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 instrumental class, directs the FH Modern Band, is the Performing Arts Department Manager, and teaches privately in the after-school conservatory, having served as director for over 20 years. She has authored four books and numerous articles on integrating technology 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, the 2017 NJ Nonpublic School Teacher of the Year, and the 2026 NJMEA Distinguished Service Awards. Her most recent publication, Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches (2020), is available from Oxford University Press (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.

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#techtiptuesday #16 Musical Games Found in the Supplementary Tab

June 18, 2024  /  Amy M. Burns

Hi there! I'm Amy M. Burns, a general music teacher for preschool through grade four, a fifth-grade instrument teacher, and a band teacher for fourth through eighth grade at Far Hills Country Day School. Additionally, I serve as the Community Coordinator at Midnight Music and an Elementary Music Consultant at MusicFirst.

Haven’t tried MusicFirst Elementary? Check out the link in the description to try it for free for 30 days.

Today's #techtiptuesday shows you ways you can use the Musical Games found in the Supplementary Tab of MusicFirst Elementary. When you click on Musical Games you will find that it is separated into four categories:

  • Instruments

  • Musical Elements

  • Musical Styles

  • Curriculum End-of-the-Grade Quizzes

Instruments - Stations

The Instruments Games can be used as a station for retrieval practice after teaching a unit about the instruments of the orchestra or a unit about a composer. The families included are strings, keyboards, percussion, woodwinds, and brass.

Musical Elements - Exit Tickets

The Musical Elements Games complements the Music Theory videos also found in the Supplementary Tab Musical Elements and Theory Animations. This can be used as retrieval practice in a group setting or as an exit ticket for when your students leave the classroom to check in on their learning.

Musical Styles - Preparation for Music Explorer

The Musical Styles Games complement the ten styles found in Music Explorer. Before you have students compose for their instruments using Music Explorer, teach them about the styles and then have them use the Musical Styles Games to interact with the information that they learned.

Curriculum End-of-the-Grade Quizzes - Organize the end-of-the-year quizzes in one place

These quizzes are found at the end of each year’s curriculum. However, here, they are organized all in one place where you can customize them to meet your SLO/SGO, and you can also use them to quiz them as a group, at a station, or add them as an assignment for them to perform on their 1:1 devices.

And There's More!

Take a look at my YouTube channel, where I have a MusicFirst Elementary Playlist with in-depth videos and a #techtiptuesday playlist with videos like this one that gives you quick tips and ideas on how to use MusicFirst Elementary in your music class today!

Try it out today at https://www.musicfirstelementary.com/site/

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