Susan-Gai Anderson has 25 yrs experience as a music educator, teaching children from 2 yrs – 18 yrs. She is the Director of Belle Music Studios (Sydney’s Northern Peninsula), which offers classes for pre-school children, piano and movement classes for school-age children and private piano lessons. Sue trained for 4 years at Sydney Conservatorium and has Diplomas in Piano Studies. She has directed NSW Music Camps for the Salvation Army (chn: 12-15 yrs) and is currently the conductor of the children’s choir at her church. More recently, Sue has studied the Orff Levels Courses (1, 2 and 3), attended Orff Schulwerk International Summer School in Salzburg in July 2008 and applies the Orff principles in her teaching in all age groups.

Jenny Birrell has worked in a number of Sydney Public Schools with students regularly in music festivals, The School Spectacular and the Sing 2001 programme. She currently teaches at St Catherine’s in Waverley, Sydney.
Her passion is the joy she sees in the faces of her students as they create and discover the pleasure that learning about music offers. The Orff Approach is the perfect medium as the teaching and learning process happens in an active, happy and risk-taking musical classroom where musical problems are presented with the expectation that students provide their own musical solutions. For this National ANCOS Conference Jenny will share just three of her tried and trusty special ‘first lessons’ using melodic percussion skills, compound time and a 12 Bar Blues.
Jenny has been an active member of the Orff Schulwerk Association of NSW www.orffnsw.org.au for many years and has been its president since 2006.

Cheryl Burgemeister is a South Australian primary music teacher. She is experienced in Kodaly, Orff and many other music education approaches. She also has expertise in Interactive Whiteboards. Cheryl has created music lessons and materials using the Easiteach system, creating exciting ‘New Blends’ for music education.  She is currently working on an interactive version of the Bushfire Press classroom music program Music Room. Cheryl will be workshopping the first two titles The Interactive Music Room levels 1 & 2 (beginning & lower primary) at this year’s Creating New Blends conference.

Mandy Carver is Director of Music for three diocesan schools in Grahamstown, South Africa.  Her school work involves her with students between the ages of 10 – 18.  With experience teaching in South Africa, UK and Uganda, she has focused on world music in the classroom and the inclusion of informally learned musical styles in the formal environment of school.   Believing that the African continent has got it right insofar as humans can’t resist making music together (and having fun at the same time), her teaching philosophy has gleaned much from African principles.  Her work with marimbas includes workshops for teachers and children in SA and UK and publications of arrangements.  Apart from working with young learners, Mandy is presently involved in teacher education at Rhodes University. 

Janet Channon & Wendy Jensen - Winners of 7 international awards to date in the United Kingdom for their music, Janet Channon and Wendy Jensen continue to produce original music for children. Janet and Wendy have run Kids Music Company for the last 19 years.  It is a privately funded music studio in Auckland, New Zealand.  About 250 children aged 1-10 attend weekly sessions of music. Both Wendy and Janet are past primary school music specialists who now write, record and workshop their own music for teaching purposes.  Their music is keenly sought by children, teachers and parents alike.   Janet and Wendy have run countless workshops for parents, teachers and teacher training institutions in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and the UK. 
Contact: www.kidsmusic.co.nz

Robyn Crowe is an innovative educator with an amazing zest for life and is the creator of the franchise Creative Capers.A qualified teacher whose background includes many years teaching physical education, art, gymnastics, dance and movement, Robyn now specializes in early childhood movement and music.
Besides being a national presenter for Gymnastics Australia, Robyn is also keenly sought after as a popular motivating presenter, locally, nationally and internationally at conferences and workshops.Whilst presently teaching part time at the tertiary level, she continues to keep in touch with the needs of young children by still actively teaching movement and music sessions.
Robyn’s professionalism, combined with her unique ideas, creativity and passion for children’s education has led to her authoring an exciting collection of original manuals, CD’s and visual balance card resources for early childhood educators, parents and child care providers(www.robyncrowe.com) 
Robyn is the mother of 3 creative, happy, content children and is married to a very patient man!

Susie Davies-Splitter is a music and movement educator, Orff practitioner, musician, award winning composer and past president of the Victorian Orff Schulwerk Association.
Susie and her husband, Phil have spent more than 15 years developing the popular ‘Welcome to Music’ series of CD’s and books, musicals and choral range for all ages. They have conducted professional development workshops throughout Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada, Spain, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as the Orff Institute in Salzburg, Austria.
Susie teaches in the Orff Schulwerk Levels Courses in both Australia and New Zealand and presents the ‘Joy of Jammin’ courses accredited through the Australian Council of Orff Schulwerk. She has recently completed a Master of Education at Melbourne University.
Susie and Phil conduct ‘MusiKeynote’ presentations for conferences (on a variety of topics), preschool music classes, artists in school programs and children’s shows.
Susie vision is to spread the word to as many children and adults around the world that singing, moving, dancing, playing and creating music is good for the heart, for the soul, the body and the mind and that everyone can enjoy the benefits and love music!
www.welcometomusic.net

Kirsty Dent is currently the music teacher at Aberfoyle Hub School in South Australian, where she teachers Reception to year 7 students and 2 special education classes. She completed her Bachelor of Music (voice/performance) at University of Adelaide and a Bachelor of Education JP/P at Flinders University. Kirsty is the current president of the Kodaly SA branch and is a regular presenter for Kodaly SA and enjoys sharing her ideas with other educators. Kirsty also works with the South Australian Primary Schools Festival of Music program as a Concert Manager, Choir Assessor and Conductor for the Southern Metropolitan Festival of Music. She is a passionate and active advocator for Primary Music Education in South Australia and works regularly with other music teachers and associations across the state aiming to promote and improve music education.

Jim Edson has worked as a Project Officer at the SA Department of Education and Children's Services - Technology School of the Future (TSoF) for eleven years. He has taught music at both Primary and Secondary levels of schooling and has had a strong focus on the integration of technology in learning. He is the inventor of the MidiPads and KidiPads Interactive Performance system – winner of the SA 2004 Premier’s Software Awards.
The MidiPads system was used to great effect in the final performance presentation at the 2008 Orff Schulwerk conference held in Melbourne with members of the Orff Schulwerk Association of South Australia. Blending traditional forms of music with electronic systems has long been a passion in Jim’s work. The unusual combination of interests in music making, computer programming, media production and education has made Jim’s contributions to education quite unique.
See http://www.midipads.homestead.com and http://www.jimmyedson.com 

Ruth Friend completed a B. Ed. (Music) from Melbourne State College, and a Graduate Diploma in Movement and Dance at the Institute of Early Childhood Development, Melbourne.  Her broad teaching experience encompasses classroom, instrumental and movement programs from Kindergarten through to University level.  Ruth’s teaching career has been based in Melbourne where she has held the positions of Head of Junior School Music, Westbourne Grammar School and Wind co-ordinator at Lauriston Girls’ School.  She is currently teaching Years Prep to 7 students at Caulfield Grammar School, Melbourne.  Her publications include the flute tutor, ‘Put the Beat in ya Feet’, and she is the co-author of ‘Take Note Music’ books and resources for the primary music classroom.  Ruth is an experienced facilitator in teacher training, having presented at music education conferences in Singapore, Queensland, NSW, ACT, SA and Victoria.  As an active member of the Victorian Kodaly Committee, Ruth passionately supports music teachers and encourages quality music education in Australia.
Davina McClure obtained a B. Mus. Ed. from the University of Melbourne where she was awarded the Florence Bradford Scholarship.  She has since undertaken postgraduate studies in choral conducting at Monash University.  Davina has taught Kindergarten to Year 12 and her teaching appointments have included St. Michael’s Collegiate School, Hobart, Korowa Anglican Girls’ School, Melbourne and Head of Music at Malvern Campus, Caulfield Grammar School, Melbourne.  She is currently teaching at The Hamilton and Alexandra College, Victoria.  Davina has a special interest in children’s choirs and has conducted the Preparatory Choir of The Young Voices of Melbourne.  Her interest also led to collaboration with composer Paul Jarman in creating the song cycle, ‘Beyond the White Sails’.  Davina is committed to the development of music education through teacher training.  She has presented at both State and National music conferences in Kodaly and Orff, throughout Victoria, ACT and NSW and is the co-author of ‘Take Note Music’ books and resources for the primary music classroom.

Kristie Fudge is an enthusiastic music educator. She teaches Reception – year 7 classroom music at Westport Primary School, Adelaide, South Australia. As a part of the music program, Kristie runs choirs and percussion ensembles for students in years 3 – 7.
Kristie is the choir trainer for the Young Adelaide Voices Junior Choir and is the Musical Director of the Shine Choir.
Kristie has experience in the Dalcroze method of music education, is a member of the South Australian Orff Schulwerk committee and is a regular presenter at OSASA workshops.

John Handley has been teaching classroom music in secondary, primary and tertiary settings for the past 17 years. He has been attending Orff and Kodaly training, conferences and events for most of this time. John completed his levels training in San Francisco with Sofia Lopez-Ibor, James Harding, Rick Layton and Doug Goodkin. At the time of writing he is about to start level IV with Steve Calantropio, Robyn Stavely and Carol Richards. He has been the treasurer of VOSA for the past 4 years, and has a keen interest in music technology, particularly Sibelius 5. John is also running Orff based classes for adults in Melbourne. www.mosswoodmusic.com

Peta Harper is a secondary school music teacher at Fort Street High School in Sydney, NSW and is an experienced Orff practitioner with an all-embracing approach. She has been on the NSW Orff executive since 2001 and has been Bulletin Editor 2003 to 2005 and 2007 to the present.  Peta has presented Orff Levels courses and at professional development workshops and conferences throughout NSW and interstate for various organisations. She particularly enjoys finding as many creative ways to explore an idea as possible.

Mike Jackson - Internationally acclaimed and vastly experienced family entertainer, Mike Jackson has been performing Nationally and Internationally for over 30 years.  He has performed at schools and kindergartens, arts venues and prominent children’s/music festivals across Australia and in the UK, New Zealand and Canada.
Mike, an ‘ABC for Kids’ recording artist, is well known for his numerous recordings (some Platinum and Gold) and is most famous for his release of children’s favourites Bananas in Pyjamas, Dr Knickerbocker and One Man Went To Mow.  Many will have grown up with his music.
Mike Jackson has also published many music resources for children, including the Rig-a-Jig-Jig series, Dances for Little Kids, Bush Dance Kit and 101 Children’s Songs for Buskers and his new Uke’n Play Ukulele (book/CD) series, published by ‘Music Sales Ltd’, is distributed Australia wide and sells in the UK, Europe and America. 

Sue Lane is currently teaching Music and Dance Education at the University of Newcastle, NSW, particularly working with Education undergraduates preparing to teach within the Primary School. In her postgraduate studies, Sue is researching creative processes as educational tools, promoting the value of Creative Arts in Education. For many years Sue has worked in several Central Coast Primary schools as a Music Specialist.  She has also worked as a conductor of children and adult choirs on the Central Coast and has been involved in numerous choral and performance events.
Sue is very committed to sharing her passion for creative teaching with her students. She has been involved with the Orff Schulwerk Association of NSW as Vice President for several years, and is currently working on the Bulletin committee.

Clare McCormack & Caroline Zeeman (Caro) are enjoying writing new music resources for marimba, ukulele and the Orff Classroom. They are both music educators in Auckland, NZ.   Clare and Caro are active in ONZA (Orff NZ Aotearoa), Clare as the President and Caro as Publicity officer. Their song ‘Colours of Aotearoa’ was a finalist in the NZ APRA Ukulele song writing contest at the NZ Ukulele Festival in 2008. They have presented workshops around NZ and Australia. Clare runs the NZ Marimba camps and both Clare and Caro help organise the annual Auckland Marimba Festival.

Naser Nazar learned the techniques of conducting the orchestra from Mr. H. Sanjari the late. Later on, in order to develop and upgrade such skills, he attended the master’s class (run by Prof. Schumcher) in Switzerland.
In the field of children's music training, N. Nazar composed and performed several pieces among which are: The world of Happiness, The songs of Happiness and The Little songs for Awareness. The songs which were praised and appreciated by the music teachers, students and music lovers.
Training Orff music teachers for other cities of Iran is another branch of his activities. So far, his students, accompanying big orchestra and choir group, have performed various pieces. N. Nazar has participated in special occasions such as world children's Festival an Fajr music festival and performed quite a few pieces which gained him several prizes since 1990.
He participated at AOSA conference in 2006, and 2008 Melbourne Mosaic Conference as presenter.

Matthew Perry teaches music at Cranbrook school in Sydney where his responsibilities include preschool, infants and primary teaching.
In addition to teaching music, Matthew works as a composer and was the musical director of “Christmas at the Opera House” from 1984 -1997.
His many compositions include:
The winning entry in the 1985 Australian Song Contest, The Finale which formed part of the opening ceremony for World Expo ’88 in Brisbane, Music for the opening of the High Court Canberra, Songs and music for Life Education Centres International, Clean up Australia /Clean up the World, Clean Air 2000 NRMA, The Wiggles, Finales for Folkloric celebrations at the Sydney Opera House, Educational music resources and musicals for schools throughout Australia and overseas
In 2005 he was nominated for “best composition” in the Australian Classical Music Awards for his work “NOCTURNAL”.
In 2008 Matthew was nominated in the National Teaching Awards for excellence.

Anne Power lectures at the University of Western Sydney and her research is informed by Wenger’s theoretical concepts of community of practice, valuing both informal and formal learning that occurs in learning communities, emerging in writing about musical experience as serious play. In projects such as Boys’ Motivation and Engagement she contributed significant case study expertise and has published from this research, focusing on engagement within a music education perspective. Her research has also explored indigenous identity expressed in music and the diverse learning environment of the Western Sydney Region. Anne Power is Deputy Chair of the NSW Chapter of Australian Society for Music Education - the peak body advocating for music education in Australia. She is on the Editorial Board of the national journal. She is a representative to the Australian National Council of Orff Schulwerk and the editor of its journal Musicworks.

Tamara Pratley is an Orff educator and an award winning composer with a speciality in music for the screen. She has scored many films, documentaries, commercials and more. Her experience as a professional composer combines with her expertise in the primary music classroom where she has written a book of pieces for Orff instruments. Her writing has seen her take opportunities both here and overseas. In 2001 she was invited to join the teaching staff at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she wrote many of her pieces for the music classroom. She has worked with small and large percussion ensembles and has conducted her music in A-class facilities including The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Newman Scoring Stage at Fox Studios, LA and Trackdown Scoring Stage at Fox Studios, Sydney.

Daniela Pretorius studied at the Universities of Pretoria and South Africa (Unisa). After 17 years of teaching Music (Education) at primary and secondary schools, she took on the challenge of starting Music as an elective at a school in Soweto (South Western Townships, of Johannesburg). She is an organist, freelance accompanist, adjudicator, lecturer of levels courses for the Orff Society of South Africa and is a member of the Whitechapel Ringers (handbells). She assists musicians and African choirs in preparing for music and/or choral festivals and competitions on a voluntary basis. She is currently a Senior Education specialist with the Gauteng Education Department in the field of Arts and Culture, grade 4 – 7.

Lynette Richardson has enjoyed a varied 27-year career as a Music Teacher, having taught class music and conducted Choirs across both Primary and Secondary levels, as well as dabbling in Piano, Voice, Musicianship, Theory and Instrumental Ensembles’ Tuition.
She worked with The Australian Girls Choir from its inception in 1984 until the end of 2007, which saw her tutor at each of the 7 levels of the Choir and carry out the role of National Music Director to 4 states for differing periods of time. Interstate trips, overseas tours, inhouse concerts, Qantas ad campaigns and exciting gigs galore featured throughout that time.
Before her heavy involvement with the Australian Girls’ Choir, Lynette enjoyed performing as a lead Alto with two well-known Melbourne Choirs – the Tudor Choristers and Ensemble Gombert.  She has also enjoyed playing and performing piano duets, accompanying a range of instrumentalists and being repetiteur for Musical Theatre Companies throughout her music career.
She has held the positions of Class Music Teacher at Korowa Girls’ School, Scotch, Haileybury and Ruyton Girls’ School and Head of Junior Music at Ruyton Girls’ School (for a period of 11 years) and is currently Head of Music at Geelong Grammar School – Toorak Campus (2 years). 
She is known for her ability to build a Music Department up to be a healthy, flourishing programme, which becomes the heart and soul of the school.  Her passion is enriching childrens’ lives with the wonderful world of music. 
In 1995 Lynette was a proud recipient of a state NEITA award along with being recognised as a Master Teacher at Ruyton, then in 2000 was inducted into the Arts Hall of Achievement at the secondary school which she attended, Ringwood Secondary College.
While music is the major drive of Lynette’s life, the addition of golf to her interests in 2001 has given her a new drive, which she intends to master!

Gabrielle Ryan is a passionate Orffian whose original inspiration was through completing a year at the Orff Institut in 1980. Currently she teaches classroom and instrumental Music at  Mooroopna Secondary College. She has extensive experience in both primary and secondary classrooms, and directing ensembles and community groups. She is also an experienced director of school musicals and rock and concert bands. Gabrielle’s most distinguishing feature may be that she has always taught music in country schools, and the majority of her students arrive as “music illiterates” which is always a challenge! Her first love is making music in the Orff style, frequently using contemporary music. She found the Doug Goodkin approach to music making very inspirational and harmonious with her own. In 2007 she directed 300 primary school children in a production of Carl Orff’s “The Christmas Story”. She has also led bands who have won the “Best Contemporary Band” in the Kool Skools Awards in Victoria.
In 2009 Gabrielle conducts the 40 plus member Junior Concert Band at her school, leads the vocal group and is chorus repetiteur and pianist for the school musical. Gabrielle also leads ensemble Workshops for primary school children.

Dr. Pamela Stover is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at the School of Music, Southern Illinois University Carbondale (USA).  She is a leading scholar of the Orff-Schulwerk with summer study at the Orff Institute (Salzburg, Austria), earning the Orff Mastery Certificate (University of St. Thomas, USA) and doing grant-funded research at the Orff Zentrum-München (Germany). Dr. Stover is an elementary methods and choral specialist and gives workshops on classroom management, assessment, integrating music across the curriculum, composition and improvisation, part-singing, children’s choir, children’s literature incorporating music, meeting national/state standards, music literacy, middle school classroom music, music for early childhood and Orff and Kodaly teaching processes. She is a frequent clinician at MENC (Music Education National Conference-USA), ACDA (the American Choral Directors Association) and AOSA (the American Orff-Schulwerk Association) conferences.  Her historical research concerning the Orff-Schulwerk has been showcased in the United States, Canada, Germany, England and Italy.