Paige Burzlaff - Level 1 Pedagogy & Literature
Paige Burzlaff is an Independent Music Teacher with 15+ years of teaching experience bringing the joy of music to toddlers through Junior Highers. She is the Owner & Director of The Children’s Voice Studio: a multi-teacher, Kodály-inspired studio that provides music classes and performance opportunities for children grades K-8. The Children's Voice Studio has enjoyed collaborations with the Bakersfield Master Chorale, Bakersfield College, and The California Living Museum (CALM).
Paige currently teaches General Music & Choir at Valley Montessori Academy and Providence Classical Academy in Bakersfield, CA. She holds a BA in Music with an emphasis in Choral Music Education from Luther College and is fully Kodály Certified through The CSUB Kodály Institute. She has presented at conferences for BCSD & KCMEA and specializes in helping children develop independent singing skills. Paige is a member of OAKE and serves on the board of KMECC.
Paige and her husband Patrick - also a Choir Director - have three musical daughters.
Crystal Henricks - Level 2 Pedagogy & Literature
Crystal Henricks currently teaches lower school music at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Her experience includes Nursery School-12 th grade general and choral music, both in Chicago and China. She holds a BS in Music Education from Asbury University, Kodály Certification and MMEd from Capital University, and is a Master Teaching Artist with the American Eurhythmics Society. She completed Levels I-III Orff Schulwerk Certification from the University of Kentucky and Anderson University. She is an active clinician for workshops throughout the United States. She has taught elementary music pedagogy and folk song research classes at Colorado State University, DePaul University, VanderCook College of Music, and the University of Central Missouri.
Amanda Isaac - Level 3 Pedagogy & Literature
Amanda Isaac is in her seventh year as the Director of Choirs at Bakersfield High School in Bakersfield, California after teaching elementary and junior high vocal music for fifteen years. Choirs under her leadership consistently earn high ratings at festivals and her students regularly participate in region, all-state, division, and national honor choirs. After earning both a BA and MA in Music from California State University Chico, Ms. Isaac furthered her studies by completing a Kodály Certification from McNeese State University. She has given presentations at both regional and state conferences for multiple organizations and finds delight in guest conducting honor choirs. Ms. Isaac has taught undergraduate and graduate courses for CSU Bakersfield, Colorado State University, and Loyola University Maryland. While holding active memberships in the California Music Educators Association, American Choral Directors Association, and Organization of American Kodály Educators, Ms. Isaac enjoys serving her professional communities through a variety of leadership roles.
Matt Hanne - Musicianship 1, 2, & 3 and Choral Ensemble
Matthew is Assistant Professor of Music Education at California State University - Bakersfield, where he teaches courses related to music education and voice. He previously served as the Director of Fine Arts at The Independent School and was on the faculty of Newman University, both in Wichita, KS. He currently serves as the Archivist for the Organization of American Kodály Educators. Matthew completed three summers of training at the International Kodály Seminar in Kecskemét, Hungary, studying with Peter Erdei, László Nemes, and Árpád Tőth. Matthew earned his Kodály certification through OAKE at Wichita State University, and has taught solfege, conducting, pedagogy, and materials Kansas, California, Kentucky, and Missouri. Matthew has presented workshops and clinics related to choral music and the Kodály philosophy at the California All-State Music Conference, NAfME National Conference, and multiple OAKE National conferences. Matthew is an active adjudicator and guest conductor throughout the state and he has been published in The Kodály Envoy, and Hungarian Cultural Studies.
Patrick Burzlaff - Conducting
Patrick Burzlaff has been teaching in the Kern High School District for 17 years, and has served as the Choir Director at Centennial High School for the last 13 years. He holds a BA in Music from Luther College and an MA in Choral Conducting from CSULA. Mr. Burzlaff was awarded the KCMEA Choral Music Educator of the Year in 2016, was featured as one of Bakersfield's 20 under 40 People to Watch in 2020, and was named the KCMEA Educator of the Year in 2022. Mr. Burzlaff's choirs are highly rated in the district and recipients of PEAAK Awards, have been featured on Valley Public Radio, and have performed in the esteemed Carnegie Hall in New York City. He has served as the chair for the CCDA Regional Honor Choir, guest conductor for various honor choirs, guest clinician and adjudicator at festivals, and has recently begun serving as Director of K-12 School Programs for the California Choral Directors Association.
René Ferrell, Ph.D - Co-director
René Ferrell holds the Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of North Texas, the Kodály certificate from Silver Lake College, Orff certificate from the University of Memphis, and she studied with Howard Swan and Frauke Hassemann at Westminster Choir College. Ferrell retired from California State University, Bakersfield, as an emeritus, having held the positions of Director of Music Education and Conductor of the CSUB Women’s Choir since 1999. She served on the IKS 2023 Symposium Organization and Program Committees and now continues as co-founder and co-director of the CSUB Kodály Institute.
Dr. Ferrell’s teaching experience spans from elementary general music to conducting prize winning middle and high school choirs in Texas and ultimately to the University. She has adjudicated and conducted choral and vocal competitions, honor choirs, workshops, conference sessions, in-service, and reading sessions from Maine to California and has taught Pedagogy, Conducting, Kodály for Middle School, and special topics sessions at institutes in Texas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and California. She held offices in national, state, and local music organizations, and most notably, she served in several capacities on the OAKE Board and assisted in the creation of the OAKE Archive located at the University of Maryland. The professor has been presented numerous awards, including Kern County Music Educators Association (KCMEA) Outstanding College/University Educator of the Year twice, and induction into the Kern County Music Hall of Fame.
Ferrell’s major focus of research centered on interpersonal influence in music education beginning with that of Katinka Daniel. Her later research into Zoltán Kodály’s influence took her to Budapest, Kecskemét, London, Southampton (ENG) and around the US, where she interviewed some of the professor’s first and second generation associates and students. At Erzsébet Szőnyi’s invitation, Dr. Ferrell presented that research at the Budapest IKS Symposium. She has since produced articles, papers, workshops, and poster sessions on that and other topics at IKS Symposia in Leicester (ENG) and Columbus (OH), as well as OAKE, NAfME, AOSA, CASMEC, KASC, NCDA, etc. Her articles on English diction and the I.P.A. were reprinted as chapters in the first edition of Ken Phillips’ “Teaching Kids to Sing.” Additionally, Ferrell recorded countless hours of interviews with Denise Bacon documenting her life story, the transcripts of which now reside in Bacon’s archive at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Ferrell’s teaching experience spans from elementary general music to conducting prize winning middle and high school choirs and ultimately to the university. She has adjudicated and conducted choral and vocal competitions, honor choirs, workshops, conference sessions, in-service, and reading sessions from to Maine to California and has taught pedagogy, conducting, Kodály for Middle School, and special topics sessions at institutes in Texas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and California. She held positions in national, state, and local music organizations, most notably she served in several capacities on the OAKE Board and assisted in the creation of the OAKE Archive located at the University of Maryland.