AOSA 2009 Professional Development Conference
Conference Presenters

Jerz, Margaret (# 167)
I Say, You Say-Say What? Wow!
Build your improvisatory skills while communicating with others using echoes, question/answer and call and response activities, and rhythm complements. Sing, dance and play! See Schmid, Will for other session descriptions.

Margaret Jerz teaches Kindergarten through fifth grade students in Schofield, WI. She completed all three levels of teacher training. She is a member of the World Music Drumming teaching staff and is an active clinician at national, regional and local conferences and workshops.

Kennedy, Susan (I - # 264 + 287; II – # 329, 344)
*I. Movement First: Mini to the Max
Using minimal movement as the starting point, create a group dance piece with original sound accompaniment. See how the aesthetics of movement sequencing impacts the shaping of a choreographic work. MASTER CLASS LIMIT 40
*Register for both sessions.

II. How We See It: Staging Orff Performances
Learn ways to enhance your students’ performances with simple staging principles borrowed from dance and visual art. Lecture with visual examples and exploratory lab. LIMIT 40

Susan Kennedy is the Orff Schulwerk Specialist at the Chinese American International School, San Francisco. She comes to the Orff world from a background in modern and ethnic dance, holding a MA in Dance from UCLA. Her experience in graphic design and experimental filmmaking inform her performance work

Kivelä-Taskinen, Elina (I - # 265, 309; II - # 288, 364)
I. Improving Motor Skills
This session invites the brain, the senses and the body to work together. Improve motor skills with brain dance and rhythm games.

II. Classroom Rhythm Activities
A desk, a drum, cups and paper—build a foundation for playing other instruments.

Elina Kivelä-Taskinen is a physical educator, dance instructor and music teacher from Helsinki, Finland. She has worked combining these subjects in all school levels, in sport colleges and at the University level. Elina teaches rhythmic training for children and adults at Espoo Music School in Finland.

Layton, Rick/Jacque Schrader (# 266 + 289)
*A Language Springboard: Music and Movement Woven through the Grades
Explore the relationship between language, movement and music. Beginning with cinquain and pentatonic, moving through poetry and percussion, the session will culminates with vignette and a mixed-meter modal piece.
*Register for both sessions.

Rick Layton teaches at the Key School and at the University of Maryland. In addition to his undergraduate degree in music education, he holds Master and Doctorate degrees in Music Theory. Rick has taught internationally and has presented regularly at the national conferences of AOSA since 1988.

Jacque Schrader teaches music to children aged 6-14 at the Key School in Annapolis, MD, where she is coordinator of Pre/Lower School Orff Schulwerk. She studied at the Orff Institute in Salzburg and is a very active national and international clinician, having taught recently in China, Poland, Slovakia and Taiwan.

Lantz, Sandy/Gretchen Wahlberg (# 246, 345)
Connecting the Volumes to Children's Literature
Do you remember when you were in trouble in school? So does Howard B. Wigglebottom. Come to this process-taught session and play, sing, and dramatize this charming Howard Binkow book.

Since 1982,Sandy Lantz has been teaching elementary and Level I teacher training courses in Florida. Sandy co-authored “Treasures of the Orient” and “Western Trails”, which earned the University of New Hampshire’s Playwriting Award. In 2004, Sandy received the “Florida Music Educator of the Year” award. Sandy is a National Board Certified Teacher.

Gretchen Wahlberg has been teaching elementary music for over 25 years. She teaches pedagogy and movement for Level I teacher training courses. Gretchen received the "Golden Apple" award for excellence in teaching and Lee County Music Teacher of the year awards. She is past-president of the SW Florida Orff Chapter.

Libana (I - # 226, 330; II - # 267, 346)
I. Circle the World with Peace
Sing rounds and songs that invoke a desire for peace in the world as well as within ourselves. Create a beautiful and reverent sound to feed and inspire our souls as musicians and as educators.

II. Singing Ourselves Home
Sing through rounds, chants and songs that honor the spirit and beauty of the natural world, give voice to a universal hope for unity and peace and celebrate the diverse peoples who share our planet.

Libana is a women’s world music ensemble that illuminates the vision, creativity and spirit of the world’s women, performing contemporary and traditional music and dance.

Lightfoot, Mary Lynn (# 228)
Continuing Great Choral Traditions through Creative Programming
Sponsored by Heritage Music Press
Explore exciting unison and two-part choral literature and resources appropriate for elementary and middle school choirs. Complimentary music packet provided.

Mary Lynn Lightfoot is the Choral Editor for Heritage Music Press, the educational division of The Lorenz Corporation in Dayton, Ohio. In addition to her editorial responsibilities, Mary Lynn has effectively established herself with an active composing career and currently has over 220 published choral compositions, arrangements, and musicals.

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