Introduction | MMB Music

Exploring Our Roots, Expanding Our Future

Introduction

Since its earliest incarnations in the first half of the twentieth century, Orff-Schulwerk has benefited from fertile factors such as innovations and insights about music pedagogy. The proliferation of Carl Orff’s philosophy has spread from its roots at the Gunterschule to become a music pedagogical concept that has earned worldwide notice. Today, there remain published versions of “Orff-Schulwerk: Music for Children” in German, French, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, English, Welsh, and Danish. These volumes are supplemented by adaptations from Ghana to the United States.

The Schulwerk Philosophy

At the core of Carl Orff's work is an artistic expression able to speak to children without the loss of musical integrity. Therein lies its great significance, its genius. The name “Schulwerk,” which was coined in 1930, is still a clear, modern, and relevant theorem of music education. The act of making music presupposes that all individuals possess a creative potential that must be accessed and developed. This development serves as the aesthetic framework from which all music learning is constructed.

The Schulwerk must not be seen as a method because there are no fixed, standardized steps prescribed for the curriculum. Discovering a curriculum and adapting it to each respective situation lies within the pedagogical responsibility of the teacher. The interaction between the teacher and his/her students leads to a process that can produce new or individual results every time. The musical works, dances, and songs written by Orff and Keetman must also be seen in this light. They are perfect examples of how personal the creative results can be. These are not musical works to be reproduced note for note in a misunderstood attempt at “faithfulness to the original,” but rather “improvisations fixed according to their nature…a collection of models that aim to lead to the return path back to their source, back to improvisation” (Carl Orff).

The facile and constructivist nature of the Schulwerk continues to thrive in the most varied forms. Spoken verse, movement, and instruments provide the impetus for the construction of new knowledge in the arena of active music creation. In the process of exploration and creation, the learner chooses and permutes the knowledge, constructs hypotheses, makes decisions, and while performing these, relies on cognitive structuring. This cognitive structure caters to the grasping of meaning and organization of the experiences, and enables the learner to go beyond the given information. Thus, the Schulwerk is continually evolving with original pieces created by the learner, and the process is universal. Orff-Schulwerk also plays a critical role today in social development. The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction and collaboration. The Schulwerk fosters a learning environment where the individual competencies must function to support and strengthen that of the ensemble. In this collaborative environment, there is a set of social skills children need in order to be successful, both academically and socially: cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control.

Historical Roots

The full realization of the Orff-Schulwerk philosophy must be examined in context of the historical lens through which it was birthed. Carl Orff was born in Munich during 1895 and began his musical studies under his mother’s piano tutelage. The boy's great interests in language and poetry were fostered in school, where classical languages and literature were among his favorite studies. He received his formal musical training at the Akademie der Tonkunst in Munich.

From 1915 to 1917, Orff was music director of the Munich Kammerspiele, a theatrical experience that had a profound effect on his later work. Upon the advice of his mentor and friend Curt Sachs, he soon immersed himself in the study of Renaissance and early Baroque composers, most notably Claudio Monteverdi.

In 1923, he met Dorothee Gunther, who envisioned the founding of a school for movement, dance, and rhythmic training. The idea of training in elemental music—music which is not abstract, but which integrates the elements of speech, movement, and dance—emerged and took shape in his discussions with Gunther. In 1924, they founded the Guntherschule in Munich. Core studies taught by several instructors included gymnastics and dance.

As music director, Orff was responsible for the musical training of the students. Orff began with rhythm as the basic element inherent in music, dance, and speech, combining and unifying them into one language. Improvisation and creation were at the center of his teaching. Because a number of his students had not had previous musical training, he emphasized body sounds and gestures for rhythm, and he used the voice as the first and most natural of instruments. He gave great importance to the drum in all its variations of size, shape, and sound. He made the ostinato (a repeated rhythmic, spoken, or sung pattern) serve as the form-giving element in all improvisations.

Dancer Maja Lex and Gunild Keetman joined the school as students in 1925 and 1926, respectively. Orff regarded both of them as equally gifted in music and dance. They soon became colleagues and partners in his search for an elemental expression in these areas.

Keetman's collaboration in particular proved to be of immense value in the development of the instrumental ensemble and its musical style. During the late 1920s, with the invaluable help of Karl Maendler and Klaus Becker-Ehmck, the founder of Studio 49, the barred instruments (which today are simply referred to as "Orff instruments") were designed and built for the school.

In 1930, Lex and Keetman founded a dance group and orchestra with students of the Guntherschule that became widely known in Germany and abroad. That same year saw the appearance of the first publications. Orff was well aware that publishing brought with it the danger that the purpose of the books would be misunderstood. Born out of improvisation, the fluid medium of elemental music does not adapt well to the static medium of print. On the other hand, he realized that only through publication could its educational value be made known.

Beginning in 1931, lectures, demonstrations, and training courses began to draw the attention of music educators in Germany to the work at the Guntherschule. But during the 1930s and 40s, Orff's approach to music pedagogy was declared to be in conflict with the prevailing ideological and political climate in Germany. A number of his published works was dropped from publication because he had used poems by writers no longer considered acceptable. In 1944, the Guntherschule was closed due to political pressure; the building and most of its inventory were completely destroyed by bombing.

Between 1935 and 1942, Orff created his first "mature" stage works: Carmina Burana and the two brothers Grimm fairy tales Der Mond and Die Kluge. These works are of direct interest to the Schulwerk teacher because of their stylistic relationship to the musical language of Orff-Schulwerk.

After the War, Orff was contacted by the Bavarian Broadcasting Company and asked whether he could create a series of broadcasts for and with children. His initial doubts were soon replaced with enthusiasm, realizing that the task would renew his long-abandoned dream of music education reform. He engaged Gunild Keetman to assist in the planning and work with the children. In September 1948, they aired the first program. Teachers, parents, and children demanded more, and an extended series was presented. Between 1950 and 1954, Orff and Keetman wrote down the pedagogical concepts that had grown out of their work with children. When they had finished, they had written five volumes—Schulwerk: Music for Children.

Radio broadcasts lacked the possibility of including the movement aspect, fundamental to rhythmic development. In 1949, Keetman was invited to teach children's courses at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Now movement training could be systematically incorporated into Orff-Schulwerk. By 1953, comprehensive teacher-training courses were offered at the Mozarteum. In 1963, the Orff Institute was opened. Still a branch of the Mozarteum, it functions today as an international training center, as well as the focal point for Orff-Schulwerk around the world.

Orff-Schulwerk Today and Tomorrow

Since the late 1960s, Orff-Schulwerk has generated much interest in the United States. The American Orff-Schulwerk Association promotes the examination and discussion of the philosophy with area workshops and annual national conferences. Many universities offer Orff-Schulwerk training courses as part of their graduate curricula. Noted pedagogues have penned books regarding specific elements of the Schulwerk such as curriculum, improvisation, and movement.

With all the information readily available, many educators continue to have questions about the nature and implementation of the Schulwerk. How do I use speech to promote melody making? Do students really create the music? Do students in an Orff-Schulwerk learning environment ever read music? How do my students use the Orff instruments? What instruments do I need in my classroom?

This curriculum series, written for MMB Music, will answer these questions as well as explore the historical works of Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman and the development of key ideas inherent to the Schulwerk. As the world we live in and the children we teach are constantly changing, careful exploration and realization of Orff and Keetman’s vision remains critical. The resources provided will reflect careful consideration of the historical fundamentals of the Schulwerk, while engaging in modern theories of learning to strengthen our Schulwerk encounters and promote music development for all students.

Our website will offer a free Orff-Schulwerk curriculum series addressing the goals of exploration, improvisation, and composition as they relate to the specific media of speech, song, movement, and playing instruments. Teachers will have access to interviews with pedagogues who have shaped music learning and competency within the framework of the Orff-Schulwerk philosophy. In addition, teachers are encouraged to submit questions that will be addressed in an attempt to construct a better understanding of our educational work with children.

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