Mandy Herriman
PEAK Presenter
Based in:
Perth, WA, AustraliaMandy Herriman is an experienced Level 3 primary music specialist teacher. She has skills in classroom music, choral, band and orchestra direction as well as instrumental teaching (brass).
As a classroom music teacher for several decades, Mandy developed a strong ethos in her schools of valuing music education – within the school and the parent community. A vibrant, joyful and robust music program in a school is a strong advocacy expression of the importance of music education – not only for the academic and learning pathway development imperatives but also the health and well-being outcomes for students.
Mandy has been contracted to SCSA WA and developed the music scope and sequence, common assessment tasks and exemplar syllabus documents for Music. These documents are used across many WA primary schools.
As Chairperson for ASME WA, Mandy frequently presents and convenes professional development opportunities for music teachers. She was selected to present two sessions at the 2023 ASME National Conference held in Sydney.
Mandy is also Lead Mentor and State Co-ordinator for Music in Me in WA, establishing mentoring hubs in regional areas to increase the impact of Music on the education of children. This program focuses on building confidence and skills in early childhood generalist teachers to include music in their daily planning.
Currently, Mandy teaches instrumental music with the Instrumental Music Schools Services (IMSS).
PEAK Elective Session | Tuesday, 7th January 2025 | 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Let's Make Music!
Richard Gill once said words to the effect of: we teach music so our students can make their own music. That has been the premise and core foundation of my time of teaching music in the primary classroom. I see my role as a music teacher primarily to equip my students with the skills and conceptual knowledge to be able to ‘make’ their own music. To that end, every activity in the music classroom is carefully planned to scaffold students towards creative expression through music making. This session will guide teachers to developing confidence in improvisation through movement, singing and playing non-tuned and tuned percussion across the primary years. Part of the developmental and sequential teaching of concepts and skills is learning how to scaffold students to explore ways to express themselves through music making and teach students how to unleash their creative potential. This will be an interactive session requiring participants to explore ways in which they can build improvisation activities with their students across a range of activities and in a variety of contexts. Building from the known to the unknown can be demonstrated through using the same activity across a range of year groups. All activities are linked to the current Western Australian Curriculum and can be assessed and reported on against the Scope and Sequence for Music. Participants will play non-tuned and tuned percussion instruments, sing and move in creative and improvisational ways. Participants will receive a range of scaffolded activities within which students will feel enabled and confident to explore ways of improvising music. Fun and learning are not mutually exclusive concepts! Come and learn while having fun.