TEACHER TALK

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

Featured Interview

Beth Ann Hepburn was the recipient of the 2003 Teacher of the Year Award where she teaches music grades 4-6 in Streetsboro, Ohio. She was recently nominated as a Region VI representative for the AOSA National Board of Trustees, and is a member of the AOSA history committee. Beth Ann holds Orff teaching certificates from the University of St. Thomas, Florida State University, and Cleveland State University; she also holds Kodaly certification from the University of St. Thomas. She has presented workshops for OMEA, NOCKA, Hiram College Literacy Links, and several Orff chapters throughout the United States. Beth Ann teaches movement and is the director of the Cleveland State University Orff-Schulwerk Levels Courses, as well as teaching movement at Mount Mary College.

What was your first introduction to the Orff-Schulwerk and what aspects attracted you?
I was very fortunate to have experiences with the Orff-Schulwerk approach in my undergraduate music methods classes, and while preparing for student teaching. After one of the lessons, my professor, Dr. James Scholten, told me I might not understand it yet, but I was definitely going to be an elementary music teacher, and not only that, an Orff teacher. He was right on! It could have been my enthusiasm during that lesson, or just that he could tell I was a duck in water…I remember LOVING each lesson we did during that class. When I was preparing for student teaching, I was advised to attend some Orff workshops—so I went to my first one. I still attend the workshops and encourage everyone to find a local chapter and attend.

What elements do you find the most timeless in Orff-Schulwerk?
I think it is the human spirit. This approach has so many intrinsic rewards for the individual learner and the teacher; however, it also has a magical quality that brings people together. Working with respect and purpose toward an artful goal reaches children and adults on a deep, personal level like no other approach to music education. I think it's the reason my students really enjoy their music classes—they can put themselves into each lesson, and it's truly their class. Unlike other subjects where there is the "right" answer, the Schulwerk allows for everyone's answer.

You are quite versed in the area of movement. How do you see movement being utilized as a vital part of the Schulwerk?
My favorite quote by Gunild Keetman in her book Elementaria, is "In principal, no Schulwerk lesson should be without movement exercises". Movement is like a Schulwerk diamond. There are so many facets and it is at the core of the work that Carl Orff and Dorothee Gunter began in the 1920s at their school for music and dance, Die Guntherschule. I recommend reading Carl Orff's Das Schulwerk and Michael Kugler's Die Guntherschule for more about this. One of the early intentions of this philosophy was to not isolate dance from music, but to unite them. Body movement can bring forth music, and music can call the body to move. I think the latter is used most in our American approach to this philosophy, but it is also possible to bring forth musical creations directly from the body's movement. For example, ostinato movements can be utilized as the seed for a rhythmic percussion piece. A simple hand gesture can imply staccato or legato. Moving—whether fine or gross motor—can help children experience a musical concept with their whole selves, intrinsically and intellectually. I think that's what makes movement so important and crucial to this approach. The inner-landscape is our source for movement to our music; it's a feeling brought forth with movement, whether the movement of a rhythm, or movement in literal terms.

You have a solid and deep understanding of the history and development of the Schulwerk. What is the most exciting aspect of its development?
The constant evolution! The Schulwerk doesn't have to be done one set way, and can be adapted and utilized in many teaching situations. It always fascinates me when new ideas are merged with this philosophy, whether a brain-based activity, or a reading strategy, or using the original scores by Orff and Keetman. I think in our generation's time, one of the most exciting aspects of this work is that we are re-examining what we in America have done thus far with the approach. We are moving beyond figuring out how to make it work, into teaching as an art form in and of itself. We know it works with children, but now as a whole, we are examining the hows and whys and validating this approach through research studies. Think of the implications those findings will bring forth! The evolution will continue.

How does this idea relate to students today?
The students we are teaching are typically in classroom situations where there is only one right answer or they are constantly drilling skills for a test they will take. This current education trend does not nourish creativity and problem solving skills in the same manner inherent in a Schulwerk lesson. Our students need the opportunity to be creative and express themselves; it's our careful attention to teacher preparedness that allows this to happen. The Orff-Schulwerk trained teacher creates the environment for students' success. The constant reassessment of how we teach our learners and knowing the whys of our successes helps drive our instruction.

In your opinion, why is the Schulwerk still vital?
The Schulwerk can help develop, nourish, and promote character and skills I hope my students take with them beyond the music room—the most important to me being respect. Students learn to appreciate and respect their own personal contributions and those of their classmates. There is a strong spirit of cooperation and creativity within a respectful framework that makes each child feel safe, valued, and intelligent. Outside school, we hope our children have all those feelings; however, we can't control the outside world -- but in our classrooms, we can create an atmosphere where those feelings are able to flourish.

What advice would you give to new teachers just beginning the Schulwerk?
Many new teachers fail when their first Orff-Schulwerk lesson is a ten-part piece with three-part singing and all the bells and whistles arranged for instruments. Students need other experiences before layering the complications inherent in the instruments. Start with speech, play with speech, and use speech to teach just about any concept. Then move into body percussion. Play there for a long, long, time. Allow your students the chance to create ensemble with speech pieces and ostinati, move it to the body, manipulate the words by improvising or composing, and then move to the instruments.

Where do you see the future of the Schulwerk? What excites you most about it?
I think because of how I view myself as a teacher, I don't teach music—I teach children, who are people. How they are as people in my classroom is a higher priority for me than whether they rushed a tempo, and because of that, I hope the idea spreads to other classroom situations. I am most excited to see where the Schulwerk will impact ideas for regular classrooms in the years ahead. For the U.S., this would be coming full circle to how the approach originally spread here. The Bellflower Symposia, the Madera Project, and Project Radius, for example, all began as investigations into improving classroom instruction, not isolated to music. I am waiting for the day the pendulum swings back, and school systems are not teaching for a test, but rather are developing creative, collaborative thinkers. The Schulwerk, as many of us already know and experience, will flourish as an approach to developing creative thinkers, but not just any thinkers, people who walk in the world with respect for themselves and others.