Orff, Music and Movement

Orff, Music and Movement
Mar 4, 2002, 12:54pm

Students use music and movement to express images such as this one on solidarity.

The German composer Carl Orff is well known for his popular piece Carmina Burana written in 1937. A less familiar part of Orff’s work is his dedication to making the beauty of music accessible to all children so they may express themselves in music. He believed that primitive music and simple percussion instruments combined with movement and voice allow any child, regardless of musical talent, to experience music as a part of her or himself.
The Orff system includes a technique called kodaly which teaches musical notes as hand signs rather than scored notes on a page. This use of movement and music is easy for children to learn. Singing is learned in small phrases compared to tiny steps instead of large leaps. As Orff knew, the difficult part of applying these theories is that the music must be good music if it is to capture the interest and imagination of its young practitioners.

Singing and playing an instrument are meant to be attainable goals for all students.

The Orff Association in France is a resource for teachers who wish to study Orff’s methods in depth and practice their application. During the fall, four IC teachers attended an intensive week of workshops of Parole Musique Mouvement, Pédagogie-Musicothérapie. Celine Abou Rahhal, Arlette Akl, Randa Sabbah and Patricia Isaac traveled to Paris to learn and be certified by the Orff Association. They found the long days of classes and work energized them more than tired them. They completed training for certification in seven aspects of Orff theory including group improvisation, dance and improvisation and non-verbal communication. Now IC students from preschool through middle school are enjoying direct benefits of their teachers’ hard work and enthusiasm.

One group of students imitates the movement of waves on the sea.