• What is Orff-Schulwerk?

    Orff-Schulwerk (Schulwerk is German for "school work") is a method of teaching music, created by Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman, that combines music, movement, speech and drama. 

    In an Orff-Schulwerk based music classroom, students are taught music in ways that may imitate the way children interact and play outside of the educational setting. Orff-Schulwerk focuses on the elemental building blocks of music: melody, rhythm, harmony, form, texture, timbre, and expressive qualities. In movement, the elemental building blocks include locomotor and non-locomotor movement, use of time, space and energy in free and patterned forms. When focusing on speech, students will learn rhymes with or without meaning. 

    When performing, students will learn to sing, dance, move expressively, play body percussion, and play a variety of pitched and non-pitched instruments. 

    For more information, please visit the AOSA (American Orff Schulwerk Association) website at aosa.org.