250-888-2432 susan@musicalia.ca

 

This is me!

Susan Seale (B.Ed),

music teacher

 

with decades of specialized pedagogical training in working with children,

a multi-instrumentalist who has studied with master teachers, musicians and healers around the world.

I began teaching piano at age 13 and later received a Bachelor of Education degree so I could work as a classroom teacher.

After a decade working in the public school system, I left to open my own school and dedicate my focus to working in the arts.   For 20 years I operated Musicalia, a private music and movement school for babies, children and teachers.

I’ve worked as a speaker and consultant, facilitated at dozens of conferences, created and facilitated teacher training programs, written books and worked with hundreds of teachers and countless children and families. 

Now I offer private lessons, travelling to children’s homes and playing music with them there!

Cick to book a call to speak with me

Music education

for children

is not a frill.

Good music instruction

touches the child’s mind

where it lives – in the body.

 

(Don Campbell, The Mozart Effect for Children: Awakening Your Child’s Mind, Health, and Creativity with Music)

Dear parent,

 

You already know there are soooo many things you can do to enhance your child’s growth and development beginning at birth and continuing through the teen years.

 

You’ve heard that music is good for your child’s brain and their overall well-being, and that giving them opportunities to be creative and to play, connect and socialize with other kids is important too.

 

My decades of work with families have helped me to understand that creating relationships that really work for our children is THE BEST way to enhance growth, build confidence and develop innate gifts.  And not just childhood friendships, this means relationships with teachers, coaches, caregivers and child care workers too.

 

If my words are resonating then I know you’re searching for something that not only provides skills for the body and education for the mind, but also care for the spirit. 

 

 

Did you know ?

 

Music & the arts create a bridge to thriving in life

 

Through voice, dance, drama, listening, playing and creating with instruments and one another, we can build a foundation for relationships that

  1. allow for emotional regulation, attachment and healing
  2. embrace a lifelong mindset of growth and learning
  3. help us stay connected us to ourselves
  4. participate in a healthy cycle of presence and joy
  5. nurture conscious parenting and care giving

 

After more than 45 years of teaching, nurturing, performing, healing and celebrating with families I can confidently say and see how learning through music and movement positively impacts development in a multitude of areas

  • musicality
  • creativity
  • curiosity
  • communication skills
  • interpersonal skills
  • fine motor skills
  • gross motor skills
  • cognitive skill
  • self-confidence
  • self-awareness

 

My professional music and movement studies have taken place at universities around the world

  • University Mozarteum (Orff Institute, Salzburg, Austria)
  • University of Memphis (Tennessee)
  • Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
  • San Francisco School (Jazz Orff, San Francisco)
  • University of Alberta
  • University of Calgary
  • University of British Columbia
  • University of Victoria
  • attendance at many music and dance conferences and courses around the globe

My professional designations and certifications include

  • British Columbia Teaching Certificate (current)
  • Orff-Schulwerk Master Teacher
  • Canadian Orff Specialist (Carl Orff Canada certificate)
  • Creative Dance Institute Teacher Certification
  • Rainbow Kids Yoga TeacherTM
  • Developmental Movement Therapy
  • Special Needs Music Education
  • Kodaly
  • Dalcroze Eurhythmics
  • Body Talk
  • Quantum Touch
  • Aromatherapy
  • AromaFreedom Technique (AFT)
  • Reiki
  • Intuitive Energy Massage Master Teacher
  • MindBodySoul HealerTM
  • Transformational Coaching Certification
  • Life Coaching Certification
  • Achieve in 5 Coaching Certification
  • Feng Shui (practitioner of the Intention School)
  • Space Clearing trainings
  • Professional Intuitive Trainings
  • studying: developmental and shock trauma, polyvagal theory, trauma-informed relational work, attachment theory, healing collective and ancestral trauma

Founder & artistic director, Musicalia  (Victoria, BC)

  • Musicalia (1993-2013) operating as a music & movement school, employing up to 5 teachers and administrating school enrollments from 100-300 yearly
  • Musicalia (2013-present) providing a mobile teaching service

 

Musicalia Educational Programs

  • Orff-based group programs and therapeutic programs for babies and children ages 3 month – 12 years (1993-2013)
  • Kindermusik (1993-1999)
  • private instruction and group lessons in piano, guitar, ukulele, recorder, violin, voice, music theory for children and adults

Musicalia Community Outreach

  • regular guest speaker and parent educator for local preschools (1993-2013)
  • participatory music events for adults with disabilities at Nigel House, Harriet House, Oak Bay Lodge, and Heart and Stroke Foundation Stroke recovery program
  • volunteer children’s entertainer for the Victoria General Hospital NICU Reunion (Neo-natal Intensive Care) yearly since 2013

Teacher Trainer

  • Musicalia for Teachers training programs (a decade of summer group intensives and year long pedagogical trainings for non-specialist teachers of pre-school through grade 3)

 

  • Introductory Orff Levels trainer in cooperation with Victoria Conservatory of Music and Camosun College

 

Facilitator + Speaker for 100’s of workshops

  • Panel speaker at the Ottawa National Symposium for Arts in Education

 

  • Orff-Schulwerk workshops and brain-based arts education workshops for early childhood conferences, primary educator conferences, multiple school districts, childcare centers, preschools, elementary schools

 

  • for administrators, classroom teachers, TOC, childcare workers, ECE, parents, music therapists and music educators

 

Professional work + publications

BC public school classroom teacher  (10 years)

  • Terrace School District
  • Saanich School District

 

Secondment to the BC Ministry of Education (twice!)

  • 1990 – Seconded to work as part of a curriculum development team creating evaluation and assessment for Fine Arts Primary Program Year 2000 documents
  • 1993 – Seconded to review and revise Fine Arts Primary Program Curriculum

 

Research Papers + Book Reviews

  • Multiple publications in Canadian Music Educators’ Journal and ECMMA Perspectives Journal

 

Publications

  • Growing Grounded: Movement and Songs to Organize the Brain,  2020 (paperback)  2013 (ebook)
    Multi-media (audio, video and text) resource manual for therapists, teachers and paretns working with ages 1-7

 

  • Musicalia for Teachers Curriculum Pre-school to Grade 3 music + movement curriculum for non-specialist teachers

 

  • The Prospect Lake Series K-2 music + movmeent curriculum developmed for English classroom + French program teachers at Prospect Lake School

 

  • Literature-based Ideas book for Saanich District Primary Teachers with integrated units of study for Language Arts, Math, Science, Art, Drama and Music (co-authored with Pam Quigg, Shawn McKean, Susan Russell)

 

  • Music, Drama and Literature integration with Impressions Reading Series for primary children (co-authored with Shawn McKean and Susan Russell)

 

  • Mud-An Integrated Primary Curriculum text adopted as the integrated curriculum model for the South Island Primary Conference.  All 500 conference participants received copies of this curriculum (Co-authored with Shawn McKean, Pam Quigg and Susan Russell