top of page

ELEMENTAL MUSIC & DANCE COURSE II

An Orff-Schulwerk LEVEL TWO Accreditation Course 

Curriculum

LEVEL TWO Full.png

Introduction

In Singapore’s levels, we aim to stay true to Carl Orff’s philosophy:

Music begins in the individual….”.   

 

Wolfgang Hartmann goes on to write that

The awareness that individuals possess a fundamental musicality and creative potential that must be accessed and developed, means that they can be guided to their personal creativity.

 

With this in mind, SingOrff believe in a levels’ training that will hopefully lead practitioners to follow the above quote.

 

There are 3 main areas in our training course which the participants have to undergo, in alignment with the unity of speech movement and music.  They are namely: -

    1. Speech

  • Learning through chants, games and rhymes

  • Learning rhythm and meter through speech

  • Applications in the Classroom

  • Improvising with the voice and words

 

    2. Movement

  • Learning the parameters of movement

  • The Role of Movement and Dance in Orff-Schulwerk

  • Summary of Laban’s Analysis of Movement

  • Folk Dance in the Classroom

 

    3. Music

  • Role of Singing;

    • Improvising

    • Exploration

    • Technique

    • Repertoire

    • Solfège in the Contemporary Orff-Schulwerk Classroom

  • Descant and Alto Recorders;

    • Improvisation,

    • Exploration,

    • Technique,

    • Repertoire

  • Orchestration

    • Introduction to Orff Instrumentalism

    • Improvisation

    • Exploration

    • Borduns

    • Ostinati

    • Notation

    • Concepts of Elemental Arrangement

 

Knowledge & Understanding (Theory Component)

By the end of each level, the participant should be able to:

 

  • Employ rhythmic speech, solfege system, with moveable do, to teach simple melodies and folk songs.

 

  • Develop ability to teach sequential processes for performance skills and use instructional frameworks to help students to create, perform (using notation, improvising, etc) and respond to music using hand-held non-pitched percussion instruments and pitched instruments (Soprano recorders and Orff mallet percussion).

 

  • Dramatize movement activities appropriate for wide-ranging experiences from keeping a steady beat to folk dancing, developing movement technique and acquire dance termilogy.

 

  • Improvise, sing and perform songs and pieces in

    • Ionian, Dorian and Aeolian modes (Level Two)

    • Pentatonic scales, in Doh and Lah modes

 

  • Employ, analyse, arrange, and execute elemental Orff-Schulwerk accompaniments for simple melodies including proper use of Bordun, ostinato and other harmonic-based textures.

 

  • Perform in unison, parts or canon through singing, movement and playing of both pitched and unpitched instruments, including recorder.

 

  • Analyse and understand elemental forms; call and response, antecedent and consequent, binary, ternary, rondo, aaba, abab, abca, aaab etc.

  • Utilize notation, both graphic and formal notation.

 

On completing each level, skills, knowledge, technique, and pedagogical processes will be incrementally augmented.

 

Knowledge & Understanding (Pedagogical Component)

  • Employ the following strategies/processes in instructional frameworks in all aspects of the Orff-Schulwerk, namely speech, music and movement: -

    • Exploration

    • Improvisation

    • Creation

    • Layering

    • Mirroring

    • Echo

 

  • Develop confident non-verbal cueing in a classroom setting

 

  • Foster process analysis in both teaching and musical skills

 

  • Demonstrate clear, succinct instructions in class

Curriculum Modules

 

1. ORCHESTRATION

LEVEL

2

PROCESS/CONTENT

  • Doh  and lah pentatonic, Ionian, Dorian and Aeolian

  • I-V, I-ii

  • Guidelines for bordun accompaniments 

  • Guidelines for accompaniments to Ionian, Dorian and Aeolian modes

  • All borduns and ostinati  in Level 1 

  • Complementary rhythms

OUTCOMES

  • Add bordun and ostinato accompaniments to a doh or lah pentatonic, Ionian, Dorian or Aeolian melody.

  • Add a bordun and a melodic ostinato to a diatonic melody.

  • Add a I-ii and I-V accompaniment to a melody.

  • Improvise  melodic ostinato

  • Analyse teaching materials for pedagogical implications

RESOURCES

Examples from Volumes II and III Music for Children Orff/Keetman Murray Hall versions and other appropriate material.

2. STRATEGIES IN AN ORFF-SCHULWERK CLASS

LEVEL

2

PROCESS/CONTENT

  • Revision of all strategies in Level 1 

  • Improvisation in simple time 

  • Improvisation in compound time

  • Rhythmic augmentation and diminution

  • Improvisations and performance of syncopated patterns.

  • Syncopated patterns in simple time.

  • Interlocking rhythms

OUTCOMES

  • Improvise in different metres 

  • Improvise 1, 2,bars in 6/8 

  • Improvise over various borduns with I-ii, I-vi accompaniment

  • Improvise using doh and lah pentatonic, Penta chordal and hexatonic scales.

RESOURCES

Examples from Volumes II and III Music for Children Orff/Keetman Murray Hall versions and other appropriate material.

3. PEDAGOGY

LEVEL

2

PROCESS/CONTENT

  • Revision of all strategies in Level 1 

  • Strategies and processes for preparing improvisation

  • Strategies and processes for teaching songs through whole song method.

  • Analysis of repertoire for pedagogical purposes.

OUTCOMES

  • In teaching an arrangement, all parts are to be learned before parts are divided.

  • Facilitating improvisation within a structure. 

  • Analyse material for its pedagogical implications

  • Teach a song by whole song method 

  • Clear modelling of instructor through analysis of both directive and exploratory teaching procedures.

RESOURCES

Examples from Volumes II and III Music for Children Orff/Keetman Murray Hall versions and other appropriate material.

4. VOCAL

LEVEL

2

PROCESS/CONTENT

  • Revise content of Level One.

  • Physiological aspects of sound production

  • Hand signs for doh and lah Penta chordal, hexatonic and ionian melodies

  • Songs with sung ostinato parts exemplifying principle of complementary rhythms and pitches


 

OUTCOMES

  • Sign and sing melodies in different tonalities

  • Lead songs with two parts using clear cueing techniques.

  • Canon singing.

  • Improvise melodic patterns vocally in different tonalities

  • Sing known melodies using correct sol-fa.

RESOURCES

Examples from Volumes II and III Music for Children Orff/Keetman Murray Hall versions and other appropriate local material.

5. RECORDER

LEVEL

1

PROCESS/CONTENT

  • Recorder playing with appropriate tonguing for pieces in Aeolian mode, Ionian and Dorian Modes.

  • Recorder playing in unison, canon or in parts



 

OUTCOMES

  • More Finger Exercises

  • Understanding the role of the recorder in Orff Schulwerk

  • Inclusion of the recorder in an Orff ensemble

  • Improvising and composing easy pentatonic tunes

RESOURCES

Examples from Volumes II and III Music for Children Orff/Keetman Murray Hall versions and other appropriate material.

Questions? Contact us at singorff@gmail.com

bottom of page