Mary E. Knysh is an internationally recognized Orff Schulwerk clinician, music educator, author, and creative facilitator whose decades of work with the Orff community have inspired educators through engaging, joyful, and experiential music-making. A sought-after presenter for AOSA, regional Orff chapters, universities, and music education conferences, she is known for helping teachers create inclusive, creative classrooms through improvisation, movement, drumming, and collaborative music-making.

Mary is the founder of Rhythmic Connections and serves as Program Director and lead teacher with Music for People, where she has spent more than three decades training educators, musicians, and facilitators in the art of improvisation.

A professional musician, recording artist, and author of five books, Mary’s newest publication, Drum Circles 101 (Alfred Music), offers practical tools for bringing rhythm, creativity, and community into classrooms and beyond. She is also a teaching artist with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Young Audiences of New Jersey, and New York BOCES.

Mary has presented throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and was honored with the 2022 New Jersey Governor’s Award for Excellence in Arts Education. She is an educational endorser for Rhythm Band Instruments, TOCA Percussion, and Peripole Music.