by Tagan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island. Here is a rhythm play-along to the song.
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Hats off to the elementary music educators who create the most decorative spaces and then take it a step further to create TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube shorts showing the process of getting their rooms ready for the first day of school. I marvel at their talent and I tried to do the same as my oldest daughter and I created the music bulletin board outside of the music room.
When it comes to me and supplies to use for creating bulletin boards, the items win. Thank goodness for my oldest daughter who saved the day by finding this simple, yet very inspirational board to emulate.
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These tips might be new or a refresher for you, but they are good tips for those using YouTube in the classroom. Plus, if you cannot use YouTube in the classroom, there is some additional information in these tips to give suggestions for when you cannot use YouTube in the music classroom.
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It was another inspiring day at the New Jersey Association for Independent Schools (NJAIS) Innovation and Collaboration Conference! There were thought-provoking sessions and a wonderful keynote address. Here are my takeaways from Day 2, how some can be implemented personally and how some can be implemented in elementary music.
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The New Jersey Association for Independent Schools (NJAIS) held their annual Innovation and Collaboration Conference live, after having virtual conferences for the past couple of years. It was so wonderful to be back together in-person and to learn how educators are using technology in ways that focus on innovation and collaboration.
When I first attended this conference back in 2017, I left inspired. Jaime Casap, who at the time was a Google Education Evangelist, was one of the keynote speakers and he spoke about the fact that our current generation does not understand the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” This was a popular question asked to many of us when we were growing up in the 20th century. Instead, they are asking, “What do I need to learn to solve that problem?” And this leads to collaborating with others to solve problems. His keynote inspired me to use technology in ways of collaborating to make music. This was very successful with students working together using Seesaw and Soundtrap to create music and reflect on it together. This was especially true when the pandemic hit and we had to adopt virtual learning.
The first day of NJAIS’s Innovation and Collaboration Conference proved to be just as inspiring. As I break down some of the sessions I attended, I end each reflection with what the tech tool or concept looks like in an elementary music classroom.
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Though early and resources are not created yet, it is a fun one if you can perform Halloween songs in your #elmused #mused classroom. The video is broken down so you can focus on the portion that fits your teaching style and your students’ learning styles.
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This is the fourth installment of my summer project of creating play-along videos of songs and concepts found in the Kodály and Orff Schulwerk approaches. This week, I feature the Long-Legged Sailor Play-Along (Boomwhackers, Percussion, and Recorder) video.
Each video (found on my YouTube page) will be accompanied by lesson manipulatives. The lesson manipulatives can be found on my Teachers Pay Teachers page starting in September (these free manipulatives are now showing up on my TPT page). Up until then, you can have them for free (as seen below and beginning to show up on my TPT page). This gives you the opportunity to use the video for free to work well with your classroom approach or purchase the lesson that goes along with the video on my TPT page. Either way, the videos are free to use in your classroom.
Here are the resources and blog of the lesson plan:
Blog: http://amymburns.com/elmusedtech/lls
Google Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yZc3cVj3E5cecZ8lBgcx0KsRdEhQlcXopEJMAfvgyXw/copy
Seesaw Activity: https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?prompt_id=prompt.ef00279b-e26e-4235-a8ea-94d66cb93e73&share_token=rfB59kRcRnKJQVr-jd5TXQ
PDF of Slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aEsBUC9yEyPGZ6fiBMnAagNL_6ZjYV85/view?usp=sharing
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Looking for summer PD where you can learn on your time, at your own pace, and about music creativity? Join us for a course that includes lessons and ideas for Garageband, Soundtrap, and Bandlab.
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