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CHORTEACH
Community, Cooperation, and Collaboration through Orff Schulwerk in Middle School Ensembles

ARTICLE

ing themselves to reproduce repertoire in performance, paraphony as a first form of homophonic motion lat-
using repertoire-derived materials to generate some- er. 18
thing new.
4) Notating student-created works is not always neces-
sary. Develop and preserve pieces through shorthand
Using Elemental Chunks or use of audio/video recording as student skill grows.
for Student-led Creation
In her cornerstone text, Elementaria, Orff Schulwerk Bite-sized, repetitive phrases can be developed slow-
matriarch Gunild Keetman offers countless examples ly to have a great impact when combined and formed
of how to carefully shepherd students in the creation into a greater work through collaboration with other
of original works. Keetman insists that a ground-up, student musicians. Over time, smaller student inven-
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incremental approach to music education is essential tions can come together in a larger form to create an
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regardless of student age and asserts that, “It is espe- ensemble appropriate piece that was created by and
cially the work in an elemental style that opens the way for your students—much in the same way pieces from
to all kinds of style.” Take a short rhythm or pitch Music for Children or Elementaria are structured. In this
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pattern identified from the repertoire and engage in way, you can incrementally lead your students in exer-
whole-group echo play (an approach Keetman insists cises that strengthen their ability to reproduce music as
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is appropriate for any stage of musical learning). Use an ensemble while simultaneously leading students in
this small, elemental chunk to work with students to cre- the composition, refinement, and performance of their
ate something new. own music, all while building community through Orff
Find or have students create simple texts that are Schulwerk-based cooperation and collaboration.
free to use and contain meaning. Lead student groups
to engage with the text and the short rhythm in speech
play to develop independent lines—simple, text-based Building Community through
ostinatos to start. Later, where Keetman might encour- Cooperation and Collaboration
age composing specific parts for different Orff instru- Cooperation can be thought of as group work where
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ments, instead have students use material developed the teacher appoints tasks or a problem, and each
in speech and echo play to create vocal lines. To pro- group member works on different portions of the task
vide even more structure to help students develop logi- or problem to arrive at a collective solution. Think of
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cal voice-leading and harmony, start with these basic the teacher as head chef designing a menu, and the stu-
guidelines for teacher arrangers learned through Orff dents as station chefs working together to execute the
Schulwerk Teacher Education Level Courses: head chef’s vision.
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Collaboration puts more power into student hands.
1) Allow text to guide rhythmic creation. Prosody will The collaborative “meal” is one where students may
help student-created pieces have a natural feel for per- still be working on distinct tasks, but they’ve conceived
formers and listeners alike. of the “menu” and developed materials in collabora-
tion with their team to present something cohesive and
2) Start with octaves and fifths for accompaniments and unique to their group. There may still be prompts and
bi-tonal/tri-tonal, short-range melodies. Slowly build guidance; some classes may need pseudo cooperative/
to pentatonic scale melodies. As students progress and collaborative activities, or perhaps use cooperative ac-
want more challenge, add in “fa” and “ti,” primarily in tivities to build toward collaboration. Orff Schulwerk
the melodic voice as a passing or neighbor tone. provides a proven approach and decades of material
that allow for flexible, cooperative, and collaborative
3) Initially avoid parallel rhythmic and melodic mo- lesson design.
tion—ostinato and polyphony are our friends. Add As you prepare to initiate a cooperative or collabora-

72 CHORAL JOURNAL November/December 2024 Volume 65 Number 4