MUSIC EDUCATION: CLASSICAL COMPOSOR CARL ORFF
"Since the beginning of time, children have not liked to study. They would much rather play, and if you have their interests at heart, you will let them learn while they play; they will find that what they have mastered is child's play."
History of Orff Schulwerk
While being one of the most seminal composers of the 20th century, his greatest success and influence has been in the field of music education.
Orff was the head of a department and co-founder of the Guenther School for gymnastics, music, and dance in Munich, where he worked with musical beginners. Having constant contact with children, this is where he developed his theories in music education.
In pedagogical circles he is probably best remembered for his Schulwerk (1930-35), translated into English as Music for Children.
Its simple musical instrumentation allowed even untutored child musicians to perform the piece with relative ease. Much of his life Orff worked with children, using music as an educational tool - both melody and rhythm are often determined by the words.
Founders Orff Schulwerk
Carl Orff (July 10, 1895 – March 29, 1982) was a German composer born in Munich. Orff's ideas were developed, together with two women Gunild Keetman, and Traude Schrattenecker into a very innovative approach to music education for children, known as the Orff Schulwerk. The term Schulwerk is German for schooling or school work.
My name is Karen Ellis and I was a student of ** Traude Schrattenecker -
Traude developed the dance pedagogy with Orff and Keetman
Schrattenecker was a student of Dance Pioneer Mary Wigman known as the Mother of Modern Dance.
"Dance creates and develops rhythmical competency and that is the purpose and intention of using it in the Schulwerk."
Mrs. Fannebell Kremins The First American "Orff Schulwerk" Teacher.
See the 1963 Student Class Picture of Kremins, Keetman and Orff.
- My first Orff teacher was Mrs. Fannabell Kremins, who had just received her training directly from Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman in the class of 1962 at the Royal Conservatory of Music, University of Toronto.
The Orff Approach
Botton Line:
If creativity and improvisation is not included in the lesson, one CANNOT call it an Orff approach based music lesson.
Recorder owned by Cordley Coit.
Orff Level II presentation performed by adults includes recorder, instruments, dance, singing, chanting. Lots of body work done with chanting - very exciting to watch and hear.
"Orff redesigned the recorder to get rid of the English cross fingering used on traditional recorder design. He changed how music was taught. His redesigned recorder did not catch on but his music teaching did."
Basic Pedegogy Sustains the most fundemental universal similarities shared by children of all cultures re: World Music.
Folk dance from GHANA called Portripor dancing
"The material is credited to Mary Shamrock, 1986. http://homepages.bw.edu/~cloong/ODKS.html
In the Orff approach, process refers to the way songs and
accompaniments are taught. The process for the teaching a song is as follows: First, the entire song is sung, then it is taught gradually, using imitation. The teacher should seek the easiest part in the song to have the students imitate first. Then, the rest of the song follows bit by bit. The teachers incorporate many repetitions and questioning when teaching a song.
The process for teaching an accompaniment involves doing the motion, first as a body percussion accompaniment to the chant or song. The movements done as body percussion are then transferred to the instruments.
Below is a general procedure based on the Orff approach for guiding children through several phases of musical development:
First, children are encouraged to explore sounds (body and voice) and movement on their own. Then, through imitation they develop basic skills in rhythmic speech and body percussion: clapping, finger snapping, thigh slapping, and foot stamping. In addition, they develop the ability to do
rhythmic and free movement through space and skills in singing, in playing Orff pitched and nonpitched percussion instruments, and in playing the recorder as a melody instrument.
Creation, the last stage involves combining material from any or all of the previous phases into original small forms such as rondos, and theme and variations. The children can also contribute improvisations to group activities based on their varying abilities (Shamrock, 1986)."
Creativity by students must be part of every Orff lesson.
The sequence of instruction is what Shamrock is naming "process." Note that the last stage, is creation by the STUDENT. Creativity by students MUST be part of every Orff process/sequence of instruction. Without the student creativity, it's a sequence of teacher-creativity steps. Lastly, process and sequence are joined at the hip. You can't have one without the other.
Process / Sequence Analogy by David Thaxton 11/6/05
Here's an analogy I thought of at lunch regarding the "process." It may just be a matter of semantics, but I happen to be fond of semantics :-) This may have worked better with a healthier food, but I had a Jonesin' for one, so there you go...
Sequence for a Cheeseburger:
1. Bun
2. Ketchup
3. Mustard
4. Pickle
5. onion
6. lettuce
7. tomato
8. Beef patty cooked to greasy perfection
9. Cheese
10. Top bun
Stack in this sequence, and you will get a cheeseburger every time.
Process for a cheeseburger:
1. Teeth pulverize it
2. Stomach breaks it down into a nutrient rich soup
3. Intestines pull out the nutrients:
4. Useless leftover stuff, um, ...goes away...
Follow this process and the cheeseburger becomes part of you.
What does this tell us?
RESOURCES
- American Orff Schulwerk Associations Introduction
- National Children's Folksong Repository
- Buying Orff Instruments
- Institutions offering AOSA approved ORFF SCHULWERK TEACHER TRAINING COURSES May 1, 2006 Find and get free Orff materials from your inter library loan department.
ORFF THE COMPOSER
Carmina Burana
Berliner Philharmoniker with Simon Rattle O Fortuna 5:11
Orff is most known for Carmina Burana (1937), a "scenic cantata". It is the first of a trilogy that also includes Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite. These compositions reflected his interest in medieval German poetry. Together the trilogy is called Trionfi, meaning triumph. It is described by the composer as the celebration of the triumph of the human spirit through sexual and holistic balance. The work was based on a 13th-century erotic verse found in Bavaria. Lyrics to Carmina Burana While "modern" in some of his compositional techniques, Orff was able to capture the spirit of the medieval period in this trilogy, with infectious rhythms and easy tonalities Listen to a minute of Carmina Burana:
The medieval poems, written in an early form of German and Latin, are often racy, but without descending into smut. Carmina Burana is probably the most famous piece of music composed and premiered in Nazi Germany.
MORE ARTICLES TO READ ABOUT ORFF
Carl Orff in his Time Speech on the occasion of Carl Orff's 100th birthday Munich, Prinzregententheater, 7 July 1995
Orff's Musical and Moral Failings - Was Carl Orff a Nazi? NYT May 6, 2001
