#techtiptuesday 5 Things That Are Great About MusicFirst Elementary!

MusicFirst Elementary, Powered by Charanga, offers a well-rounded curriculum designed specifically for young learners that can be used with one device in the classroom to a room with 1:1 devices. Let’s take a moment to explore five important aspects that contribute to making MusicFirst Elementary (MFE) a wonderful curriculum for young learners:

5. Scope and Sequenced, Spiraled Curriculum

When one launches MFE, they will find a scope and sequenced, spiraled curriculum for grades K-5. There are six units in each grade level with 6 lessons per unit. The concepts that are taught are reinforced in later grades so that students revisit and retrieve the information that they have learned in previous years. There are also curriculum maps, standard alignments, numerous lesson plans, assessment checklists, theory guides, progression guides, and so much more documentation that you can use so you do not have to recreate the wheel and you can give to your administration when asked.

4. Original and Traditional Music

MFE has original and public domain music available in their song-based curriculum. These songs are diverse with performers from around the world recording with original lyrics and instrumentation.

3. Kodály and Orff-Inspired Lessons

MFE listened to their teachers and added Kodály and Orff lessons as requested. You will find Kodály Curriculum Maps, Folk Songs, Orff Activities, and Interactive Kodály Songs to help with teaching.

2. Recorder, Boomwhacker, and Ukulele Resources

Click on the Supplementary Tab within MFE, and you will find resources for recorders, boomwhackers, xylophones, and ukuleles. I have personally gone through each recorder song to create a scope and sequence progression for teaching recorders to grades 3 and 4!

1. Seven Creative Tools Including YuStudio, a Web-Based DAW with Video Scoring Capabilities!

MFE has seven creative tools that you could use with one device projected to a screen, as a station within the lesson, or in a 1:1 classroom with intuitive student logins either integrating into a current learning management system or having MFE create the logins and passwords for the students. Each tool makes it possible for you to teach with just MFE, eliminating any need to subscribe to additional notation and DAW services.

• NEW! Graphic Score

  A graphic score is a creative method for writing music, using shapes, letters, or pictures to show sounds.

• Rhythm Grids

  Rhythm Grids are a great tool for music learning. They can be used for warm-ups, teaching new ideas like notation and meter, decoding, and for composing.

• Quickbeats

  Create your own beats with Quickbeats!

• YuStudio

  YuStudio is a web-based, award-winning digital audio workstation (DAW) that is easy to use for both students and teachers and can score videos!

• Music Notepad

  Music Notepad is a useful tool for learning music notation and creating your own songs.

• Music Explorer

  Interactive tools for over 20 instruments to assist with various musical activities such as pulse games, listening skills, notation introduction, improvisation, and composition.

• Percussion Writer

  Play and compose with classroom percussion instruments.

Try out MusicFirst Elementary today with a 30-day free trial found here: https://www.musicfirstelementary.com/site/free-trial/

Check out more MFE tutorial videos that deep dive (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO2UG241-fB6Ghg2abkM1PvcB-j1TySq-) into the curriculum or shorter videos (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO2UG241-fB5gvd-38w5B9OYFkiwGgLhZ) to get you started.

September: Boomwhacker Challenging Edition

I adore Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September,” and it received plenty of airplay this past weekend as we celebrated the 21st of September. While many have speculated that the lyric, “Do you remember the 21st night of September?” refers to the equinox, the band has mentioned that they considered several dates, but the 21st sounded correct with the meter.

Boomwhacker Edition

I searched for a Boomwhacker version of the song but couldn't find one. Please let me know if there are any available. However, I discovered numerous videos for body percussion and rhythm play-along. As a result, I quickly created my own using Soundslice.

• Imported the melody into SoundSlice.

• Added Boomwhacker colors.

• Adjusted the accompaniment track to C Major and modified the tempo with Moises.ai, while lowering the vocals since the key change affected them significantly.

• Uploaded it to SoundSlice.

• Synced the melody with the accompaniment, and voila! A Boomwhacker play-along video.

However…

The video is quite basic. I opted not to swing the rhythms, but you might choose to do so. The tempo may still be a bit fast, and it sounds somewhat off in C Major. This might not suit your students perfectly, so no worries! You can always use one of my other play-along videos or find alternatives from other channels. However, if this one works for you, I hope you and your students enjoy it!

Manipulatives

The manipulatives include a fun video of musicians performing a version of the song on Boomwhackers, some interesting facts about the song, and the score to help your students learn it before they dive into the play-along video. Manipulatives can be found in my https://buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech/september-boomwhacker-challenging-edition

Soundslice or YouTube

Feel free to use this YouTube link (https://youtu.be/f8rZ_uqpeGY) or the Soundslice link (https://www.soundslice.com/slices/lpK2c/) with your students. With the YouTube link, you can change the tempo (and key if you have the Transpose Extension - https://transpose.video/). With the Soundslice link, you can change the tempo, key, view, the way it scrolls, add the melody or take it away, take out the note names, and more.

Coming Soon