Sofía López-Ibor Aliño studied flute, recorder, and music education at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid, Spain and is a graduate of the Orff Institute in Salzburg, Austria. She has taught music in preschool, elementary, middle and high school for the past 38 years. She currently teaches Orff Schulwerk at The San Francisco School, The San San Francisco School Orff Seminar and The San Francisco Orff International Level Courses. She also teaches pedagogy and music didactics at the Orff Institute of the University of Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.
She has also taught music pedagogy at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid and in San Sebastian (Spain). She has presented workshops and classes throughout her native Spain as well as in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, Taiwan, Venezuela and throughout the USA. She has performed concerts with the Early Music Group Atrium Musicae in Spain, USA, Israel, Ireland, England, Mexico, and Australia (1980-1988), and also sang in different Spanish choirs and was a member of the Recorder Quartet “Syrinx” (1980-1988). She has studied various styles of World Music and has also collected children ́s games from all over the world and particularly from Spanish-speaking countries.
She was the President of the Spanish Orff Association (AOE) for many years and has served as a board member of the International Orff Schulwerk Forum (IOF). She was the primary editor of the Spanish Orff-Schulwerk magazine and has contributed articles to multiple Spanish and international publications. She is the co-author of Quien Canta Su Mal Espanta and author of the groundbreaking Blue is the Sea: Music, Movement, and Visual Arts in the Orff Schulwerk and co-author of Music From Five Continents. With over 40 years of experience teaching children of all ages, Sofía completed her 27th year at The San Francisco School. She has received the Herbst Foundation award and the Medallion of Honor from the Orff Forum in recognition of her work in training teachers throughout the world.
Sofía López-Ibor
James Harding teaches music to children ages 3 to 13 at the San Francisco School. Working with long-time colleagues Sofía López-Ibor and Doug Goodkin, James has helped to develop an Orff Schulwerk program that has received international recognition. James is a graduate of Yale University and also studied music at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.
He has presented workshops throughout the United States and internationally in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Taiwan, China, Korea, Thailand, Scandinavia, Spain, and South America, and has been a guest teacher at the Orff Institute in Salzburg, Austria. James studied and performed Balinese music with Gamelan Sekar Jaya for 15 years, and took part in two performance and study tours in Bali with that group. James is the author of From Wibbleton to Wobbleton, (Pentatonic Press, 2013) a collection of music and movement lesson ideas focusing on creative play.
James Harding
Doug Goodkin is an internationally recognized Orff Schulwerk teacher. Recently retired from The San Francisco School where he taught music and movement to children between three years old and eighth grade for 45 years (1975-2020), he continues to regularly give workshops for Orff chapters throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as presenting at State and National Conferences.
Doug is the author of nine books on music education: A Rhyme in Time, Name Games, Sound Ideas (Alfred Pub.), Play, Sing and Dance: An Introduction to Orff Schulwerk (Schott), Now's the Time: Teaching Jazz to All Ages, Intery Mintery: Nursery Rhymes for Body, Voice and Orff Ensemble, The ABCs of Education: A Primer for Schools to Come, All Blues: Jazz for the Orff Ensemble and his recently published Teach Like It's Music: An Artful Approach to Education.
Orff Schulwerk is a dynamic approach to music and movement education created by composer Carl Orff and his colleague Gunild Keetman. Proceeding from a strong conviction in each child's natural musical promise, the Orff approach draws it forth through the child's world of games, chant, song, movement, folk dance, drama and work on specially designed Orff instruments just right for the beginning musician.