The Orff-Schulwerk Process
from the Elementary Classroom Teacher Resource Index

German composer and pedagogue, Carl Orff, developed an internationally recognised approach to music education which combines movement, singing, speech, listening and instrument playing. Orff Schulwerk is an approach to music education that includes all facets of music expression. Children learn in an active way, where imitation and exploration lead to improvisation and music literacy. Speech, song, movement and instruments are the vehicles used to teach rhythm, melody, form, harmony and timbre. It is built on the idea that a child must be able to feel and make rhythms and melodies before being called on to read and write music. In the same way a child learns to speak before learning to read and write, he or she must have a musical language in which to feel at home, before technical knowledge is introduced. The Orff Process is child-developmental. Orff believed that a child internalizes and developes ownership of a concept by experiencing the concept first. "Experience first, intellectualize second."

Through tuned and non-tuned percussion instruments, movement, games, singing, rhythmic exploration and drama, the child learns of his own innate musical talents in a way that is immediately successful and rewarding. Orff for the very young child is an excellent preparation for private lessons. For the older child it is an indispensable means toward developing a more complete musical experience as it supplements private lessons.

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