Mika Inouye is a performing artist and educator in Durango, Colorado and the Four Corners region. She is a company member of 20Moons Dance Theatre and teaches K-6 music and movement for Durango 9R Shared School. Mika is founding president of Four Corners Orff Chapter and the movement instructor at Los Angeles County Orff Levels Course. She performs regularly as a pianist with 3rd Ave. Arts, is the artistic director of 3rd Ave. Arts Chamber Music Festival, and co-director of Piano Academy at Fort Lewis College. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Brigham Young University and University of Montana.
Karen Petty has been teaching Elementary Music and Movement for 35+ years. She currently teaches General Music Kindergarten - 5th grade plus Chorus and Recorder Consort at Gold Rush Elementary School in Parker, Colorado. In addition, she teaches adults in various summer Orff Teacher Training programs. Education: BME University of Northern Colorado 1981; Orff Certification 1989 UNC; Masters in Education, Curriculum & Instruction – Creative Arts in Learning Lesley College 1996. Karen is currently serving as Recording Secretary of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association; formerly she served as a Region 1 Representative. She is the past president of both the Rocky Mountain and the New York City chapters of AOSA and has presented at 7 AOSA national conferences and for many schools and Orff chapters.
Leslie Timmons, Director of Orff-Schulwerk Music and Movement Teacher Education Courses, teaches the flute studio and music education in the Caine College of the Arts, Utah State University, and is Orff specialist for the Cache Children's Choir. After completing degrees in Music Education and Flute Performance, she received a Fulbright grant to do post-graduate work at the Orff Institute Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. As a founding member of Logan Canyon Winds, USU's faculty woodwind quintet, she has helped commission new works that are designed to involve children in live performance. Performing with ~AirFare~ , a duo with clarinetist Nicholas Morrison, has taken them to Haiti, Guatemala, Netherlands, and the Navajo Nation in southeastern Utah. She is an Artist-in-Residence for Utah Arts Council and has served on the national boards of the American Recorder Society and the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. In1999 Leslie was honored with Utah Music Educators Association's "Utah Outstanding Music Educator” award. She is local chair for the AOSA professional conference in Salt Lake City, November 2019.
Paul Weller has been teaching elemental music for more than 15 years to grades K-5. He earned a B.A. from St. Olaf College, M.A. in Education from Saint Mary’s University and Orff Schulwerk Levels training at University of St. Thomas. He has taught workshops locally, nationally, has presented numerous times at the AOSA national convention, and is an Orff Level I and II teacher trainer. Paul Lives in Minnesota with his wife and two kids where he spends his free time cooking, reading, biking, and drinking tea.