Dust them Off! Breathing Life into Forgotten Resources

Remember the Orff Volumes? Or 150 American Folk Songs? All too often, these books and others quickly enter our lives and head to the back of our shelves. In this session, we'll dust them off and bring them back to life through singing, instruments, stories, movement, and more. Participants will be better prepared to open these resources up and explore them in new and effortless ways with students of all ages.

Matthew Stensrud 

Sidwell Friends Lower School
Lower School Music and Movement Teacher

Matthew Stensrud is an award-winning Elementary Music and Movement Teacher at Sidwell Friends Lower School in Washington, DC. Matthew is certified in Orff Schulwerk and teaches movement at Orff Levels courses in South Carolina and Oregon. Matthew frequently writes about the general music classroom and presents workshops nationally for music teachers, including at the national Orff conference and at state MEAs in Texas, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, and Maryland. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Orff Echo and is a key content contributor to the book Responsive Classroom for Music, Art, PE and Other Special Areas.

Matthew also actively advocates for and helps teachers through social media. He's known as @MisterSOrff on Instagram and Facebook and Matthew shares music lessons of all types for fellow teachers through "Mr. S's Orff Music Room" at www.mistersorff.com and on YouTube.

Matthew grew up in Oklahoma and now lives in Alexandria, VA.

The FMEA Professional Development Conference and All-State Ensembles receive support in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.