Summer Kodály Institute: Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

Summer Kodály Institute Faculty

Nyssa Maria Brown serves as Music Education Coordinator for Minnesota's Perpich Center for Arts Education whose mission is to improve K-12 education for all Minnesota students and educators through innovative programs and partnerships centered in the arts. Ms. Brown taught elementary school vocal and general music at Park Spanish Immersion School in St. Louis Park, Minnesota from 1998-2007. In 2006, Nyssa was chosen by Education Minnesota, a state affiliate of NEA and AFT, to represent Minnesota at the national level in NEA's Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence. Ms. Brown was one of ten finalists for 2004 Minnesota Teacher of the Year and received a prestigious Milken Educator Award in 2004 from the Milken Family Foundation. Nyssa is a faculty member of the Kodály Levels Courses at Indiana University and James Madison University. She has spent time in Namibia and South Africa teaching and learning music and has participated in Eastman School of Music's Umculo: The Kimberley Project. She also studied in Hungary at the Kodály Institute's summer seminar. Nyssa released her first CD in October, 2000, "Packwood or Paradise." Ms. Brown graduated from the Hartt School of Music and Hartford College for Women in 1998 with a BMus in Education and a BArts in Women's Studies. Her Kodály certification was earned at Brigham Young University in 2001.

Diana Gillespie has taught choral/general music for 24 years - the previous 18 of those as music specialist at Orchard Park Elementary in Carmel, IN. Recently, she decided to make a change, and is now in her third year as choral director at Carmel High School. She received a Bachelor of Music Education, with piano emphasis, from Indiana University, and has completed all coursework for a Masters in Music Education, piano cognate, from IU as well. She has worked with the IU Children's Choir, the Indianapolis Children's Choir (ICC), and various child/youth performers in regional theater in and around Indianapolis. Diana continues to enjoy working with elementary-aged children by serving as clinician for state-wide choral festivals and workshops. She currently serves as President of Indiana Kodály Educators (IKE), and is a member of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA) and American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). Diana has presented workshops on pedagogy, pitch-matching, and singing games at the state and national level. Diana first received her Kodály Levels training under Dr. Jean Sinor at Indiana University and most recently received additional Levels training (I-III) at the Indiana University Summer Kodály Institute. Diana is thrilled to be an instructor at the IU SKI, teaching Solfege I and Pedagogy II.

Georgia A. Newlin is an assistant professor of music at Adelphi University teaching music theory, music history, and fundamental keyboarding. More importantly, she is in the process of designing a music education program to be implemented with the 2009-2010 academic year. She has taught in early childhood and public school elementary music positions for fifteen years. Currently, Dr. Newlin is called upon as a conductor and adjudicator for elementary and middle school choral festivals. She is a faculty member of the Summer Kodály Institute at Indiana University as well as the Kodály Workshop at James Madison University and is on faculty at the Vocal Arts Camp in Harrisonburg, Va. Georgia is President of the Organization of American Kodály Educators and is a member of The VoiceCare Network. She has been a presenter for numerous music associations and conferences at local, state, and national levels. She has had articles and choral octavo reviews published in the Choral Journal and the Kodály Envoy. Dr. Newlin holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Pedagogy from the Hartt School at the University of Hartford, a Master of Music in Music Education with Kodály Emphasis from Holy Names College, and a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from West Chester University. Her research interest is in developing part-singing skills in young singers and her dissertation is entitled The Effects of Part-Work Instruction on First Grade Part-Singing Acquisition and Achievement. Yet, she does not take herself too seriously.