Jane Frazee acknowledges with gratitude the support of her former students and colleagues that resulted in her nomination and selection for the Hall of Fame Award. It illustrates a principle in which she firmly believes: you can make sweeter music singing with others than by yourself. MMEA has encouraged her work by inviting her to teach at five February clinics and by naming her Elementary Music Teacher of the Year in 1987. In 2000, she received the President's Award in recognition of service and dedication to music education in Minnesota.

 Jane graduated with a degree in music education from the University of Wisconsin in 1958, received an MA from the University of Minnesota in 1961, and soon discovered her life's work. At a teacher's meeting in 1963 she first encountered the sound of Orff instruments. It was music to her ears and she never looked back.

 She enrolled in an Orff Schulwerk course at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in the summer of 1963. This initial experience led her to the Orff Institute in Salzburg in 1966 to develop and codify Schulwerk principles for American students and teachers. Subsequently Jane became an internationally known Orff teacher, offering courses in Canada, Australia, and throughout the U.S. In 1981-82 she was a Fulbright professor at the Orff Institute in Salzburg.

 Jane was a student in the first University of Minnesota Orff course taught by Jos Wuytack in 1970. She joined the teaching staff at the U of M the next year and became the course director when it moved to Hamline University in 1975. She added courses in Kodaly, Dalcroze, and related offerings in jazz, choral, and curriculum to address the variety of interests of the teachers eager to bring hands-on music experiences to their students. In 1989 Jane became the founder and director of an MA program in music education at Hamline. Rooted in practice but insistent on scholarship and research, this program moved in 1991 to the University of St. Thomas and continues to flourish there.

 Working with children until 1992, Jane first taught at Northrop Collegiate School (now the Blake Schools) from 1960 - 1972, then at St. Paul Academy from 1978 - 1992. She also taught undergraduate music education courses at Macalester College and Hamline University from 1968 - 78.

 Jane has written numerous articles, several collections of pieces for children's voices and Orff instruments, Discovering Keetman and the first textbook for applied Orff Schulwerk in North American classrooms: Discovering Orff. In her latest book, Orff Schulwerk Today, the text is enriched with material contributed by seven of her former students, now recognized master Orff teachers.

 In addition to MMEA recognition, Jane received the American Orff Schulwerk Association's Distinguished Service Award in 1992 and she is the 1997 recipient of the international Pro Merito Award of the Orff-Schulwerk Foundation in Munich. She is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Education, and Who's Who of American Women.