By Andrea Donahoe September 2022
I’m not sure how the others do it. The non teachers. Of course, many people get some amount of time off. And then there is the marking of time by celebrating the new calendar year, the Lunar New Year, and each birthday as we circle round the sun. But no cycle feels quite as satisfying and complete as the school year, which also demands the proper amount of time to reset. Each August a fresh start, a chance to begin again, and with the guarantee, marked clear on the calendar, of when we’ll tie up all the loose ends of the deep work of the year, hug each other tightly, and say so long, for now.
Well, here we are again, in the bright and new beginning. This past summer, I truly took the time to rest. My body and soul demanded it. I healed with my family and friends, with stillness, new adventures, nature, and laughter, and found inspiration from time with my summer colleagues and students at the San Francisco International Orff Course. Now, for the first time in a while, I feel ready. Truly ready and excited to jump back in. Ready to learn; learn about my students and wonder at the unique ideas they offer. Ready to reinvent, return to some old favorites, but trying them in a different way. Ready to explore; explore with that colorful bird and discover just what new this year will bring. Perhaps I will stumble upon a folk dance that is unknown to me or fall in love with a Keetman piece I haven’t before considered. Maybe a trip to the SFMOMA or the Oakland Museum will be the spark to craft something truly beautiful. I am taking note of what it feels like to sit with this new beginning energy, and I will do my best to carry it with me as the year marches on. And so, my questions for you are these: What are you ready for? What new do you seek? What is one thing that you’re excited about for the year ahead? I’m very curious to see just where this beautiful bird of the new school year will lead us.
Our NCAOSA board hopes to support each of you on your journey in the year ahead. We eagerly await greeting you in person for each of our workshops for the first time since 2020! We are bringing in three vibrant presenters sure to inspire, engage, and ignite our creativity with new ideas to consider. But I am especially excited to learn from some of you in our October 22nd Chapter Share. In the spirit of innovation, this Chapter Share will look and feel different from any that NCAOSA has hosted in recent history. Instead of learning from just a few chapter members we are opening the day up to learn from many. Our hope is to build stronger connections within our community. Each one of us is breathing new life into this “wild experiment of the Schulwerk” with our students each day and there is so much to be learned and shared, right here among us. I encourage you to consider sharing an original lesson you are particularly excited about. It might be as simple as an opening mixer or it could be a much longer and more developed lesson including composition or group work; that’s for you to decide.
For our first in-person workshop, we are excited to feature Russell Nadel. Here’s what Julie Bruins, our Technology Chair, writes about Russell:
“Russell Nadel is a multi-talented performer, composer, and educator that comes to us from the Washington, D.C. area where he teaches middle school music at the Potomac School and serves as the Past President of the Mid-Atlantic chapter of AOSA. He holds degrees in both composition and music education from the Peabody Conservatory, and appropriately enough, makes composition the center of his teaching. I got to know Russell as an extremely curious and intellectual human on the first Orff-Afrique trip to Ghana in 2014, and was blown away by the session he presented at the AOSA National Conference in 2019. Russell is not only a wickedly smart educator, but also an empathetic and compassionate one. I’m excited to learn from him on September 17th!”
-Julie Bruins, Technology Chair
Russell Nadel: Accessible Improvisation and Composition for All Ages
September 17th, 2022
9:00 am-1:30pm, the Head Royce School, Oakland
Improvisation and composition activities in the elementary General Music classroom are some of the deepest and most fun learning opportunities music students can have! In this workshop, participants will learn a variety of strategies to “pull back the curtain” on composition and improvisation, and will learn and practice many straightforward techniques for helping guide students in creating their own original music and movement. Using classic processes and ideas from Orff Schulwerk, combined with ideas taken from Project-Based Learning and Social-Emotional Learning, participants will experience improvising and composing alone and with others, on instruments and with their voices, in words and in movement, and will come away with a toolbox of ideas and a pile of lesson ideas to bring back to their students.
And, in October, here it is, YOUR opportunity to share! Don’t hesitate, submit today (Submission Form.) to present at our first NCAOSA Chapter Share.
We will be in touch to follow up in mid-September once we have selected sessions. Once selections are confirmed, participants will meet briefly with a Board Member via Zoom to go over details. Presenters are expected to turn in notes by October 8, 2022.
Chapter Share: Sing, Say, Move, Play
October 22, 2022
9:00am-1:30pm
The Prospect Sierra School, El Cerrito
A variety of NCAOSA chapter members present their own lessons to develop musical skills, connect with community, create and have fun! We hope to include a wide range of topics to educate learners of all backgrounds.
Have you designed something you’d like to share? Have your students created something amazing? Do you have an original all-time favorite lesson? If you’d like to present a short lesson, please submit your interest by September 9th: Submission Form.
In March we will welcome Lorelei Batislaong for her workshop “Moving Past the Unit: ʻUkulele in the Music Classroom”. Lorelei is an amazing professor and presenter currently teaching in Ohio, who is also deeply involved in the work of the nonprofit Decolonizing the Music Room.
Here’s what Lisa Gorman, our Instrument Chair, has to say about Lorelei:
“I’ve seen her present several times before and am always amazed by how she effortlessly applies Orff teaching fundamentals to ukulele skills as well as weaves authentic cultural connections to the history of the ukulele and its music. Lorelei’s book, “Elemental ʻUkulele: Pathways and Possibilities” is a perfect example of this, and I am excited to see Lorelei expand our thinking on the ukulele from just a fun unit to an irreplaceable tool in our Orff toolbox.”
-Lisa Gorman, Instrument Chair
Lorelei Batislaong: Moving Past the Unit: ʻUkulele in the Music Classroom
March 4th, 2023
9:00am-1:30pm
Cal State East Bay, Hayward, C
Often, the ʻukulele is introduced within a teaching unit designed to focus and isolate playing skills. While this is a way to teach the ʻukulele, in this workshop we’ll explore possible approaches that blend an integrative and contextual music-making experience that aims to avoid the minimization of the historical and cultural context of the ʻukulele. You already know and enact effective pedagogical strategies throughout your teaching, join us as we transfer that experience to this perhaps newer-to-you instrument through musical activities and lessons for your classrooms.
Our final workshop of the year is with the dynamic and talented Antwan Davis, professional body percussionist and Stepper, and co-founder of Molodi. Here’s what our Vice President, Maggie Eggert has to say about Antwan:
“I took a body percussion workshop with him at Freight & Salvage several years ago and knew immediately I wanted him to work with my students. I brought him and the incredible members of Molodi to perform for and lead workshops with our lower, middle, and upper school students for one day. The impact they had on those students continues to be seen today. I can’t wait for all of us to learn about the culture of Stepping, how it can influence the body percussion we use with students and the way we create music with our own bodies and voices. It should be an electric way to end our workshop season!”
-Maggie Eggert, Vice President
Antwan Davis: Stepping & Body Music
April 22, 2023
Oak Knoll Elementary, Menlo Park
This percussive dance workshop is shaped around physically, mentally and emotionally challenging students from all backgrounds. This workshop is experience-based and moves at each individual’s level of comprehension so that every student leaves with a personally better tuned instrument (their own body) than when they arrived.
Stepping and body percussion will challenge your body and develop your musicality as you learn to make complex rhythms with your hands, feet, and whole body! Antwan’s class will look at the building blocks of stepping and body percussion techniques, and students will have the opportunity to create their own steps. Together we will create community, learn about music, and dance!
NCAOSA Community, I am so excited for us to join together for this year ahead. I will see you soon. And until then, watch for that bird, and see where she leads you…
Andrea Donahoe is the current president of NCAOSA. She teaches K-5 music and movement at the Head Royce School in Oakland, California. She has taught workshops for teachers for AOSA chapters around the country and at AOSA National Conferences, and is on the faculty at the San Francisco International Orff Course, teaching Level I.
NCAOSA PlayNotes 