Feierabend, Lillie
Lillie is known for her work with young children and instilling a love of music within them. She has been an early childhood and general music educator for over thirty years and was a conductor for the Connecticut Children's Chorus for eighteen. She has twice been honored with her respective district's Teacher of the Year Award for her inclusive and innovative music programs, and in 2008 also received the Outstanding Elementary Music Educator Award from the Connecticut Music Educators Association.
She is a frequent clinician at local, state and national conferences, and has presented over two hundred sessions on music and movement development. She conducts regional honors choirs and teaches weeklong workshops around the country including Anderson University (IN), Gordon College (MA), Silver Lake College (WI), and the University of Hartford (CT). Over the course of her career, Lillie has mentored twenty-three student teachers and will forever be grateful for the opportunity.
Lillie is a founding and lifetime member of FAME. She is also a member of NafME, OAKE, CMEA (Connecticut Music Educators Association), and ACDA, where she served as the National Children's Honor Choir Chair for the 2010 Conference. She is a member and former president of KESNE (Kodaly Educators of Southern New England) and President Elect of the regional chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international organization which supports and promotes excellence in education.
While Lillie taught First Steps in Music and Conversational Solfege as they evolved, she became an endorsed Teacher Trainer in both curriculums in 2012.
Workshops
Intentional Movement in the Music Classroom - Music Education
Movement is an integral part of being musical and plays an essential role in music development. Most early years repertoire contains a movement component; this is no surprise as children learn best when they are able to use their bodies. The movement component is worthy of the same explicit, intentional and focused instruction that we devote to the tonal and rhythmic aspects of our curriculum. This lively session will focus on Developmental, Kinesthetic and Proprioceptive skills and share strategies and techniques to help students move competently, effectively and efficiently for a lifetime of musical movement. When we give the same attention to the sequence of movement, we are better able to nurture the whole child in our quest to help them become musical.
Around the World in Song and Dance - Music Education
Humor, love, kindness, and exuberance are universal. Community music making builds a bridge where we are offered a glimpse into another culture and delighted to find ourselves looking back. The dances of a country or a people are imbued with their history, values, characteristics, spirit and heart. This knowledge can lead to greater awareness and global understanding. This lively workshop will share cultures around the world through their folk dance, play parties, and singing games. Join us as we meet wonderful people through the gift of their music. The world just might become a kinder, more tolerant place if we all held hands and danced.
Everybody Claps! Clapping Games Around the World - Music Education
All cultures, all ages, all abilities! Clapping Games are immediately engaging; language is not even required and yet laughter abounds. You are never too young or too old for a Clapping Game; they are simply too much fun. But, if you look closely, through the lens of Multiple Intelligence, you will find that Clapping Games deepen and enrich all the intelligences and are of significant benefit to the development of our minds, bodies and spirit. While we are joyfully engaged in trying to figure out which hand to use when and where, our minds and bodies are working at a profound level helping us coordinate movements, visually track movements, orient our bodies, maintain beat and rhythm, plan and sequence motor movements and develop social skills by cooperating with others, accommodating others and paying close attention to others; all in order for us to have a successful experience. This lively and spirited session will share Clapping Games Around the World, guaranteed to engage your mind, body and spirit
Bridges: Twelve Ways to Musically Engage Students and Parents Outside the Music Classroom - Music Education
Teachable moments do not always happen in the music classroom. The school year provides the music educator with many opportunities to engage students outside of the classroom setting. By doing so, we also make these opportunities available to our faculty, school and community. When we invite parents to participate in the music program, they become more invested in the child’s development and the growth of the music program as well. It is our job to create opportunities for all members of our community to become involved with music on a continuous and consistent basis throughout the day, the month and the year. This session will share a dozen ways to enrich the musical growth and development of your students, your school and your community while providing opportunities that just may capture the soul of the young child.
Bridges to the Community: Twelve Ideas that Connect School to Home - Music Education
Teachable moments do not always happen in the music classroom. By providing experiences outside the classroom, we also make them available to our faculty, school and community. When the greater community is invited to participate, they become invested, not only in the child’s development, but in the growth of the music program, as well. It is our job to create opportunities for all members of our community to become involved with music on a continuous and consistent basis throughout the day, the month and the year. This session will share a dozen ways to enrich the musical growth and development of your students, your school and your community.
How to Host a Family Folk Dance - Music Education
Folk Dance provides an inclusive, inviting, inexpensive and immediately gratifying experience for all. What a wonderful opportunity to build a bridge from school to home and connect to your community in a meaningful and musical way. This lively session will share a few strategies and techniques guaranteed to help structure and sequence a Folk Dance for an enjoyable and successful experience for all. Wear your dancing shoes!
Vocal Development and Intentional Movement for Young Children - Music Education
“Singing is the instinctive language of the child, and the younger he is, the more he requires movement to go with it” — Zoltan Kodály. Tuneful singing is the marriage of tuneful thinking and physiological awareness but when dealing with young children we must use strategies and techniques that are not only developmentally appropriate, but wonderfully childlike; playful, imaginary, and fun. In most of our elementary repertoire, there is also some type of movement to enhance the song or chant. The movement component is worthy of the same intentional instruction that we devote to the melodic component of our curriculum. This session will share strategies and techniques guaranteed to engage young children in the development of both.