Orff Schulwerk: A Creative Community - Florida Music Educators ...

Orff Schulwerk: A Creative Community ~ Sue Mueller, clinician
Florida Elementary Music Educator’s Association
January 11-13, 2013, Tampa, Florida
8:45-9:45 am Friday, January 12, 2013 TCC 13-16
The Schulwerk approach embraces creativity while fostering a community of learners that work together through
speech, song, movement and playing. Explore, collaborate, and create in a hands-on session designed for K-6
students. Small and large group activities require collaboration in this session aimed at improvisation.
Warm-up:
The following cards are made to hang around a student’s neck as well as can be displayed in the room.
Each card represents a movement and should only be displayed once the movement is in the students’ movement
repertoire, as then they will be better able to make the connection and respond.
walk jog large steps triplety compound run,
skip or gallop
• Divide students into five groups.
• One child wears one of the cards represented above
• When the teacher plays on drum or piano or recorder one of the rhythms represented by the cards, the group
shows the corresponding movement, moving around the child with the card.
• As an extension, the teacher may play two rhythms at the same time (on piano or barred instrument).
• Listen to recorder (alto or soprano) play a melody comprised of the above note values. Students show entire
rhythm through movement.
• As an extension, have each group create a rhythmic phrase using the above note values through movement.
Students in another group claps the rhythm and or notates the movement.
• Of course, as the students’ rhythmic vocabulary increases, new note values can be added.
• Respond by moving according to the tempo and mood of what is being played.
Gunild Keetman’s Building Bricks
1 2 3 4 5 6
• Combine any rhythmic motives to form short to longer patterns.
• Combine any two and create an ostinato to accompany a rhyme or melody.
• Transfer rhythm to body percussion with and without speech.
• Transfer rhythms to non-tuned percussion instruments.
• Transfer rhythm to barred instruments in a pentatonic mode (do or la based) to improvise melodies.
• Transfer to recorder, each card representing a particular pitch or create intervals based on the building brick
rhythm.

One: A book celebrating who we are as individuals and working together in a supportive way.
Using the children’s book One by Kathryn Utoshi, each group will improvise/create their own melody using the
above Building Bricks. Melodies may be played on recorder, sung, or on barred instruments.
Students will also use cooperative learning strategies:
• Discussion: Active, face-to-face interaction; values individual differences and collaboration.
o A talking stick facilitates sharing the decision-making.
• Positive Interdependence: Team members need each other to share and complete the task at hand.
• Personal Responsibility: Each member is important and accountable for helping to complete the task.
• Collaboration, Working Together: Staying on task, summarizing and recording ideas
• Group Reflection and Processing: Assessing how well group worked together to complete the task
Improvise and then create melody and movement that characterizes the following colors/numbers:
Blue (6) – quiet
Yellow (2) – sunny
Green (3) – bright
Purple (4) – regal
One (1) – funny
Orange (5) – outgoing
Red (7) – hot
Tasks: Groups are named according to the colors above, but may certainly add words to help build team spirit.
1. Create a rhythm that is 8 - 16 beats (in duple meter) or 12 – 24 beats (in triple meter).
2. Group practice on body percussion first.
3. Decide on do or la based melody (major or minor sound), or mode (Dorian or Lydian would work).
4. Group improvises using rhythm in decided mode.
5. Group members take turn, each member contributing at least 4 beats of the melody. Whole group supports
and discusses each contribution until a melody has been created.
6. Decide what instrument(s) the melody should be played on. Should it be accompanied
7. Group determines the tempo and any expressive elements that need to be added to the music.
8. Decide on movement.
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Many thanks to West Music Co. and Beatin’ Path Publications for their support of this session.