Home Page The Orff Approach About Carl Orff About Us Courses Membership Links Free Downloads News Page Members Only Contact Us Beginnings As a German composer, best known for his work Carmina Burana, Orff first became interested in music education in the 1920's when, together with Dorothee Guenther he founded a movement school in Munich. He was determined from the start that the students, whether musically trained or not, should be involved in creating their own dance music, rather than relying on a piano accompaniment, which was the traditional practice at the time. Evolution Orff was working with students of dance and gymnastics, and at first the only sophisticated instruments available were various forms of drums and untuned percussion. He started with these, but it was not long before students who had never played the piano before were able to improvise in pairs at the keyboard. Their rhythmic foundation lay in the rhythm of language, and this has remained the essential starting point for all students of Orff's approach. Each country has adapted his principles according to their own native language and culture, and each year a richer heritage has developed. Instruments Although Orff began his pitched work with the piano, recorders and lower pitched string instruments, he wanted to widen his palette of sound and to find instruments that were technically less demanding. He had the instruments of the Gamelan in mind, but it was the chance gift of an African marimba that led to the design and manufacture of a simplified form of xylophones, to which metallophones and glockenspiels were added. These instruments and their copies are now known all over the world as "Orff instruments". Philosophy To perceive Orff's Music for Children merely as a method of musical education is to miss its essential richness. Orff himself saw his work as a plant which would take root and flower in many different environments; as a living organism which would draw vitality from its surrounding climate; as a harnessing of the innate creativity present in every human being. Orff's interpretation of the word "music" goes back to the Greek work "mousike" which embraced all the arts (of the muses) so that speech and language, movement and dance are one with singing and instrumental sounds. Training The fact that Orff's approach does not constitute a method lays it open to being misunderstood. Traditionally his ideas have been handed on through a variety of workshops, classes and courses, with his own books of material being used for guidance and inspiration. In 1961 the Orff Institute was set up in Salzburg to provide an international centre for students and teachers from all over the world. Extended and short courses are held there, and tutors work to explore the relevance of Orff's ideas in our changing society. International perspective Since the first Orff-Schulwerk books were published in German in 1950-1954 they have been translated into at least eight languages. Teachers and students from over fifty countries have attended courses in Salzburg and there is a constant interchange of ideas across the world. National socieities have been set up worldwide to promote Orff's approach to music education and countless papers and books have been written in many languages. Although language may be a problem in communicating ideas, it provides no barriers for students from different countries working together creatively in workshop sessions. Students from widely varying cultural traditions have shared ideas and materials and found both common ground and new inspiration in their meeting. In a world increasingly committed to multi-cultural education, Orff has already blazed the trail. Special Needs For Orff, everyone has the right to experience the excitement, the inspiration and the satisfaction of working creatively with musical material. Increasingly those who are working with diabled people of all ages are finding Orff's ideas relevant and encouraging. In many cases they relate directly to specific physical handicaps such as those in speech and muscular co-ordination, whilst in the case of learning difficulties, they provide the kind of coherent yet creative framework which gives familiarity and security. Developments of the Orff instruments have also been made for work with hearing impaired students, and the Orff instrumentarium is an essential resource for the music therapist. Publications Information about published Orff material is available from Schott & Co. Ltd., 48 Great Marlborough Street, London W1V 2BN For details of relevant articles in educational journals write to Orff Society UK, 7 Rothesay Avenue, Richmond, Surrey. TW10 5EB.