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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Month of March Play-Along Videos Featuring Female Solo Artists: Aretha Franklin

February 25, 2024  /  Amy M. Burns

During the month of March, get ready for a jam-packed month of Play-Along Videos celebrating fierce female solo artists! Digging the vibes? Show some love by treating me to a virtual coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech/

Kicking off the month is the legendary Aretha Franklin belting out "Respect," penned by the awesome Otis Redding. We're diving into rhythm territory with quarter and eighth notes, rests, and accents, suitable for the cool cats in grades 1 and above. The tools you need are all set up on a Google slide show, waiting for you here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13IwvlUM4IjhTixIQCQ9XrvBdyeN-tascQseSMYIABGs/copy

Materials from the Play-Along Video Session at NJMEA

If you missed my session on how to create play-along videos at the recent NJMEA conference, here is a Wakelet where you can see the materials I used to create the videos. The first half of the session included free materials, Canva for Education, along with a presentation program like PowerPoint or Keynote. The second half of the session included using free materials, Canva for Education, and Clipchamp, a web-based free video editing program.

Coming Soon!

Mark your calendar for next week, another thrilling play-along session with another sensational solo female artist awaits!

Join Me Here!

I will be presenting in NJ, Connecticut, and Illinois in the near future!

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