San Francisco International Orff Course, Level I - A Reflection

Over the past two weeks I have gone from thinking I knew a bit about the Orff Schulwerk pedagogy, to realising I did not really have much understanding about it at all, to having an epiphany about how I might alter the way I teach to improve the quality of learning in my classroom.

The San Francisco International Orff courses follow the American Orff Schulwerk Association (AOSA) three level certification programme.  The Level One looks at the basics of teaching the Orff pedagogy, including using the pentatonic scales, basic movement, games, singing and recorder.  Level Two takes this further with the inclusion of hexatonic scales and the church modes while Level Three goes full diatonic with a jazz and blues twist thrown in for good measure.

This year I undertook the Level I course with Sofia Lopez-Ibor and Sarah Noll, and while I understand scales and modes pretty well (I do like writing music after all), it was the manner in which they were used which was a revelation.  I also became aware that maybe I am too eager to rush into teaching notation and use technology before actually giving the students a chance to get a feel for the tools we are equipping them with.  Using a food analogy, presently it is like I am letting the students look and smell the most delicious food and then not allowing them eat to it before asking them to recreate it. 

And the use of songs, singing, and using the voice in general!  I do use songs in my classroom, but not to the level the course suggested; it is also something a mistake that I think a lot of Music teachers make (especially Secondary/ High School) and that is not using the voice as the focus for teaching - games and/or rhymes lead into song, performance either supports this or develops out of it.  A simple concept, but one that is missing from a lot of classrooms.  

Also, as someone with two left feet, dancing and movement has never really played much part in my lessons apart from at a surface level, but having had to confront my demons and take part in 1.5 hours of movement lessons a day, I feel much more confident in bringing it into the classroom. And funnily enough, a few of us on the course realised that the movement we have been using only needs a little bit of tweaking to become so much more effective.

In essence I will be approaching the new school year with an eye to using many of the ideas that we have been looking at over these past ten days.  These include: 

1. More preparation going into how I approach teaching songs and music (including using movement and props) to classes across Key Stages 1-3; 
2. Less haste to teach students notation and technology until the students have a grasp of musical fundamentals from playing by ear; 
3. Avoiding dictating the total progression of the lesson, asking for less writing, and being much less obsessed with assessing everything (clever preparation of the themes and initial start of the lesson, but once the fundamental information has been given, allowing the students development of the music suggest how we proceed);
4. Perform in class, research about the music at home;
5. Allowing (and having) fun in class - learn through listening, moving and performance, rather than writing screeds of notes for the sake of it.

To other Music teachers I would definitely recommend taking a look at Orff Schulwerk and, if it peeks their interest, taking a course.  I have nothing but praise for the course (and the tutors) in San Francisco, and would love to continue through the other two levels, if finances can be found and the family allow me another two weeks away!