Faculty
Joy Anderson is Assistant Director of the acclaimed Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir. She holds a Master of Music from James Madison University and Kodály certification from Capital University. Her level III instruction through Capital was at the Zoltán Kodály Pedagogical Institute in Kecskemet, Hungary. Mrs. Anderson has presented widely, including at the national conference
of the Organization of American Kodály Educators, and her writing has appeared in the OAKE Envoy. A 22-year veteran music educator, Mrs. Anderson has worked with children from infancy through high school in public and private schools and choirs.
Nyssa Maria Brown is a member of the JMU Kodály staff and nationally recognized authority on folk song and its application in the classroom. She is Music Education Coordinator for Minnesota’s
Perpich Center for Arts Education and has taught at Park Spanish Immersion School in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Among other awards, Ms. Brown received a prestigious Milken Educator Award from the Milken Family Foundation and was one of ten finalists for 2004 Minnesota Teacher of the Year. She has spent time in Namibia and South Africa teaching and learning music and has participated in Eastman School of Music’s Umcolo: The Kimberly Project. She also studied in Hungary at the Kodály Institute’s summer seminar. Ms. Brown is a graduate of the Hartt School of Music and Hartford College for Women and received her Kodály certification from Brigham Young University.
Dr. Brent Gault teaches courses in music education at Indiana University, and conducts the Boys Choir of the Indiana University
Children’s Chorus. In addition to his Kodály background, Dr. Gault has training in Orff and Dalcroze. He has resented sessions
at the national conferences of OAKE and the Dalcroze Society
of America and published articles in the Kodály Envoy and the American Dalcroze Journal. He is immediate Past President of the Organization of American Kodály Educators.
Berta Yee Hickox has been teaching with the Kodály philosophy for more than 20 years. She has taught workshops on creative movement, singing games, and improvisation in the elementary classroom in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Virginia, New Jersey, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Ohio. She holds a Master’s degree with Kodály emphasis from Holy Names University. Berta currently teaches in the Halifax Area School District in Halifax, Pa.
Dr. Georgia Newlin is Assistant Professor of Music Education at Adelphi University. She taught public school music for fifteen years and is currently called upon as a conductor and adjudicator for elementary, middle- and high-school choral festivals. Dr. Newlin holds a Master’s degree with Kodály emphasis from Holy Names University and a Doctorate from the Hartt School of Music. She is a member of The VoiceCare Network, and is current President of the Organization of American Kodály Educators.
