Teacher's Workshops » About Our Workshops
Our early childhood workshops are filled with music to develop the whole child. All songs are written for a teaching purpose. Engaging children in these activities encourages musical skills but goes way beyond just music. Read our article on Why Teach Music in Early Childhood?
Our workshops are based on specific Kids Music Company collections, or on a range of our collections. Workshops can be tailored to a group's specific needs and can include music for:
Along the way children will develop a feeling for the beat and affinity with different rhythmic patterns, understand differences in pitch and the basis of melody, and learn to play different instruments. Children will begin to sing in tune and move in time.
Email Janet if you would like to organise a workshop in your area.
Benefits for the Participants:
Prerequisites for the workshops are:
Our CD range covers three main areas: 'Sing Move and Play' collections, Instrumental Collections, and Choral Collections.
Wendy and Janet have attended many professional development courses in Orff Schulwerk over the years and have trained to a high level in this methodology. They have presented workshops for teachers at Orff Conferences held in NZ and Australia.
This philosophy of holistic music education originated with the composer Carl Orff in Germany and is widely accepted throughout the western world and Asia. Activities develop the whole musical self through fun sessions, which include singing, speech patterns, moving and playing. We begin with simple songs, chants and poems, and develop them into complex pieces incorporating playing instruments in many parts, each part relatively simple. These experiences enhance instrumental learning and are an enjoyable and satisfying way to make group music. For more information on this teaching method, please visit
Orff-Schulwerk is an internationally accepted approach to musically educating children in a group setting. The famous composer and educator, Carl Orff, in Germany, developed this approach. "Schulwerk" is a German word meaning ‘work for the school.' Today, the Orff-Schulwerk approach is widely used by music educators in private and public schools throughout the United States and the world.
From the moment an Orff music class begins all facets of expressing, creating, and performing music are integrated. The elements of music - melody, rhythm, form, texture, and harmony, are always at the forefront of carefully planned lessons. Orff involves many things that children like to do: sing, chant, play games, dance, move, dramatize, improvise, and play the recorder and other unpitched and pitched percussion instruments. It is when these elements are combined in a group experience that the true magic of Orff unfolds. This ‘hands-on' approach is based on the idea that children learn best by doing. The child is not the spectator, listening and singing along with a record or teacher-provided accompaniment. Rather, the child is the participant - making the music and involved in the process of creative expression. Orff is child-centered and based on the premise that experience precedes conceptual learning. The elements of music are less abstract to child when he or she is actively engaged in creating and performing the music.