Who We Are
The SongWorks Educators Association (SWEA) is a community of educators who engage learners through SongWorks, a principles-based approach to teaching music.
SongWorks principles and practices offer teachers both grounding and flexibility in making purposeful, caring choices in their interactions with people and music. Songs are the foundation for study and learning experiences that nurture playfulness, responsiveness, and musicality.
Through developing and sharing ideas centered around the SongWorks teaching approach, SWEA members support each other in growing as educators and learners.
Events
Certification Courses
July 13-17, 2026
Salt Lake City, UT
Annual Conference
April 2026
Online
News
From the President – May 2026
Dear SongWorks Family, I know most of you have finished or are closing out the year soon. One of my favorite activities to end the school year was to have an in-class talent show. Many students were unprepared or too shy for the big all-school talent show that our...
Movement and Meter: The Stars and Stripes Forever
Kayla Buchanan, one of this year’s Emerging Pioneers in Music Education, offers her reflections on how SongWorks has enriched her teaching practices. For one of my assignments as an Emerging Pioneer for the 2025 SongWorks Conference, I chose to create an activity that...
The Joy of Learning How To Enjoy Teaching Again
Amy Watson recently completed her Level 3 SongWorks Certification Teaching Practicum to become a SongWorks Certified Educator. The final level of certification is unique because students have the opportunity to dig into the details of their teaching with two mentor...
Remembering Mary Springer
Mary Opland Springer, a light to all who were lucky to know her, passed away on March 3, 2026, in Seattle, Washington. Mary was born on May 15, 1951, in Pipestone MN to AnnaMae and Allen (Al) Opland, the third of their three children. Their home was filled with music and laughter, and the gift of music would follow Mary throughout her life.
From the President – May 2026
Dear SongWorks Family, I know most of you have finished or are closing out the year soon. One of my favorite activities to end the school year was to have an in-class talent show. Many students were unprepared or too shy for the big all-school talent show that our...
Resources
Looking for Songworks I & II or other printed resources?
Head over to our Books page for these and more!
Get Involved
• SWEA Newsletter & Teaching Ideas
• SWEA Membership
Available in Members Access Area
Become a Member, Gain Access to 50+ Sturdy Songs & Study Activities
From the Archive
Playing with Sally
“Sally Go ‘Round the Sun” is a classic game to play with younger elementary students! You may have read many variations of how to play the game, add partner songs, and more in the Sturdy Songs Collection on the SongWorks website. I have used this song with grades K–2...
Looby Loo Scores and Scrambles
Playful Teaching – Vibrant Learning! What an inspirational tagline! Yet we easily fall into ‘habitual teaching’ where we take the same route to achieve a specific learning goal. This group of lessons is suggested as a pathway to vibrant learning. The ultimate goal is to be skillful in reading and musical in performing several different scores for “Looby Loo.”
A Musical Evolution of Notation: Introduction
Often, conventional music notation is studied on an elemental level by pulling visual symbols, representing rhythm and pitch, out of their musical context for study. What happens when we consider that complex traditional music notation has become so rigid that its study at an elemental level lacks value, function, or power?
We’ve Had a Good Time Playing the Game: Now What? (Revisited)
Have you ever felt stuck or unsure what to do next after you’ve played a game with your students? In this article from the August 2013 MEI (SWEA) Newsletter, Dr. Peggy Bennett gives us specific ideas for how to progress from sounds to symbols in order to study a song.
Playing with Sally
“Sally Go ‘Round the Sun” is a classic game to play with younger elementary students! You may have read many variations of how to play the game, add partner songs, and more in the Sturdy Songs Collection on the SongWorks website. I have used this song with grades K–2...