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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Conference Recap: Your Elementary Music Resources Are All in One Place

February 22, 2026  /  Amy M. Burns

If we met at TMEA or NJMEA, thank you for the conversations, creativity, and energy you brought to each session. I created this short recap video to pull together the ideas we explored and to help you quickly locate the resources when you’re ready to use them.

Across the sessions — On the Move in Your Elementary Music Room, Fresh Ideas for Recorder, Ukulele, Barred Instruments, and Boomwhackers!, and Design Creative Resources for Your Music Classroom Tools — the goal was simple: provide practical strategies you can implement right away, such as:

  • Movement activities that support musical understanding

  • Instrument play-along approaches that build confidence and independence

  • Examples of manipulatives and slide-based visuals used during instruction

  • The workflow for creating your own classroom resources

  • Moments from the conference experience, including photos featuring NJMEA Elementary Music Academy presenters such as Lillie Feierabend and Bill Henry from Mr. Henry’s World

These snapshots highlight the collaborative spirit of the sessions and the shared commitment to practical, student-centered music learning.

Where to Find Everything

If you attended one of these sessions, the materials are organized exactly as referenced during the presentations.

You can revisit the links I used in each session: https://rebrand.ly/tmeaNJMEA2026

A Simple Way to StartMy magic number is 2. If you have ever attended my sessions, I remind everyone that there is a dessert buffet. Choose two items to try because if you eat the entire buffet, you are bound to become ill.

Thank you again for attending, sharing ideas, and continuing to create meaningful musical experiences for your students.

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