"Teaching is based entirely on the principle of improvisation" (Carl Orff)
Carl Orff states that teaching is based entirely on the principle of improvisation.
I often encountered a similar theoretical approach, when I first approached the academic environment and my role in it as a teacher. People often referred to the act of teaching as a "performance", meaning that delivering a lesson is very closed to acting on stage, in terms that the whole body is involved in the experience. I, therefore, agree with Orff vision, believing that the OSW can trigger off an unexpressed potential, for example in terms of body language and the use of art as therapy.
"The OSW as an elemental musical and dance educational concept activates anthropological expressive potential and cross-cultural musical behaviour and thereby not only provides musical educational opportunities but also opens up numerous general educational, integrative and therapeutic possibilities."
Orff's pedagogy allows children's brains to be activated in several parts - the kinetic and the auditory, which presumably would increase engagement and perhaps foster more creativity.
The artistic-pedagogical idea
The idea for the music pedagogical concept 'Orff-Schulwerk', which is now spread throughout the world, originated in Munich in the twenties of the 20th century. The historical context is formed by the cultural change at the turn of the century 1890-1930, the turn of modernity towards so-called non-European art and the search for a new beginning, combined with the discovery of the Original, Primitive, Elemental. In the rhythm and dance movement I. Duncan, É. Jaques-Dalcroze, R. von Laban, M. Wigman and many others not only worked on new forms of dance expression but also fundamentally dealt with the experience of the bodily experience and the perception of movement.
The Günther School, founded by Dorothee Günther and Carl Orff in 1924, broke new ground. Inspiration came from the leading German expressive dancer Mary Wigman (1886-1973) and the musicologist Curt Sachs (1881-1959), known for his music anthropological publications on musical instruments and dance. Orff's idea of an elemental music was sparked by Wigman's 'Hexentanz' which was accompanied only by percussion instruments:
«She could make music with her body and transform music into corporeality. I felt that her dancing was elemental. I, too, was looking for the elemental, the elemental music.» (Orff 1976).
The percussion orchestra of the Mary Wigman School in Dresden and C. Sachs' music anthropological knowledge of the universal significance of percussion in the music and dance cultures of the world led Orff to a concept of music which, beyond European art music, emphasises the motional and percussive side of musical events and which is close to the intercultural perspective from today's view.
The piano which was common at the gymnastics schools of the time was largely replaced by percussion in the Günther School. Together with recorders and mallet instruments, a unique sound was created. Maja Lex (1906-1986) developed the Elemental Dance from flowing movements, into which also instrumental playing was sometimes integrated. In combination with the compositions of Gunild Keetman (1904-1990), she created an art form that was nationally and internationally renowned at the time. Keetman's 'Ecstatic Dance' (1932) with its minimalist structure still conveys an intense impression of this today.
The authentic realisation of the OSW must take particular educational principles and content material into consideration.
Teachers are advised
to begin with initial processual situations, i.e. to define specific material through experimentation, repetition and alteration, then progress from exploration to the »adventure of improvisation« (U. Jungmair) and only then utilise any form of notation on a secondary level.
to stage learning as an interactive process within the group, i.e. the realisation of both fixed and improvised content in call and response elements, echo elements and rondo elements and simultaneously permit a variety of performance levels.
to integrate movement, speech, singing and instrumental playing to the greatest possible degree, i.e. allowing one element to develop from another and combining all activities in concluding creative projects.
to give priority to “building block” structures and the pattern principle, i.e. the utilisation of small, manageable structural elements to reduce excessive demands and uncertainty in the creation of individual ideas on the one hand and, on the other hand, to achieve the modernisation of a musical composition principle which is prevalent worldwide.
The content guidelines are to be understood in the sense of the didactic term learning content:
Rhythm as the interconnecting element of music, language and movement is a fundamental omnipresent element of learning content and is given primary significance in the OSW, especially within the areas of body percussion, dance movement forms and the playing of percussion instruments.
Melodies should evolve out of spontaneous vocal declamations such as affect-laden speech, calls, recitation, humming, singing or exploratory playing on elemental melodic instruments (recorders or mallet instruments). Here the primary role is undertaken by the appropriate expressive model and the resulting melodic phrase. The establishment of a mode or key is a secondary process.
Activities with tonal and harmonic structures must begin with a fundamental underlying note, i.e. with the bourdon principle. Rhythm and melody provide a basic structure in the ›rhythmic-melodic exercises‹ which is supported by a monotone. Experimentation and improvisation are not dependent on a polyphonic structure in the sense of Western music. The tonal extension is structured with the aid of terraced harmony, parallelism and layering.
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