September 16, 2023: Kris Olson
Kris has taught music and movement for over 30 years in private, public, rural, and urban settings. She teaches workshops across the country and has offered classes in movement at various universities. Kris has her master’s degree in Orff Schulwerk from the University of St. Thomas. She studied dance at Zenon Dance Company while living in Minneapolis and now lives in Lubbock, TX where she choreographs and dances with Flatlands Dance Theatre. In the first half of her career, Kris was an elementary music specialist in Minnesota. Currently she works as a private contractor with a special focus in early childhood music and movement and also adjuncts in dance at Texas Tech University when needed.
Workshop Title: The Moving Classroom
Workshop Date/Time: Saturday, September 16, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Workshop Location: South Lebanon Elementary School
October 21, 2023: Martina Vasil
Martina Vasil is an Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Kentucky (UK) and the PreK–6 music teacher at Lexington Montessori School. Martina directs Orff levels and the Orff Schulwerk Graduate Certificate at UK and teaches a Popular Music and Orff Schulwerk special topics course. She loves incorporating popular media and current artists into her lesson plans. Martina has level 3 Orff certification and training in both Dalcroze and modern band. Her PhD and BM are from West Virginia University and her MM is from Eastman School of Music.
Workshop Title: Popular Music and Orff Shulwerk
Workshop Date/Time: Saturday, October 21, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Workshop Location: South Lebanon Elementary School e
February 24, 2024: GCCAOSA Chapter Share
Please join our chapter members as they share pedagogical insights from their own classrooms!
Workshop Title: GCCAOSA Chapter Share
Workshop Date/Time: Saturday, February 24, 2024 from 9:00 a.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Workshop Location: South Lebanon Elementary School
March 23, 2024: Thomas Pierre
Thomas Pierre is a National Board-Certified Music Teacher, certified Orff educator, and an approved Movement Teacher Educator for the American Orff Schulwerk Association (AOSA). Mr. Pierre is also a 2020 CMA National Music Teachers of Excellence National Award recipient and Maryland Music Educators Outstanding Music Teacher. He has earned the Certificate of Study from the Changing Education Through the Arts program, Kennedy Center. A native of the Bronx, New York, he attended the famous Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and the Performing Arts (the school featured in the motion picture “FAME”). Mr. Pierre often reflects on how he sat in his classroom, a bewildered, uninterested, misdirected 12-year-old from the housing projects, when a remarkable teacher formally introduced him to music. Since that time, Mr. Pierre has been committed to the study of music and introducing young people to all genres of music.
Mr. Pierre has furthered his study in music and movement at the International Music Village in Finland (2023) and Estonia (2019), Summer Dance Institute for Teachers at the Creative Dance Center in Seattle, Washington, International Summer Course at the Orff Institute in Salzburg, Austria, and the Music, Dance and Orff Schulwerk International Master Class in Ghana, West Africa (2018 & 2016). Mr. Pierre has also taught in the Orff España Summer Course in Madrid, Spain. He has taught vocal, general, and choral music at all grade levels. Mr. Pierre is the vice president of the Middle Atlantic Chapter of the American Orff Schulwerk Association (AOSA) and served on the Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee and Restructuring Ad Hoc Committee of AOSA. Mr. Pierre teaches in Prince George’s County, MD, and throughout the years has led workshops around the US and internationally providing support to children and adults that aid in closing the achievement gap in urban education through arts education and arts integration.
Workshop Title: Orff in the Urban Classroom
Workshop Date/Time: Saturday, March 23, 2024 from 9:00 a.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Workshop Location: South Lebanon Elementary School
Thomas Pierre is a National Board-Certified Music Teacher, certified Orff educator, and an approved Movement Teacher Educator for the American Orff Schulwerk Association (AOSA). Mr. Pierre is also a 2020 CMA National Music Teachers of Excellence National Award recipient and Maryland Music Educators Outstanding Music Teacher. He has earned the Certificate of Study from the Changing Education Through the Arts program, Kennedy Center. A native of the Bronx, New York, he attended the famous Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and the Performing Arts (the school featured in the motion picture “FAME”). Mr. Pierre often reflects on how he sat in his classroom, a bewildered, uninterested, misdirected 12-year-old from the housing projects, when a remarkable teacher formally introduced him to music. Since that time, Mr. Pierre has been committed to the study of music and introducing young people to all genres of music.