Passion, Pedagogy, and Professor:
My Pathway from Elementary Music to Higher Ed

My journey as an elementary music teacher started like just about everyone else’s. I had worked hard all through college and I began my teaching career armed with two weeks of lectures on the approaches of Orff, Kodaly, and Dalcroze in my elementary methods class. I learned the mechanics of selecting objectives, creating assessments, and teaching lessons with lots of fun strategies and a lot about how children learn so I was ready to conquer the world.

I lived in my own little corner of northeast Ohio with no idea that Orff chapters existed or that Orff Levels courses were a thing. I had no district music coordinator and no support system. I also had no internet and no smartphones, but I won’t get into that age-revealing discussion!  The first few years, I learned through trial and error while doing my own research into what made for a music class that students were eager to participate in. Many of my strategies were from the Orff approach and often paired with ideas adapted from my cooperative learning graduate course. I quickly became a very good and highly praised elementary music educator.  Along the way, I served as a cooperating teacher to 19 future music teachers from Charleston Southern University, where (spoiler alert) I now teach.

In year 27 of my career, I had the opportunity to take a free Orff Level One course. I dove right in and fell in love as I learned all the beginning details of teaching with Orff.  Everything I had ever attempted as a music teacher now fell into place and made so much sense. This totally ignited my passion for the Schulwerk. I soon completed my levels courses.

After retiring, I was approached by Charleston Southern and asked to teach their Elementary Music Methods Classes. My passion for mentoring students and helping to create elementary music teachers who are equipped to engage their students in active music learning became the perfect pathway to sharing the Orff approach. Now that I am their professor of music education, I want to give the students things that I never had as an undergraduate and as a new teacher. These things include (but are not limited to) the following:

• A better understanding of the approaches to music education
• A community of elementary music teachers who believe in active music-making and can become their life-long mentors
• An abundance of resources that can deepen their knowledge beyond my classroom (including the way to connect to levels courses in Orff, Kodaly, Dalcroze, and Music Learning Theory)
• A life-long desire to learn and grow as a music educator

So this is the story of how my passion for elementary music teaching and for the Orff Schulwerk approach led me to my current position as a professor. Now my passion is spreading one step further. I would love to help my fellow professors, who may or may not have any elementary music education experience, to build a thriving program that can serve to better prepare our undergraduates for a fulfilling lives as music teachers. Join me for future blogs with tips, tricks, and tutorials.

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