About the Director

Susan Seale (formerly Susan Russell) has been a music educator since 1976…that’s a really long time!

She seems to have been studying and teaching her entire life…

Susan has both group and private teaching experience. Susan worked for over 10 years in the public school system as a general classroom, special needs and music teacher. She has decades of practical experience in educational and therapeutic settings with children and with adults, as well as private instrumental teaching. She is a performer, speaker, author, teaching consultant and owner and founder of Musicalia.

Susan shares a happy home life with her husband, Nigel, her stepson, two parrots and a little, black dog named, Moka. 

Susan's professional training:

• Bachelor of Education degree
• Master’s Level Certification in Orff-Schulwerk
• Orff Specialist Certification from Carl Orff Canada
• Teacher's Certificate from the Creative Dance Institute
• Professional training in Developmental Movement Therapy
• Professional training in Special Needs Music Education and Learning Assistance
• Professional training in Kodaly
• Professional training in Dalcroze Eurhythmics
• Professional training from Kindermusik International
• Worked for Kindermusik Canada organizing Educator Training workshops for western Canada in mid-1990’s.

Her studies have taken place across North America:

• University of Victoria
• University of British Columbia
• University of Calgary
• University of Alberta
• University of Memphis (Memphis, Tennessee)
• Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
• San Francisco School (San Francisco, California)
• Orff Institute, University Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria).

Susan regularly attends music conferences across the country and around the world working and studying with world-renowned teachers and mentors.

Susan maintains memberships in professional associations:

• BC College of Teachers
• Carl Orff Canada
• American Orff Schulwerk Association
• Canadian Music Educators' Association
• Early Childhood Music and Movement Educators' Association.

Susan teaches teachers

• Private coaching for preschool and primary teachers, music teachers and music therapists
• Consulting for preschools and elementary schools
• Susan conducts professional development workshops for non-specialist teachers in the area of music, movement and creativity
• Educates and inspires other teachers through her joyful resource blog for teachers at Make Me Musical
• Musicalia Certificate Teacher Course offered during the school year (one evening per month)
• Musicalia Summer Institute (5 day intensive certificate course for teachers).

Professional Speaking and Publishing

• Worked as an Orff levels training instructor (Introductory level) through Camosun College and the Victoria Conservatory of Music
• Guest speaker at pre-school parent meetings
• Speaker at the National Symposium for Arts in Education in Ottawa (July 2000)
• Offers research-based music and movement courses for non-specialist teachers
• Has published work in the Canadian Music Educators' Journal, ECMMA Perspectives Journal
• Written a music and movement education curriculum titled Musicalia for Teachers
• Creator of Make Me Musical, a joyful resource site for professionals who nurture children through the arts.

Performing

• Susan plays the recorder in an adult folk orchestra called Folkestra (Daniel Lapp, director)
• Past member of Capriccio Vocal Ensemble (Michael Gormley, director) and the Bel Canto Singers (Catherine Young, director).

Susan's musical childhood

• While Susan now devotes her time to serving the musical needs of families at Musicalia, her childhood and early adulthood was spent playing music with her musical family and other musical groups
• She grew up thinking everyone could play music and thought family homes naturally came with pianos. Susan's main instrument was piano but she studied a variety of instruments and sang in school and conservatory choirs
• Growing up she had many opportunities to perform in public with her family, with friends, through school groups and as an accompanist for choral groups and solo vocalists
• Also accompanied her mother (who is an amazing fiddler) in many fiddle competitions and also for her sister's Suzuki violin practises
• She has sung and played at weddings and funerals
• Susan played saxophone in high school concert band, stage band, tour band, marching band, quartets and dixieland band. She played clarinet for the Veselka Ukrainian Dance Orchestra.
• Studied piano, saxophone, clarinet, guitar, fiddle and voice with a variety of teachers in Alberta and in Victoria as well as at the Victoria Conservatory of Music in BC.

Susan's thoughts on performance and learning

While I was a natural musician in my childhood, I was not a natural performer. It was excruciating for me to play in public and I only did it because I had to. I am much more comfortable now with performance and that has developed with maturity.

Having had much experience as a soloist and as a group member, I have found groups to have much more interest for me. I enjoy the interaction and camaraderie between members of a group and the feeling of creating music through the interconnectedness of a musical "team effort".

I began my Orff training after graduating from UVIC in 1986, and while it was thrilling to meet the Orff instrumentarium and play ensemble music that way, I was not captivated by the approach until I met Professor Jos Wuytack in 1993. I was in Vancouver, BC attending a provincial music teacher's conference and I happened to wander into his workshop with about 200 other people. Upon seeing him and hearing him begin to speak, I was mesmerized by his intense focus and joyful being. I found myself moving to the front of the room so I would not miss a moment of the workshop.

The next thing I knew, I was making plans to travel to study Orff with Prof. Wuytack. He had worked directly with Carl Orff and had spent his life travelling the globe sharing Orff's philosophy with teachers in dozens of countries. Prof. Wuytack's influence in my life has been profound.

It was through the Orff approach that I discovered the necessity of connecting music and movement when working with children. I have always loved dancing as early as I can remember. I have continued my interest in traditional and non-traditional forms of movement throughout my life. I have explored ballroom dance, jazz dance, Ukrainian dance, creative dance, BrainGym, Alexander Technique, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, developmental movement therapy, yoga and authentic movement.

I now believe it is essential for children learning music to also be engaged through movement and dance activity at the same time. Children who move become more comfortable in their bodies and express themselves in a way that music learning alone does not facilitate. I believe it is my involvement with the multi-faceted Orff-Schulwerk approach that has allowed me to become more expressive as a performer. It is my experience that the Orff-Schulwerk approach is the most complete music education that can be offered to young children.

A well-developed Orff program includes singing, speaking, chanting, moving, dancing, creating, instrumental work, ensemble development, social engagement, performance, relaxation, development of the musical ear and introduction to traditional and non-traditional musical composition.

If you'd like to chat more about the Orff-Schulwerk approach or programs offered at Musicalia, please email Susan.