Music Education Resources Team

Designing music education resources for early childhood from babies to toddlers into professional & easy to use preschool music courses is a team effort.

 

Meet Our Team

Carol Biddiss, Dip. T., B.Ed., M.Ed

Carol Biddiss, Dip. T., B.Ed., M.Ed

Founder and Director of Musical Child, Course Designer and Author

Carol is a curriculum designer, teacher and teacher-educator. She has taught children and adults for over 40 years and seen, time after time, the benefits of music and movement education. In keeping with mainstream educational theory, she believes that the greatest learning in early childhood comes from the joys of listening, singing, dancing, dramatizing, and playing simple instruments together.

Carol is passionate about providing the best music and movement activities for preschoolers & toddlers and babies. But she is even more passionate about helping other educators develop their own program of music and movement experiences. To achieve this, she writes and delivers courses and resources for them based on the latest research and international best practice.

Carol has the qualifications, experience and passion to help you bring quality music education to your  practice and career. She has a Masters’ degree in Music Education.

She has experience as a junior primary teacher, a music advisory teacher, a student-teacher educator, and performer. She has run her own private practice in early childhood music.

For sixteen years she was an academic at University of South Australia, designing and delivering tertiary courses in arts and music. She has worked in diverse settings: private studios, schools, early learning centers and childcare centers in both Australia and China.

Over the last ten years, Carol has been invited to present professional development on a wide range of topics by organisations such as

  • Coober Pedy District Council
  • Mongolian Music Teachers
  • The Australian Childcare Alliance
  • Early Childhood Australia
  • Department for Education and Child Development (DECD) schools and Early Learning Centres
  • Private operators (such as Stepping Stone)

Topics included: ‘Building Phonological Awareness through Music & Movement’; ‘New research in Early Childhood Music’; ‘Music Across Your Centre’; ‘Activity-based Developmental Learning’; ‘Language, Literacy and Music’; ‘Music for Children with Disability’, and many others at various seminars, workshops, open days and conferences.

Carol also has publications. For a full curriculum vitae see her LinkedIn profile.

Professional Memberships:  Early Childhood Music & Movement Association (ECMMA), Australian Performing Rights Association, Copyright Agency Australia Limited, Music Australia.

Michael Cashen, B. Ed., Grad. Dip. Jewellery

Michael Cashen, B. Ed., Grad. Dip. Jewellery

Singer, Senior Trainer

A man of many talents, Michael is an experienced jewellery designer, guitarist, junior primary teacher, businessman and performer. He brings this wealth of experience to his work as an educator, trainer and performer for Musical Child. He traveled around China with Carol to deliver our program in 2015. Michael also brings the warmth and appeal of his voice, cultivated through radio presentation training and a long-standing love of singing.

Xinyan Li (Andrea), M.Ed.

Xinyan Li (Andrea), M.Ed.

Curriculum Designer and Translator

Xinyan is one of the experts in our English as a Second Language (ESL) Design Team, and plays a pivotal role in delivering the Musical Child program to young learners in China. She has completed tertiary studies in both China and America, and possesses a Master of Education and an undergraduate degree in English Literature and Economics. Combine these qualifications with her ethics and professionalism, as well as her experience working as a Lead Teacher and a Director of Preschool Education, and you will gain a sense of the value Xinyan brings to the Musical Child program.

Xinyan believes in the importance of education for all, and her passion comes from seeing children become empowered, confident and forward-thinking leaders through the power of musical learning. You can contact her directly at xinyanmusicalchild@126.com.

Janette Porteous

Janette Porteous

Arranger and Performer

Janette joined Musical Child in 2005 to begin a long-running partnership with Carol collaborating on song arrangements and multi-track recordings. Her quirky sense of what appeals to the young musical child is obvious in many of the arrangements. Janette’s work as a choir accompanist, her broad and deep knowledge of music and her fondness for simplicity and restraint shine through. We hear these qualities in her improvisations, compositions and recordings.

Mish Bown, Dip. Art Therapy

Mish Bown, Dip. Art Therapy

Singer

Mish grew up with music, and now her children and grandchildren do the same. She has sung in bands, performed in musicals, and delivered our music education resources & programs in community centres, childcare facilities and private training sessions. You can enjoy her expressive voice on our Musical Child tracks. Whether working as an arts therapist or with young children in musical play, Mish’s warm and natural manner with children allows them to feel at ease and focus on learning and discovering.

We Guarantee Your Satisfaction

These professional preschool music lesson plans have been made with love, tested and perfected in our own classes and private studios. Their effectiveness is also proven in early learning centers in Australia, China, Hong Kong, U.K, U.S, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and many other countries. Inquire today, scroll up to send your question by email!

 

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9 Popular Preschool Music Activities