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.

PreK/K: Features from Mrs. Burns's Music Classroom

February 01, 2022  /  Amy M. Burns

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PreK/K: Features from Mrs. Burns's Music Classroom
Assessment: Using Recordings as an Assessment Tool
Assessment: Using Recordings as an Assessment Tool

On October 31, we hold our school’s annual Halloween Parade/Fall Music Festival. In years where we did not have a snow storm or a major hurricane that knocked out power for days on  end, we usually have  weather that is nice and we prepare our Fall Songs. The PreK/K sang six songs for this year’s parade. 

Math and Kindergarten/1st Grade: Using Groovy Music to Show Form in Kindergarten/1st Grade Music Class
Math and Kindergarten/1st Grade: Using Groovy Music to Show Form in Kindergarten/1st Grade Music Class

In K and 1, the music educator and students can use the cloud-based software from MusicFirst called Groovy Music to create music. Consider this a “GarageBand” for younger students. 

Using Groovy Shapes, music educators can reinforce shapes, colors and patterns while having the students create a song in a guided form. The students also experience musical terms such as dynamics, tempo, melodies, bass, chords, and more.  

Integrate Across the Curriculum: Making a Book Come to Life
Integrate Across the Curriculum: Making a Book Come to Life

In kindergarten music class, we incorporate reading and identifying sight words in music literature. One of their favorite books is Eric Litman’s Pete the Cat. Last year, we performed two books from the series that emphasized singing, acting, math, and reading. 

Picture credit: http://all-free-download.com/free-vector/download/book_knowledge_tree_310828.html

PreK Unit: Carnival of the Animals
PreK Unit: Carnival of the Animals

In the spring, the PreK music classes prepare for a Grandparents’ Day Concert. This concert will feature a cross-curricular theme such as songs about numbers, or books, or around the world. Once the concert is completed, I introduce Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals. 

Assessment: Using Explain Everything to Assess Rhythm Patterns
Assessment: Using Explain Everything to Assess Rhythm Patterns

When I teach the song H E A R T to the tune of Bingo, I use the app Explain Everything to assess the rhythm used in the song. The song is as follows:
Kindergarten Musical Creation: Their Chinese New Year Song
Performance: Performing their first melody on sol and mi
Performance: Performing their first melody on sol and mi

These are two examples of my kindergarten classes performing their first melody on the Orff instruments. The melody comes from an old series of music curriculum, but any sol mi song would do.

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