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.

Countdown to 2024: 10 Elementary Music Activities for a First Day Back to School #4

December 29, 2023  /  Amy M. Burns

#4 Decode Wordart into Rhythms

As we prepare for the start of a new term or school year, let's continue our countdown with activity #4: Decoding Wordart into Rhythms.

Objective:

Ask your students to share one word about their break, and from that word, they will decode the rhythm. Once all the words are combined as Wordart, they can perform the unique rhythm pattern that they have created.

Materials:

For this lesson, you can use these sites:

  • Classroomscreen.com - If you need to write on the screen but you do not have an interactive whiteboard, this free website will work well.

  • Paper and a writing utensil or a device that allows them to draw a word onto the screen.

  • Wordart.com - This free site creates wordart from the words that you input.

  • M&M Bite-size Beats, MusicFirst Elementary (MFE) Rhythm Grids, Groovepizza, or Incredibox, - I will demonstrate using Bite-size Beats (which is a free Incredibox-like site) and MFE’s Rhythm Grids (which is a fantastic part of the MFE Curriculum where the students can decode the music and add the background style to it). However, you can use the program of your choice that works best for your students.

Procedure:

  1. Welcome the students to your music class.

  2. Review or introduce your classroom essentials or expectations.

  3. Ask the students to describe their break with one word. Give them some examples to assist with this.

  4. Give them materials to write the word and help with their spelling if needed.

    1. Items that can be used are a paper and writing utensil, or Seesaw’s drawing tools, or a device that has a drawing app like Freeform.

  5. As they give you their one word, you write it up on the board or use a site like Classroomscreen.com to write on the screen.

  6. When they have given you their word, have them decode the rhythm of the word. Use a few words as examples to help them get started. Have them write the rhythm on their paper, device’s app, Seesaw, etc.

  7. As they are decoding, transfer the words to Wordart.com to create a Wordart for visualizations.

  8. Once they finish, have them perform their words and assist with their rhythms if they need help.

  9. Go to M&M Bite-size Beats, Groovepizza, or Incredibox to create an accompaniment beat and have them perform their word and rhythm to the beat.

  10. If time and if relevant, have them record the class composition to share with families.

Using MusicFirst Elementary’s (MFE) Rhythm Grids to Decode and Perform

There are many items I like about MFE and one of those items is the creative tools included with the curriculum. One creative tool is Rhythm Grids.

  • When the students have written their word and need to decode it, they can come up to MFE or use their student login to access MFE, and decode using Rhythms Grids.

  • I like to perform this activity as a class activity since they are only using one word. However, this could be assigned using the student login.

  • We will just launch Rhythm Grids as this will not include advanced patterns.

  • We will choose the notation through the settings. This can include blobs, notes, sticks, or symbols.

  • When they have decoded their word, the class can decide on which style from Rock, Latin, Orchestral, Hip Hop, or Fusion, to make as the accompaniment.

  • They then can perform their new composition by using body percussion or classroom instruments.

  • Use the “Hear” tool to hear the rhythms performed. Use the “Shuffle” tool to shuffle the rhythms. And, use the “Randomise” tool to have the program create new rhythms.

  • Click the hamburger icon with File underneath to name and save the file.

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