September 27, 2025
9:30a-1:30p
Harding Avenue Elementary,
Blacksburg, VA

A Night’s Journey: Make It Your Own

REGISTER HERE FOR THE WORKSHOP!

Using familiar pieces from the volumes, favorite rhymes and children's games, and a wide variety of poetry, participants will embark on a journey that travels in time from dusk to dawn.  We will explore ways to take these old favorites and make them your own through shifting tonalities, improvisation, and composition projects.  Participants will leave with materials that could serve as stand-alone lessons or be combined into a program for upper elementary students.  

John Barnes has taught general music at Georgetown Day School for the past ten years, where he is currently also the Middle School Assistant Principal.  Prior to working at GDS, he spent nine years teaching elementary music in Loudoun County Public Schools.  He has served in several capacities on the board of MAC-AOSA, as well as a member of several AOSA subcommittees.  John enjoys working with fellow teachers, presenting workshops for various local chapters of AOSA, and teaching recorder pedagogy in summer Orff-Schulwerk Certification Programs, most recently at George Mason University (VA).  He completed his Orff-Schulwerk certification and Level IV coursework at George Mason University and apprenticed at the University of St. Thomas.  John earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education at Duquesne University and a Master's Degree in Saxophone Performance at the University of Florida.