The Orff Site Show

Using the body percussion patterns as taught by both Jim Solomon and Jo Ella Hug, we add a little bit of 12 bar blues. Students as young as second grade can learn and be successful with this pattern. Next, you can move this pattern to drums and barred instruments. Mix it any way you want. Use canon form or even add an ostinato below the pattern. Retrograde some numbers, 3,2, 1 and always play the "1" in the center of a conga or djembe for an interesting sound. Have fun! Visit my site www.orffsite.com and follow me on Twitter, @orffsitedotcom

This podcast contains excerpts from a 3rd grade class lesson. In the lesson, I start with a poem, the have the students help create ostinati by using word chains. They practice the rhythms using body percussion and then move the body percussion to actual non-pitched percussion instruments. The next lesson, not included in this broadcast, would be to move the poem to pitched instruments as a melody. From there you can build a form and add other speech and movement.

This podcast deals with story selection for Orff based lessons, mentions where to find teaching visuals and some lesson ideas on the Orffsite.com website, and offers an Orff Approach teacher planning process outline to listeners. www.orffsite.com

In this episode I illustrate ways to take a simple poem and do many different musical activities with the poem or rhyme. This episode refers to a poem and lesson that is posted on my website. You can find the "Black Bat" lesson and PowerPoint at my site, http://www.orffsite.com Find the lesson under the lesson section or the PowerPoint section.

Julie Scott is Assistant Professor in Music Education at Southern Methodist University.  She recently completed a Ph.D. at the Eastman School of Music, where she was Assistant Professor of Music Education for one year.  Prior to teaching at the collegiate level, Dr. Scott taught elementary music in Texas schools for 17 years.  She has been a director of children's choirs in both school and church settings, currently as director of the Lewisville ISD 5th Grade Honor Choir, which was selected as one of two elementary choirs to perform at the Texas Music Educators Conference in 2004.   Previously, Dr. Scott served as the children's choir director at First United Methodist Church, Dallas and as director of the Mesquite All-City Girls Choir.   Her choirs have been featured on two recordings for Choristers Guild, and she is the author of the Early Childhood Year 3 Stepping Stones children’s choir curriculum, which is published by Choristers Guild. I was privileged to have Dr. Scott talk with me during my break from Orff Level III classes at SMU. She gives a great overview of what Orff-Schulwerk is. Enjoy! Related Links: http://www.juliekscott.com/index.htm http://tinyurl.com/32nya8d http://tinyurl.com/3xx2e45 Music: The introduction is based on Alpha IV, a body percussion piece by Jim Solomon, in his book The Body Rondo Book available on amazon.com.

This episode concerns the importance of workshops and continuing ed. Workshops are my favorite sources of teaching procedures and lesson ideas. They are highly motivational and put me in contact with great fellow teachers. This podcast refers to a NTAOSA workshop led by Paul Cribari in Dallas, TX on April 24, 2010. Paul Cribari teaches music to children in kindergarten through fifth grade in the Cherry Creek School District of Colorado. In addition to teaching general music, Paul conducts the school choir and oversees the music classes in the school's "Aftercare for the Arts and Sciences" program. Paul received his Bachelors degree from the University of Northern Colorado, and his Masters degree from the University of St. Thomas. In addition to being a regular clinician for local chapters of AOSA and state MENC conferences, he has presented at several AOSA National Conferences and has been on the faculty for Orff Schulwerk teacher training courses at several other universities. Attend a workshop led by Paul. It's much more fantastic than my selective memory of the workshop!

The subject of today's podcast is programs. In today's show, I share one of the ways I present a program to parents. I believe in using the music I already am teaching, and do not use commercial kids musicals. The type of program discussed here is a demonstration program. "One, Two Three" is a poem I found in Jim Solomon's book. The "Snowflake Song" is from one of Jeff Kriske and Randy DeLelles's Game Plan books. I also use traditional concerts and programs that use stories and drama. Actual audio from the program is shared in today's show. My fellow music teacher is Claudia Graf. I failed to mention her name in the podcast. I conclude today's show with a soundbite from Dr. Jill Trinka, well known teacher and performer of folk-songs suitable for children. She is a faculty member of the University of St. Thomas. You can read about her on the university's website: http://tinyurl.com/y8zfqkh You can hear a sample of her authentic singing and see one of her books here: http://tinyurl.com/yafa98k Here is my "translation" of Dr. Trinka's response concerning the use of folk music in class. “I think the most important thing for the teacher to remember is that you want the music to speak, and so it has to be honest. It has to come from your heart, more than from your brain and more than from the eye, it's all about the ear; and so listen to yourself singing. If you love the song you know you'll be successful with it (unintelligible)..your children will be successful with it when they understand your passion for it....Real music, it's got to feel good and its got to be noble in spirit and character.”

This is episode 3 of the Orffsite Show Podcast, for December 12, 2009. This podcast is designed to show how I'm implementing the Orff Approach in my elementary music classes. This show's topic is Holiday music. See how I use the Orff Approach in singing, moving and playing instruments. Thanks to Carl Vasta for his Bluegrass Jingle Bells. http://www.carlvasta.com/Bluegrass_Jingle_Bells-MP3.html Other materials include Phyllis Weikhert's book, Teaching Movement and Dance, Music from Rhythmically Moving 6, Jeff Kriske and Randy Delelles' Game Plan Grade One book, and the music of Vince Guaraldi. Thanks especially to the students of MST, Richardson ISD.

The Orff approach in today's show is, again, moving from speech to music. The episode includes audio of a classroom activity for older students. This activity shows how you can move a group from speech to playing music. In this audio, I use rhythms from Jim Solomon's book, The Body Rondo Book, available from Amazon.com (http://tinyurl.com/yh865mt) The intro/outro song is Starfish, by Jerry Bradley.

The Orff approach in today's show is moving from speech to music. The episode includes audio of a classroom activity. This activity shows how you can move a group from speech to playing music.

The Orff Site Show is a podcast about using the Orff-Schulwerk approach in your elementary music class. This is the introductory episode which tells the listener what the show is about and what to expect in the future episodes. It is a podcast that should interest elementary music teachers who use the approach or those who are curious about the approach. It is hosted by a current elementary music teacher with 20 years of teaching experience, most in the secondary level, but the last 3 years have been at the elementary level.