Orff Can Work in Every Classroom

Abstract

or later in every workshop is, Do we go Orff? Many teachers simply are not able to consider that possibility, and most disagree on what all Orff means. Is it Orff-Hall publications of Music for Children? Is it one's own translation of the original Carl Schulwerk series from German to English? Is it an investment in a complete instrumentarium? The answer to these questions usually comes from the teachers themselves. In most American public schools, the program must be adapted for use with the current series of music books. This presents little problem when Orff's premise is reviewed. The Schulwerk is an approach to music and can be extended to any elementary song. In applying the techniques, it is best to select pentatonic songs first. An accompaniment can then be improvised that allows any tone to be played or sung against any other of this five-tone scale (do, re, mi, sol, la), without causing a harmonic problem. Fortunately, American folk literature offers many pentatonic songs, and publishers have been emphasizing them in their current collections. After selecting the song, direct the class to pursue its inherent qualities-mood, color, and motion. Assist the students in finding its form by taking it apart and reassembling it. Together, seek its characteristic rhythmic patterns and melodic motives. From this material, the children can be encouraged to create an introduction, interludes, and coda. These offer opportunities for improvisation, with proper balancing of music and words. The ideas should come from the children. When contrasting ideas emerge, the teacher's role is to provide subtle guidance in aiding the students to consider what will fit most musically into the composition. Elements of similarity and contrast will enter into the choices. Each child will contribute to the material or to the decisions, but the group effort will develop a feeling of ensemble among the children in