News & Events

This course will ask questions such as:
·       How can musicians make a constructive contribution to the deep environmental questions of our time through the creation of eco-centric music?
·       How can music be based on a profound relationship to nature?
·       How can we create music with nature’s orchestra of instruments?
·       How can we move beyond mere self-expression in music to reimagine and recreate our relationship with the planet?
·       How can we live in harmony with the seasons and the cycle of the year in music, so that we can make the mood of each seasonal festival audible in music in order that each season is met by matching qualities in music?

This new training course is divided into two parts:
Part 1 Seasons & Festivals in Music – February 29 – March 1 & April 10 – 11

Part 2 Nature’s Music, the Soundscape & Acoustic Ecology – May 2 – 3 & May 30 – 31

You can join these 2 parts independently. Early booking discount closes January 15th. Here’s the link to the brochure: http://tonalismusic.co.uk/images/pdfs/Music_Nature_and_Environment_training.pdf

Dear friends and colleagues,

As you know, May 15 was our deadline for registering for the early bird discount, and the date by which we were going to determine if we had enough registered participants to hold the 2020 AWME summer music conference. We have been hopeful that things would change by this summer, and that we would be able to move forward with the conference. In light of the COVID-19 situation and the transportation challenges that are our reality right now, we feel that for these reasons, we must postpone the conference. In light of so many uncertainties at this time, we do not feel that it is prudent to hold the conference this summer, and so we intend to have this conference next year, in the summer, of 2021 (specific dates yet to be determined). We are not actually cancelling the conference we planned this year, but simply moving it to next summer when we hope things will have allowed such gatherings to take place safely and more conveniently for everyone.

Many of you have asked about whether or not we would, or could, do this conference online. The difficulty with this is that what we are doing happens to be all about listening, and playing various instruments to cultivate our awareness of the new instruments and how we might use them in our work as Waldorf music educators. Also, the movement and choral singing we would do, really requires us to be present in real time, and doesn’t translate so well using the internet. So for now, we will postpone the conference until 2021.

Thank you for your patience in waiting to hear about information regarding the conference or if it’s even happening in some form or another. We appreciate your interest, and eagerly look forward to seeing all of in even greater numbers next year!

Please continue to visit our Facebook page and website – don’t forget, there is a special Forum (Colleagues’ Corner) for AWME members to communicate and share, in addition to the file sharing page, so let’s revive these and use them to connect with each other as best we can during these difficult times.

Wishing you all good health and joyful music making!

Sponsored by the Association for Waldorf Music Education

Kimberton Waldorf School
July 12-17, 2020

In our 18th year of the AWME Summer Music Conference, we will work together with metal instruments (gongs, rods, cymbals, and others), stringed instruments (lyres, including pentatonic and bordun lyres, psalteries, chrottas), wind instruments (C-flutes, pentatonic flutes, gemshorns, ocarinas), and percussion instruments (drums, rattles, etc.). Our process will be based on the work of Reinhild Brass (Hörwege entdecken) and Gerhard Beilarz (Musik in Pädagogik und Therapie, and Erziehen und heilen durch Musik), which focus on new methods in music pedagogy and therapy, as is possible with these new instruments.

We often speak about “playing music”. These new instruments give us the possibility to truly play—to playfully explore the unlimited possibilities of sound and music which they offer to anyone who is willing to listen with “new ears.”

This year’s conference will also offer a closer look at what stands behind the Waldorf music curriculum. Bringing ‘the right thing at the right time’ is the hallmark of Waldorf education, and the music curriculum reflects this profound pedagogy. Our work together will explore the what, when, how, and why of what we do, and how it meets each stage of the child’s development, including a deeper look at Rudolf Steiner’s indications for bringing music to children. There will also be sessions dedicated to questions and answers, and for our own development as well as for enhancing and supporting our work in the classroom, our days will be rounded out with Werbeck vocal exercises and choral work.

Since we will be including hands-on instrumental work, we ask participants to bring Choroi interval flutes, pentatonic flutes, diatonic/C-flutes, recorders of any voicing, children’s lyres, or bordun lyres, if possible. We will also have some instruments available to borrow at the school, but please bring whatever you have, and extras to share, if possible!

On Thursday evening, we will have our traditional music sharing for the larger community – everyone is welcome to attend! For this occasion, participants are invited to bring any and all instruments to make music to share with each other as well as extra copies of sheet music if you would like to prepare something with others.

This year’s facilitators are:

Veronika Roemer – Our guest presenter, Veronika Roemer, is a professional violist, pianist, lyrist, and Seminar Music Teacher at The Camphill School, Glenmoore, PA. She also teaches musical renewal in China, Hungary, and North America. Veronika has spent many years studying sound and its healthy cultivation for both children and adults. She is eager to share with us the results of her work with international colleagues on this subject as well as her own experiences as a lyrist and multifaceted musician and teacher.

Andrea Lyman – Andrea Lyman has been a Waldorf music teacher since 1992, has taught music courses at Sunbridge College, Waldorf Institute of Southern California, Sound Circle Center, and has been an adjunct faculty member of the West Coast Institute in Vancouver, BC since 2011. In addition to evaluating and mentoring Waldorf music teachers and faculties throughout North America, Andrea also gives courses and workshops in South America and Asia, and is the Director of the Waldorf Teacher Training programs in both China and the Philippines. She has authored several articles on the Waldorf music curriculum, and has served as president of AWME since its inception in 2001.

Sheila Johns – Sheila Johns taught music for 14 years at the Washington Waldorf School in Bethesda, Maryland. She teaches courses in the Mood of the Fifth and has developed a curriculum for working with the pentatonic children’s lyre for grades 1-3 as well as for an applied music course for grades 7/8. She gives courses in South America and Asia and is part of the carrying faculty of the Waldorf Music Teacher Training programs in China and the Philippines. Sheila served as president of the Lyre Association of North America for 12 years and has trainings in both instrumental and vocal anthroposophic music therapy. She has also been a carrying member of AWME for the last 12 years.

Conference Fee:

$455 for AWME members ($40 discount!)
$455 for non-members before May 15th; $495 thereafter

For more questions or information, please contact Andrea Lyman.

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Conference Details:

Costs for housing, meals, and transportation are additional. View the many suggested lodging options here.

All morning and afternoon snacks as well as dinner on our first evening will be provided by AWME. Meal plans will be available for purchase (see registration form below).

The conference will begin on Sunday, July 12th at 5:30 pm with registration, a simple shared meal (provided by AWME), and our official opening. The conference will end midday the following Friday, July 17th.

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REGISTER NOW! – Deadline for receiving minimum participant registrations through June 15, 2020.

Weave spellbinding tapestries of sound into songs of enchantment from the mountains and glens of Scotland to the Hebridean Islands and the mysteries of Celtic Ireland.

So come and sing your heart out on what is sure to be an unforgettable course.
Dates: July 25 – 28

A new Tonalis Foundation training in collaboration with Ruskin Mill.
21 Days over 1 year, in 6 Modules in half-terms and holidays.

Starting at the end of August 2020.

We will also be offering 2 weekend workshops to help both choir singers and choir leaders learn to sing with the appropriate musical style and vocal timbre that belongs to idioms such as Renaissance, Bulgarian or Gospel music, etc., without which essential features of the musical meaning are lost.

Through all the discoveries you’ll make
these workshops will EXPAND for you the COLOUR WORLD of CHOIR SINGING.

On WORKSHOP 1 we’ll explore the glorious diversity of styles and colours found in WORLD VOICINGS and FOLK CHORAL IDIOMS

On WORKSHOP 2 we’ll explore i) EARLY MUSIC from Medieval, Renaissance  and  Baroque Choral music to ii) CLASSICAL, ROMANTIC and CONTEMPORARY Choral Styles

You’ll be able to choose between coming on both the workshops, or to just one of them. Dates: to be announced shortly.