Sing! Dance! Play! 2026

John Jacobson is an internationally recognized composer, author, and master educator whose musicals and choral works have been performed by millions of children worldwide. For more than four decades, he has inspired music teachers and students through his creative artistry, dynamic presentations, and unwavering commitment to quality music education.

A celebrated leader in the field, John has written and produced hundreds of resources for educators—from musicals and choral collections to instructional videos, movement resources, and professional-development materials that have empowered teachers in thousands of classrooms. His work has been published and distributed globally through major educational publishers and platforms.
Beyond his writing, John has directed and staged large-scale festival performances across the country, including ensembles in partnership with Walt Disney Productions and other major arts organizations. His productions have featured thousands of young performers and have been showcased in prominent national events such as NBC’s broadcast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

John is widely regarded as a “teacher’s teacher”. His workshops are known for their energy, inspiration, and practical classroom relevance—drawing enthusiastic educators year after year. With an exceptional ability to combine movement, music, and motivation, he helps teachers rediscover joy and purpose in their work.
John is also the founder of America Sings!, a nonprofit dedicated to connecting young performers with meaningful service opportunities through music.

Today, he serves as President and Creative Content Designer of JJ & Me, Inc., in partnership with Musicplay, where he continues to create innovative musicals, songs, choreography, and teaching materials for a new generation of educators and students.

Katie Grace Miller is an elementary school music teacher in Orange County in Orlando, Florida. She began teaching in 2005 and currently teaches at Lake George Elementary School. She received her bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of South Florida and received her masters degree in Teacher Leadership with a focus on curriculum development from the University of Central Florida. She has her Orff Level 3 certification. She teaches before and after-school musical groups named "Lake George Jammers” for 3rd – 5th graders and directs a school musical each year. She was named Teacher of the Year in 2008 and 2020. She was named an Alumni of Note from her alma mater University of South Florida in 2022. She has presented clinics to music teachers in many states and has conducted various all county choirs and Orff groups in the state of Florida. She published the book “Get to the Point” with her aunt, Artie Almeida and has 5 published teacher resources of her own. Katie enjoys singing and spending time with her husband Jesse, her 2 children, Jackson and Emily and basset hounds, Calvin and Hobbes.

Stacy Werner is a music specialist with over 15 years of experience teaching choir, instrumental ensembles, piano and classroom music. Stacy currently teaches kindergarten to Grade 6 music in Alberta, Canada. Stacy is a valued contributor to Musicplay Online and a frequent guest on Wednesday Webinars. She is also the author of the “Super Simple Music Centers” series published by Themes and Variations.

Collaborating closely with her mentor and mother, Denise Gagne, Stacy is dedicated to continuous growth as an educator and creating a vibrant musical learning environment for her students. Stacy has completed training in Orff and Kodaly pedagogy at the University of Kentucky and University of Alberta. Her commitment to excellence is evident in the student performances she orchestrates, showcasing her dedication to nurturing musical talent within her classroom.

Outside of teaching, Stacy enjoys supporting her children’s passions – she can often be found at the rink cheering on her son’s hockey games and admiring her daughter’s figure skating performances. Additionally, Stacy embraces the outdoors, indulging in skiing and hiking adventures in her leisure time.

Dr. Susan Brumfield is Professor of Music Education at Texas Tech University, Artistic Director of The West Texas Children’s Chorus and Academic Director of The West Texas Kodály Initiative. She holds a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Brumfield is known for her work as a teacher, author, composer and conductor and is in frequent demand as a commissioned composer, clinician and guest conductor.

An internationally recognized expert in the Kodály approach, Dr. Brumfield is the author of First, We Sing! Kodály-Inspired Teaching in the Music Classroom, a series of textbooks and song anthologies published by Hal Leonard. Dr. Brumfield’s publications also include Kentucky Mother Goose, co-authored with American folk legend Jean Ritchie. Her contributions to research and creative activity have been recognized with multiple honors, including the Texas Tech University College of Visual and Performing Arts Award for Outstanding Research, the Barnie E. Rushing Jr. Award for Research, two nominations for the TTU President’s Book Award and the TTU President’s Excellence in Commercialization Award.

James Allen is a K-5 Level 3 Orff-Certified Music Specialist with extensive experience in music education and performance. He was a featured presenter at the 2021 AOSA National Conference and returned as a presenter at the 2024 conference. In addition, he served as the elementary headliner at the 2023 NYSSMA Conference in Albany, where he led three workshops.
Currently, James provides professional development workshops for Orff chapters, school districts, universities, and state conferences. He has created a frame drum unit and presented a webinar for Musicplay.com, and has authored an article on frame drums for the online Orff publication Reverberations as well as an article on jazz in the classroom for the online publication, “Teaching With Orff.” In 2024, James taught an Elementary Methods course at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.

James is also an active performer, regularly appearing as a percussionist in musical theater, jazz, bluegrass, and orchestral settings. He holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase, an MM in Performance from Yale University, and a teaching certificate from Central Connecticut State University.

As a music educator, Erika Safford has taught all high and middle school choir, as well as k-5 general music. In her current position, she teaches vocal, instrumental, and general music at a separate day school in Carroll County, serving students aged 3-21 with diverse, but significant support needs. As a physically disabled Autistic, Erika is passionate about helping all students find success, joy, and community through music. She is the Accessibility and Accommodations Chair for MMEA and is an MMEA Outstanding Music Educator (2025).

Tyler Swick is a music educator in Las Vegas, NV where he teaches steel band, music technology, and modern ensembles. Swick has taught elementary music for 11 years and manages the YouTube channel “Swick’s Classroom,” which provides free content to hundreds of thousands of viewers a year. He is a member of the inaugural Yamaha 40 Under 40 Music Educator class, a recipient of the Heart of Education Award, and the 2024 Nevada PTA Teacher of the Year. Swick has presented on the topic of color-coded music at NAMM, NAfME, IMES, Ti:ME, NSSBE, and state-level conferences.

I am a specialist music teacher, teaching music to children aged 3-11 in schools for 40 years.

I have been a Musicianship Practitioner & Senior Advisory Teacher for The Voices Foundation since 1996 supporting teachers in the classroom using Kodaly influenced methodology. I also led two primary musicianship choirs for the Voices Foundation 4-7yrs and 7-11yrs.

I was the Specialist Music Lead for Ebor Academy Trust, working with 23 schools, teaching classroom music in several of these schools, leading network meetings, supporting music teachers in the classroom, organising & delivering workshops on primary music conferences.

I led adults and children’s choirs and youth choirs in York, ran a Pre-School Music group for age 2-4 years.

Further afield I have led training workshops in primary music and singing across the North East of England, Yorkshire and Humberside.

I have lectured in primary music in Hull University, York St John University and with post graduates on Schools Direct PGCE courses

I run York Kodaly Choir and York Flute Ensembles as well as offering singing and instrument tuition in York.

Serge Gingras is a language specialist who completed a Master’s degree in French Literature at the University of Calgary and another one in Spanish Language and Culture at the University of California. He taught French and Spanish at Red Deer College for 30 years and retired in 2015. Since then, he worked as regional director for the French-Canadian Association of Alberta before joining the team at Themes & Variations in 2019 where he works as writer, editor, and translator, building resources in French for MusicplayOnline.

An advocate for life-long learning, he enjoys taking Music courses at the University of Alberta. He also sings with the Chorale Saint-Jean in Edmonton. Avid swimmer, he has coached and competed in Masters swimming for many years.

Born and raised in Cochabamba, Bolivia, Eduardo Mendoza Reyes Ortiz is a multi-instrumentalist educator, producer, performer, and cultural ambassador, specializing in saxophone and Andean native woodwinds. During his undergraduate studies at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota (USA), Eduardo was named a Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Scholar and Ambassador for three consecutive years, advancing his mission to share and celebrate Latin music.

Graduating summa cum laude and invited to join the International Music Honor Society, Eduardo went on to make a meaningful impact on South Dakota’s education landscape by fostering Latinx culture in elementary schools and various organizations in Sioux Falls. He also served as the lead developer and instructor of South Dakota’s first Latinx music camp for elementary students. Eduardo currently serves on the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Alumni Committee and has returned to Bolivia, where he is building a music education culture from the ground up within a system where formal music education is still developing, leveraging his skills in music technology and multicultural education.

Manju Durairaj was born and raised in India. She studied in Pune, India. She was involved in graduate research projects on comparative pedagogical practices of Indian (Carnatic) and Western Music at Middlesex University, London, UK. She graduated with her second master’s degree and K-12 certification from VanderCook College of Music, Chicago.

Manju is the Lower School Music Teacher at the Latin School of Chicago. She is vice president elect DEI of AOSA, past president of the Greater Chicago Orff Chapter and is a certified Orff Schulwerk Levels Instructor. She is a certified Arts Integration specialist. She is on the Elementary General Music Council of IL Music Education Association. She is an adjunct professor at VanderCook College of Music, Chicago where she teaches curriculum design and elementary methods graduate and undergraduate courses. Her continuing teaching education courses, on campus and online, include Culturally Responsive Music Education, Technology, Arts Integration, Curriculum Development, Responsive Classroom, and Redesigning Teaching and Learning for 21st Century.

She is a frequent clinician at various state, national, and international conferences. She has been published in the Orff Echo, Reverberations, Illinois Music Educators Journal, General Music Today, and the Journal of the Council for Research in Music Education. Her publications with Hal Leonard include InterAct with Music Assessment Levels 1 and 2, InterAct Levels 1&2 Student Activities for Devices and Print, Technology in Today’s Music Classroom and Dancing Around the World with Music Express Magazine.

Susie Davies-Splitter (M.Ed) is a dynamic music and movement educator, musician and award-winning composer. She spent the last 3 years directing a K-6 music and performing arts program, choir, and band at Le Page Primary School in Melbourne.

She is an accredited ANCOS (Australian National Council of Orff Schulwerk) trainer where she leads regular Orff training in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and China.

Together with her husband Phil, Susie co-founded 'Welcome to Music,' a global enterprise providing innovative programs, Courses, Resources and Membership Community for Early Childhood and Primary/Elementary School Educators. She hosts the 'Take Orff with Webinar' Series and the Welcome to Music Podcast and Blog.

The 'Welcome to Music' Series is known for its engaging and award-winning collection of original, traditional, jazz, and world music songs and includes activities, teacher books, ukulele and recorder programs, musicals, storybooks, and choral arrangements. This series is widely enjoyed by teachers, parents, and children across Australia and worldwide.

Over many years, Susie and Phil have composed hundreds of fun, educational, humorous, and inspiring songs with many accompanying videos that can be found on the streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music and on their YouTube Channel

Susie's vision is to enrich lives and build confidence and creativity through the joy of music, always keeping the child's experience at the heart of her work.