Workshops

March 23, 2024
Literature Share & Bookstore Field Trip!

Join the GBAOSA as we go on a field trip to the Ivy Bookstore to find children's literature we can use in our classrooms! Participants will have time to shop and will be inspired by Baltimore Orff board members to create engaging lessons for their students.


Not a Baltimore Orff Member? Click here to register!

Map and Directions

Sept. 30, 2023, 12:30-4:30: Rob Amchin
Hurrah! Hurray!--Let’s play all day!


We are excited to welcome Rob Amchin, YouTube sensation and AOSA's Distinguished Service Award Recipient for 2023! He will be presenting songs and dances for the season, the whole year and for all ages, as well as a preview of his conference sharing. 

Bio: Rob Amchin is Professor Emeritus and was distinguished teaching professor at the University of Louisville where he was concentration coordinator of music education for many years. He led graduate and undergraduate courses in general music and teacher training while in Louisville. He was a general music teacher before entering the professoriate. Dr. Amchin studied at New England Conservatory of Music, Hofstra University, Memphis State University, Hamline University, University of Michigan, and the Orff Institute (Salzburg). 

He is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the American Recorder Society, Orff chapters in Baltimore and Washington DC, and the American Orff Schulwerk Association (AOSA). As an active member of AOSA, he is a regular clinician for their national conference and leads training events for school districts and music education organizations nationally and around the world. (Austria, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Israel, Poland, Russia, South Africa, and Singapore.) He was one of the featured presenters for the TAA this past summer. Rob is the author of several books related to Orff Schulwerk and general music. 

October 21, 2023: Anne Puckett
Planning a Performance Featuring Students as Creators

In this workshop, we’ll explore a variety of techniques to provide opportunities for your students to be the creators of the material they perform. From choosing appropriate texts, to models for composition, to how to structure the entire process - you will come away with lots of ideas to play with at your school!

Clinician Bio: Anne Puckett has been teaching music to grades 1-5 at The Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Maryland for 17 years. She also spent 10 years in the Baltimore County Public School System, where she was a finalist for Teacher of the Year. Anne received her Orff Certification and Level IV training from George Mason University. Anne has been a presenter at multiple AOSA national conferences and chapter workshops. She lives in Baltimore with her husband, composer Joel Puckett, and their two children. 

January 27, 2024: Lisa Sempsey
Marvelous Meters and Modes

Join us for an interactive day of experimenting, learning, creating, and performing in various meters and modes.  Learn how to engage children from preschool through middle school in a playful process exploring common and asymmetric meters and modal scales of various kinds.  Embody being a bird, explore food and drinks, and go on an adventure through the woods as we explore music and play together!  Bring a recorder and flashlight to fully join in the fun!


Clinician Bio: Mrs. Sempsey is a veteran educator of 22 years and has taught kindergarten through sixth-grade general music, elementary choruses, as well as elementary and middle school strings in Lower Dauphin, Conestoga Valley School Districts, and Columbia Borough School District, where she served as the K-12 Art & Music Coordinator.  Mrs. Sempsey has also been the Artistic Director and Prelude Choir Director for the Children’s Choir of Lancaster from 2005-2012.  Currently, she teaches kindergarten through sixth-grade general music, chorus, and strings at Farmdale Elementary School in Hempfield School District and is also the K-12 Music Department Coordinator.  

Mrs. Sempsey is adjunct faculty at Elizabethtown College and teaches the undergraduate music education courses:  “Music Teaching and Learning” and “General Music Methods” and the graduate courses: “Curriculum, Assessment, and Measurement” and “Blending Approaches for Inclusive Settings in Music Education.”  She has completed all levels of Kodaly and Orff-Schulwerk training as well as one level of World Music Drumming.

Mrs. Sempsey is a clinician, workshop presenter, and public school educator who loves to share and collaborate with her colleagues.  She has presented workshops at the local, regional, and national levels across Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Texas, with sessions covering topics including classroom management, choral reading sessions, technology in the music classroom, movement and music curricular connections, Kodály Pedagogy in the modern elementary music class, curriculum development, lesson planning, and Orff-Schulwerk inspired elements in K-6 music classes.  She is also a freelance composer, consultant, and violist who enjoys playing in contemporary orchestral settings.  Mrs. Sempsey serves on the board of directors for the American Center for Elemental Music and Movement (ACEMM), membership chair for the Philadelphia Orff-Schulwerk Association (PAOSA), and the District 7 Elementary Representative for the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA).