Orff Schulwerk

Last Friday 6/10, I and ~20 other piano teachers attended a full day workshop on the Orff Schulwerk music teaching "approach" (NOT a method!!!), using the new Trinity College of London piano exam pieces.

In a sentence, the approach takes each element of music - rhythm, melody, texture, harmony and form- which are taught separately using a variety of techniques that don't all use the piano e.g. listening, speech rhymes, singing, percussion, dance, etc.  This is underpinned by a "natural learning process" that mirrors the progression we all go through as we learn our oral and written language: listen - sing - play - read - write.

The workshop was very interesting and enjoyable - and highly participative!! - and contained a range of techniques for further investigation in my teaching.  The holistic and flexible principles embodied in Orff Schulwerk are very consistent with my strong belief in learning music holistically, using the piano as a vehicle.