Home Page The Orff Approach About Carl Orff About Us Courses Membership Links Free Downloads News Page Members Only Contact Us President: Marjorie Ayling Vice President: Officers: Hon. Chair: Sarah Hennessy Hon. Treasurer: Sian Davies-Barnes Hon. Secretary: Margaret Murray Hon. Membership Secretary: Beryl Nunn Hon. Secretary Press & Publicity: Judith Short Web Manager: Fran Carpenter Committee: Kate Buchanan - Editor of the Orff Times Jill Foreman Moira Jakobsson Margaret Jack Shelley Pomeroy Maeve Buckley Kate Buchanan, Editor of the Orff Times How did you get involved with the Orff Society? I joined a day a week course at Roehampton Institute in the 1980s on the recommendation of Marjorie Ayling (Vice President, Orff Society UK). I had been working with children and young people in a variety of music teaching situations. However, I knew something was missing and wanted to utilise more of the children?s ideas but didn?t know how. How do you use the Orff approach in your work? All the teaching activities I devise whether for children, young people, teachers, students and musicians are influenced by my knowledge of the Orff approach. I aim to balance the development of musical skills in a structured way with more open- ended approaches to improvising and composing. It has given me more confidence in using body percussion, movement and dance in my teaching. What do you gain from Orff courses? As well as a fantastic source of material and resources, the Orff practitioners I have observed all seem to have an immense capacity for teaching music musically often using non verbal forms of communication. Many activities offer a holistic and integrated approach ? we move, sing, play, practise, work as a group, present solos, challenge and share. This has had a tremendous effect on my own teaching style and I try and devise activities which incorporate as many of these ideas as I can. Do you have a favourite Orff moment? There are two moments I'd like to share with you: one was the my first encounter with a xylophone when the clouds lifted and I realised I could improvise! The second was at the Orff Institute in Salzburg taking part in music and movement activities exploring, playing, singing and moving starting with a series of activities linked to the theme of the Sun and ending with the Moon. It was filled with wonder, drama, exploration and literally transformed a group of music teachers into performers of the highest order. Every activity flowed seamlessly from one to the next with very little teacher talk and lots of music. Sarah Hennessy, Chair How did you get involved with the Orff Society? I had just started a new job in teacher education at the University of Exeter (where I still work) and needed a chance to refresh my practice. The Orff Summer School in York (1991) looked relevant and interesting, as I had only had a brief introduction to the approach when doing my PGCE in the early 1970s. The course was tremendously enjoyable and affirmed many of the ideas and approaches that I had previously been working with in a rather haphazard fashion. It gave me a clear framework, both theoretical and practical, for my teaching. How do you use the Orff approach in your work? I work with students in training to become either specialist music or generalist primary teachers. Adults can be very anxious about their own musicality and many have cut themselves off from making music The materials and ideas within the Orff approach reconnects them with their own musical selves and is directly relevant to their needs as teachers of young children. I can draw on their knowledge and skills in other subjects to find stepping stones into music. The approach also works well with musicians who have little experience of improvising and other creative activities. What do you gain from Orff courses? Great fun. Meeting up with teachers who share creative and imaginative ways of working with children. Opportunities to be a learner and develop new material, reminding me what's important! Do you have a favourite Orff moment? Working with Wolfgang Hartmann at York, observing and experience the fluidity of his teaching, and discovering that less is more. Margaret Murray, Founder of Orff Society UK, Hon Secretary I first came across Orff-Schulwerk when in 1956/57 I happened to be present at some Columbia recordings made in Munich, Germany, with children and musicians directed by Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman. I was immediately fascinated by Orff's use of spoken language as sound, image and form. This led to my being asked to provide such material in English for an equivalent recording in London, followed by an adaptation of the five main Orff-Schulwerk volumes into English. Responding to a gradually increasing perceived need I initiated, or was asked to give courses, at first in the UK and then later in Europe at the Orff Institute in Salzburg, USA, Australia and South Africa. I founded the Orff Society UK in 1964 and am still serving as its Hon. Secretary. Over the years I have lived through many enlightening moments, but the highlights of my Orff experience were seeing both Orff and Gunild Keetmen working spontaneously with multi-national groups, using voices and a few simple instruments and creating exciting musical frameworks that allowed and inspired many of the participants to improvise in previously unimagined ways. Maeve Buckley, Committee Member How did you get involved with the Orff Society? My first encounter with Orff-Schulwerk was when I was doing my PGCE at the University of Exeter. I semi-specialised in music under the direction of Sarah Hennessy, who introduced me to this exciting and creative way of teaching music to children. I attended an Orff course that same year with Andrea Sangiorgio and came away feeling very inspired! Ever since then I have been using the Orff approach when teaching music and have found my teaching to be much more creative and possibilities endless. How do you use the Orff approach in your work? I work in a school where there is a high percentage of children with little or no English. For children like this improvisation is an important means of communication and I use this at some stage in every lesson. I feel that it is of great importance to make children aware that they themselves are instruments so I try to use the voice and body percussion as much and as creatively as possible. By keeping it simple it is easy for the child to become the teacher and lead the class in the same manner. This is not just creative but also very empowering for the child. What do you gain from Orff courses? I have a chance to put myself in the place of the child and become the experimenter, the learner once more. It reawakens my sense of wonder and excitement as I feel that I am doing things for the first time again. I have left each course with an insight into teaching music that makes much more sense to me. It fills me with enthusiasm for class teaching as the emphasis is put on the child to respond creatively, imaginatively and individually. Do you have a favourite Orff moment? Leaving my first Orff course and feeling that singing (no matter how good or bad your voice is!) and moving to music is so wonderfully human. Moira Jakobsson, Committee Member How did you get involved with the Orff Society? When, after working as a general classroom teacher for twenty years, during which I had taught a lot of music, I decided to become a music specialist, I looked around for training. Having had a grounding in Orff at college in the sixties from Jean Maughan author of the Oxford course books, 'Pitch In!' I realised as soon as I spotted the information about Orff UK's Richmond weekend in June 1995 that this could be what I needed. Wolfgang Hartmann's two-day course was the first of many happy Orff training occasions. In spite of the long trip from Glasgow, I couldn't stay away! How do you use the Orff approach in your work? I now work free-lance training general classroom teachers as well as music specialists and only occasionally with children. Aware that music is a whole body experience, I always begin my lessons with a movement activity - a folk dance, a rhythm game, or an active response to some recorded music, setting the atmosphere of happy interaction within a structure and focusing the children in a musical way. Thereafter, I'm always mindful of the principle of moving from the simple to the complex, building confidence along the way so that everyone is fully involved at the right level to make a satisfying and beautiful piece of music, of whatever kind. What do you gain from Orff courses? When you learn and play an Orff piece in a group, using a variety of instruments, you get the thrill of playing perhaps a drum for the first time, understand how it feels to learn by memory instead of reading music, how exposed you feel if you take longer than the others to memorise, for instance, an ostinato on a xylophone and as a result you are a much better teacher. You also get the fun of it all when everyone, eventually, feels the music in a deep way - the wonderful buzz when it all comes together and that drives you to make the whole experience possible for children. Do you have a favourite Orff moment? Working with a class of thirty eleven-year-olds and two children with special language difficulties who regularly joined the music lesson, we had looked at 'The blues' - lyrics, rhythms and melodies, eventually learning 'The February Blues' (Seasonal Songs, Cambridge Press). We then moved on to sing only the chorus, which I accompanied with a simple, rhythmical drone on the bass xylophone. When it came to improvising on the second xylophone between choruses of this song, to the astonishment and delight of all, for the first time ever, every single child contributed a rhythmical melody. That day going out, the children seemed to walk taller. Shelley Pomeroy, Committee Member How did you get involved with the Orff Society? I first encountered the Orff approach through my mother, who is an Orff specialist in a school in South Africa. I grew up with xylophones in every corner of our house, in amongst my parents' extensive collection of folk instruments! My career as a French Horn player turned into a musical journey down the education route. In turn I did my PGCE in Exeter where I studied with Sarah Hennessy and reconnected with Orff-Schulwerk. How do you use the Orff approach in your work? I work in a Primary School in East London where we are starting to build up Music after a few years without a Music specialist. Many of our children have English as an additional language and I have found the Orff approach invaluable for its simple accessibility and endless creativity. All the staff and children find it hugely enjoyable to make music together without fear of 'making mistakes'. Using the Orff Approach has made it so easy for me to inject enthusiasm back into our Music lessons and have our school resounding with the sound of singing and people being truly creative. What do you gain from Orff courses? I have attended 2 Orff courses so far, with Andrea Sangiorgio and Wolfgang Hartman. I come away from them so inspired and brimming with ideas. I love going back to school and sharing what I have learned with my class, choir, the staff and anyone else who happens to pass me in the corridors! I am totally convinced that Orff is going to reignite the creativity in my school and help everybody to get back to a more balanced curriculum. Do you have a favourite Orff moment? My best Orff moment so far has been taking my first Staff meeting and managing to get the whole team using body percussion and their voices to compose their first ever sound poems. I had no idea whether they would play along, but I reckon Sarah would have been proud with what the Music-shy staff produced! Fran Carpenter, Web Manager I became a member of the Orff Society during my first year of teaching in 1986, encouraged and inspired by my then school Music Co-ordinator, Margaret Morris (now Margaret Jack, fellow Orff committee member). I owe Margaret a great deal as she introduced me to a whole new way of working with children. I have attended many Orff courses now, including summer schools and shorter weekend courses. I never fail to be amazed at how many new ideas I take away with me - a huge number of songs and lively practical activities which I can then integrate into my music planning and daily teaching work. However, probably the most valuable aspects of Orff courses, for me, are the way they renew my energy and enthusiasm for teaching music generally, plus being able to work with incredible and inspiring tutors from all over the world. And the ideas really do work with children - they adore the songs, the games, the playing of instruments and improvisation. Orff opens up their musical world, as well as my own! Marjorie Ayling, President I attended the first English Orff course in 1963 with tutors Margaret Murray, Doris Gould, Diana Jordan (dance) & Robert Salkeld (recorder). This was just at the time when I was taking up an appointment at Stockwell College of Education as lecturer in music and music education. The experiences of that first course laid the foundation for my whole approach to music teaching at every level from nursery to PGCE and throughout my life. How do you use the Orff approach in your work? The Orff approach has been fundamental for me in the emphasis which it lays on first hand, creative musical experiences - knowing how to, rather than simply knowing about. Children, students and teachers learn best by being engaged in musical and imaginative activities and their knowledge and understanding, at whatever level, grows out of their practical involvement. Critical too is the stimulus of working with other colleagues across the arts - some of the most exciting work for me was in the many creative arts courses which grew out of the Orff movement in the early days. What do you gain from Orff courses? Whether attending as a student or teaching on the Orff courses there has always been a sense of shared excitement and creative energy which refreshes and inspires everyone taking part. For me probably the most exciting course was the American Orff symposium which I was fortunate enough to attend in Colorado in 1990. The richness of the musical and educational experience brought by the 1500 delegates and the generosity of their welcome stays with me still. We really saw the immense potential of the Orff approach used by people from fantastically different backgrounds. Do you have a favourite Orff moment? Working once a week using the Orff approach with infants in a local school in Orpington I arrived rather late and without any equipment - not even the ghetto blaster which I used to play short excerpts of a wide range of music. I was greeted by two of the six year olds and the conversation went something like this: "You're very late." "Yes, I'm very sorry." "And you haven't brought any music for us to listen to?" "No, I didn't have time." "Don't worry - we'll play you some we've made up." And they did! Orff enabled me to see that real musical experience is not just the prerogative of the masters or of a few talented instrumentalists - it's accessible to us all, no matter at what level.