The Orff Schulwerk (Orff-Schulwerk in German), or simply the Orff Approach, is a developmental approach to Music Education for children. It was developed by the German composer Carl Orff (1895-1982), while he was music director of a school of dance and music known as the Günther-Schule, in Munich. He collaborated extensively with Gunild Keetman to fully develop the philosophy. The term 'schulwerk' is the German term for schooling or school work, in this regard in the area of music.
The Günther-Schule was a school of 17 students between the ages of 18 and 22. It began in 1924, and ran until 1944 when the Nazis confiscated it. In 1945, the building was destroyed in an Allied bomb attack, and all materials (instruments, costumes, photographs, library and archives) were destroyed.
These Günther-Schule students went on to be dancers and teachers of note. One of these students, Gunild Keetman, began as a student and became a teacher at the school. Later she worked on transferring the ideas from the Günther-Schule to teaching children. She also co-composed much of the music for the five volume series, Music for Children. These volumes were published in 1950, and are still available today.
After the war, two serendipitous events brought Orff's approach back into the educational field. A series of radio programs were broadcast in Bavaria, featuring compositions of Orff's aimed directly at children. Orff re-united with Keetman to work on these broadcasts. The second event was the Mozartariums' request to have Keetman teach classes to children between 8 and 10 years old. Another Günther-Schule student, Traude Schrattenecker, joined Keetman in running this school, this time aimed at children. Carl Orff was not a regular teacher at this school, and actually never taught the children directly.
The Orff approach of music education uses very rudimentary forms of everyday activities in the purpose of music creation by young individuals. This includes singing in groups and performing voice instrumental music, rhymes and playing instruments such as the metallophone, xylophone, glockenspiel, and other percussive instruments. The music generated is largely improvisational and original tonal constructions and this builds a sense of confidence and interest in the process of creative thinking. Children also make music together in a group and hence realize the joys of group co-ordination and cohesion. It also involves the participation of other adults and parents in music making. Thus it brings the role of parent in child education in a central position. When interesting original music has been generated by the groups or individual child, then a desire to record it may arise. Thus, the desire to develop musical skills emerges by itself, and the child may be intrinsically propelled to learn formal music. Ostinato and percussive tonal structures are integral aspects of Orff Schulwerk. Orff considered the percussive rhythm as a natural basic form of human expression. Orff-Schulwerk music is largely based on simple but forceful variations on rhythmic patterns. This makes for very simple and beautiful musical forms, which are easily learned by young children; and is also useful for adults. Thus it has universal appeal. Orff-Schulwerk is a system of music education which treats music as a basic system like language and believes that just as every child can learn language without formal instruction so can every child learn music in a gentle and friendly approach. Composer David Hewson was exposed to Orff Schulwerk and this influence helped to shape a lot of his much later music.
From a teacher’s aspect Orff – Schulwerk is also a process of breaking down each activity into its simplest form and then presenting those steps one at a time to eventually become a completed performance.
Although it may be called an approach or process, it is not a "method". There is no systematic stepwise procedure to be followed. There are fundamental principles, clear models and basic processes that all intuitive and creative teachers use to guide their organization of musical ideas.
Selected bibliography
- Orff Carl; Keetman G.(1950) Musik für Kinder I. Mainz: Schott.
- Orff Carl; Keetman G. (1950) Musik für Kinder: Reime und Spiellieder. Mainz: Schott.
External links
- American Orff Schulwerk Association
- Victorian Orff Schulwerk Association, Australia
- Australian National Council of Orff Schulwerk
- Orff-Schulwerk Association (Singapore)
- MagicaMusica - an italian blog dedicated to musical propedeutical metodologies
- ORFF SCHULWERK Italian Wiki dedicated to Orff Schulwerk
- Method Resource Page
- Dutch Wikipedia: Pierre van Hauwe
- Mozarteum Salzburg: Orff Institut
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Last updated on Saturday July 19, 2008 at 19:12:14 PDT (GMT -0700)
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