Updating the Schulwerk.

This article was written in 1993 by Jos Wuytack and presented to the Master Class in Orff Schulwerk at the University of Memphis in 1995. It was published in the Carl Orff Canada Journal in 1993. 

The question, “Can Carl Orff’s educational ideas be updated?” could be answered by a saying of the pedagogue himself: "That which is not up to date cannot become out of date." And, indeed, he conceived his Schulwerk through and through from the basic elemental nature of a child's world and according to artistic standards and aims. 

For some people today, traditional nursery rhymes and children's songs are like digging up the outdated. But are these old sayings really obsolete? Fairy tales, rhymes and chants are powerful. They grew from magic roots and involve treatment of universal and archetypal characters. Therefore they are for all time. The essence of the “elemental” is absolutely human; namely that everybody is born out of pain and that they must die, but at the same time they can feel joy at the sight of the beauty of nature: flowers, animals, and other human beings. 

A quotation from Romas Guardini clarifies this statement. 

“Images are ideas that arise through an encounter with a certain object or event whose meaning, however, extends through the whole being. They illuminate existence. They express ways within which man can find his way. They belong to the deviation of consciousness. Deep within the human spirit lies the readiness to produce them and only few encounters with the forms of the world are necessary for this to happen. They are part of the stuff of poetry, wisdom and art and form a tradition that is everywhere effective.” 

The “timeless” character of the Schulwerk lies in its quality of being elemental and pre­-artistic. For Carl Orff the “models” in his five volumes make an inexhaustible “arsenal” of elementary musical and speech forms. And certainly, the resulting system is a well planned progression. The type and nature of the models are determined by sensing the state of the child's awareness and the stages of his mental growth. 

But this timeless power does not exclude the possibility of a free and creative adaptation for the present day. Exactly the opposite is true. The model character of Schulwerk demands as a principle that the examples be constantly reworked in improvisation and in re-creation! 

We cannot escape from our world of today; a world very different from the one when Orff’s ideas were being put into practice by Gunild Keetman. Then the experience was Germano-centric. 

In 1993, the world is a much smaller place: We are informed about everything happening on this planet. Wars, famine, political changes, ethnic consciousness, economic survival have all constituted an unbelievable shift in the world populations. All over the planet there is a polyglot population, anxious to be heard and understood; a population where each individual is holding on to his own identity and culture. No longer is the world Euro-centric but truly cosmopolitan!

Here the Schulwerk has an important role to play. Because of its elemental nature, its taking hold of primary principles and its inclusion of other art forms, it can provide a way that all cultures can participate and yet maintain their individual differences. 

Schulwerk still is "in statu nascendi.” The adaptation by other countries and cultures does not mean a literal and complete take-over of the German original, but rather each country has to reconstitute the ideas according to its own specific mentality, its characteristics and tradition. 

That was my task in developing the French and the Flemish adaptations, with the approval of Carl Orff himself. It was a very demanding but enriching experience to transpose Orff's ideas to other circumstances and other countries, especially with the actual school situation in mind. 

The Orff Schulwerk is widespread in all parts of the world and there has been a continuous, practical and theoretical involvement with its ideas. People have frequently asked me, "What is the real Schulwerk? Where can we find the “orthodox" way? What to think about the different directions? What did you change in the Schulwerk and are you still studying yourself?" 

In the following paragraphs I shall try to explain in what manner I have adapted some of the original ideas of the Schulwerk. 

I began a thorough study of the Schulwerk in 1958 at the Lemmens institute, Leuven, Belgium under professor Marcel Andries, who introduced Orff Schulwerk in Belgium. I experimented with these new ideas with children in a classroom situation, with youngsters in the youth movement and with theology students in the liturgy. Everywhere it worked wonderfully. it was active, creative, and social. Everybody could be involved in a democratic way. Music education became an open door for every child. Both Marcel Andries and myself were interested to see how Orff's ideas were put into practice at the Orff institute in Salzburg. We had fruitful experiences working with Gunild Keetman, Polyxene Matey, Herman Regner, and Barbara Haselbach. We were especially impressed by the rhythmic-verbal ability of Carl Orff himself. 

We devised a series of lesson plans, where the "official program" was presented with the achievements of the Schulwerk. Our ambition was to create a training for teachers using the Schulwerk ideas. We organized workshops and courses all over Flanders which were extremely very successful. From this moment on, I used all my energy to guide the teachers in the use of the Schulwerk. Because there was not a pedagogical explanation in the original five volumes, I established a pedagogical outline explaining how to teach the proper techniques. Thus began my contribution to the Schulwerk. 

I

In the Schulwerk the melodic training is based on regional children's songs, folksongs, and dance tunes. However, there is opportunity for inclusion of folklore from other countries. indeed there is a logical progression in the five German volumes: 

• Pentatonic
• II & III Major Hexatonic and Heptatonic
• IV & V Minor Modality

It stretches from the immediate stage as far as the horizons of great art. 

I added a few steps to Orff's melodic progression so that the logical sequence consists of the assimilation of one new note each time. i proposed the nomenclature: ontogenesis of melody; bitonic (so-mi); tritonic (so-la-so-mi), tetratonic (so-la-so-mi-do), folkloric (mi-re-­do), pentatonic (so-la-so-mi-re-do), hexatonic (so-la-so-fa-mi-re-do), heptatonic (so-la-­so-fa-mi-re-do-ti-do). 

Although the first volume is entitled “Pentatonic" there is no explanation of the pentatonic system. Therefore I studied pentatonic scales in different cultures collecting hundreds of songs. By comparing them, I extracted the definition of pentatonic, deciding upon the following nomenclature: hemi-pentatonic (with half steps), anhemi-pentatonic (without half steps), and modal pentatonic. 

As the years progressed I gathered more pentatonic songs from all over the world. This brings the children from the four corners of the world together helping them to better understand each other's differences. 

Because of my thirty years experience teaching Gregorianic at the priest seminary in Gent, I was particularly drawn to the traditional modes as used in Volume IV. I emphasized the emotional potential, the varying characteristics and the ethics of each mode. I also introduced Lydian and Mixolydian, which are not used explicitly in Volume IV, because they cannot be placed with the minor modes. However they need a place in our teaching because of their specific feelings. Orff was aware of this and in the records "Musica poetica” he added some pieces in Lydian and Mixolydian modes from manuscript. 

II 

In the Schulwerk the most basic of all the elements is rhythm. At the beginning of all musical practice comes speech exercise. Speech-patterns make it possible for a child to grasp all types of meter. Rhythmic formulas are experienced through snapping, clapping, patsching, and stamping. 

The volumes contain many fantastic and exciting examples, but there are no instructions to guide the teacher in passing these techniques on to the children. The human body with its urge for expression and its sphere of activity is the child's basic instrument. Through my experiences, I discovered that for the children a measure of 4/4 felt too long. Psychologically it is more child-friendly to use 4 measures of 2/4, than 2 measures of 4/4. When looking for elementally structured songs and dances, I almost always found 4 measures of 2/4 or 6/8 (active measures), always with arsis-thesis, tension-relaxation.

Since there is nothing more important for a teacher than to find ways and means of stimulating creativity, the insistence on the "perfect" structure of 4 measures becomes important. We do not learn the "Praecepta" by rote, we are not commanded by "deduction". Rather it is by "induction" that active music making is experienced. But because teachers must help, there must be clear and useful recommendations. 

I insisted on ear training by combining the body percussion with different pitches and colors: snap = soprano; clap = alto; patsch = tenor; stamp = bass. 

After many experiences I devised recommendations for the different rhythmic techniques of imitation, rhythmic canon, question-answer, rondo. Further, I developed, extended and organized the ostinato technique (Musica Viva II, Leduc, Paris, 1982). However, rhythmic education may not limit itself to perception, imitation, and creation. Notation is also very important; not only from sound to symbol by also from symbol to sound. We must not only pay attention to the development of practical abilities and skills but also to the transmitting of cognitive knowledge. Every teacher must strive to achieve a balance between pragmatic, emotional and cognitive knowledge. To facilitate this, I created many games for training in rhythmic reading at all levels. 

III

The resources for the settings are the basic forms which have evolved throughout music history. A child must be led through the various stages - from the most primitive to the more complex - which man traversed before music reached the level at which we now find it. The five volumes are an inexhaustible “arsenal" of elemental accompaniment techniques such as sustaining note (tonic accompaniment), simple bordun, moving bordun, triads, and functional harmony. 

The problem here again was a lack of explanation. Not every teacher is able to understand elemental harmony merely by looking at the scores or by playing the pieces with the children. It was Orff’s suggestion that every teacher should find in the "sound compendium" enough elements and techniques to make variations, to transmute the pieces over and over again and in this way create new pieces. 

But without understanding the elemental techniques, a music teacher will not be able to lead a class into a creative experience, where quality is required. 

It was for this reason that I took Orff's examples and tried to find his internal logic. Drones using open fifths he calls borduns. If one or both of the constituents of the open fifth are set in motion, we use what Orff calls “moving borduns.” I set myself the task of clarifying the way in which this elemental harmony should be used by every music teacher working with children. I catalogued Orff's examples of simple borduns into four groups proposing the terminology: chord bordun, broken chord bordun, level bordun, crossover bordun. I also categorized the moving bordun showing a logical distinction; a single moving bordun, where only one voice (tonic or dominant) uses neighboring notes and a double moving bordun, where both voices (tonic and dominant) use “embroidery.”

Moving borduns lead to the parallel motion of triads. Following this appears functional elemental harmony, where worn-out common practices such as the dominant seventh, are carefully avoided. Here also I insisted on writing techniques. 

Paraphony, harmonic parallelism, and diaphony are used over and over in the Schulwerk. I made them accessible to the music teacher, showing how to use these techniques to produce a better musical quality. 

IV

One of Carl Orff's brilliant ideas was the instrumental dimension. He took folkloric instruments, including barred percussion instruments, drums, pipes and recorders from all over the world. From these he evolved accurately tuned instruments that are easy to play using elemental technique and make a beautiful ensemble with balanced tone quality. 

I have always been and still am, a great proponent of the Orff instrumentarium. I believe that these instruments present a fantastic opportunity to develop awareness in the areas of discovering music, making music in groups, creating new forms, and becoming conscious of the different elements of music. 

It is important that every music educator is cognizant of the range, tessitura, and typical characteristics of each instrument. To facilitate this I undertook an intensive study of the instruments and their technique (Musica Viva I, Leduc, Paris 1970). Further, I invented hieroglyphic symbols for the unpitched percussion instruments and catalogued them into soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. I also developed the instrumental orchestration techniques per additionem and per contrastem. 

V 

The primary purpose of music education, as Carl Orff saw it, is the development of a child's creative faculty, which manifests itself in the ability to improvise. The child will be more “music-minded” when he succeeds in taking part in the shaping of a melody, in the invention of an accompaniment, or in the creation of a simple musical dialogue with the group.

This improvisation covers a wide field: playing and singing melodies over a drone bass or a harmonic ground, the completion and extension of melodies, the adding of basses or accompaniments, etc. 

As a result of my dedication to the concept of teaching music in groups, I developed the didactics of how to guide group improvisation. The teacher has the difficult task of guiding the communicative interaction; she has to participate, to suggest, to help, and to encourage. I myself spent a great deal of time and effort working on different manners of dealing with improvisation: starting with improvisation with a poem, building up a piece based on a rhythm, working out elemental song forms, creating rondos, using question-answer techniques, etc. 

I experimented not only in the elemental style, but tried to “actualize’ music education by using Orff techniques, improvising serial and aleatoric music. Also Latin-American style and pop music were incorporated. These experiments inspired my book “Kreatier Musiceren” (Creative Musicmaking), New Sound, Amsterdam 1969. 

Using improvisation in this way to create music leads to emotional and cognitive understanding and brings to life an open attitude that permeates the entire personality. 

VI 

The power of elemental music lies in its expression in simple, transparent, small, but essential forms. Carl Orff used a style in which archaic elements are creatively blended with contemporary ones. The Volumes make use of pentatonic and diatonic melodies, based on borduns and ostinati in repetitive patterns, resulting in song forms, rondos, and canons. Elemental music should be “a foundation for all subsequent music-making and interpretation” and should provide “a true understanding of musical language and expression” (introduction, Volume I of the Music for Children). My help consisted in clarifying the didactics: making good imitation, introducing a rondo refrain, working out rhythmic and melodic canons. 

Although variation technique and bi-thematic are used only sporadically, they do need to be added explicitly to the elemental field. A number of recommendations indicate how to create variations. 

VII 

Orff Schulwerk emphasizes unity of verbal, musical, and corporal expression. i have to confess that in the beginning, we in Belgium, were more attracted by the musical aspects - language, songs,· and instruments, than by the movement. Also the workshops and courses given in order to introduce the teachers to the Schulwerk, were presented by both a music specialist and a movement specialist. But increasingly, I became convinced that movement, particularly in a real class situation, could have a great impact. Through my courses in different continents, I collected songs and dances, stories and epodes from many varied cultures. I became very enthusiastic to discover that children are already fans of folk dancing. As I was frequently confronted with classroom situations, where tables and furniture prevented the use of a big space, I began to search for new possibilities that could be adapted to the needs of the classroom. 

1. Songs with gestures

This substitution game is fun, develops coordination, activates concentration, underlines the form, and is a perfect group activity. Each individual is integrated into the community, learns discipline, but also has an opportunity for improvisation between every verse. Music education training involves much repetition, but always with little differences because of successive substitutions. The child becomes aware of the total expression: rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre, and form.

b.  Miming little scenes 

A substitution song game can further develop, with the addition of mime and the use of masks, into a little dramatic scene, in which soloists and the group equally share the integrated elements of movement, music, and speech. 

c.  Fascination with the Orff instrumentarium leads very often to the neglect of the voice. To avoid this I worked out a personal way for intensive vocal training, closely tied with motion, gestures, and dance. I am absolutely convinced that children better understand and feel the music when the whole personality; spirit and body, is involved. A vocal canon becomes “visual” when the groups, while singing, act out the same movement, using the space (forwards, backwards, right and left, high and low, turn) one after another. A lullaby in 6/8 will sound sweeter, when the children add a swaying motion. A folk-type tune based upon articulation exercises words such as Njetche, Njetche, Njetchevith) becomes more dynamic and authentic when the group executes a typical dance step. Elemental settings of cumulative songs need also cumulative gestures and motions. it's “fun-tastic!” 

VIII 

In spite of skepticism, there is indeed, in the original five volumes a logical and pedagogical progression. The first volume is major pentatonic, using borduns and ostinati. The second volume continues melodically to major heptatonic, using borduns, ostinati, and triads. The third volume moves to major tonalities but with functional harmony, called Dominants. The fourth volume is analogous to the second volume, treating the minor modes aeolian, dorian, and phrygian, accompanied by borduns, ostinati, and triads. The fifth volume, analogous to the third volume, uses minor tonalities with or without the leading tone and with functional harmony. 

It was my idea to structure the teacher training in North America based on the levels used in 1969 at the University of Toronto. At that time Level I was based on Book I of the German Musik für kinder, Level II was based on Volumes II and III and Level III on Volume IV. As well as teaching Level III, I worked with everyone together alternating choral singing and movement with group improvisation. Because of the presence of specialists to teach movement (Traude Schratenecker) and recorder (Mimi Samuelson), I countinued to count on them. Out of these courses grew the structure of the first actual levels courses. 

Level I: Introductory 

This became a general information course based on Volumes I and II: melodically the ontogenesis of melody; rhythmically using meters of 2/4, 4/4, 6/8, 3/4, to work out imitation, question and answer technique, rondo, ostinato (active as well as creative); harmonically, only the simple bordun; timbre, the knowledge of pitched and unpitched percussion and their basic technique; and finally form through motive, phrase, song forms, rondo and canon. 

Level II: Intermediate 

This level creates special excitement because of the inclusions of the very familiar functional harmony. it is based on Volume III of the German edition of Musik für kinder. Rhythmically there is the review of simple meters and the study of compound ones; melodically the accent is placed on major diatonic scales. the richness of folklore, the specific sounds of classical accompaniments, the development of instrumental techniques brings every teacher an unforgettable experience. 

Level III: Teachers' Class 

This level which covers volumes IV and V of Musik für kinder has two main thrusts: the study of all the modes and familiarization with elemental style. it is essential that emphasis be placed upon the students' practice and teaching ability. Special attention is also given to the didactics: the ABC's of the Orff pedagogy. 

IX 

It was Orff's idea to include in his fundamental education the social element of making music through singing, playing, and listening together. However, in the Schulwerk there is no bridge to music appreciation. 

Just as in learning the mother tongue as a child starts with imitation, speaks before reading and writing, memorizes poems and stories, writes a paper and contacts the literature so music education follows the same progression. A child plays, sings, dances, claps, acts and reacts; basing everything on imitation. Starting in the primary grades, the child learns to read and write and to sing by rote; pragmatic and cognitive aspects become balanced. but singing, playing, and dancing actively and creatively are not enough; a child has curiosity and a desire to discover other compositions from historical and modern music literature. 

Music appreciation is an essential part of music education. In order to include this aspect, I invented an active music listening pedagogy, expanding on Orff’s ideas of group communicative interaction, activity, use of verbal, musical, or corporal expression. 

I developed the Musicogram, a visual reproduction of the dynamic outline of a composition. It shows the architecture of sound colors. A Musicogram is a visualization of what one can hear, made with geometrical figures, colors, and symbols. It is a score for children, who can actively indicate with their finger the pulse, the different themes and the structure. 

Before one can recognize the themes however, she has to know them. The themes must be assimilated before listening and it is here that Orff techniques bring the listeners closer to music. The themes can be assimilated through singing by imitation or by rote, through playing them on the Orff instruments, through speaking the rhythm of a theme, or verbal expression of the whole piece in a speech-choir, through movement by dancing or creating movement patterns that fit the form of the piece or the separate themes. 

X 

in 1963 Carl Orff said, 

“Every phase of Schulwerk will always provide stimulation for new independent growth; therefore it is never conclusive and settled, but always developing, always growing, always flowing.” 

In spite of this statement, Carl Orff consciously decided to keep Schulwerk clear of everything topical and of every fashionable trend. 

I was more open-minded. Not only do I incorporate the “old gold” of the folk rhymes, the basic motifs of human existence, ballads, and fairy-tales, but also the humorous, naive versifying of action-songs, exploration of universal topics of concern (ecology, world peace, racial injustice) and poetry, songs, drama of the world of today (muppets, teenaged turtles, computers). 

While remaining loyal to Orff's elemental style, I elaborated his principles to include extensions to jazz music, rock, pop music, serial structures, electronic creations, and repetitive music. For more than 30 years I used the typical Orff techniques, such as ostinato, canon, ritual rhythms in order to create new “models.” 

When visiting the Orff Institute in Salzburg in December 1991, I was very happy to assist with some classes and to watch a rehearsal with pieces in the typical Orff style, in jazz style, and in aleatoric and repetitive styles. It made me feel good because it reaffirmed that what I was doing was not an a reinvention but a logical evolution of the Schulwerk, updating the outdated.