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.

ABOUT

Amy M. Burns (http://www.amymburns.com) has been teaching general music to grades pre-kindergarten through four, directing the Far Hills Philharmonic for grades four through eight, co-directing the elementary chorus and Broadway Jr enrichment groups, and coordinating The Far Hills Conservatory at Far Hills Country Day School in Far Hills, NJ, for over twenty-five years. A widely known music educator, author, and clinician on how to effectively integrate technology into the elementary music classroom, she credits her colleagues, administration, and the members of the Technology for Music Education (TI:ME) organization and NJMEA for her success in teaching music to elementary students. 

 

Amy holds a Bachelor of Music in both Education and Performance from Ithaca College and a Master of Science in Music Education from Central Connecticut State University (CCSU), with her capstone research project focusing on composition with music technology at the second grade level. She also holds TI:ME levels 1 and 2 certifications as well as Orff level 1 certification, Kodály level 1 certification, Google Certifications Levels 1 and 2, Apple Teacher, Seesaw and Book Creator Ambassadors, a Feierabend First Steps in Music Certification, and has completed her International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Certification. A firm believer in differentiating instruction, Amy began adding technology as another tool to reach the students in her music classes in 1998. In 2005, Amy received the first-ever TI:ME Teacher of the Year Award for her innovative uses of technology in the elementary music classroom. In 2016, Amy received the NJMEA Master Music Teacher Award and the Governor's Leadership in Arts Education Award. In 2017, Amy was the recipient of the NJ Non-Public School Teacher of the Year.

 

During the summers, Amy teaches courses to music educators on ways they can integrate technology into their music classrooms. She has been an adjunct professor at CCSU, Montclair State University, William Paterson University, Lebanon Valley College, and musicedtech.com. In addition, she has taught several classes online and has been a guest speaker for numerous webinars.

 

 

Amy has presented many workshops on integrating music technology into the elementary music classroom for district and state conferences in Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. Ms. Burns has also presented sessions at AOSA and the national conferences for Technology for Music Education (TI:ME) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). In 2014, she was a keynote speaker at the MusTec conference in Glen Waverly, Australia. In 2015, she was the keynote speaker at the Music and Technology Conference in Houston, TX. In 2017, she gave a keynote address at Plugging In - The Role of Technology in 21st Century Music at Indiana University. In 2018, Amy traveled to St. Maarten to present workshops for music educators and classroom teachers on integrating technology into their classrooms for the government's ISTEP program. Her keynote addresses focused on how technology is transforming the way music educators teach elementary general music. 

Amy has written many articles on the topics of early childhood music education and integration of technology into elementary music classes for publications such as NJMEA’s Tempo and NAfME General Music Today. She is the lead author and editor of a book of technology-enhanced lesson plans titled, Technology Integration in the Elementary Music Classroom, published by Hal Leonard, and is currently a contributing author to Online Learning Exchange™ Interactive Music powered by Silver Burdett. She has written a Help Series of ebooks, in which the first two resources are titled Help! I am an Elementary Music Teacher with a SMART Board! and Help! I am an Elementary Music Teacher with One or more iPads! In 2020, Oxford University Press published Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches which features lessons that enhance the approaches of Orff Schulwerk, Zoltán Kodály, Dr. Feierabend’s First Steps in Music, and Project-Based Learning (PBL). This book also shows insights into each approach, which are respectively written by Ardith Collins, Glennis Patterson, Dr. Missy Strong, and Cherie Herring. Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches received recognitions of being finalists for the Best Book Award in the Education/Academic Category and the BETT Award in the Class Aid for Educational Support Category.

 

Eager to share and give back to the professional community, Amy has served on many educational boards. In 2006, she served on the NJ TI:ME Board. In 2008, she was elected as President-Elect of TI:ME, served as President in 2010-2012, and as Past-President in 2012-2014. In 2013, she was selected to serve on the NJMEA Board as the Early Childhood Music Educator Chair where she produces bimonthly webinars for early childhood and elementary music educators in NJMEA can earn PD hours. In 2019, Amy was interviewed by Dr. Steve Adubato and featured on the television show, Caucus New Jersey with Steve Adubato, speaking about the importance of music in early childhood education, as well as the benefits of technology, when used effectively, in education.

 

Outside of school, Amy is devoted to her family, which includes her husband Chris, and her two daughters, Mikayla and Sarah. When she is not teaching, she is enjoying watching them grow and learning about life through their eyes.

Certified in the following areas as well as Kodály and Orff-Schulwerk Levels 1, and TI:ME Certified Levels 1 and 2.

CV

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