Turquoise to Greenstone Workshop: January 2017 (dropbox photos)

Early Childhood Education Workshop: 2016 (montage)

Napier Workshop: 2016 (montage) 

Shirley Day Salmon: 2016 (montage) 

Creative Play Festival [June 17, 2015]

The first Creative Play Festival was held at Stonefields School Hall.  Five schools participated across the Auckland region with close to 80 children present. [Click the link for a photographic montage.]

The day began with the singing of Hirini Melbourne’s Tui, the waiata ONZA events traditionally feature. The audience provided a beautiful improvised accompaniment as the children learnt to sing the melody.

Teachers had been provided with a brief to:

Share an original performance developed with children, using the Orff approach. This performance will be based on an aspect of your school and/or community context that is meaningful and relevant to your students. The inspiration point may be an artwork, an artefact, a poem, a story or a natural or man-made feature of your environment.

The variety of pieces brought to the festival was eclectic and spell-binding. Feedback to each school after their performance was given by a panel of Orff practitioners, which added a real sense of community and warmth to the occasion. The Creative Play Festival truly celebrated the playful process central to the Orff approach and produced some wonderful artistic performances for our school communities to enjoy.

Strum, Hum, Wriggle, Drum [October 17, 2015]

A group of  teachers took part in this one-day workshop in order to develop their skills in music-making and dance with early childhood and junior primary students. Click on the link to view  some of the Orff-based activities the course participants engaged in.