Debbie O’Shea

Debbie O’Shea is a Primary School Music Specialist who currently teaches at The Gap State School in Brisbane. She is an advocate of voiced-based music education for everyone.

Debbie has had an extensive career teaching and coordinating music programs from Preschool to University level and developing teaching materials for music educators.

Debbie has taught in State Schools, Catholic Schools and Independent Schools in Cairns and Brisbane. During her time in Cairns, Debbie was instrumental in forming the Cairns Chapter of KMEIA Qld and arranging in-service opportunities for teachers in the area, including the Kodaly Certificate Courses. She has also taught Early Childhood classes at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

Debbie had a significant role as Manager of the Outsourced Writing Team for the Music Outcomes, Years 1 to 10 The Arts Syllabus; Queensland’s Syllabus Document. Other roles for her have included casual lecturer in Music Education at Griffith University, lecturing in Summer Schools in Methodology, Practicum and Musicianship for 14 years in Qld, and lecturing in similar courses in Sydney and other states. She also taught musicianship classes with Brisbane Birralee Voices and has written and presented professional development materials for other organisations such as Musica Viva in Schools and Music Count Us In. Debbie appears as a demonstration teacher on KMEIA Qld’s successful Music in the Middle Years DVD package and contributed to the writing of materials for this resource.

In 2000, Debbie founded Crescendo Music Education, a business organisation that has been providing extensive professional development courses and resources and materials for music educators. In her work with Crescendo and in a wide variety of other contexts she has had an enormous output and made a strong contribution to Music education.

Debbie’s International presentations include a trip to the USA in 2015, where she presented at two conferences for American Music Educators one in Georgia and one in Minneapolis, which were both well received.

Over many years, Debbie has involved herself at significant levels with the Kodály Music Education Institute Incorporated (KMEIA Inc) National Council and the Queensland Branch.

At the age of 18 as a pre-service student, Debbie became a member of the KMEIA (Qld) committee and remained on the committee for over 20 years with roles including President, Treasurer and organising-committee member for Holy Names College Brisbane Summer Programs and the subsequent Brisbane Kodály Summer Institutes. After a few years off, Debbie has returned to the KMEIA Qld committee. She also served for a number of years on the National Council of the Kodály Institute including a term as Vice-President.

Debbie’s support and Kodály inspired work for Music teachers is demonstrated through her KMEIA committee work and also Crescendo work. Her further support for Music teachers includes maintaining a YouTube Channel with over 1,300 subscribers, Pinterest with over 1400 followers, a Facebook page with over 1200 likes, a Facebook Community Group with 380 members, and a monthly newsletter that goes to 1,600 music teachers around the world.  Debbie is also very active in supporting Education Queensland State School Music Teachers through their networks.

Debbie has amazing energy and drive that she uses to advantage in assisting teachers, and in her dedication to the Kodály approach.

Honorary Life Members

Latest News

International Katalin Forrai Award Tribute Concert

Recently a concert was held to honour Judy Johnson, recipient of the 2023 International Katalin Forrai Award. Judy is known to many in our community for her incredible contribution to Kodály-inspired music education in Australia and abroad. A recording of the concert can be …
Read more

Sarolta Kodály Scholarship I for 2024-25

The International Kodály Society (IKS) has recently announced the Sarolta Kodály Scholarship I. The scholarship supports postgraduate study undertaken during the 2024-25 academic year at the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Academy. Applications are due no later than 15 January 2024. Full information, …
Read more

Season’s Greetings from Kodály Australia

As we approach the end of 2023, I offer best wishes from Kodály Australia for the festive season and new year ahead. Much has been achieved this year, including: Special events to celebrate 50 years of Kodály Australia More than …
Read more

2024 Awards for Excellence in Australian Kodály-inspired Music Education

It is an honour to introduce the 2024 Awards for Excellence in Australian Kodály-inspired Music Education. These awards aim to recognise members of our community who in the past two years have made an exceptional contribution and impact in one of …
Read more

IKS Scholarship

The International Kodály Society offers fee waiver scholarships to support participation in Kodály-inspired professional development. The closing date is 1 November 2023. Full information including selection criteria and eligibility is available on the IKS website. With best wishes Jason Boron …
Read more