First Steps in Music Certification – Burlington, VT

Course Description: First Steps in Music (™) is a research-based, curricular framework combining the development of singing and movement skills in order to maximize musical aptitude in young children, typically grades PreK-2. The eight-part “workout” is designed to encourage musical independence and creativity through joyful activities and experiences shared with others while developing the prerequisite skills needed for music literacy: singing in tune, keeping a steady beat, and developing sensitivity to the expressive elements of music. First Steps in Music is a developmentally appropriate music education framework for instruction with techniques that provide pathways to meeting students where they are in their musical development, no matter the age or ability. Included in this course will be opportunities to practice teaching and a full demonstration class with early elementary students.

About the course Instructor: Betsy Greene teaches in Burlington, Vermont where she is the music teacher and choral director for Champlain Elementary School (K-5). Betsy earned her undergraduate degree in music education from the Crane School of Music (SUNY Potsdam) and her Master’s Degree in Music Education under Dr. John Feierabend from the former Hartt School of Music (currently the Hartt School) at the University of Hartford, CT.  She holds her Kodály certification from the Hartt School and her Orff-Schulwerk Levels I-III from the University of St. Thomas.  In 1998, she received the Outstanding Arts Advocate Award from the past Vermont Arts Alliance and, then in 2008, the Music Educator of the Year Award from the Vermont Music Educators Association. Betsy is a founding member of the Feierabend Association for Music Education (FAME) having served as Member-at-Large and President (2017-2019).  She is a frequent presenter of workshops and graduate courses as a FAME endorsed teacher trainer and a specialist for integrating the Feierabend Approach with Orff Schulwerk.  Betsy is a co-author for First Steps in Music with Orff Schulwerk:  Sing, Say, Dance, Play (GIA Publications, 2017) and a contributing author for the Feierabend Fundamentals:  History, Philosophy, and Practice (GIA Publications, 2018).