Peta Harper is an experienced Orff-Schulwerk educator who frequently presents both nationally and internationally, and has taught students from Kindergarten to Tertiary level.  A graduate of the ‘Special Course’ at the Orff Institute, Salzburg, Peta has been a presenter of the ANCOS Levels courses and has written education material for a range of professional organisations and institutions.

She is currently President of ANCOS and Vice President of the Orff-Schulwerk Association of NSW.  Peta’s understanding and passion for the Orff-Schulwerk approach enable her to find creative ways to gain access to and unlock challenging music and movement experiences for students using a minimum of resources.

Carissa Soares is a percussionist and educator from Perth, Western Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (1st Class Honours) and a Master of Music degree from the University of Western Australia. During her studies, Carissa was awarded many accolades including the Tunley Scholarship, Ewen Prize for Music, and Edith Cowan Prize in Music.

In 2017, Carissa performed as a vibraphone soloist at the Perth Concert Hall as part of the Performing Arts Perspectives concert, showcasing the highest-achieving Music, Drama, and Dance students based on their WACE performance exams. In 2019, she was awarded first prize and the People’s Choice Award at the inaugural Marimbafest Australia competition.

Carissa has also had the opportunity to participate in a short course with Steven Schick at the Australian National Academy of Music, travel to China with the WASO Chorus playing timpani in Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’, attend the 2019 and 2021 Australian Youth Orchestra National Music Camps, and participate in the 2023 Sō Percussion Summer Institute at Princeton University.

As a freelance musician, Carissa performs with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Kaboom Percussion, WA Philharmonic Orchestra, Perth D2Drumline, and Mosca Duo. As an educator, Carissa teaches percussion to students from K-12 at Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Christ Church Grammar School, and Iona Presentation College. She also teaches group music classes for 5-6 year-olds at the University of Western Australia’s Junior Music School.

Blade is a music teacher, conductor, and singer, who currently works at Inner Sydney High School. He first came to Orff while studying at University and fell in love with the active, experience-focused approach to music making. He has completed Orff Levels 1-4 and is planning to attend the 2025 Summer School at the Orff Institute in Salzburg. Blade also worked for the NSW Department of Education’s Arts Unit for 10 years as a vocal tutor and conductor.

As well as teaching high school students that enjoying music actually can be cool, Blade regularly conducts and sings with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, as well as other groups in Sydney (and occasionally further afield). He has also been involved in numerous soundtrack recording projects for the film industry, including the Lego Batman Movie, Mortal Kombat, and two Marvel TV series.
In his personal life, Blade enjoys spending time with his amazing daughter and building LEGO.

Belinda is a passionate musician and educator. Having graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, The University of Sydney in 2015 with a Bachelor of Music (Music Education) Honours, Belinda has been teaching in primary and secondary schools for the past 9 years as a music specialist and is currently a music teacher at Mosman High School.

Belinda completed her Level 4 Orff-Schulwerk Training in 2018 through the OSANSW.

In addition to school teaching, Belinda also works as a vocal and instrumental tutor for the NSW Department of Education’s Arts Unit, and since 2019 has taught music education methods, including Orff-Schulwerk Pedagogy, at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music to pre-service music teachers.

Belinda has been studying Balinese music since 2013, and was a founding member of Suara Jaya, Sydney Balinese Gamelan Ensemble, playing and teaching with the group for a number of years.

When not teaching, Belinda loves spending time with her family, especially her new baby daughter. Belinda sings with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs – Vox, studies at the Australian Taiko Academy and loves to travel.

Anita is Head of Music at Grace Christian School in Bunbury. Her teaching experience is diverse, having taught Pre-Kindergarten through to university students in classical and contemporary contexts. Anita has a desire for all students to be given the opportunity to learn music.

She enjoys collaborating with fellow music educators and mentoring colleagues. Anita is the current Vice President of WAOSA. She is also Secretary for ANCA (WA).

Jane’s passion is to embed cultural diversity through music education, particularly First Nations Australian cultures. This is important to her, to build children’s personal and cultural identities and understandings. Her work has seen her present workshops here in WA, nationally and internationally. Jane has also been recognised with many awards including a nomination for ARIA Music Teacher of the Year.

She is currently a music teacher at Baldivis Gardens Primary School, but has taught in early childhood, primary, secondary contexts, as well as the community arts spaces. She has also worked developing and implementing a variety of Community Arts programs particularly for people with disabilities.

Kaboom Percussion was founded by Catherine Betts and Joshua Webster in 2014 and since then they have taken the world by storm with their own unique, original and enormously successful repertoire.

Their popular education programs have been extremely well received and they have run their highly sought-after School Shows and Workshops for more than 200,000 students across Australia and New Zealand. This huge demand has made Kaboom a full-time job for Cat and Josh. Kaboom now has three permanent school show teams based in Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane, allowing them to reach even more students.

At its core, Kaboom are passionate about harnessing the fun side of music, showing the world that music can be played with even the simplest of objects. Sparked by their popular version of the Cup Song, this approach has seen the growth of their YouTube channel to more than 300,000 subscribers, with their popular videos being viewed more than 100 million times.

They are active in a number of different areas including: performances, recordings, touring, composition, commissions, workshops, school residencies, education programs, self-publishing, radio and TV appearances, and on YouTube.