Orff Schulwerk is “Music for Children”, a way to teach and learn music using poems, rhymes, games, songs, and dances as basic materials. The Schulwerk was created by composers Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman in Europe. The emphasis is on students as improvisers and performers. It is the most exciting way to teach and learn music.
I became trained in this method by taking Level I at DePaul University and Level II at the University of Illinois at Champaign, Illinois. These were each two week courses and covered everything from the "Orff method" to "Movement" and "Recorder". There is Level III, but I never took it. Also, every year there are huge Orff conventions in a U.S. city. I have been to three of those: in Chicago, in Minneappolis and in Memphis. And, the Greater Chicago Chapter has monthly workshops, featuring nationally known clinicians who work music teachers for four hours on Saturday mornings.
With the Orff method, the students learn to play a variety of small percussion instruments, such as hand drums. They learn to combine rhythms and they learn to use rhythms from speech as musical elements. The learn to improvise, as well. Each school must provide a wide ranged of "barred" instruments, especially designed by Orff for use by elementary students.
There are several kinds of Orff instruments: xylophones (made of wood -- bass, alto and soprano), metallophones (bass, alto and soprano) and glockenspiel (alto and soprano). Combining these instruments creates a magical sound. Especially effective is the use of the pentatonic scale which allows the students to improvise their own melodies! The bars are removable.
Here is an example of an actual ensemble from an elementary school.
The odd thing is that it seems very few schools in Europe use this method, whereas it is used widely throughout the U.S.
6 comments:
I used to play these instruments when i was at school. I never knew that it was part of an educational theory though.
Wow, Max -- that's interesting! I would like to hear more about your memories of those days. So, Australia AND the U.S. are using this method! Thanks so much for your comment.
So whats the difference between the vibes,xylophones and metalphones?
Hi, Anonymous! Thanks for reading my blog. (Is that you Michael?)
A xylophone is made of wood. (xylo=wood, Greek)
A metallophone is made of metal. It's a special Orff instrument.
Vibes (vibraphone) are not used with children. Here's an entry from Wikipedia:
It is similar in appearance to the xylophone and marimba, although the vibraphone uses aluminum bars instead of the wooden bars of those instruments. The vibraphone also has a sustain pedal similar to that used on a piano. When the pedal is up, the bars are all damped and the sound of each bar is quite short; with the pedal down, they will sound for several seconds.
The most common uses of the vibraphone are within jazz music, where it often plays a featured role . . .
Yes it was me,. Sorry, I posted before typing my name. I never heard of a metallophone before, and always wondered why the word sometimes xylophone was used and sometimes vibes.
boy am I sleepy sorry for the non-English
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