Amanda Breininger has been active as a teaching artist in the Twin Cities for over 20 years, primarily working with early childhood and early elementary-age children. She is driven to discover more about and share with others the power of play and the rich benefits of living musically.
Her work has led her to partner with: The Minnesota Orchestra, MacPhail Center for Music, People Serving People, Northside Child Development Center, Way to Grow, The Jeremiah Program, Minnesota Zoo, Health Partners, Three Rivers Parks, the MELSA Library System, among others. She has partnered with Minneapolis, St. Paul, Robbinsdale, and Columbia Heights public school districts in typical classrooms as well as ECSE, DCD, and ASD classrooms.
As a faculty member at the MacPhail Center for Music since 2008, she has taught in the Sing Play Learn Early Childhood Music, Group Instruction, and Community Partnership programs. Amanda also partners with Friends of the Minnesota Orchestra to perform and host the Minnesota Orchestra Kinder Konzert series for preschool through early elementary students at Orchestra Hall and at schools throughout the Twin Cities.
In addition to teaching, she has led professional development workshops for educators, implemented school residencies, facilitated parenting workshops, written innovative curriculum, and served as a teacher coach. As a performer, she sings, plays piano, folk string instruments, and acts, and holds a B.M. in Vocal Performance from Augsburg University. Her favorite role to date has been playing the title role in Mary Poppins.
Amanda operates from the value that music is good for you! Music has the power to transform us: As individuals, families, classrooms, and communities. She enjoys finding engaging and joyful ways to facilitate music education that honor whole-brain learning. She hopes to inspire you to recognize and seek out the power of music to change our lives, homes, and classrooms for the better.
Program Offerings
Teaching Artist Statement
I love bringing music into communities through impactful play, working with early childhood and early elementary-aged students, as well as their teachers and caregivers. I create sessions with intentional learning goals because music is a whole-brain activity and its benefits are robust. We play with purpose!
I know how crucial it is to behold these young learners and meet them where they are with flexibility, especially for my students with disabilities. I see these young learners with delight. Alongside detailed and goal-oriented lesson plans, I bring an ability to be creative and improvisatory in my teaching, and prioritize integrating students’ ideas into our time together. Who I am as an educator is deeply informed by who I am as a performer: The spark that drives me to create energized, joyful performances also sparks the sessions I create. They are high-energy, and we embrace any unexpected twists and turns! Along the way, I always hope there’s a moment or two for sharing compelling information about the benefits of musical learning with teachers or caregivers.
We end our sessions having built skills around literacy and language, large and fine motor movement, social-emotional learning, executive function, strategies for calm classrooms, and I enjoy custom-creating lessons based on requested play themes or learning goals in partnership with classroom teachers. I prioritize an integrated arts approach, and our time together can include a mix of live music (folk strings, percussion), children’s literature, creating imaginative stories to act out to instrumental music, songwriting, visual art components that connect to musical concepts, classroom percussion instruments to play, a wide variety of movement activities, and lots of songs to sing together.
“Ms. Amanda worked with me to integrate our current reading standards into her music lessons. Students were highly motivated and highly engaged in learning about character development when it was tied to music. All of my students looked forward to our lessons with Ms. Amanda because she has an amazing way of getting all students to engage with her lessons.”
Emily Lewis
1st grade teacher at Waite Park Community School, Minneapolis
“Ms. Amanda has been an artist-in-residence in my classroom twice, and each experience has been truly exceptional. My kindergarten students absolutely love it when she visits. She has a remarkable ability to bring stories to life through music, instruments, movement, and creative engagement.
As a kindergarten teacher, I know how important it is to keep young learners engaged while making learning meaningful and fun. Ms. Amanda transforms read-alouds into interactive experiences that captivate students and deepen their understanding. She not only enriches learning for the children but also provides teachers with valuable strategies for bringing books to life through vocabulary development, movement, art projects, and music. The tools and techniques she shares can be integrated throughout the school day, and my students frequently ask me to “get out the box of sound” so they can revisit the activities she introduced. Her impact extends far beyond her time in the classroom. Ms. Amanda is an outstanding educator who approaches every class with love, patience, and a genuine commitment to helping all students succeed. Her passion for teaching, creativity, and dedication to children make her an invaluable resource for both students and teachers alike.”
Stacy Cruz
Kindergarten teacher at Global Arts Plus, St. Paul
“…That was like watching a master class in arts integration teaching…”
Rebecca Lund
2nd grade teacher at Global Arts Plus, St. Paul
