Here is our lineup for the 2022-2023 season! Click here to register!
March 11, 2023: John Barnes
A Night’s Journey: Make It Your Own
Using familiar pieces from the volumes, favorite rhymes and children’s games, and a wide variety of poetry, participants will embark on a journey that travels in time from dusk to dawn. We will explore ways to take these old favorites and make them your own through shifting tonalities, improvisation, and composition projects. Participants will leave with materials that could serve as stand-alone lessons or be combined into a program for upper elementary students.
Clinician Bio: John Barnes currently teaches general music to students in the lower and middle schools at 
Georgetown Day School where he also serves as Dean of the Sixth-grade. Prior to that, he spent nine years in Loudoun County Public Schools. He has served in several capacities on the board of MAC-AOSA as well as a member of the AOSA Advocacy Subcommittee. John enjoys working with fellow teachers, presenting workshops for various local chapters of AOSA and teaching recorder pedagogy in summer Orff-Schulwerk Certification Programs, most recently at George Mason University (VA) and Lakeland University (WI). He completed his Orff-Schulwerk certification and Level IV coursework at George Mason University and apprenticed at The University of St. Thomas. John earned a bachelor of science degree in music education at Duquesne University and a masters degree in saxophone performance at the University of Florida.
April 15, 2023: Janie Vance & Danai Gagne
Creative Pathways
Building Blocks and Process
Traverse creative pathways through the Schulwerk to get your students thinking “outside the box” as they improvise and ultimately compose their own music and movement pieces, both collaboratively and individually working with fun and creative concepts.
Clinician Bio: Janie Vance is an active educator, clinician, and researcher in the field of music education. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from James Madison University, a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of Miami (FL) and a Master and Doctor of Education in Music Education and Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her certification and Masters certificate in Orff Schulwerk from George Mason University. Janie has taught movement for the Orff Schulwerk certification courses at University of the Arts, Villanova University, Peabody Conservatory, and George Mason University. She is an active presenter in Orff Chapter Workshops and National Conferences. Janie has taught general/vocal/instrumental music Pre-K through 12th grade for 27 years and is currently the Academic Dean, and a Music Teacher, at The Town School in New York City.
September 17, 2022: Diana Hawley
Fostering Fellowship: Human Connection in the Orff-Inspired Classroom
In Orff-inspired classrooms, teachers and students co-develop music and movement communities brought to life by children’s inherent curiosity, energy, and musicality. In this workshop, we will explore how teacher-facilitators might leverage children’s creative fuel to encourage human connection and fellowship. Additionally, as we interact playfully with one another, we will revisit the role of the teacher-facilitator as one who cedes control, instead assuming an invitational stance in order to amplify voices from within the community. Orff-inspired teachers foster fellowship and human connection as they model warmth, presence, flexibility, and grace as co-developers of music and movement communities.
Clinician Bio: Diana Hawley teaches elementary general music, supports teachers as an Instructional Strategist of Innovation, and is the K-12 Music Coordinator in the Iowa City Community School District. Diana co-edited and authored Artful-Playful-Mindful in Action: Orff-Schulwerk Classroom Projects for a New Generation of Learners and teaches levels and curriculum courses in Orff Schulwerk at the University of Kentucky, University of St. Thomas (MN), and University of the Arts at Villanova (PA). Diana serves on the editorial board of The Orff Echo, the national, peer-reviewed journal and philosophical voice of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Music Education at Boston University.
October 29, 2022: Roger Sams
Tending to Teacher: Orff Schulwerk Processes to Support You in Being Your Highest and Best Expression of Yourself
This workshop is for YOU. This workshop is deep self-care for the Orff Schulwerk teacher. We will use the media, processes, and structures of Orff Schulwerk to support you in being your best self as an artist, as a teacher, and as a human.
Let’s face it, these last couple of years have been demanding. We’ve all been through the wringer. Roger will hold space for you to reflect and release that which no longer serves you as you create an intention to step more purposefully into your classroom and into your life, supporting yourself with your artistry and the resources available to you through the processes and ways of being of an Orff Schulwerk teacher.
Clinician Bio: Roger Sams retired from the music classroom in 2013 after 31 years of teaching music. He has been an 
active clinician and Orff instructor for over two decades and has taught in China, India, Indonesia, Scotland, Canada, South Korea, Poland, Spain, and throughout the US. Roger is trained in Gestalt therapy and is interested in the power of choice in the artistic process and in life. He is co-author of “Purposeful Pathways: Possibilities for the Elementary Music Room” and the composer of several choral octavos published in the Crooked River Choral Project series and a book of rounds and partner songs titled, “A Round My Heart.”
January 21, 2023: Betsy Sebring & Laura Petersen
Back to Basics: Building Blocks of Orff-Schulwerk
Are you ready to learn more about Orff-Schulwerk or know someone who would benefit from it? Our “Back to Basics” workshop is just the thing if you want the basics before deciding to plunge into Level 1 training. This workshop is free for all interested, you do not need to be a MAC-AOSA member to attend!
February 4, 2023
Chapter Share
See our local talent shine as they share their favorite ideas and activities in this fun workshop! Interested in sharing? Let us know!