Orff-Schulwerk Ensembles
Orff-Schulwerk and children go hand-in-hand. Singing, chanting, moving, improvisation, and playing percussive instruments accompany the methodology. Singing songs and learning to be musical are learned before learning to read notation, as one does their mother-tongue as a child. Specific Orff melody instruments (see photo below) include wooden xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels, offering clear, in-tune pitches for the students.
Orff-Schulwerk was created by German composer Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman in the early 1900s, emphasizing nuturing and devloping the young musician through creativity, activity, and the student’s traditional music and folklore, in addition to looking into foreign cultures and musics.
Further information: http://www.orff.de/orff-schulwerk.html
http://www.aosa.org/orff.html
