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2026 Registrations are now open

VOSA LEVELS 2026

VOSA LEVELS 2026

2026 VOSA LEVELS TEACHERS:

Susie Davies-Splitter

a photo of Audrey Klein

Audrey Klein

a photo of Brielle D'Souza

Brielle D’Souza

a photo of Christoph Maubach

Christoph Maubach

WHEN
Monday 6 – Friday 10 July 2026
9am-6pm

WHERE
University of Melbourne
Level 5 at the Faculty of Education Kwong Lee Dow Building
234 Queensberry Street, Carlton

Recommended Texts

Orff, C. & Keetman, G. (1957).
Music for Children. Vol. 1. Pentatonic.

Purchase Vol 1 Here

Orff, C. & Keetman, G.
Music for Children. Vol. 2. Drone.

Purchase Vol 2 Here

Pre-requisites

For Level 1, it is highly suggested that participants have a basic knowledge of the following concepts:

  • Read and write notes and rests for ta, ti-ti, ta-a, crotchets, quavers, and minims
  • Read and write notes in the treble clef
  • Understand time signatures such as 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 6/8
  • Understand scales, chords, keys, and intervals – C, F, G doh and A, D, and E lah pentatonic scales
  • Understanding of the basic elements of music – beat, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, pitch, and form.


If any of these aspects of the course are unfamiliar, or you are lacking confidence in any of them, it does NOT preclude you from attending. You can attend the pre-Levels course to learn or refresh these concepts in a short 2.5 hour targeted session. 

For Level 2 participants must have completed Level 1.

Although it is possible to take part in the course without these skills and knowledge, the likelihood of attaining a Certificate of Accreditation is lessened.

Refresher or Pre-Levels Theory Courses

VOSA will be running a Pre-Levels theory course for Level 1 and 2 so please sign up to attend this session if you feel like you would benefit from additional support with music theory before beginning the course. 

Certificate of Accreditation

To gain a Certificate of Accreditation, participants must attend the 36-hours and successfully complete all assignments and classroom tasks: otherwise a Certificate of Participation will be issued.

Successful completion of each level (1-4) qualifies all participants to continue their training in Orff Schulwerk at more advanced levels.

PRICING - Early Bird!

Early bird ticket sales end April 30, 2026

Levels + Lunch

Vosa Members $975

Non-Members $1055

Students $775

Refresher $625

Levels - No Lunch

Vosa Members $850

Non-Members $930

Students $650

Refresher $500

Pre-Levels Theory Courses

All tickets $50

PRICING - Final Release

Ticket sales begin May 1 2026, and end June 21, 2026

Levels + Lunch

Vosa Members $1075

Non-Members $1155

Students $875

Refresher $625

Levels - No Lunch

Vosa Members $950

Non-Members $1030

Students $750

Refresher $500

Pre-Levels Theory Courses

All tickets $50

Courses on Offer for 2026

VOSA LEVEL 1

WHEN
Monday 6 – Friday 10 July 2026
9am-6pm
WHERE
University of Melbourne

A foundational course that introduces the core elements of the Orff Schulwerk approach, perfect for those new to this method or seeking a refresher.

SEE COURSE CONTENT
REGISTER NOW

VOSA LEVEL 2

WHEN
Monday 6 – Friday 10 July 2026
9am-6pm
WHERE
University of Melbourne

An advanced module that delves deeper into the techniques and philosophies, building upon the knowledge gained in LEVELS 1.

SEE COURSE CONTENT
REGISTER NOW

VOSA PRE-LEVEL 1

ONLINE THEORY COURSE

WHEN
Saturday 27 June 2026
9.30am-12pm
WHERE
Online

This course is for anyone wanting to develop a greater understanding of Music Theory and the Orff approach, as well as those attending the VOSA Level 1 Course in July who would like to brush up on their theory before undertaking the course.

SEE COURSE CONTENT
REGISTER NOW

VOSA PRE-LEVEL 2

ONLINE THEORY COURSE

WHEN
Saturday 27 June 2026
1.30pm-4pm
WHERE
Online

This course is for anyone wanting to develop a greater understanding of Music Theory and the Orff approach, as well as those attending the VOSA Level 2 Course in July who would like to brush up on their theory before undertaking the course. 

SEE COURSE CONTENT
REGISTER NOW

VOSA LEVELS 1

WHEN
Monday 15 – Friday 19 January 2024
9am-6pm
WHERE
Melbourne – exact location TBC

A foundational course that introduces the core elements of the Orff Schulwerk approach, perfect for those new to this method or seeking a refresher.

SEE COURSE CONTENT
REGISTER NOW

VOSA PRE-LEVELS 1

ONLINE THEORY COURSE

WHEN
Monday 8 January 
9.30am-12pm
WHERE
Online

A foundational course that introduces the core elements of the Orff Schulwerk approach, perfect for those new to this method or seeking a refresher.

SEE COURSE CONTENT
REGISTER NOW

VOSA PRE-LEVELS 2

ONLINE THEORY COURSE

WHEN
Tuesday 9 January 
9.30am-12pm
WHERE
Online

Ideal for those looking to deepen their knowledge of Music Theory and the Orff approach, including participants of Levels 2 in Jan who wish to refresh beforehand.

SEE COURSE CONTENT
REGISTER NOW

LEVEL 1

The Level 1 course runs for 36 hours over 5 days
and includes the following 6 subjects:

image of header saying Subject 1

Orchestration

LEVEL 1

  • Doh re me soh lah – doh pentatonic beginning on C, F, G.
  • Lah doh re me soh lah – lah pentatonic beginning on A, D, E.
  • Bordun, Simple: Chordal, Broken, Level, Arpeggiated, and Moving.
  • Rules for scoring vocal, body percussion, untuned percussion and melodic percussion parts.
  • Rules for bordun accompaniments to pentatonic pieces.
  • Pedals.
  • Rhythmic ostinati of 1, 2 and 4 bar lengths in all media.
  • Melodic ostinati of 1, 2, 4 bar lengths.
  • Range of instruments and symbols for instruments.
  • Writing for instrumental parts.
  • Symbols and scoring for body percussion.
  • Write a speech arrangement with vocal ostinati, scoring correctly.
  • Write a body percussion accompaniment to a speech arrangement which transfers to untuned percussion.
  • Use four types of simple bordun accompaniments to doh and lah melodies.
  • Develop a layered accompaniment for a pentatonic melody using simple bordun and pitched and unpitched ostinati.
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 1
image of header saying Subject 2

Technique and Improvisation 

LEVEL 1

  • Correct mallet technique for barred instruments.
  • Correct unpitched percussion technique.
  • Body percussion techniques with imitation and improvisation in meters of 2, 3, 4.
  • Rhythmic question and answer in all media.
  • Care of instruments.
  • Echo, imitation, phrase building.
  • Perform canon.
  • Perform ostinati in all media in 1, 2, 4 bar lengths in simple and compound time.
  • Perform songs in Doh and lah pentatonic tonalities.
  • Add Bordun, Simple, Moving, Level, Arpeggiated, Pedals to pentatonic songs
  • Perform and improvise rhythmic ostinati of different lengths in all media in 2/4, ¾ 4/4 and 6/8.
  • Perform melodic ostinati in all appropriate media.
  • Play on barred instruments ostinati, melodies and improvisations in C, F, G doh Pentatonic and A, D, E lah pentatonics.
  • Improvise an original doh or lah centered melody to fit a selected poem.
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 1
image of header saying Subject 3

Pedagogy

LEVEL 1

  • Simultaneous imitation in same and different media.
  • Echo.
  • Ostinato.
  • Question /Answer.
  • Layered Entries.
  • Variations as a teaching form.
  • Cue using simultaneous imitation in BP and instruments.
  • Cue echo and Q/A in all media.
  • Teach instrumental parts using various forms of imitation, mirroring, and body percussion preparation.
  • Teach a speech rhyme with body percussion parts that transfer to untuned percussion.
  • Use technique of layered entries in ensemble performance.
  • Teach a simple tuned percussion arrangement using mirroring.
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 1
image of header saying Subject 4

Vocal

LEVEL 1

  • Voice Development, physical warmups.
  • Doh and Lah Pentatonic with hand signs.
  • Voice Development, physical warmups.
  • Doh and Lah Pentatonic with hand signs.
  • Vocal improvisation with doh and lah pentatonic.
  • Use improvised vocal sounds in echo play and question/answer.
  • Develop a repertoire of singing games, play parties, songs with movement.
  • Vocal improvisation with doh and lah pentatonic.
  • Use improvised vocal sounds in echo play and question/answer.
  • Develop a repertoire of singing games, play parties, songs with movement.
  • Use improvised vocal sounds as accompaniment for poems, stories, movement.
  • Interpret graphic notation vocally.
  • Sing with confidence while keeping a rhythmic or melodic ostinato.
  • Display part independence in singing canons and ostinati against a melody.
  • Improvise vocally in doh and lah pentatonic using a neutral syllable or solfa.
  • Speak and sing melodies in 2/4 or 6/8 while performing body percussion, tuned and untuned ostinati.
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 1
image of header saying Subject 5

Movement and Dance

LEVEL 1

  • Body Activities: Locomotion, Gesture, Rising, Sinking, Turning.
  • Body Awareness.
  • Elements of Dance: Space, Pathways, Levels, Force, Speed, Dynamics.
  • Movement Accompaniment.
  • Folk Dance – Movement patterns, AB, ABA, ABC.
  • Children’s games.
  • Role of Movement and Dance in Orff Schulwerk.
  • Use Body awareness activities.
  • Utilise the elements of dance and body activities in creating movement pieces
  • Accompany movement with all media.
  • Devise a simple folk dance.
  • To express the elements of time (pulse, meter, rhythm patterns) through movement.
  • Teach a simple folk dance through simultaneous imitation and echo techniques.
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 1

Recorder

LEVEL 1

  • Descant Recorder
  • Posture, breathing, tonguing.
  • History and significance of recorder.
  • C, D, F, G Pentatonic Scales (doh).
  • D, E and A Lah Pentatonic
    pitches from C1 to E2, including F# and bflat and C#.
  • Imitate simple melodic patterns played by instructor.
  • Improvise melodies using pentatonic scales over borduns.
  • Improvise questions/answers in C, D,  F and G pentatonic scales and A, D, and E lah pentatonic scales and F Pentachord.
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 1

Level 2

The Level 2 course runs for 36 hours over 5 days
and includes the following 6 subjects:

image of header saying Subject 1

Orchestration

LEVEL 2

  • Doh and lah pentatonic, Pentachordal (d,r,m,f,s or l, t, d,r,m,f) or hexatonic (d,r,m,f,s,l or l,t,d,r,m,f,s).
  • I-V, I-ii, I- vi accompaniments.
  • Rules for bordun accompaniments.
  • Rules for accompaniments to Ionian, Pentachordal, hexatonic.
  • All borduns and ostinati in Level 1.
  • Complementary rhythms.
  • Add bordun and ostinato accompaniments to a doh or lah pentatonic, pentachordal, or hexatonic melody.
  • Add a bordun and a melodic ostinato to a diatonic melody.
  • Add a I-ii or I- vi accompaniment to a melody.
  • Improvise melodic ostinati.
  • Analyse teaching materials for pedagogical implications
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 2
image of header saying Subject 2

Technique and Improvisation 

LEVEL 2

  • Revision of all techniques in Level 1.
  • Improvisation in simple time in all media.
  • Improvisation in compound time in all media.
  • Rhythmic augmentation and diminution.
  • Retrograde rhythms.
  • Improvisations and performance of syncopated patterns.
  • Syncopated patterns in simple time.
  • Improvise 1,2,4 bars in 2/4, ¾ and 4/4 with all media.
  • Improvise 1, 2,4, bars in 6/8 in all media.
  • Improvise over various borduns with I-ii, I-vi and IV accompaniments.
  • Improvise using doh and lah pentatonic, pentachordal and 6 note scales.
  • Pedagogical aspects of rondo as a teaching form Pedagogical aspects of Theme and Variations
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 2
image of header saying Subject 3

Pedagogy

LEVEL 2

  • Revision of all strategies in Level 1.
  • Strategies and processes for preparing improvisation.
  • Strategies and processes for teaching songs through whole song method.
  • Strategies for aural patterning.
  • Analysis of repertoire for pedagogical purposes.
  • Teach a given arrangement applying principle of all learning all parts before parts are divided.
  • Use the same piece to demonstrate preparation and vocabulary acquisition for improvisation.
  • Analyse material for its pedagogical implications.
  • Teach a song by whole song method
  • Analyse directive and exploratory teaching procedures and techniques as modelled by the instructor.
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 2
image of header saying Subject 4

Vocal

LEVEL 2

  • Revise content of Level 1.
  • Physiological aspects of sound production.
  • Hand signs for doh and lah pentachordal,, hexatonic and ionian melodies.
  • Songs with sung ostinato parts exemplifying principle of complementary rhythms and pitches
    I-ii, I-vi- I-V, Harmony.
  • Simple conducting patterns 2, 3, 4.
  • Sign and sing melodies in targeted tonalities.
  • Lead songs with two parts using clear cueing techniques.
  • Improvise melodic patterns vocally in targeted tonalities.
  • Sing known melodies using correct solfa.
  • Vocally improvise over I-ii, I-vi, and I-V accompaniments.
  • Sing chord-shift accompaniment patterns for I-V.
  • Sing chord root accompaniments for melodies using I-V.
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 2
image of header saying Subject 5

Movement and Dance

LEVEL 2

  • Revise body awareness, activities & dance elements.
  • Body alignment, balance, space.
  • Folk Dance – More complex forms and formations.
  • Dance Notation.
  • Create dances in forms using introduction, coda, sections, solo/tutti/echo, question/answer, canon and rondo .
  • Movement as impetus for sound and sound as an impetus for movement.
  • Create a dance and structure.
  • Notate a dance
    Perform a dance from dance notation.
  • Demonstrate skill and fluency in movement improvisations.
  • Use a wider range of movement vocabulary in movement pieces.
  • Create and execute small forms that integrate speech/singing, music and movement.
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 2

Recorder

LEVEL 2

  • Treble Recorder.
  • Repertoire in two parts for treble in doh , lah pentatonic, pentachordal, hexatonic, and Ionian.
  • Improvisation in selected tonalities on treble recorder over bordun accompaniments.
  • C,F, G,Bflat major.
  • The pitches F1 to C2.
  • Play in f1 to d2 on the alto recorder, including b natural and e-flat.
  • Improvisation in Doh & Lah Pentatonic and Ionian and hexatonic major and minor scales.
  • Play selected ensemble works demonstrating technical proficiency in articulations, breathing, phrasing, tone quality and production, hand and body positions and finger-breath coordination.
REGISTER FOR LEVEL 2

PRE-Levels THEORY COURSEs

PRE-Level 1

Online Theory Course

WHEN
Saturday 27 June 2026
9.30am-12pm
WHERE
Online
You will be emailed a link to join the session 2 days before the course.

COST: $50

This course is for anyone wanting to develop a greater understanding of Music Theory and the Orff approach, as well as those attending the VOSA Level 1 Course in July who would like to brush up on their theory before undertaking the course.

  • Read and write the following note values and equivalent rests: ta, ta-a, ti ti, – crotchets, minims, quavers.
  • Clap rhythmic patterns using these note values.
  • Read and write the notes in the treble clef.
  • Understand time signatures 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8 and how to read, write and perform rhythms for these.
  • Understand the following scales, chords and keys and intervallic relationships – C, F and G doh pentatonic and major; A, D and E lah pentatonic and minor.
  • Understand the musical concepts of beat, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, pitch and form.
  • ‘Orff’ techniques such as imitation, echo, ostinato, question and answer, canon, rondo, pentatonic scales, exploration and improvisation.
  • ‘Orff’ media including speech, singing, movement, dance and playing.
REGISTER FOR PRE-LEVEL 1

PRE-Level 2

Online Theory Course

WHEN
Saturday 27 June 2026
1.30pm-4pm
WHERE
Online
You will be emailed a link to join the session 2 days before the course.

COST: $50

This course is for anyone wanting to develop a greater understanding of Music Theory and the Orff approach, as well as those attending the VOSA Level 2 Course in July who would like to brush up on their theory before undertaking the course. 

  • Understand harmony.
  • Revision of the following scales, chords and keys and intervallic relationships – C, F and G doh pentatonic and major; A, D and E lah pentatonic and minor.
  • Understand the following harmonic progressions I ii; I vi; I V; I IV V.
  • ‘Orff’ techniques such as imitation, echo, ostinato, question and answer, canon, rondo, pentatonic scales, exploration and improvisation.
  • ‘Orff’ media including speech, singing, movement, dance and playing.
REGISTER FOR PRE-LEVEL 2