TEACHER TALK

In this MMB Music interview series, Brian Crisp talks with renowned master teachers in the field.

Featured Interview

Sarah Richardson teaches music and theatre at Lake Country Montessori School in Minneapolis. She graduated from St. Olaf College, has her Montessori certification, and trained and worked as a professional actor, primarily at the Tony Award-winning Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Ms. Richardson’s Orff-Schulwerk certification is from the University of St. Thomas and she teaches movement in Orff courses around the country.

What was your first introduction to the Orff-Schulwerk and what aspects attracted you?
I was first introduced to Orff-Schulwerk as a child. My elementary school music teacher happened to be Judy Bond (nationally known teacher trainer), so I grew up thinking that this was how every child learned music! As an adult, I came to the Schulwerk on request of the school where I taught—I was moving from being a Montessori classroom teacher to a music teacher. After my first day of level one, I knew I had found a home. The child-centered nature of the work appealed to the Montessorian in me, and I was blown away by the variety of media being used and the commitment to high artistic standards.

What is the most timeless element of Orff-Schulwerk?
Orff-Schulwerk is timeless because it is based on a fundamental belief in the power of children. They have the power to create art collaboratively, if given models based on what they know and have already experienced, but that can let them stretch. Orff, like Montessori, goes from the concrete to the abstract—from singing to rhythm, rhymes, children's games, and dances to a more complex understanding of rhythm, tonality, and structure—always using materials that require a minimum of technical proficiency, but which produce sophisticated results.

How do you see movement being utilized as a vital part of the Schulwerk?
Orff-Schulwerk is music and movement education: movement supports the teaching of music, but music also supports the teaching of movement! I think too often we see movement as secondary in our classrooms, something novel to throw in here and there, rather than something central to what we are about. I see movement as important because it is a natural avenue to unleashing children's creativity and expression. The body is the first and most primal artistic medium. Body percussion and dance seem to be the most basic way to be expressive and eventually to create art. Dance and music are also linked as arts because of the way in which they occur in time. Learning about both in tandem can only deepen one's understanding of either one. I also know that children need to move as part of their education, and movement in the Orff classroom fulfills that secondary goal nicely!

What advice would you give to new teachers just beginning the Schulwerk?
Trust yourself and listen to your students. Use only quality, artistic materials. USE THE VOLUMES! Start to see yourself as an artist in the classroom. And on a more practical level, take all your levels, observe more experienced teachers, and throw away the textbooks!

How do you see your role as an Orff-Schulwerk educator?
I see myself fundamentally as a co-collaborator with the children in my school. Yes, I am clearly the one with the initial idea, the experience, the access to materials and knowledge about the mechanics. I serve a role similar to the director in the collaborative theatre company with which I used to act—I start the ball rolling and help guide and reflect the process back to the students, but the work is really theirs. I ultimately see the Schulwerk as more than just music and movement education. It is a way to empower students to make artistic, creative choices, something that will hopefully spill over into other avenues of their life as well.

Where do you see the future of the Schulwerk? What excites you most about it?
I am excited by the Schulwerk for many reasons:

• It is a way of teaching and learning that reflects what we are discovering about the brain and how children learn.
• It makes the creation of music, theatre, and art real for kids—not something simply to be consumed or only done by highly trained experts.
• It helps kids gain flexibility in their thinking, another skill we know is important.
• As teachers, it is a rewarding, artistic, exciting pedagogy!

I hope that the Schulwerk can be introduced to more students on the undergraduate level, and that the training can be opened up to include classroom and other teachers as well as music teachers. I also hope to see bridges being built between the community of Orff teachers and the wider artistic community. Orff-Schulwerk as a pedagogy reflects the way performing artists work in the real world—in an increasingly interdisciplinary, collaborative fashion. In general, I just want people to know MORE about Orff and its benefits as a way of making art with children!