“Elemental music is never just music. It’s bound up with movement, dance and speech, and so it is a form of music in which one must participate, in which one is involved not as a listener but as a co-performer.”
Carl Orff
The Orff- Schulwerk approach for music education for children is based on the goal of developing a sense of rhythm and musical independence through exploration, imitation, improvisation, and creation. Music activities are created to help the child move through these goals to achieve musical independence. Classroom activities include:
Voice
Reading, singing, chanting
Instruments
The playing of Orff-Schulwerk xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels, pitched and unpitched percussion instruments & drums, Ukuleles, and recorders.
Movement
Dance, body percussion
Our Music Lead Guide, Ms. Dianne, is Orff-Schulwerk Certified. You can learn more about Ms. Dianne on our Staff page!
Toddlers
Music is an integral part of a child’s life from birth to adulthood. Our music programs use research based on Dr. Edwin Gordon’s Music Learning Theory. In Music Learning Theory, we teach patterns- musical words – to students in a logical, sequential way that yields musical understanding. At this stage of development, singing, movement, and playing of instruments are used to achieve musical understanding. The overall goal of the program is to stimulate a child’s musical potential through active and engaging musical activities. Weekly classes include singing, chanting, moving, playing percussion and tonal instruments, and echoing patterns.
Primary-6th Grade
The Music and Montessori classrooms are designed for a child’s success in their learning. Like the Montessori approach, the Orff-Schulwerk Music Education emphasizes the child’s natural desire to move. Both approaches engage the children through active participation in music, literature, playing of instruments, songs, and dances from many cultures. Orff-Schulwerk instruments are designed to be ‘child-friendly ’, so all students can immediately create music and express their feelings, and even our youngest children will have the opportunity to play them.
“Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them – a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music.”
– Gerald Ford
Music in Motion!
For more information
Learning Music Theory
The Orff-Schulwerk Approach