Orff Schulwerk Today Nurturing Musical Expression and Understanding by Jane Frazee *** Foreword Acknowledgements Contents CD Track List Link to info on the Schott site

Orff Schulwerk Today Nurturing Musical Expression and Understanding by Jane Frazee Almost a half-century of significant pedagogical contribution have propelled Orff Schulwerk to prominence in the North American music education landscape. Orff Schulwerk Today celebrates this playful, child-centered, participatory approach and offers a fresh synthesis of doing and understanding that encourages students to express themselves in - and realise themselves through - music. Seven Orff Schulwerk master teachers share their classroom experience and insights, enriching the text. Collections of American songs and rhymes augment materials from the Orff/Keetman volumes and supplements to address music and movement objectives. More than one hundred lesson suggestions highlight musical elements and encourage self-expression. A CD of listening examples from a variety of historical periods and cultural contexts enhances the book. Jane Frazee is founder and former director of Graduate Music Education Programs at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul MN. Her 30 years of classroom music experience, in addition to her work with pre-service and in-service teachers nationwide, has received recognition from the state Minnesota Music Educators Association, and the international Orff-Schulwerk Foundation, from which she received their highest honor: the Pro Merito award. She has presented workshops and courses throughout the U.S., Canada, and Australia. A former Fulbright teaching scholar at the Orff Institute in Austria, Frazee is the author of several collections of material for children's voices and instruments; Discovering Keetman, a collection of teaching suggestions for Keetman's instrumental pieces; and the first textbook for applied Orff Schulwerk in North American classrooms, Discovering Orff.

Foreword When I retired after 30 years in the classroom and 10 as a university administrator, I happily found more time to spend in the kitchen. Fortunately, that soon led me to a great Italian cook, Marcella Hazan. Why, you are wondering, have I taken this culinary detour? Because I was surprised to find in the pages of her wonderful book, Marcella Cucina, very important ideas about music education! Addressing the fundamental principles by which a good cook ought to be guided, she offers three attributes: passion, clarity, and sincerity. I think these characteristics are especially appropriate for Orff teachers as well. We acknowledge passion because we give ourselves fully to the excitement of doing this work, perhaps even to the exclusion of balance in our lives. Marcella says that clarity is about letting ingredients speak for themselves. In my view, this translates to insisting that each lesson step has a clear purpose in contributing to the musical outcome. Finally, according to Marcella, sincerity means speaking with your own true voice. She believes that we do not attempt to imitate others or cook strictly by the book but rather that "we need to recognize ourselves in the dishes we prepare." The Orff teachers I particularly admire teach from their own special strengths as they inspire remarkable musical results. Hazan ends the introduction to her book by suggesting that her recipes are simply the results of her kitchen experiments. They are "just notes on a page, waiting for you to bring them to life. When you do, don't play the notes, please. Think taste. Make music." Orff Schulwerk Today is the result of my notes about my own efforts to achieve clarity and sincerity in my Orff teaching (the passion was a given). Reflecting on past practice was an opportunity to revisit the countless intuitive delights of this work as well as the challenges I faced in presenting concepts in an uncluttered fashion. As 1 worked on melody, form crept in; what was my purpose in this lesson? The temptation to elaborate, rather than clarify, is a result of the richness of Orff media and the nature of music itself, but it can lead to student confusion. If I could offer you a mantra on your work as a result of my experience, it would be "What, in particular, am I attempting to teach in this lesson and why am I teaching it?" Insights from my own long teaching career encouraged me to invite you to extend your own practice from process to content. A real adventure lies ahead if you undertake to develop a curriculum based on this idea. Such a journey leads to the most important destination for your professional work: students who are as capable of understanding as they are performing music. As their proficiency grows, so will your enthusiasm tor continuing to find fresh ways of engaging them in music that inspires the mind and touches the heart. And don't just play the notes, please. Make music.

Acknowledgements The Latin root of the word education is educationem. It is variously defined in the third edition of the Oxford Universal Dictionary as "the process of nourishing or rearing, the systematic instructing, schooling, or training given to the young (and by extension to adults) in preparation for the work of life, and the action of drawing forth." Orff Schulwerk practitioners, for nearly a half-century, have nurtured the young and, by extension, adults. Orff teachers have relished the gift and the challenge of drawing forth the innate musicality of their students for the purpose of expressing themselves in, and enriching their lives through, music. The practice and proliferation of Orff Schulwerk has been a grassroots endeavor. No national or state educational authority in North America insisted on the implementation of the practice in schools. No major university in the U.S. has based its teacher preparation program on Orff Schulwerk principles. No major music education organization, with the exception of the American Orff Schulwerk Association, endorsed the practice of Orff Schulwerk in music classrooms. Yet, the work has slowly gained acceptance through the enthusiastic support of Orff practitioners. From the beginning, the idea of developing musical and pedagogical goals through sharing ideas has characterized the international Orff Schulwerk movement. Just as the classroom is a community of learners, teachers have formed communities of support to address fundamental questions of Orff process and content. Orff Schulwerk communities have emerged from relationships forged at summer workshops, from local Orff chapter meetings, and from. national conferences. The result has been nothing short of a phenomenal movement of practitioner in-service efforts: teachers eager to share what they have learned with their peers. Passion is not too strong a word to describe what these teachers feel about their own growth and the potential to transfer new understanding to their students - and to other teachers. This book represents one outcome of this tradition of self-nourishing that has been the modus operandi of Orff Schulwerk in North America. My own applications of Orff ideas are the result of trial-and-error influenced by admired colleagues and students who taught me to question my views about materials, pedagogy, and outcomes. Because Orff Schulwerk practice has been a community effort, no one teacher can be the ultimate repository of wisdom in its application. The precedent for this view was established by Carl Orff, who gave equal credit for his monumental contribution to music education to Gunild Keetman by stating "I am not exaggerating when I say that without Keetman's decisive contribution through her double talent, 'Schulwerk' could never have come into being."' I wish to emulate Orff's wisdom in acknowledging the importance of my own students in the development of my thinking about Orff Schulwerk. They inspired me to consider new applications of the work that I felt I had mastered. They developed artistry in their adult students that I would not have considered possible even a decade earlier. The contributions of these outstanding practitioners to this book give invaluable snapshots of what life is like in an Orff classroom and what it means to be a part of an Orff musical adventure. You will find their stories and ideas sprinkled throughout the text; wisdom gained from years of experience and the great Orff tradition of sharing insights. Orff practitioners represented in this book are Jay Broeker, Steve Calantropio, Cindy Hall, JoElla Hug, Beth Nelson, Roger Sams, and Jacque Schrader. My admiration for their expertise and gratitude for their generous contributions and reflections that enrich this book is boundless. Another group of respected colleagues, who are my silent partners in this enterprise, have been generous participants by reading, editing, posing questions, and questioning assumptions. They have nourished me, and they have drawn forth a far better book than I could have made without their help. I, and my readers, owe them bouquets of gratitude and admiration for their contributions, given in the spirit of collaboration that is typical of Orff Schulwerk practice. With appreciation for their efforts, I acknowledge that the responsibility for content is mine alone. In the end, I am accountable for errors in the material presented or omitted from consideration in this book. Carroll Gonzo, University of St. Thomas Graduate Music Education Distinguished Research Fellow, provided meticulous editorial help. Music education historian, Michael Mark, offered critical assistance with the history chapter. Steve Calantropio, author of Pieces and Processes, Orff music authority and master teacher attended to matters of improvisation, composition, and presentation throughout the manuscript. Roxanne Dixon, vocal/general music teacher in the Camp Hill PA School District and 2004 University of St. Thomas MA graduate with Orff concentration and Arvida Steen, author of Exploring Orff and Orff master teacher were especially helpful on pedagogical and assessment issues. Mary Shamrock, international Orff Schulwerk and ethnomusicology specialist posed vital questions about content and helpful tutoring in world music. Kent Kreuter, historian and co-author of Discovering Orff, has encouraged my Orff quest with thoughtful questions, well-timed humor, and unconditional support. I offer my most sincere thanks to these educators who have nurtured, instructed, and enriched me in the process of crafting Orff Schulwerk Today. I also acknowledge with gratitude the artistic photographs that enhance this book. Christen Roberts has captured the joy, mindfulncss, and fascination of students in Doug Goodkin's classes at the San Francisco School. Chris also photographed at his own alma mater, French American School in San Francisco, with the cooperation of music teacher, Liz Keefe. I thank them all for their contributions to the vitality of this book. A final - and deeply felt - note of appreciation to Wcndy Lampa and Helen Peres da Costa. Without the encouragement and support of Wendy there would be no book. Absent Helen's editorial expertise and guidance it would be a much less intelligible one. Thank you both for giving life to Orff Schulwerk Today.

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