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.
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It was another inspiring day at the New Jersey Association for Independent Schools (NJAIS) Innovation and Collaboration Conference! There were thought-provoking sessions and a wonderful keynote address. Here are my takeaways from Day 2, how some can be implemented personally and how some can be implemented in elementary music.
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Credit: https://www.njais.org/
The New Jersey Association for Independent Schools (NJAIS) held their annual Innovation and Collaboration Conference live, after having virtual conferences for the past couple of years. It was so wonderful to be back together in-person and to learn how educators are using technology in ways that focus on innovation and collaboration.
When I first attended this conference back in 2017, I left inspired. Jaime Casap, who at the time was a Google Education Evangelist, was one of the keynote speakers and he spoke about the fact that our current generation does not understand the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” This was a popular question asked to many of us when we were growing up in the 20th century. Instead, they are asking, “What do I need to learn to solve that problem?” And this leads to collaborating with others to solve problems. His keynote inspired me to use technology in ways of collaborating to make music. This was very successful with students working together using Seesaw and Soundtrap to create music and reflect on it together. This was especially true when the pandemic hit and we had to adopt virtual learning.
The first day of NJAIS’s Innovation and Collaboration Conference proved to be just as inspiring. As I break down some of the sessions I attended, I end each reflection with what the tech tool or concept looks like in an elementary music classroom.
Read MoreThe pandemic caused more technology to be introduced into every subject area. Some of this technology has a lot of benefits for elementary music classes. Especially those that foster creativity and those that provide assessments.
This week’s episode shows how to use multiple apps that are mostly free to create interactive activities that promote creativity and assessment. Learn how to use Canva, Google Slides, Seesaw, or Interactive Whiteboard apps to create amazing manipulatives, interactive assessments, and creative musical activities.
Blog: http://amymburns.com/elmusedtech/creativeactivities
Shareable Zip File: Creating Interactive Activities for Assessment and Creativity Zip File
Canva. (2022, March 1). [archive] free media license agreement - CANVA. [Archive] Free Media License Agreement. Retrieved July 31, 2022, from https://www.canva.com/policies/free-media-license-agreement-2022-01-03/
Flat for Education: https://flat.io/edu
Canva for Education: https://www.canva.com/education/
Seesaw: app.seesaw.me
Midnight Music Free Notation Files: https://midnightmusic.com/2013/06/the-big-free-music-notation-image-library/
Mote Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mote-voice-notes-feedback/ajphlblkfpppdpkgokiejbjfohfohhmk?hl=en-US
Midnight Music Clipart Body Percussion Library: https://midnightmusic.com/2020/12/midnight-musics-body-percussion-clipart-library/
Read MoreThis is the fifth installment of my summer project of creating play-along videos of songs and concepts found in the Kodály and Orff Schulwerk approaches. This week, I feature We Are Dancing In The Forest Play-Along (Boomwhackers, Percussion, and Recorder) video.
Each video (found on my YouTube page) will be accompanied by lesson manipulatives. The lesson manipulatives can be found on my Teachers Pay Teachers page starting in September (these free manipulatives are now showing up on my TPT page). Up until then, you can have them for free (as seen below and beginning to show up on my TPT page). This gives you the opportunity to use the video for free to work well with your classroom approach or purchase the lesson that goes along with the video on my TPT page. Either way, the videos are free to use in your classroom.
Google slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1fHjgrbaRpyIiBY6aLjXf0XuRk8G-96EGEj94rr9w2_w/copy
PDF File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10_7A9PKoapFKYa7ZvIojoJ55OizNpaY9/view?usp=sharing
Seesaw Activity: https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?prompt_id=prompt.49b4ebe7-65bd-48d8-802f-a95ce1a54873&share_token=DmycA2--QjqHlOUx6gERkw
YouTube Play-Along Video: https://youtu.be/hCwj2SRlunY
Read MoreLooking for summer PD where you can learn on your time, at your own pace, and about music creativity? Join us for a course that includes lessons and ideas for Garageband, Soundtrap, and Bandlab.
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This week's installment is a Tech Tip featuring Book Creator (https://bookcreator.com/)! Like my videos and resources? I am proud to say that I am a Book Creator Ambassador as I believe in this product and the way it helps my #elmused students' creativity and confidence. Learn more in this video and check out this blog post with examples.
Read MoreThis is the third installment of my summer project of creating play-along videos of songs and concepts found in the Kodály and Orff Schulwerk approaches. This week, I feature the Teddy Bear Play-Along video to go with the retrieval practice worksheet (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zN-cwSbWZ_7aS1uhQ97olGHVgWJqUCaE/view?usp=sharing) that I posted earlier this week.
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Tech Tip: Use Flat for Education and Canva to create a station in your classroom, or an interactive worksheet to add to a google classroom or Seesaw Activity, or just as a worksheet for retrieval practice or when you have a sub. This worksheet involves naming the pitches in the song Teddy Bear using Kodály hand signals.
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Throughout the 21-22 school year, I created many “mashup” or medley play-along videos featuring seasonal pop and rock songs. This summer, I made it a goal to create play-along videos and lessons for songs inspired by the Kodály and Orff Schulwerk approaches The first is Lemonade.
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Canva for Educators (https://www.canva.com/education/)
Canva is amazing! It is a one-stop show for finding templates, finding graphics, creating presentations, creating short videos, finding useable images, creating manipulatives, and so much more. This video focuses on the "Tidy Up" feature to assist in making concert programs. I cannot say enough about how great of a tool it is for #elmused educators. Like my videos? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech
Read MoreCheck out this lesson using Vivaldi's Spring from The Four Seasons, Movement 1, with kindergartners and creating music to a Rondo Form using https://www.doctormusik.com/apps-and-games/robot-sequencer/. Like my videos? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech
Read MoreI created this Wakelet to assist music educators at this time of year with finding graduation songs that fit their preschoolers, kindergartners, higher elementary grades, and middle schoolers. The Wakelet is divided into four categories:
Preschool/Kindergarten Songs
Higher Elementary
Middle School
Articles about Graduation Song Choices
Below, I highlight songs from each category and how I used them with my students.
Read MoreThis video is for birthday celebrations if you can celebrate them in your music classroom. This video will cover all of your students' birthdays throughout the school year. Like my videos? Please consider buying me a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech The musical concepts covered are 3-meter, 4-meter, accents, quarter, half, dotted half, whole, and eighth notes, along with triplets.
Read MoreMay 4th, a very popular day in elementary music over recent years to celebrate the play on the words, “May the Force be with you” from the popular Star Wars series, has been made famous now by the plethora of musical activities set up for that day by many amazing music educators. Plus, in the States, students write May 4th as 5/4, which also plays into Dave Brubeck’s song, Take Five, which is in a five meter.
To celebrate this day, I created a Wakelet of #elmused activities divided into the following categories:
Movement (Move-It) Activities
Parachute and Scarf Activities
Rhythm Play-Alongs
Boomwhacker Play-Alongs
Orff, Ukulele, and Recorder Play-Alongs
Music Creation Activities
Line Rider and Fun Videos
Lesson Resources (some paid and some free)
5/4 Extra Activities (involving Take Five)!
April is Jazz Appreciation Month and in the elementary music classroom, there are wonderful ways to incorporate the theme. I researched various groups, networks, and websites to create this shortlist of resources in the form of a free Wakelet.
What is Wakelet? Wakelet is a free, digital, organizational tool that gives you the ability to share links, digital manipulatives, YouTube videos, pdfs, and so much more in one place. When you list a YouTube video, the video will play within the Wakelet app so that no ads, comments, and other videos appear.
Wakelet lets you create a board with categories so you can organize your materials well. For this Wakelet, I used four categories: Music and Interviews, Play-Along Videos, Lessons and Activities, and Read-Alouds and Books.
You can use this wakelet to find lessons, play-along videos, activities, and more, to have your students experience and study various styles of music during the month of April. However, as with any focused theme, I continue it throughout the year. Though a monthly theme helps the students focus, there are many ways to differentiate instruction and use retrieval practices to use the theme throughout the school year.
Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech.
To celebrate spring and to study a very popular, classical song from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, this post has a rhythm play-along and a Seesaw activity that is geared toward elementary students.
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This was a challenging process to create a play-along video with a live recording and scrolling music. Read more to find out about the process.
Read MoreHere in the States, March is Women’s History Month as well as Music In Our Schools Month. For this month, I chose to create a rhythm play-along video that features a medley of four all-female groups that span four decades of music. The rhythm patterns include whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes, and quarter rests.
Update: I added the Body Percussion Play-Along this week that accompanies the rhythm play-along video!
The groups and songs that are featured are:
Caffey, C. (1981). We Got The Beat. [Recorded by The Go-Go's]. On Beauty and the Beat [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wvue2OT-FA
Holland-Dozer-Holland. (1964). Baby Love. [Recorded by The Supremes]. On Where Did Our Love Go? [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO_zEzrJRuE
Dent, A., Knowles, B., & Knowles, M. (2001). Survivor. [Recorded by Destiny's Child]. On Survivor [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmc8bQoL-J0
Edwards, B., & Rodgers, N. (1979). We Are Family. [Recorded by Sister Sledge]. On We Are Family [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMVe_HcyP9Y
Credit: unsplash-image-5gn2soeAc40.jpg
The Go-Go’s are an American All-Female Rock Band started in 1978 in California. It has featured numerous band members and became very popular in the 1980s with the song, “We Got The Beat,” off the album Beauty and the Beat. The musicians featured on this recording are Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar and keyboards, Belinda Carlisle on lead vocals, Gina Schock on drums, Kathy Valentine on bass guitar, and Jane Wiedlin on rhythm guitar. This debut album topped the charts, which was a first for an all-female band that wrote and performed all of their music. “We Got The Beat” is considered The Go-Go’s signature song.
Credit: unsplash-image-OKLqGsCT8qs.jpg
The Supremes broke onto the music scene as a premier act of Motown Records in the 1960s. They paved the way for future African American R&B and soul music groups. Their popularity rivaled The Beatles during the 1960s. After a few changes in the group’s members as well as a name change (they started as The Primettes), the group’s members were Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson. “Baby Love”, from their second studio album titled, Where Did Our Love Go?, was one of 12 singles from them that went to #1 on the American charts.
Credit: unsplash-image-9wQIAuHkfaY.jpg
The song, “Survivor”, comes from Destiny’s Child third studio album of the same name. The Grammy Award-winning song and MTV Award-winning video topped the charts at #2. The group’s members that recorded the song are Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. The group had gone through numerous changes in membership. So much so that a radio station compared them to the show, Survivor. After hearing this comparison, Beyoncé decided to turn that joke into a song, which became a big hit.
Credit: unsplash-image-sitjgGsVIAs.jpg
Sister Sledge defined the disco sound and their single, “We Are Family” topped the charts at #3 from their debut album of the same title. It is hard to believe that this iconic song did not hit #1 nor won the Grammy Award that year because it is still a popular song today. The group consists of the sisters, Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge. After the passing of Joni Sledge in 2017, some of the adult children of the original members have formed the band, Sledgendary, which according to the website, “BRING THE PARTY to any occasion!”
Body Percussion Play-Along Video
Body Percussion Clipart credited to Midnight Music: https://midnightmusic.com.au/2020/12/midnight-musics-body-percussion-clipart-library/
Teaching manipulatives coming soon to my TPT channel (https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S...).
Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech.
I created this Wakelet that includes multiple activities to use in your elementary music classes on Valentine’s Day. It is labeled in five categories:
Rhythm play-along videos
Boomwhacker videos
Valentine games
Play-Along Videos with body percussion of iconic notation
Lessons
Enjoy! And Happy Valentine’s Day!