Building Our Future Together:
A Message of Gratitude

By Tiffany English, Executive Director of AOSA

As we celebrate the successful completion of our new website, I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude for every one of you who contributed to making this infrastructure project a reality. Your generous donations – whether large or small – have collectively transformed our digital presence and strengthened the foundation upon which our organization stands.

The Power of Community

What strikes me most about this achievement isn’t just the impressive technical upgrades or the enhanced user experience, though these are certainly worth celebrating. Rather, it is a powerful reminder of what we can accomplish when we come together as a community with shared purpose and vision. This is what Orff Schulwerk inherently does as it creates connections, strengthens bonds, and brings us together.

In a world that can often feel divided, our AOSA community demonstrates what is possible when our voices unite around common goals. This collaborative spirit embodies the very essence of what we strive to create in our classrooms and rehearsal spaces: an inclusive environment where every voice matters and contributes to the greater whole.

The website is more than just a technological advancement, it is a reflection of our collective commitment to making music education accessible, relevant, and vibrant for all students and educators. It represents our shared belief that everyone deserves a place in the musical conversation. I so hope you are enjoying it and are finding all of the wonderful components! I can hear the gasps from here!

Looking Forward: Supporting the Next Generation of Music Educators

As we celebrate this milestone, I’m excited to share the next chapter in our giving journey. With our digital infrastructure now in place, we turn our attention to nurturing the human element of our mission: supporting the next generation of music educators through our scholarship funds.

I’m proud to announce three new scholarship opportunities that will help shape the future of music education:

• Urban Education Grant – Generously gifted by Judith Thompson-Barthwell in 2024, the Urban Education Grant is specifically designed to provide Orff Schulwerk professional development opportunities to educators serving in urban city school districts. This grant focuses on districts that primarily serve Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian (BBIA) students, have a smaller tax base for education than surrounding suburbs, and maintain larger class sizes.
• Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian (BBIA) Scholarship – Fully endowed by AOSA in 2025, this scholarship represents our commitment to fostering diversity within our organization. Established in 2018, the purpose of the AOSA Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian (BBIA) Outreach Scholarship is to provide financial support to teachers from BBIA backgrounds to attend the AOSA Professional Development Conference. Notably, membership in AOSA is not a requirement to apply, making this opportunity accessible to a wider range of educators.
• The Michael Ruel Nichols Scholarship – Established in 2025, through the efforts of Brent Holl and Rob Amchin, the Michael Ruel Nichols Fund provides financial aid to AOSA members to specifically encourage and support all aspects of recorder instruction in public and private schools, grades K-12. This scholarship honors Michael’s legacy and commitment to making recorder instruction accessible and engaging for students of all backgrounds.

These scholarships represent our investment in the future and ensure that talented, dedicated individuals have the support they need to develop into the transformative music educators our students deserve.

A Legacy of Support

In addition to our three new scholarship opportunities, AOSA continues to offer several established scholarships and grants that have made a meaningful difference in our community:

• The International Connections Grant Fund – Supporting members traveling outside the United States to further their Orff Schulwerk experience
• Training and Projects (TAP) Fund – Aiding teachers of low-income populations since 1995
• Barbara Potter Scholarship Fund – Helping members attend the Orff Institute in Salzburg, Austria
• Gunild Keetman Assistance Fund – Supporting further education in Orff Schulwerk and creative projects
• Shields-Gillespie Scholarship – Focused on furthering Orff Schulwerk in Early Childhood Education
• AOSA Research Grant – Encouraging research in varied applications of Orff Schulwerk
• Research Partnership Grant – Supporting collaborative research between school-based music teachers and university-based researchers

More information, requirements, and applications can be found on the Scholarships and Grants page.

Your Continued Support Matters

This year alone, AOSA awarded $41,590 in grants and scholarships to our members. However, we received requests totaling an additional $95,897 that we were unable to fulfill due to limited resources. This reality underscores the importance of building our scholarship funds to meet the growing needs of our community.

Just as your contributions made our new website possible, your support of these scholarship funds will create ripples of impact that extend far beyond the individual recipients. Each scholarship recipient will touch the lives of hundreds, perhaps thousands of students throughout their career, spreading the joy and transformative power of Orff Schulwerk.

I invite you to review all the options and give to the fund that speaks to you personally. Together, we can ensure that financial barriers don’t prevent promising educators from pursuing their calling and bringing music education to all communities. Your belief in our mission, your generosity of spirit, and your commitment to our community make everything we do possible.

You may give via the Make a Gift webpage, PayPal, or by mailing your check to: 1284 SOM Center Rd. #264, Mayfield Heights, OH 44124. Be sure to designate the fund of your choice.

Thank you for being part of this remarkable journey.

Reverberations – June 10, 2025