In this post I summarise the book chapter titled The Orff Approach in Lois Choksy’s book Teaching Music in the Twenty-First Century. Choksy co-wrote this chapter with Avon E. Gillespie who, at the time of writing, was professor of music at the Manhattan School of Music.
The authors give an overview of how Carl Orff (1895-1982) came to develop his educational method commonly known as Schulwerk (School Work). While the focus of this review will rather be on the method itself, I will summarise the origins of Schulwerk. Should you want to delve more deeply into the development of Schulwerk, I refer you to pages 103 to 107 of Choksy’s book.
Carl Orff was a German-born composer who wanted to make music live for children and he wanted to do so through exploration of imagination and fantasies. However, his initial aim was not to develop an approach to music education but rather to discover an engaging way to combine music and dance. Mary Wigman and Dorothee Günther were dancers and dance teachers whose innovative methods caught Orff’s eye. They experimented with new dance techniques as a means of artistic expression, which intrigued Orff. Orff was not interested in the traditional approach to music and dance. That is, the orchestra in the pit and the dancers on stage. He wanted the dancers to play instruments and instrumentalists to dance on stage. His collaborative work with Wigman and Günther was recognised and generated much interest from educators in both the dance and music domains. Ultimately Orff was concerned with the physical experience of music. He believed that it was better to ‘do’ rather than ‘learn about.’ That is, that the physical experience of music is more valuable than sitting at a desk and learning from textbooks.
Orff’s approach called Schulwerk places at the centre of its philosophy, exploration and experience. It is broken up into six exploration areas. Firstly, exploration of space in which the students are encouraged to explore the qualities of movement (light, heavy, down, up, in, out, smooth, jagged) in space. In this stage, students explore outer motivations of movement (walking, running, skipping) to inner motivations (breath, heartbeat) and back to outer but at a higher level (incorporating the inner into stylised outer). This stage is vital to the Orff approach as “it is the foundation on which all other learning rests” (Lois Choksy; Avon E. Gillespie 2001 p. 107).
The next stage is exploration of sound. This stage begins with environmental sounds and sounds without organisation (dog parking, cars passing, wind blowing). This is followed by the exploration of organised sounds (musical patterns, drumbeats). Students experiment with creating sounds with various sound sources all the while striving for variation in tone colour. For example, hard sounds, soft sounds, metallic sounds, wood sounds. Part of the experimentation process is either using or creating non-standard instruments to generate the various sounds. In this phase Orff encourages the use of the voice as an instrument to manipulate sound. Even using nonsense words to experience rhythm.
Stage three is the exploration of form. In this stage, students experiment with arranging sounds and movements to create patterns and therefore compositions. Students are encouraged to somehow notate or graphically represent their compositions. It is in this stage that students begin to explore the use and function of notation.
Thus far, the Orff approach is highly creative and exploratory. In stage four, imitation to creation, students begin to explore the more disciplined aspect to music. It is in this phase where the teacher becomes a role model for creativity. The teacher demonstrates a musical pattern and the students imitate. The goal in this stage is for the student to achieve total creative independence using the following pattern:
Observe -----> Imitate -----> Experiment -----> Create
As this pattern is repeated, students gain musical independence and can create music with disciplined freedom.
Being able to create music in a group is the focus of stage five, individual to ensemble. In this stage students learn that their individual skills are ultimately used to play music in a community and that community becomes the ensemble.
Finally, musical literacy is refined in the final stage. Although throughout the process music literacy is being used in some way, it is not until this final stage where it becomes the focus. Orff suggests that the teaching of music notation is a very organic process and that the teacher must use their own discretion as to the best method to use. Choksy and Gillespie conclude that “the child who can sing, play, and dance to music, as well as read and write it, is the ultimate aim of the process” (Lois Choksy; Avon E. Gillespie 2001 p. 109).
The final section of the chapter is devoted to outlining the types of instruments commonly used in the Orff approach. The specific combination of instruments, referred to as the Instrumentarium, includes: Barred instruments (xylophones, metallophones, glockenspiels), Recorders, Drums (bass drums, congas, bongos, snare drums), Woods (wood blocks, claves, guiros, maracas), Metals (cymbals, cowbells, sleigh bells, triangles) and Strings (guitars, double basses, cellos). These instruments can be incorporated into the above six stages, however, the most important instrument, according to Orff, is the body, which is used in movement. The second most important instrument is the voice since it is contained in the body.
In summary, the Orff approach, Schulwerk, seeks to educate children through exploration and experience. They explore the various elements of music using improvisation, imitation and response to external stimuli. Using the instrumentarium, children explore different tone colours and experience their combined sound. Through movement, imitation, creation, improvisation and community music, Orff’s ultimate goal to make music live for children is achieved.
Please feel free to leave comments about this article or even about your experiences with the Orff approach.
Choksy, L., & Gillespie, A. E. (2001). The Orff Approach Teaching Music in the Twenty-First Century (2nd ed., pp. 103-114). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
The authors give an overview of how Carl Orff (1895-1982) came to develop his educational method commonly known as Schulwerk (School Work). While the focus of this review will rather be on the method itself, I will summarise the origins of Schulwerk. Should you want to delve more deeply into the development of Schulwerk, I refer you to pages 103 to 107 of Choksy’s book.
Carl Orff was a German-born composer who wanted to make music live for children and he wanted to do so through exploration of imagination and fantasies. However, his initial aim was not to develop an approach to music education but rather to discover an engaging way to combine music and dance. Mary Wigman and Dorothee Günther were dancers and dance teachers whose innovative methods caught Orff’s eye. They experimented with new dance techniques as a means of artistic expression, which intrigued Orff. Orff was not interested in the traditional approach to music and dance. That is, the orchestra in the pit and the dancers on stage. He wanted the dancers to play instruments and instrumentalists to dance on stage. His collaborative work with Wigman and Günther was recognised and generated much interest from educators in both the dance and music domains. Ultimately Orff was concerned with the physical experience of music. He believed that it was better to ‘do’ rather than ‘learn about.’ That is, that the physical experience of music is more valuable than sitting at a desk and learning from textbooks.
Orff’s approach called Schulwerk places at the centre of its philosophy, exploration and experience. It is broken up into six exploration areas. Firstly, exploration of space in which the students are encouraged to explore the qualities of movement (light, heavy, down, up, in, out, smooth, jagged) in space. In this stage, students explore outer motivations of movement (walking, running, skipping) to inner motivations (breath, heartbeat) and back to outer but at a higher level (incorporating the inner into stylised outer). This stage is vital to the Orff approach as “it is the foundation on which all other learning rests” (Lois Choksy; Avon E. Gillespie 2001 p. 107).
The next stage is exploration of sound. This stage begins with environmental sounds and sounds without organisation (dog parking, cars passing, wind blowing). This is followed by the exploration of organised sounds (musical patterns, drumbeats). Students experiment with creating sounds with various sound sources all the while striving for variation in tone colour. For example, hard sounds, soft sounds, metallic sounds, wood sounds. Part of the experimentation process is either using or creating non-standard instruments to generate the various sounds. In this phase Orff encourages the use of the voice as an instrument to manipulate sound. Even using nonsense words to experience rhythm.
Stage three is the exploration of form. In this stage, students experiment with arranging sounds and movements to create patterns and therefore compositions. Students are encouraged to somehow notate or graphically represent their compositions. It is in this stage that students begin to explore the use and function of notation.
Thus far, the Orff approach is highly creative and exploratory. In stage four, imitation to creation, students begin to explore the more disciplined aspect to music. It is in this phase where the teacher becomes a role model for creativity. The teacher demonstrates a musical pattern and the students imitate. The goal in this stage is for the student to achieve total creative independence using the following pattern:
Observe -----> Imitate -----> Experiment -----> Create
As this pattern is repeated, students gain musical independence and can create music with disciplined freedom.
Being able to create music in a group is the focus of stage five, individual to ensemble. In this stage students learn that their individual skills are ultimately used to play music in a community and that community becomes the ensemble.
Finally, musical literacy is refined in the final stage. Although throughout the process music literacy is being used in some way, it is not until this final stage where it becomes the focus. Orff suggests that the teaching of music notation is a very organic process and that the teacher must use their own discretion as to the best method to use. Choksy and Gillespie conclude that “the child who can sing, play, and dance to music, as well as read and write it, is the ultimate aim of the process” (Lois Choksy; Avon E. Gillespie 2001 p. 109).
The final section of the chapter is devoted to outlining the types of instruments commonly used in the Orff approach. The specific combination of instruments, referred to as the Instrumentarium, includes: Barred instruments (xylophones, metallophones, glockenspiels), Recorders, Drums (bass drums, congas, bongos, snare drums), Woods (wood blocks, claves, guiros, maracas), Metals (cymbals, cowbells, sleigh bells, triangles) and Strings (guitars, double basses, cellos). These instruments can be incorporated into the above six stages, however, the most important instrument, according to Orff, is the body, which is used in movement. The second most important instrument is the voice since it is contained in the body.
In summary, the Orff approach, Schulwerk, seeks to educate children through exploration and experience. They explore the various elements of music using improvisation, imitation and response to external stimuli. Using the instrumentarium, children explore different tone colours and experience their combined sound. Through movement, imitation, creation, improvisation and community music, Orff’s ultimate goal to make music live for children is achieved.
Please feel free to leave comments about this article or even about your experiences with the Orff approach.
Choksy, L., & Gillespie, A. E. (2001). The Orff Approach Teaching Music in the Twenty-First Century (2nd ed., pp. 103-114). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.