Tara Foley Active Approaches: Carl Orff
Foley 2 Biography of Carl Orff
Carl Orff was born on July 10, 1895 and lived until 1985. He was born to a military father and pianist mother. At an early age, Orff began to play many instruments, including piano, cello, and organ.. Orff began composing when he was young, being especially inspired by theater. Before he officially enrolled at the Munich Academy of Music in 1912 at age 17, Orff had already composed and published several songs and an opera and had begun classes at the Academy in harmony. After beginning at the Munich Academy of Music, Orff began to actively develop his ideas towards music education. At the time, he began to feel too closed off within the institute and sought compositional inspiration from contemporary avant-garde composers such as Schonberg and Debussy. In 1917, Orff was drafted into the war for a short period, until he was wounded and released from the service. During his time after serving in the military, he started to study Monterverdi scores. He continued to compose and study music of his contemporaries. In 1924, along with Dorothee Günther, he founded an institute that involved music, dance, gymnastics and rhythmic movement, which he called elementare Musik . At this time, gymnastics and dance schools were open, but this was the first schools that incorporated music to these physical activities. Around 1932 he published the first edition of Orff-Shulwerk: elementare Musikubung. This institute was in response to his educational philosophy of the incorporation of
body and mind when creating music, and the idea that this should be taught when students are young. His method included improvisatory techniques, custom-made instruments for a classroom with young students, and a huge emphasis on creativity from the students. Orff taught simple rudiments to teach amateur musicians, rather than teaching for future careers in music. With this
Foley 3 teaching experience, his credibility of the unification of body movement and music helped to start revolutionize music education. The school was shut down by the Nazis in 1944, but radio broadcasts of the music and instructions actually gave an increase to radio broadcasting centered for children. These experimental broadcasts were played on Bavarian radio stations that were heavily influenced by Orff’s collaborator, Dorothee Guenther. These broadcasts were tailored by Orff to benefit children in both physical and musical education. Orff’s educational techniques techniques were included in his compositional techniques. During the 1930s, Orff would often use drones and ostinatos along with diatonic modes when experimenting with choral pieces. His first major compositional success was a scenic cantata, Carmina Burana, in early June of 1937. This piece can be recognized in many television shows and Hollywood movies because of how well the style of the work lends to many different mediums. Due to his studies on music of Monteverdi and other composers of centuries before his own, Carmina Burana highlighted many compositional techniques from the past, most notably the Latin text
setting. Overall, this piece showed his maturity as a composer and it was clear that he was attempting to break out of the box he had created with earlier published compositions. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he wrote two fairy tale operas. The first, Der Mond , was heavily influenced by Baroque theater, but in an expanded form with many more levels than traditionally. Die Kluge: die Geschichte von dem König und der klugen klug en Frau, his later fairy tale opera, explores more Romantic harmonic colors and melodic development methods. This collection of Orff compositions exemplifies the wide range of his ability as a composer.
Foley 4 Orff was both a prolific composer and educator. His compositional techniques and educational philosophies often merged. Even through a tumultuous time in the world, Orff was able to create a huge impact on the music world both through how the world listens to music and how it is taught and learned (Carder, 133-36, Gifford “Carl Orff – Biography”, – Biography”, Fassone “Orff, Carl”, Rösch “Carl Orff Biography”). Biography”).
Foley 5 Pedagogical Characteristics of the Orff Approach
The idea of elemental music is what centers on the pedagogical approach to Orff’s method. Orff believed that music, movement, and speech were “inseparable” and formed this elemental music, which was created through situations that were natural to the child ’s environment (Carder, 109). Music is a naturally occurring act that happens in all cultures, and most notably in children right from birth. Because of the primitive nature of children’s musical abilities, according to what was understood of children’s cap acities at Orff’s time, this method begins with simple concepts that build upon each other as lessons progress (Campbell, 79). A characteristic of the Orff-Schulwerk method is the use of pitched and non-pitched percussive instruments. Non-pitched instruments include shakers, wood blocks, hanging cymbals, maracas, cowbells, and much more (Wuytack, 128). These are common orchestral and concert band percussive instruments that can be used to add more body motion to rhythmic exercises. Along with these non-pitched, barred instruments are pitched instruments, known often as Orff instruments. The barred instruments, which include xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels, developed by Orff that are basic enough to allow any student to utilize them (Campbell, 254-5). They are played with mallets and have detachable bars. These detachable bars allow for teachers to limit the number of notes that a student may play. Possibilities for these instruments could include only having tonic triad bars available so accompany a song that is sung by another group of students or to add harmony to rhythmic imitation exercises. Rhythm is a key element to the Orff-Schulwerk Orff- Schulwerk method. Orff believed that “rhythm is the strongest of the elements in music” (Carder, 110). Rh ythm is important important in all facets of life, and
Foley 6 extremely important when teaching music to children. Because rhythm is so innate, this is a place to begin with young children that are familiar with music only informally. In the Orff-Schulwerk method, rhythm is first introduced via speech. According the Patricia Campbell and Carol Scott-Kasner in Music in Childhood , these are the ways that words can become musical: 1.
They are spoken over the foundation of a set pulse.
2.
Their sounds are transformed into chants of longer and shorter durations.
3.
Some words in a group are emphasized over others. (Campbell, 98)
This simple introduction of rhythm through speech is reinforces Orff’s idea that music is a naturally occurring force. A teacher could use speech to teach rhythm by having students say their own names and names of other students in a natural rhythm. Short sequences of names or variations of how a name is emphasized would be several techniques to engage students and have them actively think of how rhythm is present in everyday words. The speech element of this method centers around the idea of chanting, which involves very few words at any given time. However, students could expand upon this idea and start to create longer phrases or sentences with unique rhythms (Campbell, 99). In this way, the Orff-Schulwerk method is incorporating improvisation even in the early stages of musical learning (Carder, 115). Teachers could also incorporate traditional nursery rhymes, such as “London Bridge is Falling Down,” “Ring Around the the Rosie,” and even Dr. Seuss books like “The Lorax.” When starting to teach note value identification, the Orff-Schulwerk method uses the fixed word-chant system. This system uses a category of words that help students associate specific words to rhythmic rhythmi c durations. If the category of fruit was chosen, th e word “pear” could
Foley 7 represent a quarter note, and the word “pineapple” could represent a triplet t riplet figure (Campbell, 118). This method of teaching rhythmic value allows students to use familiar words to apply to musical concepts. Once rhythms are solidified, via rote, in the classroom, elements of body percussion can be included to elaborate. Canons, various dynamic changes, and ostinato rhythms can be included in “melodic” rhythm phrases. In an example from Orff-Schulwerk Music for Children from Polly Carder and Beth Landis’ The Orff Approach, both a canon and an ostinato clapped rhythm are employed (Carder, 116).
“Forbidden Fruits are Sweet,” from Orff-Schulwerk Music for Children , © B. Schott’s Soehne, Soehne, Mains, 1956. © renewed. All Rights Reserved.
This type of activity would be approached by giving equal instructional time to all parts of the exercise (Wuytack, 3). This type of rhythmic speaking in groups evolves into a speech choir. This is an activity when specific poems are used to create complex musical phrases. This method
Foley 8 is best taught section by section through dividing and conquering the pieces. At this stage, the acting out of the words or rhythms is encouraged to employ the body with the music. Another method of learning rhythms is through what is called rhythmic imitation. Through this process, a teacher would clap a rhythm and have the class clap the rhythm in response. This is used in conjunction with speaking rhythms so that students are able to have a very solid foundation in pulse and rhythm. For added musical benefits, clapping allows for the student to be active physically and musically. Clapping is common in many cultures as a percussive instrument that can be loud, soft, and in between. This can be achieved through different hand formations and use of fingers and palms. At this point, students can experiment with what types of sounds their hands can make on their own variants. Rhythmic canons are rhythmic pieces that are prepared in advanced, in the method of dividing and conquering and call and response. Here are a few suggestions from Professor Wuytack for beginning to teach rhythmic canons: -
Alternate a difficult rhythm with an easy rhythm
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Structure a musical phrase on four motives
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Remember the preceding motives…
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Execute the canon dynamically with a lively tempo (Wuytack, 28)
This method reinforces previous rhythmic motives learned while giving students confidence in their ability to play their parts individually. These rounds could be sung, clapped, and played on pitched and non-pitched Orff instruments. Just as rhythm is taught through call and response, singing is taught by rote as well. The students learn to sing just as they learned rhythm, which is through their natural speech. When
Foley 9 the idea of pitches is introduced to children, they are able to discover that their own speech has certain inflections that are pitched. This natural discovery allows for students to explore their voices on their own with less instruction and formal direction. Orff’s method constantly builds upon itself and always has a core in rhythm and body awareness. When learning melodies, especially simple melodies in the early stages of learning how to sing, the students use familiar rhythms to sing along to. These rhythms would originate from previous lessons. The Orff-Schulwerk method has a fairly strict plan for introducing songs to children. In Music for Children , the first songs all include accompaniment, unless they are chants. The first pitches learned are so (scale degree 5) and mi (scale degree 3) due to their common occurrence in school yard chants. The order following so and mi in volume 1 are la, re, do, which completes the pentatonic scale. Volume 2 introduces fa and ti. After volume one,
various modes are introduced, such as Dorian, Lydian, Mixolydian, and major and minor songs. Unlike other methods of teaching singing that stay in the Western modes, the OrffSchulwerk method encourages chord progressions that are not traditionally Western and to move from strictly diatonic melodies. Allowing for students to explore other styles of music helps students become more comfortable with improvisation and appreciate non-tonal music. These simple melodies would be elaborated in many ways. With the use of an ostinato, either in another vocal part or with a percussive part, the melodic line would become more complex, but a steady pulse gives stability to the students that are singing the melody. Orff would also use these simple melodies and mold the motifs to add another layer of accompaniment. The teacher then encourages the students to try to make their own accompaniment with melodic motifs. Another accompaniment technique is called the bordun,
Foley 10 which is open fifths, which creates a solid drone and creates a pentatonic foundation for simple, diatonic melodies (Carder, 117-8). As previously mentioned, improvisation is emphasized in all aspects of musical learning through the Orff-Schulwerk method. This can be achieved through movement, percussion (of all types), and singing. This improvisation is fostered through group improvisation (Saliba, 153). Improvisation can be teacher-led in many different ways. In rhythmic improvisation, a limited number of rhythmic sequences could be employed so that students could focus on only a few rhythmic ideas. For pitched improvisation, barred instrument could have limited numbers of bars that would allow for only certain modes to be improvised on. There could also be solo improvisers while other students play chord tones in various rhythms. Movement can be improvised through listening to a piece of music, either live or recorded, and reacting to the music. In a speech given by Orff at the opening of his elementary education course at the University of Toronto, he says that “almost every child can comprehend and enjoy enjo y music” (Orff, “The Schulwerk ”). ”). Orff believed that music is innate, and his method is very obviously heavy in natural discovery of music. This method is based on elemental music, which Orff used to describe the ability music has to be enjoyed by everyone. Overall, the Orff-Schulwerk method focuses in self-discovery through body movement, percussion, and speech. This method lends itself to improvisation, both controlled and uncontrolled.
Foley 11
Frazee, Jane, and Arvida Steen. This Is the Day: Songs for Special Days. Melville, NY: Schmitt, 1975. 39. Print.
Foley 12 Outline of Sequential Lesson Plan
“Whose hand has my gold ring?” is a piece that would be taught to primary level students st
in kindergarten to 1 grade. In three lessons, the Orff-Schulwerk process will emphasize rhythm, movement, and improvisation. This is by Bessic Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes and has been adapted from Step it Down. For the first lesson, the teacher would begin with the basic rhythms of the piece. This includes half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes. Through call and response, the teacher will make sure all the students understand the rhythms and can perform them accurately. At this stage, rhythmic improvisation on these rhythmic patterns could be experimented with clapping and percussive Orff instruments. As a segue to speaking with rhythm, the teacher would go around the classroom having each student say their name in a rhythm. This can be elaborated on by using different sentences and phrases. At this point, the teacher would teach the students the poem, which is “Whose hand has my gold ring? My gold ring I bought on the train when I went to London to marry.” There are a re some syncopated rhythms in this poem, so the teacher would be repeat the poem multiple times. The second lesson of this song would begin with the teacher playing with the rhythmic patterns of the song again. Then the students would speak the poem in rhythm, with studentteacher imitations. The students would then be given percussive instruments. Various barred instruments would be provided, but only with the notes D, E, and F (in two octaves). The teacher would then teach the students the ostinato (as shown in AX part of m. 1) through imitation. Another group of students would use non-pitched percussive instruments to created the second ostinato (as show in triangle part in m. 1). Again, this ostinato would be established through call
Foley 13 and response. Once these rhythms are solid, the rhythms would be combined. At this point, the teacher could sing above the accompaniment part multiple times. Once the teacher has sung the piece several time, the students will start to pick up the melody. This song would be broken into three phrases, each two to three measures long. The third lesson would begin with singing the song in a circle. A student in the middle is blindfolded and the students in the circle pass a percussive instrument, such as jingle bells, with a steady pulse. At the last measure, the students stop using the jingle bells and the student in the middle must guess where the jingle bells are being held. After this is played several times with different blindfolded students, instruments would be taken out to play the piece with the ostinatos and students singing. At this point, improvisation is encouraged through new vocal melodies that can be sung with the ostinato pitched instruments, or with new rhythmic basses to the song.
Foley 14 Works Cited Campbell, Patricia Shehan, and Carol Scott-Kassner. Music in Childhood: From Preschool through the Elementary Grades. 2nd ed. Australia: Schirmer/Thomson Learning, 2002.
Print. Carder, Polly and Beth Landis. "The Orff Approach." The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education: Contributions of Dalcroze, Koday, and Orff . Reston, VA: Music
Educators National Conference, 1990. 109-36. Print. Fassone, Alberto. "Orff, Carl." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 15 Feb. 2012 . Gifford, Katya. "Carl Orff - Biography." Carl Orff - Biography. Humanities Web. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. . Orff, Carl. “The Schulwerk – Its – Its Origins and Aims.” The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education: Contributions of Dalcroze, Koday, and Orff . Reston, VA: Music Educators
National Conference, 1990. 137-44. Print. Rösch, Thomas. "Carl Orff Biography." Orff Zentrum Munich. Orff Zentrum, 2004. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. . Saliba, Konnie. “What is the Orff -Schulwerk Approach to Teaching?” The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education: Contributions of Dalcroze, Koday, and Orff . Reston, VA:
Music Educators National Conference, 1990. 145-55 Print. Express ion. Trans. Wuytack, Jos. Musica Activa: An Approach to Music Education : Rhythmic Expression
Judy Sills. Mainz: Schott, 1994. Print.
Foley 15
Annotated Bibliography
Frazee, Jane, and Arvida Steen. This Is the Day: Songs for Special Days. Melville, NY: Schmitt, 1975. Print. This book includes 20 different folk songs that include both the score of the song as well as the process of teaching the song to students. There are specific elements of music that are highlighted in each lesson, which are color, form, melody, rhythm, texture, improvisation, literacy, and movement. Suggested level, tonality, and suggested instrumentation are included.
Frazee, Jane, and Kent Kreuter. Discovering Orff: A Curriculum for Music Teachers. Mainz: London, 1987. Print. This is a book that outlines curriculum for Orff teachers. There are many short musical examples, which could be found in other Orff pedagogy music books. It is broken down at one point by grade level, which would be very helpful for a general music teacher with homogenous groups of students. The book is written in a way that lends itself to be applied to any type of music that is taught in the classroom.
Fuchtman, Tim. "The Magic of Arrangement: Orff and Jazz." Orff Echo. 43.3 (2011): 19-23. Print. In this volume of The Orff Echo , there is an emphasis on incorporating incorpo rating jazz into an Orff classroom. As discussed in the article, this can be achieved through jazz harmonies that might not be taught in the typical Orff classroom. The idea of swing is also touched upon. There are many musical examples that can be utilized in the classroom, as well as jazz standards that can be adapted to the classroom.
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McCreary, Peggy. "Learning Through Exploration and Play." American Orff-Schulwerk Association - Music and Movement Education. American Orff-Schulwerk Association,
2007. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. . This is a link to a series of articles by Peggy McCreary. They are pictures of various Orff techniques in a classroom and the setting-up process of these activities. There are various activities for each structure that was created.
Page, Sue Ellen. Four Psalm Settings. United States of America: Schott Music, 1977. Print. This collection of four psalms is resource that could be used in a church Sunday School or church sponsored Orff-Schulwerk classroom. This book has a large instrumentation, including bar instruments (xylophones, glockenspiel, and metallophone), non-pitched percussion (claves, windchimes, hand drum, triangle, and a nd cymbals), and traditional instruments (bassoon, cello, bass viol, and a treble melody) along with the singing part. This allows for infinite possibilities of instrumentation .
Robinson, Kathy, Rosemary Eichenlaub, Rose Grelis, and Alice Pratt. "Teaching in the Margins." Web. 12 Feb. 2012. . This is an article that is a quick overview of the importance of integrating cultures in teaching with the Orff-Schulwerk method. This article is mostly a compilation of quotes that emphasize the importance, but there are a few ways for teachers to engage in culture in order to bring to the classroom.
“The Winning Way.” American Orff-Schulwerk Association - Music and Movement Education. American Orff-Schulwerk Association. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. .
Foley 17 This video is a series of interviews with advocates of the Orff-Schulwerk method as well as teachers that employ this method. The video could be used in a presentation to a school board or principal to convince them to start using the Orff method or to help fund for Orff instruments or training.
