Earth Song: A Creative Movement Activity Using Earth Song by Frank Ticheli, students are given elemental composition tools to craft unique movement accompaniments to a poignant and timely vocal piece with themes of peace and hope – just in time for Earth Day 2024! Earth Song is a gorgeous vocal composition with origins in the work Sanctuary for wind ensemble. Diatonically living in F major and a strong form in 4/4 time, the lush and swelling 4-beat phrases elude traditional cadential harmony, and settle into an E phrygian resolution by the end. The atonality and undetermined harmonic destinati ..read more

After completing your final Level of the Orff certification process, you’ve received your AOSA Certificate in the mail. Matting, framing, and hanging the powerful token of your accomplishment, you sit in wonder at the future possibilities. As the late Avon Gillespie (Master Orff Schulwerk educator and 2017 American Orff-Schulwerk Association Distinguished Service Award recipient) reminds us, “in Orff Schulwerk nothing is ever finished. We are not involved in mere problem solving, but in possibility seeking.”  While Gillespie’s poignant statement refers to the enactment of the Orff approac ..read more

Are you considering taking an Orff Levels course this summer? Your colleagues share their insights about this transformative professional development experience. Why Take Orff Levels? What to Expect When Taking an Orff Level Making It Work: Level I by Elaine Larson Making It Work: Level II by Betsy Kipperman Sebring Making It Work: Level III by Rob Amchin Links to Learn More and Find a Course Near You! 2024 AOSA Teacher Education Course List Frequently Asked Questions about AOSA Teacher Education Levels Courses Handbook for Orff Schulwerk Teacher Education Courses The post 2024 Summer Orff Lev ..read more

Elemental Explorations with “Peter and the Wolf” by Kate Bright Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf is one of the mainstays of music education. Since its composition in 1936, it has been used to teach the instruments of the orchestra to students around the world. My question is this: how can music educators transform a traditionally passive listening experience into an active elemental experience?  Let’s start with movement!  To set the stage for Peter and the Wolf, I first let students explore each of the main themes with movement. (This website is a useful resource as a place t ..read more

This drumming and moving lesson plan from Chris Judah-Lauder is sure to energize your intermediate grade musicians! All you need are hand drums and some space. Grade Level: 5th-8th Materials Needed One 8”, 10”, 12” or 14” hand drum per student or Use available hand drums to make four groups using like-sized drums. Objectives The learner will: Experience four-part canon Improvise over a four-beat phrase Perform creative movement Formation Students begin in self-space. Teaching Process Teach the text to the A Section by imitation. Teach the movement with text using body percussion. S ..read more

Suggested Age Range: K-2 Objectives: The learner will… Match visual clues with corresponding rhythm cards Compose body and instrumental percussion for found rhythm clues Perform each found rhythm for each specific section in the story Reinforce rhythm reading Materials:  Harry’s Horrible Hair, a book by Theresa Cocci  Website: www.theresacocci.org Storybook Flashcards Unpitched Percussion Instruments  Orff Instruments Synopsis: Meet Harry, a downhearted little dog who is saddened by the stares and laughter of others who only see his horrible hair. When his friend Miss ..read more

A melody and movement lesson for Grades 1-2 OBJECTIVES Demonstrate melodic patterns that include same/different and 3-pitch melodies Demonstrate rhythmic patterns that include quarter note, paired eighth notes, and quarter rest Demonstrate a steady beat while contrasting rhythms are being performed Play and identify pitched percussion instruments MATERIALS Melodic percussion instruments and mallets (xylophones, metallophones and glockenspiels) Visuals Colored Scarves for movement PROCESS Day One Teach the song through directed listening and echo. Invite students to listen as the teache ..read more

Being a general music teacher is a tough job. One area that can be a stress point is meeting the needs of our special education students. General music teachers can serve anywhere from 300 to 1,000 children during the course of a week or year, and keeping up with the details for each child can seem daunting. However, it is required by law that all educators meet the appropriate goals, targets, accommodations and modifications not only in the regular education setting. Before I go further, I am speaking from the perspective of a music educator in the USA. The language and processes ar ..read more

The book Del Otro Lado de la Calle / From Across the Street takes the main character Pati, a Dominican-American girl who is visiting her Grandmother in the Dominican Republic during the summertime, on a musical exploration into one of the most widely spread Dominican folkloric musical traditions, “Los Palos.” Readers will enjoy learning about the different sounds and instruments in the culture of the Dominican Palos tradition. As a culturally responsive, relevant, and ABAR (Anti-Biased Anti-Racist) teacher, my praxis is always evolving. One of my goals is to guide my students through the disco ..read more

By Karen K. Benson, AOSA Professional Development Director Yes, you! You are the educator who will benefit from taking your AOSA Teacher Education Level Courses. What’s that, you say? The American Orff Schulwerk Association approves an average of 50 courses a year that provide professional development in Orff Schulwerk commonly referred to as “taking your levels”. A frequent phrase heard from teachers after taking Level I is “Orff Schulwerk has changed my life and how I teach!”  Oh, you’ve already taken them. Guess what? Countless educators who have completed all three levels of the AOSA ..read more