DAS SCHULWERK A FOUNDATION FOR THE

COGNITIVE MUSICAL AND ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

LORI-ANNE DOLLOFF

Monograph Number 1

RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC EDUCATION Edited by Lee R Bartel

DAS SCHULWERK A FOUNDATION FOR THE

COGNITIVE MUSICAL AND ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

LORI-ANNE DOLLOFF

Monograph Number 1 RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES IN

MUSIC EDUCATION Edited by Lee R Bartel

Canadian Music Education Research Centre UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

1993

Published by Canadian Music Education Research Centre as part of the monograph series RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC EDUCATION

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Dolloff Lori-Anne 1958shyDas Schulwerk a foundation for the cognitive

musical and artistic development of children

(Research perspectives in music education) Includes bibliographical references ISBN 1-895570-02-6

1 orff Carl 1895-1982 Orff-Schulwerk 2 Music shyInstruction and study - Juvenile 3 Constructivism (Education) I Canadian Music Education Research Centre II Title III Series

MTl D65 1993 780 7 C93-094304-X

ISBN 1-895570-02-6

Copyright Itgt 1993 by the Canadian Music Education Research Centre

All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying recording or otherwise without the prior written permisSion of the publisher

Printed in Canada

PREFACE

~EARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC EDUCATION is a new series of

monographs published by Canadian Music Education Research Centre (CMERC) It features a

wide range of topics related to the practice of music education and is unified by the emphasis

on research in each work The research methodology included in the series may span all

traditional quantitative social science methodologies as well as theoretical philosophical

historical or descriptive methods The focus on the practice of music education makes each

monograph valuable to practitioners as well as scholars

The first monograph in this series is Das Schulwerk A foundation for the cognitive

musical and artistic development ofchildren by Lori-Anne Dolloff This monograph traces the

historical influences on Orfpound s ideas discusses the nature of music in Orfpound s approach

realistically points out weaknesses in this popular method and analyzes the potential of the Orff

method to address the cognitive development of children in light of theories by such prominent

thinkers as Gjerdingen Piaget Gardner and Serafine This monograph provides a thoroughly

reasoned foundation for an intensive application of music education in childhood Lori-Anne

Dolloff has done a masterful job of strengthening the theoretical rationale for Orff methodology

Monograph two by Alan Stellings Musical referentialism A discussion of its aspects

provides an outstanding example of philosophical research--the analysis of existing thought and

the synthesis into a clearer statement than previously in existence

iii

In addition to the monograph series RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC

EDUCATION the Canadian Music Education Research Centre publishes technical research

reports and books The first pUblication of this type is the Guide to Provincial Music

Curriculwn Docwnents Since 1980 This Guide represents several of the major objectives of

the Centre (1) to conduct research studies related to music education in Canada (2) to create

and disseminate research tools and findings to researchers and users of research and (3) to

establish an outstanding Canadian collection of research documents and reports survey research

databases and music education documents to facilitate the conduct of music education research

The Guide accomplishes all three of these objectives

It is a great pleasure to introduce this new publication venture It is especially so because

it offers a valuable service to the music education profession in Canada

Lee R Bartel Series Editor

Director of CMERC

iv

CONTEIJTS

PREFACE iii

CONTENTS v

INTRODUCTION 1

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATION 3 Characteristics of the Approach 3 Historical Influences 6

Herder and the Ages of Language 6 Goethe and the Role of Experience 8 Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder aus 10

The nature of music in Orffs approach 14 Weaknesses in practice 17 Summary 18 Conclusions 18

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE 21 Schema theory 22 Orff and Play 25 Gardners Theory of Artistic Development 27 Music as Intelligence 31 Serafine and Music as Cognition 33 Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes 37

Successive Temporal Processes 39 Phrasing 39 Patterning 40 Motivic Chaining 41 Idiomatic Construction 41

v

Simultaneous Temporal Processes 42 Textural abstraction 42 Motivic Synthesis 43 Timbre synthesis 43

Non-temporal Processes 44 Closure 44 Transformation 44 Abstrdction 46 Hierarchic structuring 47

Summary 49

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 51

ENDNOTES 53

REFERENCES 57

vi

INTRODUCTION

The approach to music education developed by Carl Orff enjoys widespread use by

contemporary music educators The approach is recognized as a valued method of music

education by many writers addressing contemporary music education in North America

Michael Mark (1986) includes a description of Orff methodology in COnJemporary Music

Education an exploration of current themes and practices in music education l Lois Harrison

(1983) in her book Getting Started in Elementary Music Education considers the Orff approach

a major method in elementary music education Other authors have shown how the Orff

approach which was originally conceived in the context of German culture may be adapted to

a North American educational context 2 In fact published versions of Orff-Schulwerk have also

appeared in over twenty languages suggesting world-wide application of the principles of Carl

Orff (Frazee 1987 p 5)

A review of the literature indicates that the emphasis in research on the Orff approach

has been on the history of the approach teaching techniques and implementation There is little

research especially in English on the theoretical foundation of the Orff approach

Orffs work is encapsulized in the five volumes of Das Schulwerk--a collection of

sequenced materials for voice Orff instruments and recorders Orff has stated that the

materials reflect the historical evolution of music (1962 p 3) There is no explicit discussion

of the musical development of the child What theory has determined the sequencing of these

1

materials Is Dos Schulwerk merely a collection of historical models Or is there a

developmental theory implicit in the prescribed activities and sequence of materials employed

in the Orff approach

The purpose of this paper is (1) to determine the extent to which a developmental

theory is implicit or explicit in the Orff approach and (2) to explore any congruencies between

Orffs concept of musical development and current theories of the development of music

cognition

The first part of this paper explores the background of the Orff approach to determine

the existence and nature of Orffs concept of musical development The second part Orff and

Cognitive Science makes comparisons between the theory discovered in Part One and current

research in cognitive science

2

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATIOIJ

T he literature published by Orff and his colleagues reveals evidence of considerably

more developmental theory behind the selection and sequencing of repertoire than is commonly

acknowledged In his writings concerning the approach Orff (1962 1963 1976) concentrated

on the choice of repertoire and the nature of music as an elemental human endeavour His

assistant Gunild Keetman wrote a manual on the teaching methods used in the Orff approach

(Keetman 1970) Other German pedagogues sought a place for Orffs work within the context

of educational theory Eberhard Preussner director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg posited a

connection between the educational theories of Pestalozzi and those of Orff Werner Thomas

who worked closely with Orff in Germany and Austria found evidence of links between Orff

and the work of Herder and Goethe Preussner and Thomas presented a foundation for the Orff

approach which is rooted in the artistic spirit of the German poets represented by Goethe

Schiller and Herder and in a German pedagogical reform which extended from the nineteenth

into the early twentieth century They saw the Orff approach as the embodiment of the ideals

expressed in this reform (Preussner 1962 p 13)

Characteristics of the Approach

Orff was a proponent of the idea that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny that the

evolutionary stages in the development of the human species are mirrored in the developmental

stages of the individual This is known as the theory of recapitulation or biogenesis It has been

3

popularly applied to the physiological development of the foetus in vitro (Kimball 1974 p

706) as well as to intellectual development The original theory is attributed to Stanley Hall

(Hawn 1986 p18) Orff states a slightly modified version in the context of musical

development

The childs world of pl~y reflects (or can be likened to) the early archaic stages in the development of mankind Poetic maniffstations of prehistoric ages are magic formulas and oracles rules and customs proverbs and riddles sagas and songs legends and fairy tales (Orff 1962 p 3)

This adaptation of Halls theory appears to have developed under the influence of Karl

Jung Stated in this way the theory holds that through playing the child is liberated from

earlier stages and moves on to higher stages of musical development (Hawn 1986 p 18) It

should not be interpreted that earlier stages are somehow more primitive or later stages of

greater value Rather the idea is that through play the child avoids re-inventing the wheel

The individual assimilates developments of the past in an encapsulated form and builds new

concepts on this foundation 3

Of course Orff does not restrict repertoire in Das Schulwerk to prehistoric forms

Rather he broadens the scope of the material to include examples of the forms found in Western

Pre-Classical music Forms include call and response canon ostinato chaconne processional

rondo quodlibet fauxbourdon recitative and various dances Melodic and harmonic examples

include plainsong-like recitatives organum paraphony and compositions which make use of

functional harmony A variety of tonalities from pentatonic to modal and diatonic are presented

Rhythmic complexity progresses from monosyllabic-word-rhythms to poly metric and

polyrhythmic compositions Andreas Liess a biographer of Carl Orff says Das Schulwerk

leads from the primary basis of innate musicality to the world of historical musical forms

(Liess 1966 p 161) Werner Thomas a long-time colleague of Orff describes Das Schulwerk

as no pedagogical construction but an historical crystallization (Thomas 1960 p3l)

4

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

DAS SCHULWERK A FOUNDATION FOR THE

COGNITIVE MUSICAL AND ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

LORI-ANNE DOLLOFF

Monograph Number 1 RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES IN

MUSIC EDUCATION Edited by Lee R Bartel

Canadian Music Education Research Centre UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

1993

Published by Canadian Music Education Research Centre as part of the monograph series RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC EDUCATION

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Dolloff Lori-Anne 1958shyDas Schulwerk a foundation for the cognitive

musical and artistic development of children

(Research perspectives in music education) Includes bibliographical references ISBN 1-895570-02-6

1 orff Carl 1895-1982 Orff-Schulwerk 2 Music shyInstruction and study - Juvenile 3 Constructivism (Education) I Canadian Music Education Research Centre II Title III Series

MTl D65 1993 780 7 C93-094304-X

ISBN 1-895570-02-6

Copyright Itgt 1993 by the Canadian Music Education Research Centre

All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying recording or otherwise without the prior written permisSion of the publisher

Printed in Canada

PREFACE

~EARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC EDUCATION is a new series of

monographs published by Canadian Music Education Research Centre (CMERC) It features a

wide range of topics related to the practice of music education and is unified by the emphasis

on research in each work The research methodology included in the series may span all

traditional quantitative social science methodologies as well as theoretical philosophical

historical or descriptive methods The focus on the practice of music education makes each

monograph valuable to practitioners as well as scholars

The first monograph in this series is Das Schulwerk A foundation for the cognitive

musical and artistic development ofchildren by Lori-Anne Dolloff This monograph traces the

historical influences on Orfpound s ideas discusses the nature of music in Orfpound s approach

realistically points out weaknesses in this popular method and analyzes the potential of the Orff

method to address the cognitive development of children in light of theories by such prominent

thinkers as Gjerdingen Piaget Gardner and Serafine This monograph provides a thoroughly

reasoned foundation for an intensive application of music education in childhood Lori-Anne

Dolloff has done a masterful job of strengthening the theoretical rationale for Orff methodology

Monograph two by Alan Stellings Musical referentialism A discussion of its aspects

provides an outstanding example of philosophical research--the analysis of existing thought and

the synthesis into a clearer statement than previously in existence

iii

In addition to the monograph series RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC

EDUCATION the Canadian Music Education Research Centre publishes technical research

reports and books The first pUblication of this type is the Guide to Provincial Music

Curriculwn Docwnents Since 1980 This Guide represents several of the major objectives of

the Centre (1) to conduct research studies related to music education in Canada (2) to create

and disseminate research tools and findings to researchers and users of research and (3) to

establish an outstanding Canadian collection of research documents and reports survey research

databases and music education documents to facilitate the conduct of music education research

The Guide accomplishes all three of these objectives

It is a great pleasure to introduce this new publication venture It is especially so because

it offers a valuable service to the music education profession in Canada

Lee R Bartel Series Editor

Director of CMERC

iv

CONTEIJTS

PREFACE iii

CONTENTS v

INTRODUCTION 1

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATION 3 Characteristics of the Approach 3 Historical Influences 6

Herder and the Ages of Language 6 Goethe and the Role of Experience 8 Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder aus 10

The nature of music in Orffs approach 14 Weaknesses in practice 17 Summary 18 Conclusions 18

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE 21 Schema theory 22 Orff and Play 25 Gardners Theory of Artistic Development 27 Music as Intelligence 31 Serafine and Music as Cognition 33 Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes 37

Successive Temporal Processes 39 Phrasing 39 Patterning 40 Motivic Chaining 41 Idiomatic Construction 41

v

Simultaneous Temporal Processes 42 Textural abstraction 42 Motivic Synthesis 43 Timbre synthesis 43

Non-temporal Processes 44 Closure 44 Transformation 44 Abstrdction 46 Hierarchic structuring 47

Summary 49

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 51

ENDNOTES 53

REFERENCES 57

vi

INTRODUCTION

The approach to music education developed by Carl Orff enjoys widespread use by

contemporary music educators The approach is recognized as a valued method of music

education by many writers addressing contemporary music education in North America

Michael Mark (1986) includes a description of Orff methodology in COnJemporary Music

Education an exploration of current themes and practices in music education l Lois Harrison

(1983) in her book Getting Started in Elementary Music Education considers the Orff approach

a major method in elementary music education Other authors have shown how the Orff

approach which was originally conceived in the context of German culture may be adapted to

a North American educational context 2 In fact published versions of Orff-Schulwerk have also

appeared in over twenty languages suggesting world-wide application of the principles of Carl

Orff (Frazee 1987 p 5)

A review of the literature indicates that the emphasis in research on the Orff approach

has been on the history of the approach teaching techniques and implementation There is little

research especially in English on the theoretical foundation of the Orff approach

Orffs work is encapsulized in the five volumes of Das Schulwerk--a collection of

sequenced materials for voice Orff instruments and recorders Orff has stated that the

materials reflect the historical evolution of music (1962 p 3) There is no explicit discussion

of the musical development of the child What theory has determined the sequencing of these

1

materials Is Dos Schulwerk merely a collection of historical models Or is there a

developmental theory implicit in the prescribed activities and sequence of materials employed

in the Orff approach

The purpose of this paper is (1) to determine the extent to which a developmental

theory is implicit or explicit in the Orff approach and (2) to explore any congruencies between

Orffs concept of musical development and current theories of the development of music

cognition

The first part of this paper explores the background of the Orff approach to determine

the existence and nature of Orffs concept of musical development The second part Orff and

Cognitive Science makes comparisons between the theory discovered in Part One and current

research in cognitive science

2

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATIOIJ

T he literature published by Orff and his colleagues reveals evidence of considerably

more developmental theory behind the selection and sequencing of repertoire than is commonly

acknowledged In his writings concerning the approach Orff (1962 1963 1976) concentrated

on the choice of repertoire and the nature of music as an elemental human endeavour His

assistant Gunild Keetman wrote a manual on the teaching methods used in the Orff approach

(Keetman 1970) Other German pedagogues sought a place for Orffs work within the context

of educational theory Eberhard Preussner director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg posited a

connection between the educational theories of Pestalozzi and those of Orff Werner Thomas

who worked closely with Orff in Germany and Austria found evidence of links between Orff

and the work of Herder and Goethe Preussner and Thomas presented a foundation for the Orff

approach which is rooted in the artistic spirit of the German poets represented by Goethe

Schiller and Herder and in a German pedagogical reform which extended from the nineteenth

into the early twentieth century They saw the Orff approach as the embodiment of the ideals

expressed in this reform (Preussner 1962 p 13)

Characteristics of the Approach

Orff was a proponent of the idea that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny that the

evolutionary stages in the development of the human species are mirrored in the developmental

stages of the individual This is known as the theory of recapitulation or biogenesis It has been

3

popularly applied to the physiological development of the foetus in vitro (Kimball 1974 p

706) as well as to intellectual development The original theory is attributed to Stanley Hall

(Hawn 1986 p18) Orff states a slightly modified version in the context of musical

development

The childs world of pl~y reflects (or can be likened to) the early archaic stages in the development of mankind Poetic maniffstations of prehistoric ages are magic formulas and oracles rules and customs proverbs and riddles sagas and songs legends and fairy tales (Orff 1962 p 3)

This adaptation of Halls theory appears to have developed under the influence of Karl

Jung Stated in this way the theory holds that through playing the child is liberated from

earlier stages and moves on to higher stages of musical development (Hawn 1986 p 18) It

should not be interpreted that earlier stages are somehow more primitive or later stages of

greater value Rather the idea is that through play the child avoids re-inventing the wheel

The individual assimilates developments of the past in an encapsulated form and builds new

concepts on this foundation 3

Of course Orff does not restrict repertoire in Das Schulwerk to prehistoric forms

Rather he broadens the scope of the material to include examples of the forms found in Western

Pre-Classical music Forms include call and response canon ostinato chaconne processional

rondo quodlibet fauxbourdon recitative and various dances Melodic and harmonic examples

include plainsong-like recitatives organum paraphony and compositions which make use of

functional harmony A variety of tonalities from pentatonic to modal and diatonic are presented

Rhythmic complexity progresses from monosyllabic-word-rhythms to poly metric and

polyrhythmic compositions Andreas Liess a biographer of Carl Orff says Das Schulwerk

leads from the primary basis of innate musicality to the world of historical musical forms

(Liess 1966 p 161) Werner Thomas a long-time colleague of Orff describes Das Schulwerk

as no pedagogical construction but an historical crystallization (Thomas 1960 p3l)

4

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

Published by Canadian Music Education Research Centre as part of the monograph series RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC EDUCATION

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Dolloff Lori-Anne 1958shyDas Schulwerk a foundation for the cognitive

musical and artistic development of children

(Research perspectives in music education) Includes bibliographical references ISBN 1-895570-02-6

1 orff Carl 1895-1982 Orff-Schulwerk 2 Music shyInstruction and study - Juvenile 3 Constructivism (Education) I Canadian Music Education Research Centre II Title III Series

MTl D65 1993 780 7 C93-094304-X

ISBN 1-895570-02-6

Copyright Itgt 1993 by the Canadian Music Education Research Centre

All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying recording or otherwise without the prior written permisSion of the publisher

Printed in Canada

PREFACE

~EARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC EDUCATION is a new series of

monographs published by Canadian Music Education Research Centre (CMERC) It features a

wide range of topics related to the practice of music education and is unified by the emphasis

on research in each work The research methodology included in the series may span all

traditional quantitative social science methodologies as well as theoretical philosophical

historical or descriptive methods The focus on the practice of music education makes each

monograph valuable to practitioners as well as scholars

The first monograph in this series is Das Schulwerk A foundation for the cognitive

musical and artistic development ofchildren by Lori-Anne Dolloff This monograph traces the

historical influences on Orfpound s ideas discusses the nature of music in Orfpound s approach

realistically points out weaknesses in this popular method and analyzes the potential of the Orff

method to address the cognitive development of children in light of theories by such prominent

thinkers as Gjerdingen Piaget Gardner and Serafine This monograph provides a thoroughly

reasoned foundation for an intensive application of music education in childhood Lori-Anne

Dolloff has done a masterful job of strengthening the theoretical rationale for Orff methodology

Monograph two by Alan Stellings Musical referentialism A discussion of its aspects

provides an outstanding example of philosophical research--the analysis of existing thought and

the synthesis into a clearer statement than previously in existence

iii

In addition to the monograph series RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC

EDUCATION the Canadian Music Education Research Centre publishes technical research

reports and books The first pUblication of this type is the Guide to Provincial Music

Curriculwn Docwnents Since 1980 This Guide represents several of the major objectives of

the Centre (1) to conduct research studies related to music education in Canada (2) to create

and disseminate research tools and findings to researchers and users of research and (3) to

establish an outstanding Canadian collection of research documents and reports survey research

databases and music education documents to facilitate the conduct of music education research

The Guide accomplishes all three of these objectives

It is a great pleasure to introduce this new publication venture It is especially so because

it offers a valuable service to the music education profession in Canada

Lee R Bartel Series Editor

Director of CMERC

iv

CONTEIJTS

PREFACE iii

CONTENTS v

INTRODUCTION 1

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATION 3 Characteristics of the Approach 3 Historical Influences 6

Herder and the Ages of Language 6 Goethe and the Role of Experience 8 Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder aus 10

The nature of music in Orffs approach 14 Weaknesses in practice 17 Summary 18 Conclusions 18

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE 21 Schema theory 22 Orff and Play 25 Gardners Theory of Artistic Development 27 Music as Intelligence 31 Serafine and Music as Cognition 33 Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes 37

Successive Temporal Processes 39 Phrasing 39 Patterning 40 Motivic Chaining 41 Idiomatic Construction 41

v

Simultaneous Temporal Processes 42 Textural abstraction 42 Motivic Synthesis 43 Timbre synthesis 43

Non-temporal Processes 44 Closure 44 Transformation 44 Abstrdction 46 Hierarchic structuring 47

Summary 49

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 51

ENDNOTES 53

REFERENCES 57

vi

INTRODUCTION

The approach to music education developed by Carl Orff enjoys widespread use by

contemporary music educators The approach is recognized as a valued method of music

education by many writers addressing contemporary music education in North America

Michael Mark (1986) includes a description of Orff methodology in COnJemporary Music

Education an exploration of current themes and practices in music education l Lois Harrison

(1983) in her book Getting Started in Elementary Music Education considers the Orff approach

a major method in elementary music education Other authors have shown how the Orff

approach which was originally conceived in the context of German culture may be adapted to

a North American educational context 2 In fact published versions of Orff-Schulwerk have also

appeared in over twenty languages suggesting world-wide application of the principles of Carl

Orff (Frazee 1987 p 5)

A review of the literature indicates that the emphasis in research on the Orff approach

has been on the history of the approach teaching techniques and implementation There is little

research especially in English on the theoretical foundation of the Orff approach

Orffs work is encapsulized in the five volumes of Das Schulwerk--a collection of

sequenced materials for voice Orff instruments and recorders Orff has stated that the

materials reflect the historical evolution of music (1962 p 3) There is no explicit discussion

of the musical development of the child What theory has determined the sequencing of these

1

materials Is Dos Schulwerk merely a collection of historical models Or is there a

developmental theory implicit in the prescribed activities and sequence of materials employed

in the Orff approach

The purpose of this paper is (1) to determine the extent to which a developmental

theory is implicit or explicit in the Orff approach and (2) to explore any congruencies between

Orffs concept of musical development and current theories of the development of music

cognition

The first part of this paper explores the background of the Orff approach to determine

the existence and nature of Orffs concept of musical development The second part Orff and

Cognitive Science makes comparisons between the theory discovered in Part One and current

research in cognitive science

2

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATIOIJ

T he literature published by Orff and his colleagues reveals evidence of considerably

more developmental theory behind the selection and sequencing of repertoire than is commonly

acknowledged In his writings concerning the approach Orff (1962 1963 1976) concentrated

on the choice of repertoire and the nature of music as an elemental human endeavour His

assistant Gunild Keetman wrote a manual on the teaching methods used in the Orff approach

(Keetman 1970) Other German pedagogues sought a place for Orffs work within the context

of educational theory Eberhard Preussner director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg posited a

connection between the educational theories of Pestalozzi and those of Orff Werner Thomas

who worked closely with Orff in Germany and Austria found evidence of links between Orff

and the work of Herder and Goethe Preussner and Thomas presented a foundation for the Orff

approach which is rooted in the artistic spirit of the German poets represented by Goethe

Schiller and Herder and in a German pedagogical reform which extended from the nineteenth

into the early twentieth century They saw the Orff approach as the embodiment of the ideals

expressed in this reform (Preussner 1962 p 13)

Characteristics of the Approach

Orff was a proponent of the idea that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny that the

evolutionary stages in the development of the human species are mirrored in the developmental

stages of the individual This is known as the theory of recapitulation or biogenesis It has been

3

popularly applied to the physiological development of the foetus in vitro (Kimball 1974 p

706) as well as to intellectual development The original theory is attributed to Stanley Hall

(Hawn 1986 p18) Orff states a slightly modified version in the context of musical

development

The childs world of pl~y reflects (or can be likened to) the early archaic stages in the development of mankind Poetic maniffstations of prehistoric ages are magic formulas and oracles rules and customs proverbs and riddles sagas and songs legends and fairy tales (Orff 1962 p 3)

This adaptation of Halls theory appears to have developed under the influence of Karl

Jung Stated in this way the theory holds that through playing the child is liberated from

earlier stages and moves on to higher stages of musical development (Hawn 1986 p 18) It

should not be interpreted that earlier stages are somehow more primitive or later stages of

greater value Rather the idea is that through play the child avoids re-inventing the wheel

The individual assimilates developments of the past in an encapsulated form and builds new

concepts on this foundation 3

Of course Orff does not restrict repertoire in Das Schulwerk to prehistoric forms

Rather he broadens the scope of the material to include examples of the forms found in Western

Pre-Classical music Forms include call and response canon ostinato chaconne processional

rondo quodlibet fauxbourdon recitative and various dances Melodic and harmonic examples

include plainsong-like recitatives organum paraphony and compositions which make use of

functional harmony A variety of tonalities from pentatonic to modal and diatonic are presented

Rhythmic complexity progresses from monosyllabic-word-rhythms to poly metric and

polyrhythmic compositions Andreas Liess a biographer of Carl Orff says Das Schulwerk

leads from the primary basis of innate musicality to the world of historical musical forms

(Liess 1966 p 161) Werner Thomas a long-time colleague of Orff describes Das Schulwerk

as no pedagogical construction but an historical crystallization (Thomas 1960 p3l)

4

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

PREFACE

~EARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC EDUCATION is a new series of

monographs published by Canadian Music Education Research Centre (CMERC) It features a

wide range of topics related to the practice of music education and is unified by the emphasis

on research in each work The research methodology included in the series may span all

traditional quantitative social science methodologies as well as theoretical philosophical

historical or descriptive methods The focus on the practice of music education makes each

monograph valuable to practitioners as well as scholars

The first monograph in this series is Das Schulwerk A foundation for the cognitive

musical and artistic development ofchildren by Lori-Anne Dolloff This monograph traces the

historical influences on Orfpound s ideas discusses the nature of music in Orfpound s approach

realistically points out weaknesses in this popular method and analyzes the potential of the Orff

method to address the cognitive development of children in light of theories by such prominent

thinkers as Gjerdingen Piaget Gardner and Serafine This monograph provides a thoroughly

reasoned foundation for an intensive application of music education in childhood Lori-Anne

Dolloff has done a masterful job of strengthening the theoretical rationale for Orff methodology

Monograph two by Alan Stellings Musical referentialism A discussion of its aspects

provides an outstanding example of philosophical research--the analysis of existing thought and

the synthesis into a clearer statement than previously in existence

iii

In addition to the monograph series RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC

EDUCATION the Canadian Music Education Research Centre publishes technical research

reports and books The first pUblication of this type is the Guide to Provincial Music

Curriculwn Docwnents Since 1980 This Guide represents several of the major objectives of

the Centre (1) to conduct research studies related to music education in Canada (2) to create

and disseminate research tools and findings to researchers and users of research and (3) to

establish an outstanding Canadian collection of research documents and reports survey research

databases and music education documents to facilitate the conduct of music education research

The Guide accomplishes all three of these objectives

It is a great pleasure to introduce this new publication venture It is especially so because

it offers a valuable service to the music education profession in Canada

Lee R Bartel Series Editor

Director of CMERC

iv

CONTEIJTS

PREFACE iii

CONTENTS v

INTRODUCTION 1

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATION 3 Characteristics of the Approach 3 Historical Influences 6

Herder and the Ages of Language 6 Goethe and the Role of Experience 8 Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder aus 10

The nature of music in Orffs approach 14 Weaknesses in practice 17 Summary 18 Conclusions 18

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE 21 Schema theory 22 Orff and Play 25 Gardners Theory of Artistic Development 27 Music as Intelligence 31 Serafine and Music as Cognition 33 Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes 37

Successive Temporal Processes 39 Phrasing 39 Patterning 40 Motivic Chaining 41 Idiomatic Construction 41

v

Simultaneous Temporal Processes 42 Textural abstraction 42 Motivic Synthesis 43 Timbre synthesis 43

Non-temporal Processes 44 Closure 44 Transformation 44 Abstrdction 46 Hierarchic structuring 47

Summary 49

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 51

ENDNOTES 53

REFERENCES 57

vi

INTRODUCTION

The approach to music education developed by Carl Orff enjoys widespread use by

contemporary music educators The approach is recognized as a valued method of music

education by many writers addressing contemporary music education in North America

Michael Mark (1986) includes a description of Orff methodology in COnJemporary Music

Education an exploration of current themes and practices in music education l Lois Harrison

(1983) in her book Getting Started in Elementary Music Education considers the Orff approach

a major method in elementary music education Other authors have shown how the Orff

approach which was originally conceived in the context of German culture may be adapted to

a North American educational context 2 In fact published versions of Orff-Schulwerk have also

appeared in over twenty languages suggesting world-wide application of the principles of Carl

Orff (Frazee 1987 p 5)

A review of the literature indicates that the emphasis in research on the Orff approach

has been on the history of the approach teaching techniques and implementation There is little

research especially in English on the theoretical foundation of the Orff approach

Orffs work is encapsulized in the five volumes of Das Schulwerk--a collection of

sequenced materials for voice Orff instruments and recorders Orff has stated that the

materials reflect the historical evolution of music (1962 p 3) There is no explicit discussion

of the musical development of the child What theory has determined the sequencing of these

1

materials Is Dos Schulwerk merely a collection of historical models Or is there a

developmental theory implicit in the prescribed activities and sequence of materials employed

in the Orff approach

The purpose of this paper is (1) to determine the extent to which a developmental

theory is implicit or explicit in the Orff approach and (2) to explore any congruencies between

Orffs concept of musical development and current theories of the development of music

cognition

The first part of this paper explores the background of the Orff approach to determine

the existence and nature of Orffs concept of musical development The second part Orff and

Cognitive Science makes comparisons between the theory discovered in Part One and current

research in cognitive science

2

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATIOIJ

T he literature published by Orff and his colleagues reveals evidence of considerably

more developmental theory behind the selection and sequencing of repertoire than is commonly

acknowledged In his writings concerning the approach Orff (1962 1963 1976) concentrated

on the choice of repertoire and the nature of music as an elemental human endeavour His

assistant Gunild Keetman wrote a manual on the teaching methods used in the Orff approach

(Keetman 1970) Other German pedagogues sought a place for Orffs work within the context

of educational theory Eberhard Preussner director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg posited a

connection between the educational theories of Pestalozzi and those of Orff Werner Thomas

who worked closely with Orff in Germany and Austria found evidence of links between Orff

and the work of Herder and Goethe Preussner and Thomas presented a foundation for the Orff

approach which is rooted in the artistic spirit of the German poets represented by Goethe

Schiller and Herder and in a German pedagogical reform which extended from the nineteenth

into the early twentieth century They saw the Orff approach as the embodiment of the ideals

expressed in this reform (Preussner 1962 p 13)

Characteristics of the Approach

Orff was a proponent of the idea that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny that the

evolutionary stages in the development of the human species are mirrored in the developmental

stages of the individual This is known as the theory of recapitulation or biogenesis It has been

3

popularly applied to the physiological development of the foetus in vitro (Kimball 1974 p

706) as well as to intellectual development The original theory is attributed to Stanley Hall

(Hawn 1986 p18) Orff states a slightly modified version in the context of musical

development

The childs world of pl~y reflects (or can be likened to) the early archaic stages in the development of mankind Poetic maniffstations of prehistoric ages are magic formulas and oracles rules and customs proverbs and riddles sagas and songs legends and fairy tales (Orff 1962 p 3)

This adaptation of Halls theory appears to have developed under the influence of Karl

Jung Stated in this way the theory holds that through playing the child is liberated from

earlier stages and moves on to higher stages of musical development (Hawn 1986 p 18) It

should not be interpreted that earlier stages are somehow more primitive or later stages of

greater value Rather the idea is that through play the child avoids re-inventing the wheel

The individual assimilates developments of the past in an encapsulated form and builds new

concepts on this foundation 3

Of course Orff does not restrict repertoire in Das Schulwerk to prehistoric forms

Rather he broadens the scope of the material to include examples of the forms found in Western

Pre-Classical music Forms include call and response canon ostinato chaconne processional

rondo quodlibet fauxbourdon recitative and various dances Melodic and harmonic examples

include plainsong-like recitatives organum paraphony and compositions which make use of

functional harmony A variety of tonalities from pentatonic to modal and diatonic are presented

Rhythmic complexity progresses from monosyllabic-word-rhythms to poly metric and

polyrhythmic compositions Andreas Liess a biographer of Carl Orff says Das Schulwerk

leads from the primary basis of innate musicality to the world of historical musical forms

(Liess 1966 p 161) Werner Thomas a long-time colleague of Orff describes Das Schulwerk

as no pedagogical construction but an historical crystallization (Thomas 1960 p3l)

4

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

In addition to the monograph series RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES IN MUSIC

EDUCATION the Canadian Music Education Research Centre publishes technical research

reports and books The first pUblication of this type is the Guide to Provincial Music

Curriculwn Docwnents Since 1980 This Guide represents several of the major objectives of

the Centre (1) to conduct research studies related to music education in Canada (2) to create

and disseminate research tools and findings to researchers and users of research and (3) to

establish an outstanding Canadian collection of research documents and reports survey research

databases and music education documents to facilitate the conduct of music education research

The Guide accomplishes all three of these objectives

It is a great pleasure to introduce this new publication venture It is especially so because

it offers a valuable service to the music education profession in Canada

Lee R Bartel Series Editor

Director of CMERC

iv

CONTEIJTS

PREFACE iii

CONTENTS v

INTRODUCTION 1

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATION 3 Characteristics of the Approach 3 Historical Influences 6

Herder and the Ages of Language 6 Goethe and the Role of Experience 8 Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder aus 10

The nature of music in Orffs approach 14 Weaknesses in practice 17 Summary 18 Conclusions 18

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE 21 Schema theory 22 Orff and Play 25 Gardners Theory of Artistic Development 27 Music as Intelligence 31 Serafine and Music as Cognition 33 Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes 37

Successive Temporal Processes 39 Phrasing 39 Patterning 40 Motivic Chaining 41 Idiomatic Construction 41

v

Simultaneous Temporal Processes 42 Textural abstraction 42 Motivic Synthesis 43 Timbre synthesis 43

Non-temporal Processes 44 Closure 44 Transformation 44 Abstrdction 46 Hierarchic structuring 47

Summary 49

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 51

ENDNOTES 53

REFERENCES 57

vi

INTRODUCTION

The approach to music education developed by Carl Orff enjoys widespread use by

contemporary music educators The approach is recognized as a valued method of music

education by many writers addressing contemporary music education in North America

Michael Mark (1986) includes a description of Orff methodology in COnJemporary Music

Education an exploration of current themes and practices in music education l Lois Harrison

(1983) in her book Getting Started in Elementary Music Education considers the Orff approach

a major method in elementary music education Other authors have shown how the Orff

approach which was originally conceived in the context of German culture may be adapted to

a North American educational context 2 In fact published versions of Orff-Schulwerk have also

appeared in over twenty languages suggesting world-wide application of the principles of Carl

Orff (Frazee 1987 p 5)

A review of the literature indicates that the emphasis in research on the Orff approach

has been on the history of the approach teaching techniques and implementation There is little

research especially in English on the theoretical foundation of the Orff approach

Orffs work is encapsulized in the five volumes of Das Schulwerk--a collection of

sequenced materials for voice Orff instruments and recorders Orff has stated that the

materials reflect the historical evolution of music (1962 p 3) There is no explicit discussion

of the musical development of the child What theory has determined the sequencing of these

1

materials Is Dos Schulwerk merely a collection of historical models Or is there a

developmental theory implicit in the prescribed activities and sequence of materials employed

in the Orff approach

The purpose of this paper is (1) to determine the extent to which a developmental

theory is implicit or explicit in the Orff approach and (2) to explore any congruencies between

Orffs concept of musical development and current theories of the development of music

cognition

The first part of this paper explores the background of the Orff approach to determine

the existence and nature of Orffs concept of musical development The second part Orff and

Cognitive Science makes comparisons between the theory discovered in Part One and current

research in cognitive science

2

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATIOIJ

T he literature published by Orff and his colleagues reveals evidence of considerably

more developmental theory behind the selection and sequencing of repertoire than is commonly

acknowledged In his writings concerning the approach Orff (1962 1963 1976) concentrated

on the choice of repertoire and the nature of music as an elemental human endeavour His

assistant Gunild Keetman wrote a manual on the teaching methods used in the Orff approach

(Keetman 1970) Other German pedagogues sought a place for Orffs work within the context

of educational theory Eberhard Preussner director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg posited a

connection between the educational theories of Pestalozzi and those of Orff Werner Thomas

who worked closely with Orff in Germany and Austria found evidence of links between Orff

and the work of Herder and Goethe Preussner and Thomas presented a foundation for the Orff

approach which is rooted in the artistic spirit of the German poets represented by Goethe

Schiller and Herder and in a German pedagogical reform which extended from the nineteenth

into the early twentieth century They saw the Orff approach as the embodiment of the ideals

expressed in this reform (Preussner 1962 p 13)

Characteristics of the Approach

Orff was a proponent of the idea that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny that the

evolutionary stages in the development of the human species are mirrored in the developmental

stages of the individual This is known as the theory of recapitulation or biogenesis It has been

3

popularly applied to the physiological development of the foetus in vitro (Kimball 1974 p

706) as well as to intellectual development The original theory is attributed to Stanley Hall

(Hawn 1986 p18) Orff states a slightly modified version in the context of musical

development

The childs world of pl~y reflects (or can be likened to) the early archaic stages in the development of mankind Poetic maniffstations of prehistoric ages are magic formulas and oracles rules and customs proverbs and riddles sagas and songs legends and fairy tales (Orff 1962 p 3)

This adaptation of Halls theory appears to have developed under the influence of Karl

Jung Stated in this way the theory holds that through playing the child is liberated from

earlier stages and moves on to higher stages of musical development (Hawn 1986 p 18) It

should not be interpreted that earlier stages are somehow more primitive or later stages of

greater value Rather the idea is that through play the child avoids re-inventing the wheel

The individual assimilates developments of the past in an encapsulated form and builds new

concepts on this foundation 3

Of course Orff does not restrict repertoire in Das Schulwerk to prehistoric forms

Rather he broadens the scope of the material to include examples of the forms found in Western

Pre-Classical music Forms include call and response canon ostinato chaconne processional

rondo quodlibet fauxbourdon recitative and various dances Melodic and harmonic examples

include plainsong-like recitatives organum paraphony and compositions which make use of

functional harmony A variety of tonalities from pentatonic to modal and diatonic are presented

Rhythmic complexity progresses from monosyllabic-word-rhythms to poly metric and

polyrhythmic compositions Andreas Liess a biographer of Carl Orff says Das Schulwerk

leads from the primary basis of innate musicality to the world of historical musical forms

(Liess 1966 p 161) Werner Thomas a long-time colleague of Orff describes Das Schulwerk

as no pedagogical construction but an historical crystallization (Thomas 1960 p3l)

4

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

CONTEIJTS

PREFACE iii

CONTENTS v

INTRODUCTION 1

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATION 3 Characteristics of the Approach 3 Historical Influences 6

Herder and the Ages of Language 6 Goethe and the Role of Experience 8 Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder aus 10

The nature of music in Orffs approach 14 Weaknesses in practice 17 Summary 18 Conclusions 18

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE 21 Schema theory 22 Orff and Play 25 Gardners Theory of Artistic Development 27 Music as Intelligence 31 Serafine and Music as Cognition 33 Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes 37

Successive Temporal Processes 39 Phrasing 39 Patterning 40 Motivic Chaining 41 Idiomatic Construction 41

v

Simultaneous Temporal Processes 42 Textural abstraction 42 Motivic Synthesis 43 Timbre synthesis 43

Non-temporal Processes 44 Closure 44 Transformation 44 Abstrdction 46 Hierarchic structuring 47

Summary 49

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 51

ENDNOTES 53

REFERENCES 57

vi

INTRODUCTION

The approach to music education developed by Carl Orff enjoys widespread use by

contemporary music educators The approach is recognized as a valued method of music

education by many writers addressing contemporary music education in North America

Michael Mark (1986) includes a description of Orff methodology in COnJemporary Music

Education an exploration of current themes and practices in music education l Lois Harrison

(1983) in her book Getting Started in Elementary Music Education considers the Orff approach

a major method in elementary music education Other authors have shown how the Orff

approach which was originally conceived in the context of German culture may be adapted to

a North American educational context 2 In fact published versions of Orff-Schulwerk have also

appeared in over twenty languages suggesting world-wide application of the principles of Carl

Orff (Frazee 1987 p 5)

A review of the literature indicates that the emphasis in research on the Orff approach

has been on the history of the approach teaching techniques and implementation There is little

research especially in English on the theoretical foundation of the Orff approach

Orffs work is encapsulized in the five volumes of Das Schulwerk--a collection of

sequenced materials for voice Orff instruments and recorders Orff has stated that the

materials reflect the historical evolution of music (1962 p 3) There is no explicit discussion

of the musical development of the child What theory has determined the sequencing of these

1

materials Is Dos Schulwerk merely a collection of historical models Or is there a

developmental theory implicit in the prescribed activities and sequence of materials employed

in the Orff approach

The purpose of this paper is (1) to determine the extent to which a developmental

theory is implicit or explicit in the Orff approach and (2) to explore any congruencies between

Orffs concept of musical development and current theories of the development of music

cognition

The first part of this paper explores the background of the Orff approach to determine

the existence and nature of Orffs concept of musical development The second part Orff and

Cognitive Science makes comparisons between the theory discovered in Part One and current

research in cognitive science

2

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATIOIJ

T he literature published by Orff and his colleagues reveals evidence of considerably

more developmental theory behind the selection and sequencing of repertoire than is commonly

acknowledged In his writings concerning the approach Orff (1962 1963 1976) concentrated

on the choice of repertoire and the nature of music as an elemental human endeavour His

assistant Gunild Keetman wrote a manual on the teaching methods used in the Orff approach

(Keetman 1970) Other German pedagogues sought a place for Orffs work within the context

of educational theory Eberhard Preussner director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg posited a

connection between the educational theories of Pestalozzi and those of Orff Werner Thomas

who worked closely with Orff in Germany and Austria found evidence of links between Orff

and the work of Herder and Goethe Preussner and Thomas presented a foundation for the Orff

approach which is rooted in the artistic spirit of the German poets represented by Goethe

Schiller and Herder and in a German pedagogical reform which extended from the nineteenth

into the early twentieth century They saw the Orff approach as the embodiment of the ideals

expressed in this reform (Preussner 1962 p 13)

Characteristics of the Approach

Orff was a proponent of the idea that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny that the

evolutionary stages in the development of the human species are mirrored in the developmental

stages of the individual This is known as the theory of recapitulation or biogenesis It has been

3

popularly applied to the physiological development of the foetus in vitro (Kimball 1974 p

706) as well as to intellectual development The original theory is attributed to Stanley Hall

(Hawn 1986 p18) Orff states a slightly modified version in the context of musical

development

The childs world of pl~y reflects (or can be likened to) the early archaic stages in the development of mankind Poetic maniffstations of prehistoric ages are magic formulas and oracles rules and customs proverbs and riddles sagas and songs legends and fairy tales (Orff 1962 p 3)

This adaptation of Halls theory appears to have developed under the influence of Karl

Jung Stated in this way the theory holds that through playing the child is liberated from

earlier stages and moves on to higher stages of musical development (Hawn 1986 p 18) It

should not be interpreted that earlier stages are somehow more primitive or later stages of

greater value Rather the idea is that through play the child avoids re-inventing the wheel

The individual assimilates developments of the past in an encapsulated form and builds new

concepts on this foundation 3

Of course Orff does not restrict repertoire in Das Schulwerk to prehistoric forms

Rather he broadens the scope of the material to include examples of the forms found in Western

Pre-Classical music Forms include call and response canon ostinato chaconne processional

rondo quodlibet fauxbourdon recitative and various dances Melodic and harmonic examples

include plainsong-like recitatives organum paraphony and compositions which make use of

functional harmony A variety of tonalities from pentatonic to modal and diatonic are presented

Rhythmic complexity progresses from monosyllabic-word-rhythms to poly metric and

polyrhythmic compositions Andreas Liess a biographer of Carl Orff says Das Schulwerk

leads from the primary basis of innate musicality to the world of historical musical forms

(Liess 1966 p 161) Werner Thomas a long-time colleague of Orff describes Das Schulwerk

as no pedagogical construction but an historical crystallization (Thomas 1960 p3l)

4

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

Simultaneous Temporal Processes 42 Textural abstraction 42 Motivic Synthesis 43 Timbre synthesis 43

Non-temporal Processes 44 Closure 44 Transformation 44 Abstrdction 46 Hierarchic structuring 47

Summary 49

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 51

ENDNOTES 53

REFERENCES 57

vi

INTRODUCTION

The approach to music education developed by Carl Orff enjoys widespread use by

contemporary music educators The approach is recognized as a valued method of music

education by many writers addressing contemporary music education in North America

Michael Mark (1986) includes a description of Orff methodology in COnJemporary Music

Education an exploration of current themes and practices in music education l Lois Harrison

(1983) in her book Getting Started in Elementary Music Education considers the Orff approach

a major method in elementary music education Other authors have shown how the Orff

approach which was originally conceived in the context of German culture may be adapted to

a North American educational context 2 In fact published versions of Orff-Schulwerk have also

appeared in over twenty languages suggesting world-wide application of the principles of Carl

Orff (Frazee 1987 p 5)

A review of the literature indicates that the emphasis in research on the Orff approach

has been on the history of the approach teaching techniques and implementation There is little

research especially in English on the theoretical foundation of the Orff approach

Orffs work is encapsulized in the five volumes of Das Schulwerk--a collection of

sequenced materials for voice Orff instruments and recorders Orff has stated that the

materials reflect the historical evolution of music (1962 p 3) There is no explicit discussion

of the musical development of the child What theory has determined the sequencing of these

1

materials Is Dos Schulwerk merely a collection of historical models Or is there a

developmental theory implicit in the prescribed activities and sequence of materials employed

in the Orff approach

The purpose of this paper is (1) to determine the extent to which a developmental

theory is implicit or explicit in the Orff approach and (2) to explore any congruencies between

Orffs concept of musical development and current theories of the development of music

cognition

The first part of this paper explores the background of the Orff approach to determine

the existence and nature of Orffs concept of musical development The second part Orff and

Cognitive Science makes comparisons between the theory discovered in Part One and current

research in cognitive science

2

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATIOIJ

T he literature published by Orff and his colleagues reveals evidence of considerably

more developmental theory behind the selection and sequencing of repertoire than is commonly

acknowledged In his writings concerning the approach Orff (1962 1963 1976) concentrated

on the choice of repertoire and the nature of music as an elemental human endeavour His

assistant Gunild Keetman wrote a manual on the teaching methods used in the Orff approach

(Keetman 1970) Other German pedagogues sought a place for Orffs work within the context

of educational theory Eberhard Preussner director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg posited a

connection between the educational theories of Pestalozzi and those of Orff Werner Thomas

who worked closely with Orff in Germany and Austria found evidence of links between Orff

and the work of Herder and Goethe Preussner and Thomas presented a foundation for the Orff

approach which is rooted in the artistic spirit of the German poets represented by Goethe

Schiller and Herder and in a German pedagogical reform which extended from the nineteenth

into the early twentieth century They saw the Orff approach as the embodiment of the ideals

expressed in this reform (Preussner 1962 p 13)

Characteristics of the Approach

Orff was a proponent of the idea that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny that the

evolutionary stages in the development of the human species are mirrored in the developmental

stages of the individual This is known as the theory of recapitulation or biogenesis It has been

3

popularly applied to the physiological development of the foetus in vitro (Kimball 1974 p

706) as well as to intellectual development The original theory is attributed to Stanley Hall

(Hawn 1986 p18) Orff states a slightly modified version in the context of musical

development

The childs world of pl~y reflects (or can be likened to) the early archaic stages in the development of mankind Poetic maniffstations of prehistoric ages are magic formulas and oracles rules and customs proverbs and riddles sagas and songs legends and fairy tales (Orff 1962 p 3)

This adaptation of Halls theory appears to have developed under the influence of Karl

Jung Stated in this way the theory holds that through playing the child is liberated from

earlier stages and moves on to higher stages of musical development (Hawn 1986 p 18) It

should not be interpreted that earlier stages are somehow more primitive or later stages of

greater value Rather the idea is that through play the child avoids re-inventing the wheel

The individual assimilates developments of the past in an encapsulated form and builds new

concepts on this foundation 3

Of course Orff does not restrict repertoire in Das Schulwerk to prehistoric forms

Rather he broadens the scope of the material to include examples of the forms found in Western

Pre-Classical music Forms include call and response canon ostinato chaconne processional

rondo quodlibet fauxbourdon recitative and various dances Melodic and harmonic examples

include plainsong-like recitatives organum paraphony and compositions which make use of

functional harmony A variety of tonalities from pentatonic to modal and diatonic are presented

Rhythmic complexity progresses from monosyllabic-word-rhythms to poly metric and

polyrhythmic compositions Andreas Liess a biographer of Carl Orff says Das Schulwerk

leads from the primary basis of innate musicality to the world of historical musical forms

(Liess 1966 p 161) Werner Thomas a long-time colleague of Orff describes Das Schulwerk

as no pedagogical construction but an historical crystallization (Thomas 1960 p3l)

4

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

INTRODUCTION

The approach to music education developed by Carl Orff enjoys widespread use by

contemporary music educators The approach is recognized as a valued method of music

education by many writers addressing contemporary music education in North America

Michael Mark (1986) includes a description of Orff methodology in COnJemporary Music

Education an exploration of current themes and practices in music education l Lois Harrison

(1983) in her book Getting Started in Elementary Music Education considers the Orff approach

a major method in elementary music education Other authors have shown how the Orff

approach which was originally conceived in the context of German culture may be adapted to

a North American educational context 2 In fact published versions of Orff-Schulwerk have also

appeared in over twenty languages suggesting world-wide application of the principles of Carl

Orff (Frazee 1987 p 5)

A review of the literature indicates that the emphasis in research on the Orff approach

has been on the history of the approach teaching techniques and implementation There is little

research especially in English on the theoretical foundation of the Orff approach

Orffs work is encapsulized in the five volumes of Das Schulwerk--a collection of

sequenced materials for voice Orff instruments and recorders Orff has stated that the

materials reflect the historical evolution of music (1962 p 3) There is no explicit discussion

of the musical development of the child What theory has determined the sequencing of these

1

materials Is Dos Schulwerk merely a collection of historical models Or is there a

developmental theory implicit in the prescribed activities and sequence of materials employed

in the Orff approach

The purpose of this paper is (1) to determine the extent to which a developmental

theory is implicit or explicit in the Orff approach and (2) to explore any congruencies between

Orffs concept of musical development and current theories of the development of music

cognition

The first part of this paper explores the background of the Orff approach to determine

the existence and nature of Orffs concept of musical development The second part Orff and

Cognitive Science makes comparisons between the theory discovered in Part One and current

research in cognitive science

2

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATIOIJ

T he literature published by Orff and his colleagues reveals evidence of considerably

more developmental theory behind the selection and sequencing of repertoire than is commonly

acknowledged In his writings concerning the approach Orff (1962 1963 1976) concentrated

on the choice of repertoire and the nature of music as an elemental human endeavour His

assistant Gunild Keetman wrote a manual on the teaching methods used in the Orff approach

(Keetman 1970) Other German pedagogues sought a place for Orffs work within the context

of educational theory Eberhard Preussner director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg posited a

connection between the educational theories of Pestalozzi and those of Orff Werner Thomas

who worked closely with Orff in Germany and Austria found evidence of links between Orff

and the work of Herder and Goethe Preussner and Thomas presented a foundation for the Orff

approach which is rooted in the artistic spirit of the German poets represented by Goethe

Schiller and Herder and in a German pedagogical reform which extended from the nineteenth

into the early twentieth century They saw the Orff approach as the embodiment of the ideals

expressed in this reform (Preussner 1962 p 13)

Characteristics of the Approach

Orff was a proponent of the idea that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny that the

evolutionary stages in the development of the human species are mirrored in the developmental

stages of the individual This is known as the theory of recapitulation or biogenesis It has been

3

popularly applied to the physiological development of the foetus in vitro (Kimball 1974 p

706) as well as to intellectual development The original theory is attributed to Stanley Hall

(Hawn 1986 p18) Orff states a slightly modified version in the context of musical

development

The childs world of pl~y reflects (or can be likened to) the early archaic stages in the development of mankind Poetic maniffstations of prehistoric ages are magic formulas and oracles rules and customs proverbs and riddles sagas and songs legends and fairy tales (Orff 1962 p 3)

This adaptation of Halls theory appears to have developed under the influence of Karl

Jung Stated in this way the theory holds that through playing the child is liberated from

earlier stages and moves on to higher stages of musical development (Hawn 1986 p 18) It

should not be interpreted that earlier stages are somehow more primitive or later stages of

greater value Rather the idea is that through play the child avoids re-inventing the wheel

The individual assimilates developments of the past in an encapsulated form and builds new

concepts on this foundation 3

Of course Orff does not restrict repertoire in Das Schulwerk to prehistoric forms

Rather he broadens the scope of the material to include examples of the forms found in Western

Pre-Classical music Forms include call and response canon ostinato chaconne processional

rondo quodlibet fauxbourdon recitative and various dances Melodic and harmonic examples

include plainsong-like recitatives organum paraphony and compositions which make use of

functional harmony A variety of tonalities from pentatonic to modal and diatonic are presented

Rhythmic complexity progresses from monosyllabic-word-rhythms to poly metric and

polyrhythmic compositions Andreas Liess a biographer of Carl Orff says Das Schulwerk

leads from the primary basis of innate musicality to the world of historical musical forms

(Liess 1966 p 161) Werner Thomas a long-time colleague of Orff describes Das Schulwerk

as no pedagogical construction but an historical crystallization (Thomas 1960 p3l)

4

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

materials Is Dos Schulwerk merely a collection of historical models Or is there a

developmental theory implicit in the prescribed activities and sequence of materials employed

in the Orff approach

The purpose of this paper is (1) to determine the extent to which a developmental

theory is implicit or explicit in the Orff approach and (2) to explore any congruencies between

Orffs concept of musical development and current theories of the development of music

cognition

The first part of this paper explores the background of the Orff approach to determine

the existence and nature of Orffs concept of musical development The second part Orff and

Cognitive Science makes comparisons between the theory discovered in Part One and current

research in cognitive science

2

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATIOIJ

T he literature published by Orff and his colleagues reveals evidence of considerably

more developmental theory behind the selection and sequencing of repertoire than is commonly

acknowledged In his writings concerning the approach Orff (1962 1963 1976) concentrated

on the choice of repertoire and the nature of music as an elemental human endeavour His

assistant Gunild Keetman wrote a manual on the teaching methods used in the Orff approach

(Keetman 1970) Other German pedagogues sought a place for Orffs work within the context

of educational theory Eberhard Preussner director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg posited a

connection between the educational theories of Pestalozzi and those of Orff Werner Thomas

who worked closely with Orff in Germany and Austria found evidence of links between Orff

and the work of Herder and Goethe Preussner and Thomas presented a foundation for the Orff

approach which is rooted in the artistic spirit of the German poets represented by Goethe

Schiller and Herder and in a German pedagogical reform which extended from the nineteenth

into the early twentieth century They saw the Orff approach as the embodiment of the ideals

expressed in this reform (Preussner 1962 p 13)

Characteristics of the Approach

Orff was a proponent of the idea that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny that the

evolutionary stages in the development of the human species are mirrored in the developmental

stages of the individual This is known as the theory of recapitulation or biogenesis It has been

3

popularly applied to the physiological development of the foetus in vitro (Kimball 1974 p

706) as well as to intellectual development The original theory is attributed to Stanley Hall

(Hawn 1986 p18) Orff states a slightly modified version in the context of musical

development

The childs world of pl~y reflects (or can be likened to) the early archaic stages in the development of mankind Poetic maniffstations of prehistoric ages are magic formulas and oracles rules and customs proverbs and riddles sagas and songs legends and fairy tales (Orff 1962 p 3)

This adaptation of Halls theory appears to have developed under the influence of Karl

Jung Stated in this way the theory holds that through playing the child is liberated from

earlier stages and moves on to higher stages of musical development (Hawn 1986 p 18) It

should not be interpreted that earlier stages are somehow more primitive or later stages of

greater value Rather the idea is that through play the child avoids re-inventing the wheel

The individual assimilates developments of the past in an encapsulated form and builds new

concepts on this foundation 3

Of course Orff does not restrict repertoire in Das Schulwerk to prehistoric forms

Rather he broadens the scope of the material to include examples of the forms found in Western

Pre-Classical music Forms include call and response canon ostinato chaconne processional

rondo quodlibet fauxbourdon recitative and various dances Melodic and harmonic examples

include plainsong-like recitatives organum paraphony and compositions which make use of

functional harmony A variety of tonalities from pentatonic to modal and diatonic are presented

Rhythmic complexity progresses from monosyllabic-word-rhythms to poly metric and

polyrhythmic compositions Andreas Liess a biographer of Carl Orff says Das Schulwerk

leads from the primary basis of innate musicality to the world of historical musical forms

(Liess 1966 p 161) Werner Thomas a long-time colleague of Orff describes Das Schulwerk

as no pedagogical construction but an historical crystallization (Thomas 1960 p3l)

4

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

THE ORFF APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATIOIJ

T he literature published by Orff and his colleagues reveals evidence of considerably

more developmental theory behind the selection and sequencing of repertoire than is commonly

acknowledged In his writings concerning the approach Orff (1962 1963 1976) concentrated

on the choice of repertoire and the nature of music as an elemental human endeavour His

assistant Gunild Keetman wrote a manual on the teaching methods used in the Orff approach

(Keetman 1970) Other German pedagogues sought a place for Orffs work within the context

of educational theory Eberhard Preussner director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg posited a

connection between the educational theories of Pestalozzi and those of Orff Werner Thomas

who worked closely with Orff in Germany and Austria found evidence of links between Orff

and the work of Herder and Goethe Preussner and Thomas presented a foundation for the Orff

approach which is rooted in the artistic spirit of the German poets represented by Goethe

Schiller and Herder and in a German pedagogical reform which extended from the nineteenth

into the early twentieth century They saw the Orff approach as the embodiment of the ideals

expressed in this reform (Preussner 1962 p 13)

Characteristics of the Approach

Orff was a proponent of the idea that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny that the

evolutionary stages in the development of the human species are mirrored in the developmental

stages of the individual This is known as the theory of recapitulation or biogenesis It has been

3

popularly applied to the physiological development of the foetus in vitro (Kimball 1974 p

706) as well as to intellectual development The original theory is attributed to Stanley Hall

(Hawn 1986 p18) Orff states a slightly modified version in the context of musical

development

The childs world of pl~y reflects (or can be likened to) the early archaic stages in the development of mankind Poetic maniffstations of prehistoric ages are magic formulas and oracles rules and customs proverbs and riddles sagas and songs legends and fairy tales (Orff 1962 p 3)

This adaptation of Halls theory appears to have developed under the influence of Karl

Jung Stated in this way the theory holds that through playing the child is liberated from

earlier stages and moves on to higher stages of musical development (Hawn 1986 p 18) It

should not be interpreted that earlier stages are somehow more primitive or later stages of

greater value Rather the idea is that through play the child avoids re-inventing the wheel

The individual assimilates developments of the past in an encapsulated form and builds new

concepts on this foundation 3

Of course Orff does not restrict repertoire in Das Schulwerk to prehistoric forms

Rather he broadens the scope of the material to include examples of the forms found in Western

Pre-Classical music Forms include call and response canon ostinato chaconne processional

rondo quodlibet fauxbourdon recitative and various dances Melodic and harmonic examples

include plainsong-like recitatives organum paraphony and compositions which make use of

functional harmony A variety of tonalities from pentatonic to modal and diatonic are presented

Rhythmic complexity progresses from monosyllabic-word-rhythms to poly metric and

polyrhythmic compositions Andreas Liess a biographer of Carl Orff says Das Schulwerk

leads from the primary basis of innate musicality to the world of historical musical forms

(Liess 1966 p 161) Werner Thomas a long-time colleague of Orff describes Das Schulwerk

as no pedagogical construction but an historical crystallization (Thomas 1960 p3l)

4

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

popularly applied to the physiological development of the foetus in vitro (Kimball 1974 p

706) as well as to intellectual development The original theory is attributed to Stanley Hall

(Hawn 1986 p18) Orff states a slightly modified version in the context of musical

development

The childs world of pl~y reflects (or can be likened to) the early archaic stages in the development of mankind Poetic maniffstations of prehistoric ages are magic formulas and oracles rules and customs proverbs and riddles sagas and songs legends and fairy tales (Orff 1962 p 3)

This adaptation of Halls theory appears to have developed under the influence of Karl

Jung Stated in this way the theory holds that through playing the child is liberated from

earlier stages and moves on to higher stages of musical development (Hawn 1986 p 18) It

should not be interpreted that earlier stages are somehow more primitive or later stages of

greater value Rather the idea is that through play the child avoids re-inventing the wheel

The individual assimilates developments of the past in an encapsulated form and builds new

concepts on this foundation 3

Of course Orff does not restrict repertoire in Das Schulwerk to prehistoric forms

Rather he broadens the scope of the material to include examples of the forms found in Western

Pre-Classical music Forms include call and response canon ostinato chaconne processional

rondo quodlibet fauxbourdon recitative and various dances Melodic and harmonic examples

include plainsong-like recitatives organum paraphony and compositions which make use of

functional harmony A variety of tonalities from pentatonic to modal and diatonic are presented

Rhythmic complexity progresses from monosyllabic-word-rhythms to poly metric and

polyrhythmic compositions Andreas Liess a biographer of Carl Orff says Das Schulwerk

leads from the primary basis of innate musicality to the world of historical musical forms

(Liess 1966 p 161) Werner Thomas a long-time colleague of Orff describes Das Schulwerk

as no pedagogical construction but an historical crystallization (Thomas 1960 p3l)

4

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

In a lecture at the University of Toronto Orff (1962) described six characteristics of Das

Schulwerk which distinguish it from other pedagogical approaches

1 The Schulwerk avoids false simplification for a childs world is neither primitive nor transitory

2 The Schulwerk has no ambition to be modern for progressing from pentatonic to diatonic modes it closely corresponds to the development of the child It is wrong to disregard the growth of music in history and to base instruction on the theory of intervals The Schulwerk protests against the systematic rationalization of our elementary music education

3 The Schulwerk avoids introducing prematurely concepts and notions into a childs play-world which are derived from the contemporary level of our mechanical civilizashytionThe world of technology and causality that surrounds us reaches only as far as rationally measureable relationships are concerned spiritually artistically it is sterileThe Schulwerk develops the imagination and directs it towards the archetypes in nature and creation the child is in contact with positive forces that are ordering relaxing and healing

4 The pieces it contains are simple elementary if you will yet always meaningful each one baving a Gestalt of its own But they do not add up to a progressive system in the usual sense of the term It is the treatment of musical elements that set the Schulwerk apart from other systems which usually start with unison and two-part pieces proceeding step by step to more difficult pieces in many parts and complicated structures It is true that the Schulwerk also progresses stepwise--from borduns to parallel chords and chords in dominant relationship The rate of progress however depends on a childs receptivity this takes both music and language into consideration

5 The Schulwerk does not tamper with traditional texts nor does it invent new ones (except in the case of improvisation) Our texts are taken from folklore or else from recognised poets both lyrical and epic

6 Schulwerk pieces are not compositions in the subjective sense they do not depend on inspiration (as the term was understood in the 19th century) they do not illustrate a text They are musical models typical rather than individual in character

5

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

Historical Influences

Carl Orffs theories developed within the pedagogical legacy of Herder Goethe and

Pestalozzi These people represent a school of European educational reform which began in the

late eighteenth century Although the theories put forth by these men are not always

complementary each in some way influenced the development of Das Schulwerk In fact many

of the ideas discussed are echoed in the work of Dewey and Bruner fathers of current North

American pedagogical practice

Herder and the Ages of Language Werner Thomas (1960) has suggested that

Orff was influenced by the writings of Herder Johann Gottfried Herder was an eighteenth-censhy

tury author and essayist who wrote extensively on the origins and development of language

Herder posits four stages in the development of language (I) Childhood (Kindheit) (2) Youth

(Jugend) (3) Manhood (das mfumlicher Alter) and (4) Old age (der Greis) (Herder 1766) In

keeping with the theory of recapitulation Herder maintains that these stages may be applied to

the development of language in the individual or to the development of the language of a

culture In Von den Lebensaltem einer Sprache Herder characterizes the first stage as one in

which the child (or species) does not speak rather language consists of sounds and pantomime

(Herder 176611968 p 18-19) As language develops it becomes more poetic The second

stage the youth of language is described as the age of imagination The sounds of the words

and their rhythms are used for beauty and for symbolic purposes Herder describes the third

stage of language manhood as the stage of beautiful prose (p 19) The old age of language

the fourth stage of development becomes increasingly preoccupied with correctness This stage

lacks the delight of earlier stages Herder believes that the highest stage of development is the

third The fourth stage he considers a decline From the third stage he maintains one can

venture back into the wonder of poetry or forward into absolute correctness while having the

capability of philosophizing and theorizing with the ease of well-developed prose (p 19) Is

there a parallel between Herders stages of language development and musical development

6

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

Thomas (1960) looking for parallels between Herder and Orfrs developmental scheme

maintains that single-word speech exercises accompanied by rhythmic gestures found in Volume

One of Das Schulwerk are indicative of Herders first stage This may be true of language

development but it does not take into consideration the childs first attempts at making music

Michael Holahan (1986) a researcher in the development of musical syntax in infants speaks

of an early stage of musical development which may be considered equivalent to Herders flrst

stage Music babble as Holahan describes it consists of sounds accompanied by movement

Speech is distinguished from babble when the sounds made by the child become associated with

meaning--Le they become symbols (words) So too music babble advances from sensual play

with sounds to melodies with form and songs with lyrics Music has become a symbol for the

child The child is now ready to begin choosing which sounds he makes based on their

expressive qualities

Das Schulwerk is full of examples of using words for their sheer sensuous beauty a

transition to the second stage in Herders scheme In Volume One (pentatonic) there are many

speech exercises in which the words are clearly chosen for their sonance At all levels of

development children are encouraged to feel the sensuous qualities ofwords to explore rhythmic

and dynamic properties and to play with combinations of words Proverbs and other folk-Ioric

poetry are also clearly in the youthful stage Children are also encouraged to create their own

poems The final stage of development of a language in Herders scheme is one in which rules

of grammar have become normative The imagination is no longer evoked variation is

discouraged the purely technical and correct is prized Gardner (1982) posits a similar

pattern of development As the child becomes pre-occupied with cultural rules and practices

the spontaneity and individual creativity of his artistry decreases giving way to rule-derived

culturally correct forms (pp 85 ff) Thomas (1960) maintains that Orff avoids this stage

through a constant renewing of speech and music The improvisatory character of the approach

allows for the exploration of perpetually-new possibilities (p 34) Herder describes the third

stage the manhood stage of a language as one which contains the best of both worlds A

7

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

program for music education which is analogous to this would be one in which creativity is

encouraged and fostered yet the analytical is not forgotten The child would possess both

procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge--shehe would know-how as well as

know-that (Bamberger 1979 Gardner 1983) This reflects the emphasis in the Orff approach

on the process of music The Orff approach seeks to maintain the poetic magical stage in all

stages of music-making Orff (1962) describes the approach as the awakening of the

imagination (p 3) Through play with sounds and high-lighting the poetry of the text Orff

seeks to sensitize children to the expressive qualities of words and music4

Goethe and the Role of Experience According to Thomas (1962) another important

figure in the development of Orffs philosophy was the nineteenth-century German poet Johann

von Goethe To Goethe experience was education An individual learned about a subject

through experience with that subject In his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Goethe portrays

the experience of life as education--as an apprenticeship The novel follows Wilhelm an

aspiring actor from childhood through manhood Every situation in which Wilhelm finds

himself is an education for him Wilhelm not only learns his craft but draws spiritual knowledge

from his experiences (Goethe 17951966) The value of experience in shaping our perceptions

and knowledge structures is now a field of research Schema theory is beginning to explain what

Goethe seemed to know intuitively 5

Goethe held music to be the fundamental force behind all education

Bei uns ist der Gesang die erste Stufe der Bildung alles andemach schlieBt sich daran und wird dadurch vermitteltDeshalb haben wir denn unter allem Denkbaren die Musik zum Element unserer Erziehung gewahlt denn von ihr laufen gleichgebahnte Wege nach allen Seiten6

(Goethe from Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre in Heise et al 1973 p 12)

Although this description of the value of music in education comes from a novel it is safe to

assume that the portrait of a school described in this poetic way reflects the educational

philosophy of Goethe himself

8

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

Goethe was fighting against the trend toward a technical education He constantly

stresses the imaginative the artistic and the poetic We can hear this echo in the writings of

Orff when he begs for the growth of imagination and the use of creativity Goethe held

folk-poetry and folk-song in high esteem In a review of Des Knaben Wunderhom a

nineteenth-century collection of German folksongs and poetry Goethe (18061962) claims that

this collection of what he believes to be the highest form of poetry should be in every house (p

24)

Are there echoes of Goethe in the work of Orff Carl Orff like Goethe saw music as

a force which had influence in domains in addition to the artistic domain Orff considered music

education to be a fundamental component of education and a humanizing force

Elementary music word and movement play everything that awakens and develops the powers of the spirit this is the humus of the spirit the humus without which we face the danger of a spiritual erosion

Just as humus in nature makes growth possible so elementary music gives to the child powers that cannot otherwise come to fruition It must therefore be stressed that elementary music in the primary school should not be installed as a subsidiary subject but as something fundamental to all other subjects It is not exclusively a question of musical education this can follow but it does not have to It is rather a question of developing the whole personality (Orff 1963 p9)

Orff following Goethes theme of experience as education stresses the experiential side

of the approach

It [elementary music] is music that one makes oneself in which one takes part not as a listener but as a participant (Orff 1963 p 6)

Goethe appealed for the acceptance of folk-song and poetry as examples of great art

Similarly Orff (1962) claims that true folksongs and folktexts are archetypes of Art Their

inclusion in education is imperative (p 6) This is born out in the selection of texts Orff made

for Dos Schulwerk The five volumes of Dos Schulwerk include nursery rhymes riddles fairy

tales and texts from the Wunderhorn and from the works of Goethe Herder Schiller and the

9

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

Gospels There is some inclusion of folk-songs in languages other than German In keeping with

Orffs view of learning music as you would learn a language (ie beginning with the mother

tongue) folksongs of other languages do not appear until the fmal volumes Orff never

conceived of his Schulwerk being used in so many different countries and languages He

designed it to be a collection for his home-state of Bavaria The material in the five volumes

was chosen with the German heritage in mind For this reason Das Schulwerk cannot merely

be translated to other cultural contexts It must be adapted to local culture Thus the materials

with texts found in the editions by Doreen Hall and Margaret Murray reflect the English

heritage as other national authors reflect their own heritage7 The instrumental pieces are

included unaltered

Pestalozzi and Education von Kinder QUS Eberhard Preussner (1962) claims that another

important educational influence on the development of Orffs educational philosophy was the

work of Pestalozzi Although many of Pestalozzis revolutionary ideas about education did not

mature to his satisfaction during his own lifetime his ideas did foreshadow important ideas held

by educational systems in this century One of his beliefs was that every child should be

educated To this end he set up poor schools to teach the children of farmers For Pestalozzi

as for Goethe education was a humanizing force The aim was to produce independent thinkers

Education then is the art of bringing to life and fortifying the good which is inherent in every human being it consists in guiding the child towards the best realization of himself and of the things ofthe world It does not impose anything alien upon him but draws out what lies in him either latent or obstructed it takes as its starting point the child himself It cultivates his own powers and encourages his independence Thus the educator acts as Socrates has said more as a midwife than as a begetter of men He merely prepares the way which the pupil must travel himself (Silber 1965 p 137)

These ideas underpin what is known as the von Kinder aus school of pedagogy John Dewey

echoed the same ideas in Experience amp Education (1938)

10

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

Most of Pestalozzi s ideas met with opposition during his own lifetime Goethe criticized

his development of individuals as counter-productive to the good of society (Thomas 1962 p

81) Pestalozzi for his own part thought that Goethe was too elitist that Goethes aristocratic

position placed him in opposition to his own democratic ideals

One of Pestalozzis key ideas was the development of what he termed Anschauung

Anschauung is a complex concept encompassing what we now conceptualize as perception

intuition and sense-impression Silber (1965) in a study of Pestalozzi and his work describes

Anschauung as a fundamental power of the human mind underlying all mental activity and

making possible all knowledge (p138) Pestalozzi maintains that this is the foundation for all

intellectual growth and that the development of perception should be the first goal of education

(Silber 1965 p 139)

There are five forms of Anschauung in Pestalozzi s scheme These may be summarized

as

1 Chaotic unorganized impressions of the world received by the sense organs

2 Impressions organized and reinforced by parents and teachers

[Thus far perceptual capacity has been passive and dependant upon the environment The next three forms are actively constructed]

3 A self-motivated active striving to maintain and develop insight knowledge skill and perception [pestalozzi credits this with making perception conscious This seems to be equivalent to the development ofconceptual knowledge mentioned by others cf Piaget]

4 As a result of activity knowledge becomes more specific This has the effect of increasing the accuracy completeness and harmony of perception with the resultant achievement clarity or distinctness of ideas

5 Finally the intellect is able to construct ideas and conceptualize about things never seen due to their resemblance to things already experienced [cf schemata] 8

11

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

This description of cognition and cognitive development as ranging from unorganized

purely sensory awareness to actively-organized conscious intellectual activity resembles other

influential theories of cognitive development which we shall examine later Each stage of

development is dependant upon earlier stages Silber (1965) summarizes

knowledge is reliable only if all previous stages are contained in its final result or in other words distinct concepts are true only if they are grounded on sense impres~ions (p 140)

Nowhere is there a statement of purpose which more fully articulates the aim and belief

of Dos Schulwerk than Silbers definition of education quoted at the beginning of this section in

the monograph Orff believed in the integrity of every child He wanted every child to be

exposed to the humanizing self-realizing power of music (1962 p 3) in order to realize his

latent musical potential

Orffs idea of independent thinking must be explained Each child develops individual

potential within the context of the group The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment

in which the musical skills and intellect develop for the individual and for the group Each child

is led to the development of his own abilities but learns to use them in the context of the

ensemble as well as individually

The Orff approach fits very well into the developmental concept of Anshauung as

proposed by Pestalozzi Orff begins first with the sensory the sound of words the kinesthetic

sense of rhythm The use of movement presents music to the individual through his visual and

tactile senses Gradually these sensual experiences of music develop to include conceptual

knowledge of forms and names However Qeff always emphasizes that the sense of music (the

pure experience of music) should come first In the most advanced form of musical Anschauung

we are able to mentally represent music from a score and imagine sounds we have not actually

heard

12

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

Pestalozzi favoured a methodological progression of material and concepts that moves

from simple through moderate difficulty to advanced difficulty (Preussner 1962 p 7) One

of the catch-phrases of the Orff approach is from simple to complex If Musical experience

begins with simple forms two-note call melodies and rhythm patterns of eighth- and quarter

notes Grarlually more complicated rhythms and melodies are introduced Body percussion

begins with clapping Later a second sound--patschen--is added then stamping and snapping

and so on Accompaniments begin with the simple bordun on one type of instrument The

bordun is then broken the rhythm becomes more complex The texture increases timbres are

added Unison singing becomes part-singing From elemental forms--AB ABA--the child

progresses to canon rondo theme and variations Even within the complexity there exists the

elemental grains of simplicity Larger more complex forms are built up from simple motives

and groupings Melodic and rhythmic cells are used as ostinati which are layered to produce

the Gestalt the fully formed musical work

Although Pestalozzi was not a musician he placed a high value on music as part of his

Menschenerziehung (education for life)

Die Wichtigkeit des Gesangs als eines Teils der Menschenbildung sein Eingreifen ins Ganze derselben und das diesfiillige Bediirfnis des Yolks und der Volksschulen sind so unbedingt anerkannt daB es vollig iiberfliissig ware hieriiber noch ein Wort zu sagen (pestalozzi in Heise et al 1973 p 12)9

Nageli was the music instructor at one of Pestalozzis early school experiments He

developed his teaching from Pestalozzis ideals Unfortunately his interpretation of Pestalozzis

method gave rise to a very mechanical product (Preussner 1962 p 9) However several of

Nagelis teachings are not without value According to Nageli rhythm is the first step in all

music education Die einzig wahre Elementarlehre stellen wir auf wenn wir den Rhythmus

zum Ersten machen 10 For Orff rhythm is the life-force of all music and music-making

Everything else evolves from rhythm

Am Anfang war die Trommel

13

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

Die Trommellockt zum Tanz Tanz ist aufs engste mit Musik verbunden

Rhythmus zu lehren ist schwer Rhythmus kann man nur losen entbinden Rhythmus ist kein Abstraktum Rhythmus ist das Leben selbst er ist die einigende Kraft von Sprache Musik und Bewegung l1 (Orff 1976 p 17)

Undoubtedly there were many more influences on Orfrs development of educational

philosophy than these His own tastes in music his own music education and not least of all

his own experiences as a composer were surely not without influence Most important

however was Orfrs view of the nature of music

1be nature of music in Orffs approach

It is necessary when developing a pedagogical approach to know the nature of the subject

in question in order to the know the goal of the educational process What is the nature of

music in the Orff approach

There is no one source in which Orff specifically states his philosophy of the nature of

music His view must therefore be synthesized from the way in which he treats music in his

compositions and in the material and method used in Dos Schulwerk

Music is seen as an expressive form in the Orff philosophy Jos Wuytack a leading Orff

proponent used the words of the LIGI the Chinese book of ethical wisdom to express the Orff

view of music as an expressive force

Song derives from word it is made up of sustained words If man has cause to rejoice he expresses it in speech If speech does not suffice he talks in sustained words (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

14

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

This talk-like quality of music is the subject of a recent essay by the philosopher Frances

Sparshott Sparshott (1988) holds that there are two distinct kinds of music phone and tone

The first refers the Greek conception of the voice

Voice [phone] in nature is psychic sound issuing from near the vital center the heart it has pitch tuneand phrasing Voice includes all animal cries as well as musical performances articulate speech is a futher differentiation of it (p 47)

This defmition is very similar to the impassioned utterances described in the LIGI Sparshott

uses the Greek word tone to refer to the instrumentally conceived music that derived from the

formalization of scales (p 47)

The anthropological view of music is something you do--a practice This is the

definition of music suggested by anthropologist Alan Merriam

Music is a uniquely human phenomenon which exists only in terms of social interaction that is it is made by people for other people and it is learned behavior It does not and cannot exist by of and for itself there must always be human beings doing something to pnxluce it In short music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone for it involves the behavior of individuals and groups of individuals (Merriam 1964 p 27)

The definition of music as a practice is also proposed by Sparshott (1988) Music is

something that you do It is not just a product it is also a behaviour a process leading to a

product In an aesthetic model performing--the doing of music--is a means to an end it is the

means of pnxlucing an expressive form which is valuable in and of itself In Sparshotts model

the making of music has intrinsic value--it is an end as well as a means We can enjoy and learn

from the process even as we enjoy and learn from the product This doing of music for the sake

of the doing is an important cultural phenomenon in many societies This is often the motivation

for organizing community bands and choirs groups of people coming together after a work-day

to make music Although there is usually a performance involved at some point that one-time

experience of the finished music would not be enough to keep these people coming back week

after week The practice of music in a group week by week must also be of value to the

15

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

participants Sparshott (1988) maintains that to perform is to enter another world This is the

reason he gives for the popularity of amateur choral societies

To sing in a choir even for those who have to learn by rote a piece they do not understand immerses one in a form of social reason that is autonomous and strange at the same time as it is the law of ones own action That is why so many people sing in choirs without getting paid for it (p 79)

The practice of music in a group reflects the concept of music in the Orff approach This

premise is born out by the fact that there is virtually no solo repertoire in the Orff literature

Music is meant to be a community effort The model for Orff ensembles came from Orfpound sown

knowledge of ethnomusicology He took the basic concept of the Orff ensemble from the

Javanese Gamelan The model of music as a community effort is surely evident here as in

African traditions

The Orff approach is music education for EVERY child Within Orff activities and the

Orff ensemble there is a layered texture which allows for individual participation at whatever

level the child is capable Each child is actively and totally involved in music-making Each

child is part of the community of music-makers Everyone learns every part Every part has

integrity in the ensemble Each child is responsible for performing his part to the best of hisher

abilities--for hisher own satisfaction as well as for the good of the group

Orff is music for the WHOLE child The children do not experience or learn music

simply by playing or singing but kinaesthetically by involving the whole body The passage

quoted from LIGl above continues

If sustained words do not suffice he adds exclamations and sighs If exclamation and sighs do not suffice it comes imperceptibly to a point where the hands swing and the feet dance (Wuytack 1977 p 59)

Rhythms are clapped snapped patsched and stamped The rise and fall of the melody is felt

physically through hand-signs and movement The WHOLE child is also called upon to exercise

16

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

artistic choices--to relate to music intellectually and conceptually The child makes the decisions

of a composer in improvisation and orchestration Which sounds do I want to use here and

the performer How can I play this expressively Just as doctors learn to be doctors by doing

what doctors do children learn to be musicians by doing what musicians dO 12

Weaknesses in practice

One of the key objections to the Orff approach is its presumed preoccupation with

pentatony and rondo-form--Le that development is limited to a very specific and narrow range

style In fact only Volume One of the five volumes is dedicated to pentatonic tonality Orff

himself was opposed to the idea of artificially restricting children to pentatonic tonalities for a

protracted period

Time and again the question is asked whether a child must only play pentatonic avoiding any other kind of music This is nonsense of course since it is both impossible and undesirable to shut a child off from all other musical influences It is the main purpose of pentatonic training to help a child to find and to form a musical expression of his own (Orff 1962 p 1)

The varieties of tonality are indeed more extensive than that found in the repertoire of most of

the current textbook series The misuse and neglect of the full range of repertoire available is

perhaps due to the fact that most teacher-training courses in Schulwerk only scratch the surface

of the first volume The immediate success attained when improvising in the pentatonic mode

make it a comfortable tool Many teachers simply lack the training and experience to take

children past this point So too with rondo form This is a tidy self-contained form assuring

almost certain success The teacher is often incapable of improvising in any of the other forms

Hence everything becomes a rondo This lack of training combined with a misunderstanding

of Orffs original design has resulted in programs in which the mere inclusion of xylophones and

glockenspiels is cause enough to use the label 01jf These programs are really little more than

glorified rhythm bands There is no appreciation of tonality or form There is no real creativity

taking place Often the texts and musics used are inferior and are selected for their cuteness

17

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

and appeal Of course there is certain value in entertainment music but the appeal of these

compositions often wears thin Orff deplored what he called Kindergarten Unpoetry--songs

contrived to appeal to small children He believed instead that we should use the texts of

folklore and of great poets of history verbatim (see also above)

Summary

The Orff approach to music education draws on the ideas of several nineteenth-century

reformists From lohann Gottfried Herder comes the idea of a developmental cycle and a poetic

age of language Orff captures the magic of this poetic age in his music Goethe stresses the

role of experience-of participatory learning in education Goethe also maintained that music

was a fundamental component of all education--a thought happily echoed by Orff Pestalozzi

was an early proponent of the von Kinder aus school of education Orff bases his progression

on beginning with the child and drawing potential out of him Pestalozzi posited a framework

for the development of perception This development begins with pure sensory stimulation and

ends with cognitive creation of new concepts Orff also progresses from the kinaesthetic (the

sensory) to the analytic (the conceptual) Nageli working closely with Pestalozzi placed

rhythm at the beginning of all musical learning Carl Orff too maintained that rhythm was the

Ur-element from which all other musical elements and forms developed Music is viewed as a

practice in the Orff approach to music education It is not only the sounds created but the

practice of creating and working with those sounds that make music and music education The

full potential of the Orff approach is often hindered by a lack of comprehensive training for

teachers

Conclusions

The purpose of the first part of this paper has been to determine if the Orff approach is

based on a developmental theory and if so to explore the nature of that theory

18

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

Carl Orff held that every child is innately musical (Orff 1963) Orffs endorsement of

the theory of recapitulation indicates that he believed that there is one developmental path which

all individuals follow This pattern of development mirrors the evolution of music in history

This belief accounts for Orffs choice of repertoire and their sequencing in Dos Schulwerk

Orff also believed that a childs musical development is tied to the development of his

language 13 The evolutionary stages of language as detailed by Herder may be extended to

suggest stages in musical development These stages are (I) Babble or play with sounds (2)

A poeticsymbolic stage during which the imagination uses sounds and words for beauty and

symbolic purposes This stage is characterized by intense creativity (3) A logical stage one

in which the individual develops powers of reason and analytic thought and (4) A rule-driven

stage pre-occupied with correctness The Orff approach moves from the earliest stages of play

with sounds and music (stage 1) encouraging the development of musical imagination (stage 2)

and finally developing the ability to think and create music analytically (stage 3) The approach

seeks to avoid the sterility and rigidity of Herders fmal stage through constant stress on the

imagination

The Orff approach borrows from Goethe the idea of education as an apprenticeship ie

that the process of development is the result of concrete experiences with a medium The nature

of this development is similar to Pestalozzis account of the development of Anschauung or

perception Orff believes that musical development begins with the kinaesthetic or sensory

experience of music Through play with music and positive environment organized by parents

and teachers the initially sensuous perceptions of music become intellectual conceptions of

music The child through performance improvisation and composition begins to make

conscious musical choices based on his developing musical understanding The progression

moves from simple to complex However it is not a question of successive stages supplanting

earlier ones Rather like the layers of an onion progressive musical skills and concepts are

added to the body of procedural knowledge which the child possesses

19

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

The emphasis in the Qrff approach is therefore not on a body of skills or facts rather

it is on the experience with music--the actual practice of music This belief is supported by

anthropological and philosophical definitions of music This philosophy of the nature of music

also governs the selection of repertoire and teaching strategies used in the approach The

strategies used suggest that musical development is achieved through active participation in

music-making not abstract pen and paper learning

20

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

ORFF AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

T he developmental theory behind the arff approach to music education evolved from

the European educational philosophies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries If

the approach is to be considered for use in contemporary music education it must have points

of congruency with current educational theories The purpose of this second chapter is (1) to

examine several of the current theories as they pertain to music education and (2) to explore

possible congruencies with the theory behind the arff approach

The field of cognitive science is burdgeoning The study of the development of mind has

rich implications for the field of education in general and music education in particular

Schema theOry and play theory both hold keys to the organization of our pedagogy and

curriculum Recent research (Gardner 1983 Serafine 1988) proposes cognitive processes and

domains which are unique to music Much research and experimentation is now probing the

cognitive development of children Brief mention will be made of Piagets theory of playas it

relates to Das Schulwerk An extensive discussion of Piaget and music will not be presented as

this has already been explored by many authors 14 After examining the current trend to view

music not as a magical mystical entity but rather as a product andor process of cognition

congruencies with the arff approach will be sought

21

Schema theory

One of the current buzzwords in cognitive science is schema (pI schemata) Although

variations in the interpretation of the meaning of this word exist schemata are commonly

understood to be intellectual structures resulting from interaction with the environment Robert

Gjerdingen (1988) develops Leonard Meyers theory of expectation in his work A Classic Tum

of Phrase Music and the Psychology of Convention Gjerdingen examines the value of

schematic theory for a theory of perception of music Two definitions of his collection from

various authors are important for our purposes He cites F Bartlett one of the earliest authors

to use the word schema

Schema refers to an active organization of past reactions or of past experiences which must always be supposed to be operating in any well-adapted organic response That is whenever there is any order or regularity of behavior a particular response is possible only because it is related to other similar responses which have been serially organized yet which operate not simply as individual members coming one after but as a unitary mass (in Gjerdingen 1988 p 4)

The other applicable definition comes from Jean Mandler who defines schemata as mental

structures which are formed on the basis of past experience with objects scenes or events and

consisting of a set of (usually unconscious) expectations about what things look like andor the

order in which they occur (in Gjerdingen 1988 p 4)

Both of these definitions contain the key concept that schemata are built from experience

with things be they objects or events It follows then that the more experiences with a particular

thing the clearer and truer will be the schemata which are created Schemata are not specific

knowledge files Rather they are generalized knowledge They are flexible and may therefore

be adapted to different situations David Rumelhart lists six features of schemata

1 Schemata have variables 2 Schemata can embed one within another 3 Schemata represent knowledge at all levels of abstraction 4 Schemata represent knowledge rather than definitions

22

5 Schemata are active processes 6 Schemata are recognition devices whose processing is aimed at the evaluation of

their goodness of fit to the data being processed (in Gjerdingen 1988 p5)

Schemata are not meant to be exact moulds into which all other experience is jammed

Instead they provide a frame of reference for understanding This concept of schemata as

frameworks for organizing our world is compatible with Pestalozzis fifth stage in the

development of Anshauung

Dinge die ich nie anschaulich sehe konstruiere ich mir auf auf Grund der von mir angenommenen Ahnlichkeit mit Dingen die ich wahrgenommen habe (Preussner 1962 p 8)15

In other words experience builds schemata which guide our conceptual constructions The more

information that is stored in these schemata (ie the more experiences from which we develop

these schemata) the more accurate and more sophisticated will be our constructions As we

encounter new experiences our schema are modified and refined 16 This has a great deal of

importance in a constructivist theory of music perception such as that proposed by Serafine

(1988) Philip Lewin (1986) in a paper discussing the construction of cognitive structures

elaborates on the refinements of schemata in the process of learning a dance step

In terms of dance that which is already known both cognitively and kinaesthetically functions as cognitive schema [sic] for movements through which the novel is initially understood Learning movement then consists of incorporating the novel phrase into an existing system of representations and modifying those representations in tum to accomodate the novel within them And these representations are not only procedural in the sense of knowing how or when knowledge is to be applied but exist much more fundamentally as kinaesthetic How one apperceives movement will depend both on how one understands movement and what ways of transforming and connecting movement are already embodied as skill (p 13)

This underscores the presence of schemata related to skill The necessity to acknowledge skill

development as a component of the educational process will be discussed below

23

What is the significance of schema theory for elementary music education The crux of

the matter is this In order to perceive and to be able process musical input we need to have

a set of files or schemata to help us classify what we hear These schemata are the result of

experience The earlier we begin to set up schemata the more we can process The content of

those early experiences is also of the utmost importance as they will colour all future experiences

of music The second half of Lewins statement quoted above indicates that perception is also

affected by kinaesthetic or performance schemata Sparshott (1988) supports this when he

claims that a violinist hears violin music with his hands part of his hearing is the way his

fingers corroborate the playing (p 85) and for a violinist an inseparable component in the

experience of hearing is what is felt in the fingers (p 97)

The Orff approach builds several different kinds of schemata in children First there is

the actual experience of musical sounds and their organization into historical forms Das

Schulwerlcprovides models of historically correct forms (Thomas 1960 p 31) Secondly there

is the ensemble experience schemata for performance considerations Students are not merely

hearing the music they are experiencing it more directly through creating it The use of

instrumental pieces allows for a greater variety of timbres and forms than the sole use of vocal

and choral music Most importantly however are the affective schemata formed by the child

towards music The Orff experience is designed to be a positive experience of music for the

child He learns that his own music (composing initially in the form of improvising) is valuable

that his own musical expression is worthwhile

Carl ()rWs great gift is to children In essence that gift is a way of looking at music that deeply involves them in its creation and thereby entails respect for their capabilities (Frazee 1987 p 5)

On a broader scope the child learns to risk exposing his ideas musical or artistic All of these

experiences set up patterns of expectation--schemata

24

The purpose underpinning Orffs approach is compatible with schema theory Orffs aim

for Das Schulwerk was the formation of fundamental structures of musical understanding

although he did not use the term schema In the preface to Volume One he states

So soIl eine Grundlage fUr alles spatere Musizieren und Interpretieren geschaffen werden dh wahres Verstandnis fur musikalische Sprache und Ausdruck die hier wie in einer Fibel erstlingshaft gebildet werden 17 (Orff 1950 p ii)

This Gnmdlage when thought of in cognitive terms is none other than a set of musical

schemata

Orff and Play

Play is an important component of development Howard Gardner gives one definition

of art as a goal-directed form of play (Gardner 1973 p 166) Jerome Bruner seesmiddotplay as

a key to intrinsic learning

Play serves the function of reducing the pressures of impulse and incentive and [sic] making it possible thereby for intrinsic learning to begin (Bruner cited in M Willman 1983 p 63)

Through play children can set up schemata which as we have seen are flexible enough to be

applied in other situations

Jean Piaget recognized the value of play in education Play for Piaget was the purest

form of assimilation of the environment Cognitive growth arises from the balance or

equilibrium between accomodation (imitation) and assimilation (play) (Hawn 1986 p18) In

addition to his now-famous ages and stages of intellectual development Piaget posited three

stages of play (1) Practice Games characteristic of the ages birth through two (2) Symbolic

Games ages two through seven and (3) Games with Rules ages seven through eleven These

stages are posited as sequential but earlier stages co-exist with later stages (Hawn 1986 p 18)

25

In an exploration of the role of play in the Qrff approach Hawn (1986) has found

analogies of each stage in the activities of Qrff Schulwerk He classifies practice games as those

in which exploration is an essential ingredient This includes exploration of voice instruments

and movement possibilities Also in this category are chants and pitch matching games The

emphasis is not on the group but on individual response Group coordination comes into play

with symbolic games Here Hawn suggests notation fIrst pictorial later traditional as well as

uSing metaphors to teach musical concepts Games with rules take the form of singing games

The rules may be few or many simple or complex The individuals response must fit into the

groups collective response These games extend into instrumental ensembles and choral or

dance experiences (Hawn 1986)

Piaget makes mention of one further type of play--constructive play It is in this type of

play that aesthetic and artistic judgement comes into play The child constructs his world by

choosing from possibilities gleaned through previous or current exploration (p 20) Through

constructive play with early forms the child learns to manipulate the elements of music in his

own creative forms This is a different procedure than imparting rules which were formulated

by adults for adults

Willman (1983 has called improvisation a game with rules Improvisation plays a major

role in the Orff approach It is the most direct way of encountering music There is no

intermediary composed work or notation The child experiments with a variety of musical

forms This is not however a completely open discovery method It is preferable to set some

boundaries (rules) within which children create their improvisations If boundaries are not

given the possible choices can be overwhelming Rules help the child limit possibilities

Improvisation approached as a game also helps create a comfortable environment and engenders

a willingness to take risks Consequences of less successful attempts are not as likely to be

viewed as critically in a negative sense This is not free play however The progress must be

26

guided and evaluated nothing demands more careful preparation on the part of a teacher than

improvisation exercises (Orff 1962 p 7)

Gardners Theory of Artistic Development

The aim of the Orff approach is not to produce specific instrumental or vocal skills in

children Instead it seeks to produce well-rounded creative competent musicians--artists if

you will--by involving children in the activities in which musicians engage creating music

performing music evaluating music and listening to music How dos this goal compare with

the components of overall artistic development as expressed by Howard Gardner

Gardner was one of the first cognitive psychologists to explore the development of music

as an intellectual process In a series of books beginning with The Arts and Human

Development (1973) and continuing most specifically in Frames ofMind (1983) Gardner poses

the theory that artistic activity is intellectual activity In the latter book Gardner posits a unique

intellectual faculty for music In his early writings Gardner concurs with Piagets scheme of

stages in child development As he works out his artistic theory however he develops a

different pattern of development for artistic development independent of the four stages of

Piaget Piagets theory states that at each succeeding stage of development the child re-organizes

her world-view According to Gardner this is unnecessary in artistic development Gardner

feels that these supposed shifts in view in later stages are merely different ways of thinking

about scientific thought not psychological shifts (Gardner 1973 p 134) Gardners theory

places him in opposition to both learning theorists and cognitivists While he disallows

reorganization of the nature of thought patterns in later stages of development he does propose

one major reorganization This occurs as a transition from direct actions in the world to the

world of symbols (p 130) In music this means a transition from music as merely pleasing

sound to music as a symbol This transition takes place in the period between ages two and

27

I

seven which Gardner classifies as a critical period for learning (p 56) It is during this time

that children naturally acquire languages and other symbolic media

The essence of Gardners theory of artistic development is that by seven the child is

functioning as an artist There is no need for further stages Development now takes the form

of refinement of skill acquaintance with artistic tradition and sensitivity to nuance (p vi)

What has occurred to this point to create the young artist Gardners model of child

development includes three developing systems Making perceiving and feeling Making

signifies any notion or action perceiving refers to discrimination of the environment andfeeling

deals with affect In adults according to Gardner these three systems are one integrated

system In the child they are discrete Gardners theory may then be summarized as the

transition from three discrete systems to one integrated system

and then the employment of these integrated systems by the organism in the years following infancy in the skilled use of various symbolic media and elements

Although the mastery of any symbolic system takes years I do not feel that a new order mechanism comes into play at specific times Rather an organisms experience with these symbol systems involves an increasingly complex making perceiving and feeling which draws in a comprehensive way on the mechanisms evolved during infancy (p 45)

If the child is to develop artistically she needs to be given opportunities to engage in activities

which use each of the three systems

Following from these three systems--making perceiving and feeling--Gardner develops

artistic roles which he feels are present and to be nurtured in every child These roles are

interdependent yet separate with unique functions and skills They are analogous to participants

in the artistic process

The Creatorl Artist The Audience Member The Critic The Performer

28

I

The role of the creator is creation of a work of art The job of the audience member is to

follow that work so he may be moved The critic puts her affective reaction into words The

performer transmits the work to larger audiences (pp 25-26) Although Gardner maintains that

everyone develops in each of these roles he places a special emphasis in education on creating

as a component in the artistic development of children According to Gardner childrens

sensitivity to artistic fonns comes through far more clearly in their own works than in their

perception of the works of others He attributes this to a fundamental difference in the

intellectual activities involved in making and perceiving

[to achieve] Balance harmony or rhythmic effects in a work a child need only work with symbolic media in contrast he can only demonstrate his perception of these properties in the work of others by speaking of them and this is a verbal and II meta-aesthshyetic task more demanding than simple practice (1973 p 168)

Perceiving requires not only the musical expertise but also the ability to talk about it linguistic

competence The experience of the properties of music is much more immediate in making as

opposed to perceiving activities This is a clear justification for the emphasis on improvisation

and perfonning (not in the sense of a concert) in the Orff approach

The Orff approach includes opportunities for all of Gardners roles Traditionally in

elementary music education the creator and performer are different people However it is more

common in the Orff approach for the creator and performer to be one and indeed also for the

ensemble to be both creator and performer This is the case in the creation of rondos Each

person in the ensemble is given the opportunity to create a part of the whole composition as

well as perfonning the A sections

The role of the audience member is one which is not particularly well-developed in the

Orff approach There is no unique strategy for listening to the works of others The teacher

should make as many opportunities as possible for listening to the creations of the group A

desireable addition to the Orff approach would be a strategy for directed listening which

29

-s features indicative of the approach This is an area of needed and worthwhile

Evaluating the results of the creating process is a part of the lesson which is often left

~ This could be for two reasons The teacher may be ill-equipped to make evaluations

kndf 1bere could also be a misguided sense that critical evaluation of a work of art is not

possible It is possible to objectively view processes and overall effect in a constructive manner

widJout destroying the childs creative spirit Indeed this reflection is necessary if the child is

going to develop and not merely continue to re-create similar works Orff would be the first

10 advocate the evaluation of works in order to guide students to further development of their

musical ideas

In the swing of the pendulum away from skill-oriented programs towards aesthetic

education we too often deny the fact that skills (and a sense of skill) are necessary for both

perception and expression A similar view is expressed in Johnson-Laird (1987) regarding jazz

improvisation where he states that it is necessary for the improviser to have a representation of

the structure of an improvisation (a schema) and of the tacit skills to construct an improvisation

This has particular import for the Orff approach since it is based on improvisation Gardner

raises an important issue in this discussion

in most cases skills do not naturally evolve one is faced with a choice between explicit instruction or the creation of a situation in which that skill is likely to develop (1973 p 195)

The Orff approach is an example of the latter situation Certain skills are necessary for musical

expression even on the seemingly primitive percussion instruments However it would go

against the philosophy of this approach to instruct merely for skills As stated elsewhere the

experience is always of the music

30

Music as Intelligence

Prominent in Gardners research is a theory of multiple intelligences This is set out in

Frames ofMind (1983) In this work Gardner proposes that the musical competence is actually

an autonomous intelligence within our cognitive system He defines musical intelligence as the

abilities of individuals to discern meaning and importance in sets of pitches rhythmically

arranged and also to produce such metrically arranged pitch sequences as a means of

communicating with other individuals (p 98) Reminiscent of the statements on the genesis of

song from the LIGI Gardner speculates that speech and music may have arisen from a common

expressive medium If However over the course ofevolution the cognitive structures controlling

them have changed and speech and music have become autonomous intellectual competences

(p 98) Development in distinct intelligences does not necessarily follow the same pattern of

stages The stages are determined culturally and by the medium as well as by age (p 314)

Education is necessary before the raw intellectual potential can be realized in the form of a

mature cultural role (p 372)

Certain features of this development may be considered natural or innate according

to Gardners theory Part of the process of education simply involves certain natural

processes of development whereby a capacity passes through a predictable set of stages as it

matures and is differentiated (p 372) Music is a special competence however since it

requires specific skills as discussed above Gardner qualifies his stand on natural acquisition

of a competence thus when it comes to the transmission of specific skills and knowledge one

beholds a more complex less natural process at hand (p 372)

Gardners rationale for developing this cognitive framework was to explain why some

educational approaches succeed and others fail (p 333) He particularly favours the Suzuki

approach to music education The features which he finds commendable are available to a great

extent in the Orff approach without some of the drawbacks

31

Among the features which Gardner feels contribute to the perceived success of the Suzuki

method is the stress on early exposure to music This feature is not unique to Suzuki Kodaly

and Orff both stress that children learn music as they would learn their mother-tongue through

early eXJXgtsure in the home Suzuki exploits the parent-child relationship The parent is held

responsible for the attitude that the child develops toward music The child-peer group

relationship is also of great importance in the approach The child is motivated and encouraged

by his relationships within the group It is an unfortunate occurrence that this is not always a

JXgtSitive influence Comparisons within the group often lead to unhealthy competition An

Orff-based approach also stresses the child in relation to his peers However as music here is

of an ensemble nature there is less chance for comparison when everyone has their own

contribution to make than in a situation where children are performing the same task

Gardners criticisms of the Suzuki approach include the seeming devaluation of notation

through emphasis on the ear the limited musical skills and knowledge (limited to Western

musical traditions and repertoire) the extreme emphasis on reproducing an interpretation

Gardner holds that the emphasis on reproductive skills develops an attitude that the most

imJX)rtant thing is to replicate sound There is little room for the possibility of changing sounds

This is not the case in the Orff approach where it is desireable to create variation It is true that

the Orff approach also favours the ear over learning notation This stems from the belief that

this is a more direct way of experiencing music Orff did not intend that students not learn

notation Instead notation should come as a result of wanting to save and transmit musical

creations There are many active ways of teaching notation which may be incorporated into an

Orff-based program to overcome the chance of musical illiteracy

One of Gardners criticisms of Orff would surely be its lack of music from the masters If

Gardner (1973) gives three components of a developmental approach to music education

1 Free exploration 2 Building up of skills (cognitive and technical) under guidance

32

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

5 Schemata are active processes 6 Schemata are recognition devices whose processing is aimed at the evaluation of

their goodness of fit to the data being processed (in Gjerdingen 1988 p5)

Schemata are not meant to be exact moulds into which all other experience is jammed

Instead they provide a frame of reference for understanding This concept of schemata as

frameworks for organizing our world is compatible with Pestalozzis fifth stage in the

development of Anshauung

Dinge die ich nie anschaulich sehe konstruiere ich mir auf auf Grund der von mir angenommenen Ahnlichkeit mit Dingen die ich wahrgenommen habe (Preussner 1962 p 8)15

In other words experience builds schemata which guide our conceptual constructions The more

information that is stored in these schemata (ie the more experiences from which we develop

these schemata) the more accurate and more sophisticated will be our constructions As we

encounter new experiences our schema are modified and refined 16 This has a great deal of

importance in a constructivist theory of music perception such as that proposed by Serafine

(1988) Philip Lewin (1986) in a paper discussing the construction of cognitive structures

elaborates on the refinements of schemata in the process of learning a dance step

In terms of dance that which is already known both cognitively and kinaesthetically functions as cognitive schema [sic] for movements through which the novel is initially understood Learning movement then consists of incorporating the novel phrase into an existing system of representations and modifying those representations in tum to accomodate the novel within them And these representations are not only procedural in the sense of knowing how or when knowledge is to be applied but exist much more fundamentally as kinaesthetic How one apperceives movement will depend both on how one understands movement and what ways of transforming and connecting movement are already embodied as skill (p 13)

This underscores the presence of schemata related to skill The necessity to acknowledge skill

development as a component of the educational process will be discussed below

23

What is the significance of schema theory for elementary music education The crux of

the matter is this In order to perceive and to be able process musical input we need to have

a set of files or schemata to help us classify what we hear These schemata are the result of

experience The earlier we begin to set up schemata the more we can process The content of

those early experiences is also of the utmost importance as they will colour all future experiences

of music The second half of Lewins statement quoted above indicates that perception is also

affected by kinaesthetic or performance schemata Sparshott (1988) supports this when he

claims that a violinist hears violin music with his hands part of his hearing is the way his

fingers corroborate the playing (p 85) and for a violinist an inseparable component in the

experience of hearing is what is felt in the fingers (p 97)

The Orff approach builds several different kinds of schemata in children First there is

the actual experience of musical sounds and their organization into historical forms Das

Schulwerlcprovides models of historically correct forms (Thomas 1960 p 31) Secondly there

is the ensemble experience schemata for performance considerations Students are not merely

hearing the music they are experiencing it more directly through creating it The use of

instrumental pieces allows for a greater variety of timbres and forms than the sole use of vocal

and choral music Most importantly however are the affective schemata formed by the child

towards music The Orff experience is designed to be a positive experience of music for the

child He learns that his own music (composing initially in the form of improvising) is valuable

that his own musical expression is worthwhile

Carl ()rWs great gift is to children In essence that gift is a way of looking at music that deeply involves them in its creation and thereby entails respect for their capabilities (Frazee 1987 p 5)

On a broader scope the child learns to risk exposing his ideas musical or artistic All of these

experiences set up patterns of expectation--schemata

24

The purpose underpinning Orffs approach is compatible with schema theory Orffs aim

for Das Schulwerk was the formation of fundamental structures of musical understanding

although he did not use the term schema In the preface to Volume One he states

So soIl eine Grundlage fUr alles spatere Musizieren und Interpretieren geschaffen werden dh wahres Verstandnis fur musikalische Sprache und Ausdruck die hier wie in einer Fibel erstlingshaft gebildet werden 17 (Orff 1950 p ii)

This Gnmdlage when thought of in cognitive terms is none other than a set of musical

schemata

Orff and Play

Play is an important component of development Howard Gardner gives one definition

of art as a goal-directed form of play (Gardner 1973 p 166) Jerome Bruner seesmiddotplay as

a key to intrinsic learning

Play serves the function of reducing the pressures of impulse and incentive and [sic] making it possible thereby for intrinsic learning to begin (Bruner cited in M Willman 1983 p 63)

Through play children can set up schemata which as we have seen are flexible enough to be

applied in other situations

Jean Piaget recognized the value of play in education Play for Piaget was the purest

form of assimilation of the environment Cognitive growth arises from the balance or

equilibrium between accomodation (imitation) and assimilation (play) (Hawn 1986 p18) In

addition to his now-famous ages and stages of intellectual development Piaget posited three

stages of play (1) Practice Games characteristic of the ages birth through two (2) Symbolic

Games ages two through seven and (3) Games with Rules ages seven through eleven These

stages are posited as sequential but earlier stages co-exist with later stages (Hawn 1986 p 18)

25

In an exploration of the role of play in the Qrff approach Hawn (1986) has found

analogies of each stage in the activities of Qrff Schulwerk He classifies practice games as those

in which exploration is an essential ingredient This includes exploration of voice instruments

and movement possibilities Also in this category are chants and pitch matching games The

emphasis is not on the group but on individual response Group coordination comes into play

with symbolic games Here Hawn suggests notation fIrst pictorial later traditional as well as

uSing metaphors to teach musical concepts Games with rules take the form of singing games

The rules may be few or many simple or complex The individuals response must fit into the

groups collective response These games extend into instrumental ensembles and choral or

dance experiences (Hawn 1986)

Piaget makes mention of one further type of play--constructive play It is in this type of

play that aesthetic and artistic judgement comes into play The child constructs his world by

choosing from possibilities gleaned through previous or current exploration (p 20) Through

constructive play with early forms the child learns to manipulate the elements of music in his

own creative forms This is a different procedure than imparting rules which were formulated

by adults for adults

Willman (1983 has called improvisation a game with rules Improvisation plays a major

role in the Orff approach It is the most direct way of encountering music There is no

intermediary composed work or notation The child experiments with a variety of musical

forms This is not however a completely open discovery method It is preferable to set some

boundaries (rules) within which children create their improvisations If boundaries are not

given the possible choices can be overwhelming Rules help the child limit possibilities

Improvisation approached as a game also helps create a comfortable environment and engenders

a willingness to take risks Consequences of less successful attempts are not as likely to be

viewed as critically in a negative sense This is not free play however The progress must be

26

guided and evaluated nothing demands more careful preparation on the part of a teacher than

improvisation exercises (Orff 1962 p 7)

Gardners Theory of Artistic Development

The aim of the Orff approach is not to produce specific instrumental or vocal skills in

children Instead it seeks to produce well-rounded creative competent musicians--artists if

you will--by involving children in the activities in which musicians engage creating music

performing music evaluating music and listening to music How dos this goal compare with

the components of overall artistic development as expressed by Howard Gardner

Gardner was one of the first cognitive psychologists to explore the development of music

as an intellectual process In a series of books beginning with The Arts and Human

Development (1973) and continuing most specifically in Frames ofMind (1983) Gardner poses

the theory that artistic activity is intellectual activity In the latter book Gardner posits a unique

intellectual faculty for music In his early writings Gardner concurs with Piagets scheme of

stages in child development As he works out his artistic theory however he develops a

different pattern of development for artistic development independent of the four stages of

Piaget Piagets theory states that at each succeeding stage of development the child re-organizes

her world-view According to Gardner this is unnecessary in artistic development Gardner

feels that these supposed shifts in view in later stages are merely different ways of thinking

about scientific thought not psychological shifts (Gardner 1973 p 134) Gardners theory

places him in opposition to both learning theorists and cognitivists While he disallows

reorganization of the nature of thought patterns in later stages of development he does propose

one major reorganization This occurs as a transition from direct actions in the world to the

world of symbols (p 130) In music this means a transition from music as merely pleasing

sound to music as a symbol This transition takes place in the period between ages two and

27

I

seven which Gardner classifies as a critical period for learning (p 56) It is during this time

that children naturally acquire languages and other symbolic media

The essence of Gardners theory of artistic development is that by seven the child is

functioning as an artist There is no need for further stages Development now takes the form

of refinement of skill acquaintance with artistic tradition and sensitivity to nuance (p vi)

What has occurred to this point to create the young artist Gardners model of child

development includes three developing systems Making perceiving and feeling Making

signifies any notion or action perceiving refers to discrimination of the environment andfeeling

deals with affect In adults according to Gardner these three systems are one integrated

system In the child they are discrete Gardners theory may then be summarized as the

transition from three discrete systems to one integrated system

and then the employment of these integrated systems by the organism in the years following infancy in the skilled use of various symbolic media and elements

Although the mastery of any symbolic system takes years I do not feel that a new order mechanism comes into play at specific times Rather an organisms experience with these symbol systems involves an increasingly complex making perceiving and feeling which draws in a comprehensive way on the mechanisms evolved during infancy (p 45)

If the child is to develop artistically she needs to be given opportunities to engage in activities

which use each of the three systems

Following from these three systems--making perceiving and feeling--Gardner develops

artistic roles which he feels are present and to be nurtured in every child These roles are

interdependent yet separate with unique functions and skills They are analogous to participants

in the artistic process

The Creatorl Artist The Audience Member The Critic The Performer

28

I

The role of the creator is creation of a work of art The job of the audience member is to

follow that work so he may be moved The critic puts her affective reaction into words The

performer transmits the work to larger audiences (pp 25-26) Although Gardner maintains that

everyone develops in each of these roles he places a special emphasis in education on creating

as a component in the artistic development of children According to Gardner childrens

sensitivity to artistic fonns comes through far more clearly in their own works than in their

perception of the works of others He attributes this to a fundamental difference in the

intellectual activities involved in making and perceiving

[to achieve] Balance harmony or rhythmic effects in a work a child need only work with symbolic media in contrast he can only demonstrate his perception of these properties in the work of others by speaking of them and this is a verbal and II meta-aesthshyetic task more demanding than simple practice (1973 p 168)

Perceiving requires not only the musical expertise but also the ability to talk about it linguistic

competence The experience of the properties of music is much more immediate in making as

opposed to perceiving activities This is a clear justification for the emphasis on improvisation

and perfonning (not in the sense of a concert) in the Orff approach

The Orff approach includes opportunities for all of Gardners roles Traditionally in

elementary music education the creator and performer are different people However it is more

common in the Orff approach for the creator and performer to be one and indeed also for the

ensemble to be both creator and performer This is the case in the creation of rondos Each

person in the ensemble is given the opportunity to create a part of the whole composition as

well as perfonning the A sections

The role of the audience member is one which is not particularly well-developed in the

Orff approach There is no unique strategy for listening to the works of others The teacher

should make as many opportunities as possible for listening to the creations of the group A

desireable addition to the Orff approach would be a strategy for directed listening which

29

-s features indicative of the approach This is an area of needed and worthwhile

Evaluating the results of the creating process is a part of the lesson which is often left

~ This could be for two reasons The teacher may be ill-equipped to make evaluations

kndf 1bere could also be a misguided sense that critical evaluation of a work of art is not

possible It is possible to objectively view processes and overall effect in a constructive manner

widJout destroying the childs creative spirit Indeed this reflection is necessary if the child is

going to develop and not merely continue to re-create similar works Orff would be the first

10 advocate the evaluation of works in order to guide students to further development of their

musical ideas

In the swing of the pendulum away from skill-oriented programs towards aesthetic

education we too often deny the fact that skills (and a sense of skill) are necessary for both

perception and expression A similar view is expressed in Johnson-Laird (1987) regarding jazz

improvisation where he states that it is necessary for the improviser to have a representation of

the structure of an improvisation (a schema) and of the tacit skills to construct an improvisation

This has particular import for the Orff approach since it is based on improvisation Gardner

raises an important issue in this discussion

in most cases skills do not naturally evolve one is faced with a choice between explicit instruction or the creation of a situation in which that skill is likely to develop (1973 p 195)

The Orff approach is an example of the latter situation Certain skills are necessary for musical

expression even on the seemingly primitive percussion instruments However it would go

against the philosophy of this approach to instruct merely for skills As stated elsewhere the

experience is always of the music

30

Music as Intelligence

Prominent in Gardners research is a theory of multiple intelligences This is set out in

Frames ofMind (1983) In this work Gardner proposes that the musical competence is actually

an autonomous intelligence within our cognitive system He defines musical intelligence as the

abilities of individuals to discern meaning and importance in sets of pitches rhythmically

arranged and also to produce such metrically arranged pitch sequences as a means of

communicating with other individuals (p 98) Reminiscent of the statements on the genesis of

song from the LIGI Gardner speculates that speech and music may have arisen from a common

expressive medium If However over the course ofevolution the cognitive structures controlling

them have changed and speech and music have become autonomous intellectual competences

(p 98) Development in distinct intelligences does not necessarily follow the same pattern of

stages The stages are determined culturally and by the medium as well as by age (p 314)

Education is necessary before the raw intellectual potential can be realized in the form of a

mature cultural role (p 372)

Certain features of this development may be considered natural or innate according

to Gardners theory Part of the process of education simply involves certain natural

processes of development whereby a capacity passes through a predictable set of stages as it

matures and is differentiated (p 372) Music is a special competence however since it

requires specific skills as discussed above Gardner qualifies his stand on natural acquisition

of a competence thus when it comes to the transmission of specific skills and knowledge one

beholds a more complex less natural process at hand (p 372)

Gardners rationale for developing this cognitive framework was to explain why some

educational approaches succeed and others fail (p 333) He particularly favours the Suzuki

approach to music education The features which he finds commendable are available to a great

extent in the Orff approach without some of the drawbacks

31

Among the features which Gardner feels contribute to the perceived success of the Suzuki

method is the stress on early exposure to music This feature is not unique to Suzuki Kodaly

and Orff both stress that children learn music as they would learn their mother-tongue through

early eXJXgtsure in the home Suzuki exploits the parent-child relationship The parent is held

responsible for the attitude that the child develops toward music The child-peer group

relationship is also of great importance in the approach The child is motivated and encouraged

by his relationships within the group It is an unfortunate occurrence that this is not always a

JXgtSitive influence Comparisons within the group often lead to unhealthy competition An

Orff-based approach also stresses the child in relation to his peers However as music here is

of an ensemble nature there is less chance for comparison when everyone has their own

contribution to make than in a situation where children are performing the same task

Gardners criticisms of the Suzuki approach include the seeming devaluation of notation

through emphasis on the ear the limited musical skills and knowledge (limited to Western

musical traditions and repertoire) the extreme emphasis on reproducing an interpretation

Gardner holds that the emphasis on reproductive skills develops an attitude that the most

imJX)rtant thing is to replicate sound There is little room for the possibility of changing sounds

This is not the case in the Orff approach where it is desireable to create variation It is true that

the Orff approach also favours the ear over learning notation This stems from the belief that

this is a more direct way of experiencing music Orff did not intend that students not learn

notation Instead notation should come as a result of wanting to save and transmit musical

creations There are many active ways of teaching notation which may be incorporated into an

Orff-based program to overcome the chance of musical illiteracy

One of Gardners criticisms of Orff would surely be its lack of music from the masters If

Gardner (1973) gives three components of a developmental approach to music education

1 Free exploration 2 Building up of skills (cognitive and technical) under guidance

32

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

What is the significance of schema theory for elementary music education The crux of

the matter is this In order to perceive and to be able process musical input we need to have

a set of files or schemata to help us classify what we hear These schemata are the result of

experience The earlier we begin to set up schemata the more we can process The content of

those early experiences is also of the utmost importance as they will colour all future experiences

of music The second half of Lewins statement quoted above indicates that perception is also

affected by kinaesthetic or performance schemata Sparshott (1988) supports this when he

claims that a violinist hears violin music with his hands part of his hearing is the way his

fingers corroborate the playing (p 85) and for a violinist an inseparable component in the

experience of hearing is what is felt in the fingers (p 97)

The Orff approach builds several different kinds of schemata in children First there is

the actual experience of musical sounds and their organization into historical forms Das

Schulwerlcprovides models of historically correct forms (Thomas 1960 p 31) Secondly there

is the ensemble experience schemata for performance considerations Students are not merely

hearing the music they are experiencing it more directly through creating it The use of

instrumental pieces allows for a greater variety of timbres and forms than the sole use of vocal

and choral music Most importantly however are the affective schemata formed by the child

towards music The Orff experience is designed to be a positive experience of music for the

child He learns that his own music (composing initially in the form of improvising) is valuable

that his own musical expression is worthwhile

Carl ()rWs great gift is to children In essence that gift is a way of looking at music that deeply involves them in its creation and thereby entails respect for their capabilities (Frazee 1987 p 5)

On a broader scope the child learns to risk exposing his ideas musical or artistic All of these

experiences set up patterns of expectation--schemata

24

The purpose underpinning Orffs approach is compatible with schema theory Orffs aim

for Das Schulwerk was the formation of fundamental structures of musical understanding

although he did not use the term schema In the preface to Volume One he states

So soIl eine Grundlage fUr alles spatere Musizieren und Interpretieren geschaffen werden dh wahres Verstandnis fur musikalische Sprache und Ausdruck die hier wie in einer Fibel erstlingshaft gebildet werden 17 (Orff 1950 p ii)

This Gnmdlage when thought of in cognitive terms is none other than a set of musical

schemata

Orff and Play

Play is an important component of development Howard Gardner gives one definition

of art as a goal-directed form of play (Gardner 1973 p 166) Jerome Bruner seesmiddotplay as

a key to intrinsic learning

Play serves the function of reducing the pressures of impulse and incentive and [sic] making it possible thereby for intrinsic learning to begin (Bruner cited in M Willman 1983 p 63)

Through play children can set up schemata which as we have seen are flexible enough to be

applied in other situations

Jean Piaget recognized the value of play in education Play for Piaget was the purest

form of assimilation of the environment Cognitive growth arises from the balance or

equilibrium between accomodation (imitation) and assimilation (play) (Hawn 1986 p18) In

addition to his now-famous ages and stages of intellectual development Piaget posited three

stages of play (1) Practice Games characteristic of the ages birth through two (2) Symbolic

Games ages two through seven and (3) Games with Rules ages seven through eleven These

stages are posited as sequential but earlier stages co-exist with later stages (Hawn 1986 p 18)

25

In an exploration of the role of play in the Qrff approach Hawn (1986) has found

analogies of each stage in the activities of Qrff Schulwerk He classifies practice games as those

in which exploration is an essential ingredient This includes exploration of voice instruments

and movement possibilities Also in this category are chants and pitch matching games The

emphasis is not on the group but on individual response Group coordination comes into play

with symbolic games Here Hawn suggests notation fIrst pictorial later traditional as well as

uSing metaphors to teach musical concepts Games with rules take the form of singing games

The rules may be few or many simple or complex The individuals response must fit into the

groups collective response These games extend into instrumental ensembles and choral or

dance experiences (Hawn 1986)

Piaget makes mention of one further type of play--constructive play It is in this type of

play that aesthetic and artistic judgement comes into play The child constructs his world by

choosing from possibilities gleaned through previous or current exploration (p 20) Through

constructive play with early forms the child learns to manipulate the elements of music in his

own creative forms This is a different procedure than imparting rules which were formulated

by adults for adults

Willman (1983 has called improvisation a game with rules Improvisation plays a major

role in the Orff approach It is the most direct way of encountering music There is no

intermediary composed work or notation The child experiments with a variety of musical

forms This is not however a completely open discovery method It is preferable to set some

boundaries (rules) within which children create their improvisations If boundaries are not

given the possible choices can be overwhelming Rules help the child limit possibilities

Improvisation approached as a game also helps create a comfortable environment and engenders

a willingness to take risks Consequences of less successful attempts are not as likely to be

viewed as critically in a negative sense This is not free play however The progress must be

26

guided and evaluated nothing demands more careful preparation on the part of a teacher than

improvisation exercises (Orff 1962 p 7)

Gardners Theory of Artistic Development

The aim of the Orff approach is not to produce specific instrumental or vocal skills in

children Instead it seeks to produce well-rounded creative competent musicians--artists if

you will--by involving children in the activities in which musicians engage creating music

performing music evaluating music and listening to music How dos this goal compare with

the components of overall artistic development as expressed by Howard Gardner

Gardner was one of the first cognitive psychologists to explore the development of music

as an intellectual process In a series of books beginning with The Arts and Human

Development (1973) and continuing most specifically in Frames ofMind (1983) Gardner poses

the theory that artistic activity is intellectual activity In the latter book Gardner posits a unique

intellectual faculty for music In his early writings Gardner concurs with Piagets scheme of

stages in child development As he works out his artistic theory however he develops a

different pattern of development for artistic development independent of the four stages of

Piaget Piagets theory states that at each succeeding stage of development the child re-organizes

her world-view According to Gardner this is unnecessary in artistic development Gardner

feels that these supposed shifts in view in later stages are merely different ways of thinking

about scientific thought not psychological shifts (Gardner 1973 p 134) Gardners theory

places him in opposition to both learning theorists and cognitivists While he disallows

reorganization of the nature of thought patterns in later stages of development he does propose

one major reorganization This occurs as a transition from direct actions in the world to the

world of symbols (p 130) In music this means a transition from music as merely pleasing

sound to music as a symbol This transition takes place in the period between ages two and

27

I

seven which Gardner classifies as a critical period for learning (p 56) It is during this time

that children naturally acquire languages and other symbolic media

The essence of Gardners theory of artistic development is that by seven the child is

functioning as an artist There is no need for further stages Development now takes the form

of refinement of skill acquaintance with artistic tradition and sensitivity to nuance (p vi)

What has occurred to this point to create the young artist Gardners model of child

development includes three developing systems Making perceiving and feeling Making

signifies any notion or action perceiving refers to discrimination of the environment andfeeling

deals with affect In adults according to Gardner these three systems are one integrated

system In the child they are discrete Gardners theory may then be summarized as the

transition from three discrete systems to one integrated system

and then the employment of these integrated systems by the organism in the years following infancy in the skilled use of various symbolic media and elements

Although the mastery of any symbolic system takes years I do not feel that a new order mechanism comes into play at specific times Rather an organisms experience with these symbol systems involves an increasingly complex making perceiving and feeling which draws in a comprehensive way on the mechanisms evolved during infancy (p 45)

If the child is to develop artistically she needs to be given opportunities to engage in activities

which use each of the three systems

Following from these three systems--making perceiving and feeling--Gardner develops

artistic roles which he feels are present and to be nurtured in every child These roles are

interdependent yet separate with unique functions and skills They are analogous to participants

in the artistic process

The Creatorl Artist The Audience Member The Critic The Performer

28

I

The role of the creator is creation of a work of art The job of the audience member is to

follow that work so he may be moved The critic puts her affective reaction into words The

performer transmits the work to larger audiences (pp 25-26) Although Gardner maintains that

everyone develops in each of these roles he places a special emphasis in education on creating

as a component in the artistic development of children According to Gardner childrens

sensitivity to artistic fonns comes through far more clearly in their own works than in their

perception of the works of others He attributes this to a fundamental difference in the

intellectual activities involved in making and perceiving

[to achieve] Balance harmony or rhythmic effects in a work a child need only work with symbolic media in contrast he can only demonstrate his perception of these properties in the work of others by speaking of them and this is a verbal and II meta-aesthshyetic task more demanding than simple practice (1973 p 168)

Perceiving requires not only the musical expertise but also the ability to talk about it linguistic

competence The experience of the properties of music is much more immediate in making as

opposed to perceiving activities This is a clear justification for the emphasis on improvisation

and perfonning (not in the sense of a concert) in the Orff approach

The Orff approach includes opportunities for all of Gardners roles Traditionally in

elementary music education the creator and performer are different people However it is more

common in the Orff approach for the creator and performer to be one and indeed also for the

ensemble to be both creator and performer This is the case in the creation of rondos Each

person in the ensemble is given the opportunity to create a part of the whole composition as

well as perfonning the A sections

The role of the audience member is one which is not particularly well-developed in the

Orff approach There is no unique strategy for listening to the works of others The teacher

should make as many opportunities as possible for listening to the creations of the group A

desireable addition to the Orff approach would be a strategy for directed listening which

29

-s features indicative of the approach This is an area of needed and worthwhile

Evaluating the results of the creating process is a part of the lesson which is often left

~ This could be for two reasons The teacher may be ill-equipped to make evaluations

kndf 1bere could also be a misguided sense that critical evaluation of a work of art is not

possible It is possible to objectively view processes and overall effect in a constructive manner

widJout destroying the childs creative spirit Indeed this reflection is necessary if the child is

going to develop and not merely continue to re-create similar works Orff would be the first

10 advocate the evaluation of works in order to guide students to further development of their

musical ideas

In the swing of the pendulum away from skill-oriented programs towards aesthetic

education we too often deny the fact that skills (and a sense of skill) are necessary for both

perception and expression A similar view is expressed in Johnson-Laird (1987) regarding jazz

improvisation where he states that it is necessary for the improviser to have a representation of

the structure of an improvisation (a schema) and of the tacit skills to construct an improvisation

This has particular import for the Orff approach since it is based on improvisation Gardner

raises an important issue in this discussion

in most cases skills do not naturally evolve one is faced with a choice between explicit instruction or the creation of a situation in which that skill is likely to develop (1973 p 195)

The Orff approach is an example of the latter situation Certain skills are necessary for musical

expression even on the seemingly primitive percussion instruments However it would go

against the philosophy of this approach to instruct merely for skills As stated elsewhere the

experience is always of the music

30

Music as Intelligence

Prominent in Gardners research is a theory of multiple intelligences This is set out in

Frames ofMind (1983) In this work Gardner proposes that the musical competence is actually

an autonomous intelligence within our cognitive system He defines musical intelligence as the

abilities of individuals to discern meaning and importance in sets of pitches rhythmically

arranged and also to produce such metrically arranged pitch sequences as a means of

communicating with other individuals (p 98) Reminiscent of the statements on the genesis of

song from the LIGI Gardner speculates that speech and music may have arisen from a common

expressive medium If However over the course ofevolution the cognitive structures controlling

them have changed and speech and music have become autonomous intellectual competences

(p 98) Development in distinct intelligences does not necessarily follow the same pattern of

stages The stages are determined culturally and by the medium as well as by age (p 314)

Education is necessary before the raw intellectual potential can be realized in the form of a

mature cultural role (p 372)

Certain features of this development may be considered natural or innate according

to Gardners theory Part of the process of education simply involves certain natural

processes of development whereby a capacity passes through a predictable set of stages as it

matures and is differentiated (p 372) Music is a special competence however since it

requires specific skills as discussed above Gardner qualifies his stand on natural acquisition

of a competence thus when it comes to the transmission of specific skills and knowledge one

beholds a more complex less natural process at hand (p 372)

Gardners rationale for developing this cognitive framework was to explain why some

educational approaches succeed and others fail (p 333) He particularly favours the Suzuki

approach to music education The features which he finds commendable are available to a great

extent in the Orff approach without some of the drawbacks

31

Among the features which Gardner feels contribute to the perceived success of the Suzuki

method is the stress on early exposure to music This feature is not unique to Suzuki Kodaly

and Orff both stress that children learn music as they would learn their mother-tongue through

early eXJXgtsure in the home Suzuki exploits the parent-child relationship The parent is held

responsible for the attitude that the child develops toward music The child-peer group

relationship is also of great importance in the approach The child is motivated and encouraged

by his relationships within the group It is an unfortunate occurrence that this is not always a

JXgtSitive influence Comparisons within the group often lead to unhealthy competition An

Orff-based approach also stresses the child in relation to his peers However as music here is

of an ensemble nature there is less chance for comparison when everyone has their own

contribution to make than in a situation where children are performing the same task

Gardners criticisms of the Suzuki approach include the seeming devaluation of notation

through emphasis on the ear the limited musical skills and knowledge (limited to Western

musical traditions and repertoire) the extreme emphasis on reproducing an interpretation

Gardner holds that the emphasis on reproductive skills develops an attitude that the most

imJX)rtant thing is to replicate sound There is little room for the possibility of changing sounds

This is not the case in the Orff approach where it is desireable to create variation It is true that

the Orff approach also favours the ear over learning notation This stems from the belief that

this is a more direct way of experiencing music Orff did not intend that students not learn

notation Instead notation should come as a result of wanting to save and transmit musical

creations There are many active ways of teaching notation which may be incorporated into an

Orff-based program to overcome the chance of musical illiteracy

One of Gardners criticisms of Orff would surely be its lack of music from the masters If

Gardner (1973) gives three components of a developmental approach to music education

1 Free exploration 2 Building up of skills (cognitive and technical) under guidance

32

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

The purpose underpinning Orffs approach is compatible with schema theory Orffs aim

for Das Schulwerk was the formation of fundamental structures of musical understanding

although he did not use the term schema In the preface to Volume One he states

So soIl eine Grundlage fUr alles spatere Musizieren und Interpretieren geschaffen werden dh wahres Verstandnis fur musikalische Sprache und Ausdruck die hier wie in einer Fibel erstlingshaft gebildet werden 17 (Orff 1950 p ii)

This Gnmdlage when thought of in cognitive terms is none other than a set of musical

schemata

Orff and Play

Play is an important component of development Howard Gardner gives one definition

of art as a goal-directed form of play (Gardner 1973 p 166) Jerome Bruner seesmiddotplay as

a key to intrinsic learning

Play serves the function of reducing the pressures of impulse and incentive and [sic] making it possible thereby for intrinsic learning to begin (Bruner cited in M Willman 1983 p 63)

Through play children can set up schemata which as we have seen are flexible enough to be

applied in other situations

Jean Piaget recognized the value of play in education Play for Piaget was the purest

form of assimilation of the environment Cognitive growth arises from the balance or

equilibrium between accomodation (imitation) and assimilation (play) (Hawn 1986 p18) In

addition to his now-famous ages and stages of intellectual development Piaget posited three

stages of play (1) Practice Games characteristic of the ages birth through two (2) Symbolic

Games ages two through seven and (3) Games with Rules ages seven through eleven These

stages are posited as sequential but earlier stages co-exist with later stages (Hawn 1986 p 18)

25

In an exploration of the role of play in the Qrff approach Hawn (1986) has found

analogies of each stage in the activities of Qrff Schulwerk He classifies practice games as those

in which exploration is an essential ingredient This includes exploration of voice instruments

and movement possibilities Also in this category are chants and pitch matching games The

emphasis is not on the group but on individual response Group coordination comes into play

with symbolic games Here Hawn suggests notation fIrst pictorial later traditional as well as

uSing metaphors to teach musical concepts Games with rules take the form of singing games

The rules may be few or many simple or complex The individuals response must fit into the

groups collective response These games extend into instrumental ensembles and choral or

dance experiences (Hawn 1986)

Piaget makes mention of one further type of play--constructive play It is in this type of

play that aesthetic and artistic judgement comes into play The child constructs his world by

choosing from possibilities gleaned through previous or current exploration (p 20) Through

constructive play with early forms the child learns to manipulate the elements of music in his

own creative forms This is a different procedure than imparting rules which were formulated

by adults for adults

Willman (1983 has called improvisation a game with rules Improvisation plays a major

role in the Orff approach It is the most direct way of encountering music There is no

intermediary composed work or notation The child experiments with a variety of musical

forms This is not however a completely open discovery method It is preferable to set some

boundaries (rules) within which children create their improvisations If boundaries are not

given the possible choices can be overwhelming Rules help the child limit possibilities

Improvisation approached as a game also helps create a comfortable environment and engenders

a willingness to take risks Consequences of less successful attempts are not as likely to be

viewed as critically in a negative sense This is not free play however The progress must be

26

guided and evaluated nothing demands more careful preparation on the part of a teacher than

improvisation exercises (Orff 1962 p 7)

Gardners Theory of Artistic Development

The aim of the Orff approach is not to produce specific instrumental or vocal skills in

children Instead it seeks to produce well-rounded creative competent musicians--artists if

you will--by involving children in the activities in which musicians engage creating music

performing music evaluating music and listening to music How dos this goal compare with

the components of overall artistic development as expressed by Howard Gardner

Gardner was one of the first cognitive psychologists to explore the development of music

as an intellectual process In a series of books beginning with The Arts and Human

Development (1973) and continuing most specifically in Frames ofMind (1983) Gardner poses

the theory that artistic activity is intellectual activity In the latter book Gardner posits a unique

intellectual faculty for music In his early writings Gardner concurs with Piagets scheme of

stages in child development As he works out his artistic theory however he develops a

different pattern of development for artistic development independent of the four stages of

Piaget Piagets theory states that at each succeeding stage of development the child re-organizes

her world-view According to Gardner this is unnecessary in artistic development Gardner

feels that these supposed shifts in view in later stages are merely different ways of thinking

about scientific thought not psychological shifts (Gardner 1973 p 134) Gardners theory

places him in opposition to both learning theorists and cognitivists While he disallows

reorganization of the nature of thought patterns in later stages of development he does propose

one major reorganization This occurs as a transition from direct actions in the world to the

world of symbols (p 130) In music this means a transition from music as merely pleasing

sound to music as a symbol This transition takes place in the period between ages two and

27

I

seven which Gardner classifies as a critical period for learning (p 56) It is during this time

that children naturally acquire languages and other symbolic media

The essence of Gardners theory of artistic development is that by seven the child is

functioning as an artist There is no need for further stages Development now takes the form

of refinement of skill acquaintance with artistic tradition and sensitivity to nuance (p vi)

What has occurred to this point to create the young artist Gardners model of child

development includes three developing systems Making perceiving and feeling Making

signifies any notion or action perceiving refers to discrimination of the environment andfeeling

deals with affect In adults according to Gardner these three systems are one integrated

system In the child they are discrete Gardners theory may then be summarized as the

transition from three discrete systems to one integrated system

and then the employment of these integrated systems by the organism in the years following infancy in the skilled use of various symbolic media and elements

Although the mastery of any symbolic system takes years I do not feel that a new order mechanism comes into play at specific times Rather an organisms experience with these symbol systems involves an increasingly complex making perceiving and feeling which draws in a comprehensive way on the mechanisms evolved during infancy (p 45)

If the child is to develop artistically she needs to be given opportunities to engage in activities

which use each of the three systems

Following from these three systems--making perceiving and feeling--Gardner develops

artistic roles which he feels are present and to be nurtured in every child These roles are

interdependent yet separate with unique functions and skills They are analogous to participants

in the artistic process

The Creatorl Artist The Audience Member The Critic The Performer

28

I

The role of the creator is creation of a work of art The job of the audience member is to

follow that work so he may be moved The critic puts her affective reaction into words The

performer transmits the work to larger audiences (pp 25-26) Although Gardner maintains that

everyone develops in each of these roles he places a special emphasis in education on creating

as a component in the artistic development of children According to Gardner childrens

sensitivity to artistic fonns comes through far more clearly in their own works than in their

perception of the works of others He attributes this to a fundamental difference in the

intellectual activities involved in making and perceiving

[to achieve] Balance harmony or rhythmic effects in a work a child need only work with symbolic media in contrast he can only demonstrate his perception of these properties in the work of others by speaking of them and this is a verbal and II meta-aesthshyetic task more demanding than simple practice (1973 p 168)

Perceiving requires not only the musical expertise but also the ability to talk about it linguistic

competence The experience of the properties of music is much more immediate in making as

opposed to perceiving activities This is a clear justification for the emphasis on improvisation

and perfonning (not in the sense of a concert) in the Orff approach

The Orff approach includes opportunities for all of Gardners roles Traditionally in

elementary music education the creator and performer are different people However it is more

common in the Orff approach for the creator and performer to be one and indeed also for the

ensemble to be both creator and performer This is the case in the creation of rondos Each

person in the ensemble is given the opportunity to create a part of the whole composition as

well as perfonning the A sections

The role of the audience member is one which is not particularly well-developed in the

Orff approach There is no unique strategy for listening to the works of others The teacher

should make as many opportunities as possible for listening to the creations of the group A

desireable addition to the Orff approach would be a strategy for directed listening which

29

-s features indicative of the approach This is an area of needed and worthwhile

Evaluating the results of the creating process is a part of the lesson which is often left

~ This could be for two reasons The teacher may be ill-equipped to make evaluations

kndf 1bere could also be a misguided sense that critical evaluation of a work of art is not

possible It is possible to objectively view processes and overall effect in a constructive manner

widJout destroying the childs creative spirit Indeed this reflection is necessary if the child is

going to develop and not merely continue to re-create similar works Orff would be the first

10 advocate the evaluation of works in order to guide students to further development of their

musical ideas

In the swing of the pendulum away from skill-oriented programs towards aesthetic

education we too often deny the fact that skills (and a sense of skill) are necessary for both

perception and expression A similar view is expressed in Johnson-Laird (1987) regarding jazz

improvisation where he states that it is necessary for the improviser to have a representation of

the structure of an improvisation (a schema) and of the tacit skills to construct an improvisation

This has particular import for the Orff approach since it is based on improvisation Gardner

raises an important issue in this discussion

in most cases skills do not naturally evolve one is faced with a choice between explicit instruction or the creation of a situation in which that skill is likely to develop (1973 p 195)

The Orff approach is an example of the latter situation Certain skills are necessary for musical

expression even on the seemingly primitive percussion instruments However it would go

against the philosophy of this approach to instruct merely for skills As stated elsewhere the

experience is always of the music

30

Music as Intelligence

Prominent in Gardners research is a theory of multiple intelligences This is set out in

Frames ofMind (1983) In this work Gardner proposes that the musical competence is actually

an autonomous intelligence within our cognitive system He defines musical intelligence as the

abilities of individuals to discern meaning and importance in sets of pitches rhythmically

arranged and also to produce such metrically arranged pitch sequences as a means of

communicating with other individuals (p 98) Reminiscent of the statements on the genesis of

song from the LIGI Gardner speculates that speech and music may have arisen from a common

expressive medium If However over the course ofevolution the cognitive structures controlling

them have changed and speech and music have become autonomous intellectual competences

(p 98) Development in distinct intelligences does not necessarily follow the same pattern of

stages The stages are determined culturally and by the medium as well as by age (p 314)

Education is necessary before the raw intellectual potential can be realized in the form of a

mature cultural role (p 372)

Certain features of this development may be considered natural or innate according

to Gardners theory Part of the process of education simply involves certain natural

processes of development whereby a capacity passes through a predictable set of stages as it

matures and is differentiated (p 372) Music is a special competence however since it

requires specific skills as discussed above Gardner qualifies his stand on natural acquisition

of a competence thus when it comes to the transmission of specific skills and knowledge one

beholds a more complex less natural process at hand (p 372)

Gardners rationale for developing this cognitive framework was to explain why some

educational approaches succeed and others fail (p 333) He particularly favours the Suzuki

approach to music education The features which he finds commendable are available to a great

extent in the Orff approach without some of the drawbacks

31

Among the features which Gardner feels contribute to the perceived success of the Suzuki

method is the stress on early exposure to music This feature is not unique to Suzuki Kodaly

and Orff both stress that children learn music as they would learn their mother-tongue through

early eXJXgtsure in the home Suzuki exploits the parent-child relationship The parent is held

responsible for the attitude that the child develops toward music The child-peer group

relationship is also of great importance in the approach The child is motivated and encouraged

by his relationships within the group It is an unfortunate occurrence that this is not always a

JXgtSitive influence Comparisons within the group often lead to unhealthy competition An

Orff-based approach also stresses the child in relation to his peers However as music here is

of an ensemble nature there is less chance for comparison when everyone has their own

contribution to make than in a situation where children are performing the same task

Gardners criticisms of the Suzuki approach include the seeming devaluation of notation

through emphasis on the ear the limited musical skills and knowledge (limited to Western

musical traditions and repertoire) the extreme emphasis on reproducing an interpretation

Gardner holds that the emphasis on reproductive skills develops an attitude that the most

imJX)rtant thing is to replicate sound There is little room for the possibility of changing sounds

This is not the case in the Orff approach where it is desireable to create variation It is true that

the Orff approach also favours the ear over learning notation This stems from the belief that

this is a more direct way of experiencing music Orff did not intend that students not learn

notation Instead notation should come as a result of wanting to save and transmit musical

creations There are many active ways of teaching notation which may be incorporated into an

Orff-based program to overcome the chance of musical illiteracy

One of Gardners criticisms of Orff would surely be its lack of music from the masters If

Gardner (1973) gives three components of a developmental approach to music education

1 Free exploration 2 Building up of skills (cognitive and technical) under guidance

32

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

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Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

In an exploration of the role of play in the Qrff approach Hawn (1986) has found

analogies of each stage in the activities of Qrff Schulwerk He classifies practice games as those

in which exploration is an essential ingredient This includes exploration of voice instruments

and movement possibilities Also in this category are chants and pitch matching games The

emphasis is not on the group but on individual response Group coordination comes into play

with symbolic games Here Hawn suggests notation fIrst pictorial later traditional as well as

uSing metaphors to teach musical concepts Games with rules take the form of singing games

The rules may be few or many simple or complex The individuals response must fit into the

groups collective response These games extend into instrumental ensembles and choral or

dance experiences (Hawn 1986)

Piaget makes mention of one further type of play--constructive play It is in this type of

play that aesthetic and artistic judgement comes into play The child constructs his world by

choosing from possibilities gleaned through previous or current exploration (p 20) Through

constructive play with early forms the child learns to manipulate the elements of music in his

own creative forms This is a different procedure than imparting rules which were formulated

by adults for adults

Willman (1983 has called improvisation a game with rules Improvisation plays a major

role in the Orff approach It is the most direct way of encountering music There is no

intermediary composed work or notation The child experiments with a variety of musical

forms This is not however a completely open discovery method It is preferable to set some

boundaries (rules) within which children create their improvisations If boundaries are not

given the possible choices can be overwhelming Rules help the child limit possibilities

Improvisation approached as a game also helps create a comfortable environment and engenders

a willingness to take risks Consequences of less successful attempts are not as likely to be

viewed as critically in a negative sense This is not free play however The progress must be

26

guided and evaluated nothing demands more careful preparation on the part of a teacher than

improvisation exercises (Orff 1962 p 7)

Gardners Theory of Artistic Development

The aim of the Orff approach is not to produce specific instrumental or vocal skills in

children Instead it seeks to produce well-rounded creative competent musicians--artists if

you will--by involving children in the activities in which musicians engage creating music

performing music evaluating music and listening to music How dos this goal compare with

the components of overall artistic development as expressed by Howard Gardner

Gardner was one of the first cognitive psychologists to explore the development of music

as an intellectual process In a series of books beginning with The Arts and Human

Development (1973) and continuing most specifically in Frames ofMind (1983) Gardner poses

the theory that artistic activity is intellectual activity In the latter book Gardner posits a unique

intellectual faculty for music In his early writings Gardner concurs with Piagets scheme of

stages in child development As he works out his artistic theory however he develops a

different pattern of development for artistic development independent of the four stages of

Piaget Piagets theory states that at each succeeding stage of development the child re-organizes

her world-view According to Gardner this is unnecessary in artistic development Gardner

feels that these supposed shifts in view in later stages are merely different ways of thinking

about scientific thought not psychological shifts (Gardner 1973 p 134) Gardners theory

places him in opposition to both learning theorists and cognitivists While he disallows

reorganization of the nature of thought patterns in later stages of development he does propose

one major reorganization This occurs as a transition from direct actions in the world to the

world of symbols (p 130) In music this means a transition from music as merely pleasing

sound to music as a symbol This transition takes place in the period between ages two and

27

I

seven which Gardner classifies as a critical period for learning (p 56) It is during this time

that children naturally acquire languages and other symbolic media

The essence of Gardners theory of artistic development is that by seven the child is

functioning as an artist There is no need for further stages Development now takes the form

of refinement of skill acquaintance with artistic tradition and sensitivity to nuance (p vi)

What has occurred to this point to create the young artist Gardners model of child

development includes three developing systems Making perceiving and feeling Making

signifies any notion or action perceiving refers to discrimination of the environment andfeeling

deals with affect In adults according to Gardner these three systems are one integrated

system In the child they are discrete Gardners theory may then be summarized as the

transition from three discrete systems to one integrated system

and then the employment of these integrated systems by the organism in the years following infancy in the skilled use of various symbolic media and elements

Although the mastery of any symbolic system takes years I do not feel that a new order mechanism comes into play at specific times Rather an organisms experience with these symbol systems involves an increasingly complex making perceiving and feeling which draws in a comprehensive way on the mechanisms evolved during infancy (p 45)

If the child is to develop artistically she needs to be given opportunities to engage in activities

which use each of the three systems

Following from these three systems--making perceiving and feeling--Gardner develops

artistic roles which he feels are present and to be nurtured in every child These roles are

interdependent yet separate with unique functions and skills They are analogous to participants

in the artistic process

The Creatorl Artist The Audience Member The Critic The Performer

28

I

The role of the creator is creation of a work of art The job of the audience member is to

follow that work so he may be moved The critic puts her affective reaction into words The

performer transmits the work to larger audiences (pp 25-26) Although Gardner maintains that

everyone develops in each of these roles he places a special emphasis in education on creating

as a component in the artistic development of children According to Gardner childrens

sensitivity to artistic fonns comes through far more clearly in their own works than in their

perception of the works of others He attributes this to a fundamental difference in the

intellectual activities involved in making and perceiving

[to achieve] Balance harmony or rhythmic effects in a work a child need only work with symbolic media in contrast he can only demonstrate his perception of these properties in the work of others by speaking of them and this is a verbal and II meta-aesthshyetic task more demanding than simple practice (1973 p 168)

Perceiving requires not only the musical expertise but also the ability to talk about it linguistic

competence The experience of the properties of music is much more immediate in making as

opposed to perceiving activities This is a clear justification for the emphasis on improvisation

and perfonning (not in the sense of a concert) in the Orff approach

The Orff approach includes opportunities for all of Gardners roles Traditionally in

elementary music education the creator and performer are different people However it is more

common in the Orff approach for the creator and performer to be one and indeed also for the

ensemble to be both creator and performer This is the case in the creation of rondos Each

person in the ensemble is given the opportunity to create a part of the whole composition as

well as perfonning the A sections

The role of the audience member is one which is not particularly well-developed in the

Orff approach There is no unique strategy for listening to the works of others The teacher

should make as many opportunities as possible for listening to the creations of the group A

desireable addition to the Orff approach would be a strategy for directed listening which

29

-s features indicative of the approach This is an area of needed and worthwhile

Evaluating the results of the creating process is a part of the lesson which is often left

~ This could be for two reasons The teacher may be ill-equipped to make evaluations

kndf 1bere could also be a misguided sense that critical evaluation of a work of art is not

possible It is possible to objectively view processes and overall effect in a constructive manner

widJout destroying the childs creative spirit Indeed this reflection is necessary if the child is

going to develop and not merely continue to re-create similar works Orff would be the first

10 advocate the evaluation of works in order to guide students to further development of their

musical ideas

In the swing of the pendulum away from skill-oriented programs towards aesthetic

education we too often deny the fact that skills (and a sense of skill) are necessary for both

perception and expression A similar view is expressed in Johnson-Laird (1987) regarding jazz

improvisation where he states that it is necessary for the improviser to have a representation of

the structure of an improvisation (a schema) and of the tacit skills to construct an improvisation

This has particular import for the Orff approach since it is based on improvisation Gardner

raises an important issue in this discussion

in most cases skills do not naturally evolve one is faced with a choice between explicit instruction or the creation of a situation in which that skill is likely to develop (1973 p 195)

The Orff approach is an example of the latter situation Certain skills are necessary for musical

expression even on the seemingly primitive percussion instruments However it would go

against the philosophy of this approach to instruct merely for skills As stated elsewhere the

experience is always of the music

30

Music as Intelligence

Prominent in Gardners research is a theory of multiple intelligences This is set out in

Frames ofMind (1983) In this work Gardner proposes that the musical competence is actually

an autonomous intelligence within our cognitive system He defines musical intelligence as the

abilities of individuals to discern meaning and importance in sets of pitches rhythmically

arranged and also to produce such metrically arranged pitch sequences as a means of

communicating with other individuals (p 98) Reminiscent of the statements on the genesis of

song from the LIGI Gardner speculates that speech and music may have arisen from a common

expressive medium If However over the course ofevolution the cognitive structures controlling

them have changed and speech and music have become autonomous intellectual competences

(p 98) Development in distinct intelligences does not necessarily follow the same pattern of

stages The stages are determined culturally and by the medium as well as by age (p 314)

Education is necessary before the raw intellectual potential can be realized in the form of a

mature cultural role (p 372)

Certain features of this development may be considered natural or innate according

to Gardners theory Part of the process of education simply involves certain natural

processes of development whereby a capacity passes through a predictable set of stages as it

matures and is differentiated (p 372) Music is a special competence however since it

requires specific skills as discussed above Gardner qualifies his stand on natural acquisition

of a competence thus when it comes to the transmission of specific skills and knowledge one

beholds a more complex less natural process at hand (p 372)

Gardners rationale for developing this cognitive framework was to explain why some

educational approaches succeed and others fail (p 333) He particularly favours the Suzuki

approach to music education The features which he finds commendable are available to a great

extent in the Orff approach without some of the drawbacks

31

Among the features which Gardner feels contribute to the perceived success of the Suzuki

method is the stress on early exposure to music This feature is not unique to Suzuki Kodaly

and Orff both stress that children learn music as they would learn their mother-tongue through

early eXJXgtsure in the home Suzuki exploits the parent-child relationship The parent is held

responsible for the attitude that the child develops toward music The child-peer group

relationship is also of great importance in the approach The child is motivated and encouraged

by his relationships within the group It is an unfortunate occurrence that this is not always a

JXgtSitive influence Comparisons within the group often lead to unhealthy competition An

Orff-based approach also stresses the child in relation to his peers However as music here is

of an ensemble nature there is less chance for comparison when everyone has their own

contribution to make than in a situation where children are performing the same task

Gardners criticisms of the Suzuki approach include the seeming devaluation of notation

through emphasis on the ear the limited musical skills and knowledge (limited to Western

musical traditions and repertoire) the extreme emphasis on reproducing an interpretation

Gardner holds that the emphasis on reproductive skills develops an attitude that the most

imJX)rtant thing is to replicate sound There is little room for the possibility of changing sounds

This is not the case in the Orff approach where it is desireable to create variation It is true that

the Orff approach also favours the ear over learning notation This stems from the belief that

this is a more direct way of experiencing music Orff did not intend that students not learn

notation Instead notation should come as a result of wanting to save and transmit musical

creations There are many active ways of teaching notation which may be incorporated into an

Orff-based program to overcome the chance of musical illiteracy

One of Gardners criticisms of Orff would surely be its lack of music from the masters If

Gardner (1973) gives three components of a developmental approach to music education

1 Free exploration 2 Building up of skills (cognitive and technical) under guidance

32

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

guided and evaluated nothing demands more careful preparation on the part of a teacher than

improvisation exercises (Orff 1962 p 7)

Gardners Theory of Artistic Development

The aim of the Orff approach is not to produce specific instrumental or vocal skills in

children Instead it seeks to produce well-rounded creative competent musicians--artists if

you will--by involving children in the activities in which musicians engage creating music

performing music evaluating music and listening to music How dos this goal compare with

the components of overall artistic development as expressed by Howard Gardner

Gardner was one of the first cognitive psychologists to explore the development of music

as an intellectual process In a series of books beginning with The Arts and Human

Development (1973) and continuing most specifically in Frames ofMind (1983) Gardner poses

the theory that artistic activity is intellectual activity In the latter book Gardner posits a unique

intellectual faculty for music In his early writings Gardner concurs with Piagets scheme of

stages in child development As he works out his artistic theory however he develops a

different pattern of development for artistic development independent of the four stages of

Piaget Piagets theory states that at each succeeding stage of development the child re-organizes

her world-view According to Gardner this is unnecessary in artistic development Gardner

feels that these supposed shifts in view in later stages are merely different ways of thinking

about scientific thought not psychological shifts (Gardner 1973 p 134) Gardners theory

places him in opposition to both learning theorists and cognitivists While he disallows

reorganization of the nature of thought patterns in later stages of development he does propose

one major reorganization This occurs as a transition from direct actions in the world to the

world of symbols (p 130) In music this means a transition from music as merely pleasing

sound to music as a symbol This transition takes place in the period between ages two and

27

I

seven which Gardner classifies as a critical period for learning (p 56) It is during this time

that children naturally acquire languages and other symbolic media

The essence of Gardners theory of artistic development is that by seven the child is

functioning as an artist There is no need for further stages Development now takes the form

of refinement of skill acquaintance with artistic tradition and sensitivity to nuance (p vi)

What has occurred to this point to create the young artist Gardners model of child

development includes three developing systems Making perceiving and feeling Making

signifies any notion or action perceiving refers to discrimination of the environment andfeeling

deals with affect In adults according to Gardner these three systems are one integrated

system In the child they are discrete Gardners theory may then be summarized as the

transition from three discrete systems to one integrated system

and then the employment of these integrated systems by the organism in the years following infancy in the skilled use of various symbolic media and elements

Although the mastery of any symbolic system takes years I do not feel that a new order mechanism comes into play at specific times Rather an organisms experience with these symbol systems involves an increasingly complex making perceiving and feeling which draws in a comprehensive way on the mechanisms evolved during infancy (p 45)

If the child is to develop artistically she needs to be given opportunities to engage in activities

which use each of the three systems

Following from these three systems--making perceiving and feeling--Gardner develops

artistic roles which he feels are present and to be nurtured in every child These roles are

interdependent yet separate with unique functions and skills They are analogous to participants

in the artistic process

The Creatorl Artist The Audience Member The Critic The Performer

28

I

The role of the creator is creation of a work of art The job of the audience member is to

follow that work so he may be moved The critic puts her affective reaction into words The

performer transmits the work to larger audiences (pp 25-26) Although Gardner maintains that

everyone develops in each of these roles he places a special emphasis in education on creating

as a component in the artistic development of children According to Gardner childrens

sensitivity to artistic fonns comes through far more clearly in their own works than in their

perception of the works of others He attributes this to a fundamental difference in the

intellectual activities involved in making and perceiving

[to achieve] Balance harmony or rhythmic effects in a work a child need only work with symbolic media in contrast he can only demonstrate his perception of these properties in the work of others by speaking of them and this is a verbal and II meta-aesthshyetic task more demanding than simple practice (1973 p 168)

Perceiving requires not only the musical expertise but also the ability to talk about it linguistic

competence The experience of the properties of music is much more immediate in making as

opposed to perceiving activities This is a clear justification for the emphasis on improvisation

and perfonning (not in the sense of a concert) in the Orff approach

The Orff approach includes opportunities for all of Gardners roles Traditionally in

elementary music education the creator and performer are different people However it is more

common in the Orff approach for the creator and performer to be one and indeed also for the

ensemble to be both creator and performer This is the case in the creation of rondos Each

person in the ensemble is given the opportunity to create a part of the whole composition as

well as perfonning the A sections

The role of the audience member is one which is not particularly well-developed in the

Orff approach There is no unique strategy for listening to the works of others The teacher

should make as many opportunities as possible for listening to the creations of the group A

desireable addition to the Orff approach would be a strategy for directed listening which

29

-s features indicative of the approach This is an area of needed and worthwhile

Evaluating the results of the creating process is a part of the lesson which is often left

~ This could be for two reasons The teacher may be ill-equipped to make evaluations

kndf 1bere could also be a misguided sense that critical evaluation of a work of art is not

possible It is possible to objectively view processes and overall effect in a constructive manner

widJout destroying the childs creative spirit Indeed this reflection is necessary if the child is

going to develop and not merely continue to re-create similar works Orff would be the first

10 advocate the evaluation of works in order to guide students to further development of their

musical ideas

In the swing of the pendulum away from skill-oriented programs towards aesthetic

education we too often deny the fact that skills (and a sense of skill) are necessary for both

perception and expression A similar view is expressed in Johnson-Laird (1987) regarding jazz

improvisation where he states that it is necessary for the improviser to have a representation of

the structure of an improvisation (a schema) and of the tacit skills to construct an improvisation

This has particular import for the Orff approach since it is based on improvisation Gardner

raises an important issue in this discussion

in most cases skills do not naturally evolve one is faced with a choice between explicit instruction or the creation of a situation in which that skill is likely to develop (1973 p 195)

The Orff approach is an example of the latter situation Certain skills are necessary for musical

expression even on the seemingly primitive percussion instruments However it would go

against the philosophy of this approach to instruct merely for skills As stated elsewhere the

experience is always of the music

30

Music as Intelligence

Prominent in Gardners research is a theory of multiple intelligences This is set out in

Frames ofMind (1983) In this work Gardner proposes that the musical competence is actually

an autonomous intelligence within our cognitive system He defines musical intelligence as the

abilities of individuals to discern meaning and importance in sets of pitches rhythmically

arranged and also to produce such metrically arranged pitch sequences as a means of

communicating with other individuals (p 98) Reminiscent of the statements on the genesis of

song from the LIGI Gardner speculates that speech and music may have arisen from a common

expressive medium If However over the course ofevolution the cognitive structures controlling

them have changed and speech and music have become autonomous intellectual competences

(p 98) Development in distinct intelligences does not necessarily follow the same pattern of

stages The stages are determined culturally and by the medium as well as by age (p 314)

Education is necessary before the raw intellectual potential can be realized in the form of a

mature cultural role (p 372)

Certain features of this development may be considered natural or innate according

to Gardners theory Part of the process of education simply involves certain natural

processes of development whereby a capacity passes through a predictable set of stages as it

matures and is differentiated (p 372) Music is a special competence however since it

requires specific skills as discussed above Gardner qualifies his stand on natural acquisition

of a competence thus when it comes to the transmission of specific skills and knowledge one

beholds a more complex less natural process at hand (p 372)

Gardners rationale for developing this cognitive framework was to explain why some

educational approaches succeed and others fail (p 333) He particularly favours the Suzuki

approach to music education The features which he finds commendable are available to a great

extent in the Orff approach without some of the drawbacks

31

Among the features which Gardner feels contribute to the perceived success of the Suzuki

method is the stress on early exposure to music This feature is not unique to Suzuki Kodaly

and Orff both stress that children learn music as they would learn their mother-tongue through

early eXJXgtsure in the home Suzuki exploits the parent-child relationship The parent is held

responsible for the attitude that the child develops toward music The child-peer group

relationship is also of great importance in the approach The child is motivated and encouraged

by his relationships within the group It is an unfortunate occurrence that this is not always a

JXgtSitive influence Comparisons within the group often lead to unhealthy competition An

Orff-based approach also stresses the child in relation to his peers However as music here is

of an ensemble nature there is less chance for comparison when everyone has their own

contribution to make than in a situation where children are performing the same task

Gardners criticisms of the Suzuki approach include the seeming devaluation of notation

through emphasis on the ear the limited musical skills and knowledge (limited to Western

musical traditions and repertoire) the extreme emphasis on reproducing an interpretation

Gardner holds that the emphasis on reproductive skills develops an attitude that the most

imJX)rtant thing is to replicate sound There is little room for the possibility of changing sounds

This is not the case in the Orff approach where it is desireable to create variation It is true that

the Orff approach also favours the ear over learning notation This stems from the belief that

this is a more direct way of experiencing music Orff did not intend that students not learn

notation Instead notation should come as a result of wanting to save and transmit musical

creations There are many active ways of teaching notation which may be incorporated into an

Orff-based program to overcome the chance of musical illiteracy

One of Gardners criticisms of Orff would surely be its lack of music from the masters If

Gardner (1973) gives three components of a developmental approach to music education

1 Free exploration 2 Building up of skills (cognitive and technical) under guidance

32

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

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57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

seven which Gardner classifies as a critical period for learning (p 56) It is during this time

that children naturally acquire languages and other symbolic media

The essence of Gardners theory of artistic development is that by seven the child is

functioning as an artist There is no need for further stages Development now takes the form

of refinement of skill acquaintance with artistic tradition and sensitivity to nuance (p vi)

What has occurred to this point to create the young artist Gardners model of child

development includes three developing systems Making perceiving and feeling Making

signifies any notion or action perceiving refers to discrimination of the environment andfeeling

deals with affect In adults according to Gardner these three systems are one integrated

system In the child they are discrete Gardners theory may then be summarized as the

transition from three discrete systems to one integrated system

and then the employment of these integrated systems by the organism in the years following infancy in the skilled use of various symbolic media and elements

Although the mastery of any symbolic system takes years I do not feel that a new order mechanism comes into play at specific times Rather an organisms experience with these symbol systems involves an increasingly complex making perceiving and feeling which draws in a comprehensive way on the mechanisms evolved during infancy (p 45)

If the child is to develop artistically she needs to be given opportunities to engage in activities

which use each of the three systems

Following from these three systems--making perceiving and feeling--Gardner develops

artistic roles which he feels are present and to be nurtured in every child These roles are

interdependent yet separate with unique functions and skills They are analogous to participants

in the artistic process

The Creatorl Artist The Audience Member The Critic The Performer

28

I

The role of the creator is creation of a work of art The job of the audience member is to

follow that work so he may be moved The critic puts her affective reaction into words The

performer transmits the work to larger audiences (pp 25-26) Although Gardner maintains that

everyone develops in each of these roles he places a special emphasis in education on creating

as a component in the artistic development of children According to Gardner childrens

sensitivity to artistic fonns comes through far more clearly in their own works than in their

perception of the works of others He attributes this to a fundamental difference in the

intellectual activities involved in making and perceiving

[to achieve] Balance harmony or rhythmic effects in a work a child need only work with symbolic media in contrast he can only demonstrate his perception of these properties in the work of others by speaking of them and this is a verbal and II meta-aesthshyetic task more demanding than simple practice (1973 p 168)

Perceiving requires not only the musical expertise but also the ability to talk about it linguistic

competence The experience of the properties of music is much more immediate in making as

opposed to perceiving activities This is a clear justification for the emphasis on improvisation

and perfonning (not in the sense of a concert) in the Orff approach

The Orff approach includes opportunities for all of Gardners roles Traditionally in

elementary music education the creator and performer are different people However it is more

common in the Orff approach for the creator and performer to be one and indeed also for the

ensemble to be both creator and performer This is the case in the creation of rondos Each

person in the ensemble is given the opportunity to create a part of the whole composition as

well as perfonning the A sections

The role of the audience member is one which is not particularly well-developed in the

Orff approach There is no unique strategy for listening to the works of others The teacher

should make as many opportunities as possible for listening to the creations of the group A

desireable addition to the Orff approach would be a strategy for directed listening which

29

-s features indicative of the approach This is an area of needed and worthwhile

Evaluating the results of the creating process is a part of the lesson which is often left

~ This could be for two reasons The teacher may be ill-equipped to make evaluations

kndf 1bere could also be a misguided sense that critical evaluation of a work of art is not

possible It is possible to objectively view processes and overall effect in a constructive manner

widJout destroying the childs creative spirit Indeed this reflection is necessary if the child is

going to develop and not merely continue to re-create similar works Orff would be the first

10 advocate the evaluation of works in order to guide students to further development of their

musical ideas

In the swing of the pendulum away from skill-oriented programs towards aesthetic

education we too often deny the fact that skills (and a sense of skill) are necessary for both

perception and expression A similar view is expressed in Johnson-Laird (1987) regarding jazz

improvisation where he states that it is necessary for the improviser to have a representation of

the structure of an improvisation (a schema) and of the tacit skills to construct an improvisation

This has particular import for the Orff approach since it is based on improvisation Gardner

raises an important issue in this discussion

in most cases skills do not naturally evolve one is faced with a choice between explicit instruction or the creation of a situation in which that skill is likely to develop (1973 p 195)

The Orff approach is an example of the latter situation Certain skills are necessary for musical

expression even on the seemingly primitive percussion instruments However it would go

against the philosophy of this approach to instruct merely for skills As stated elsewhere the

experience is always of the music

30

Music as Intelligence

Prominent in Gardners research is a theory of multiple intelligences This is set out in

Frames ofMind (1983) In this work Gardner proposes that the musical competence is actually

an autonomous intelligence within our cognitive system He defines musical intelligence as the

abilities of individuals to discern meaning and importance in sets of pitches rhythmically

arranged and also to produce such metrically arranged pitch sequences as a means of

communicating with other individuals (p 98) Reminiscent of the statements on the genesis of

song from the LIGI Gardner speculates that speech and music may have arisen from a common

expressive medium If However over the course ofevolution the cognitive structures controlling

them have changed and speech and music have become autonomous intellectual competences

(p 98) Development in distinct intelligences does not necessarily follow the same pattern of

stages The stages are determined culturally and by the medium as well as by age (p 314)

Education is necessary before the raw intellectual potential can be realized in the form of a

mature cultural role (p 372)

Certain features of this development may be considered natural or innate according

to Gardners theory Part of the process of education simply involves certain natural

processes of development whereby a capacity passes through a predictable set of stages as it

matures and is differentiated (p 372) Music is a special competence however since it

requires specific skills as discussed above Gardner qualifies his stand on natural acquisition

of a competence thus when it comes to the transmission of specific skills and knowledge one

beholds a more complex less natural process at hand (p 372)

Gardners rationale for developing this cognitive framework was to explain why some

educational approaches succeed and others fail (p 333) He particularly favours the Suzuki

approach to music education The features which he finds commendable are available to a great

extent in the Orff approach without some of the drawbacks

31

Among the features which Gardner feels contribute to the perceived success of the Suzuki

method is the stress on early exposure to music This feature is not unique to Suzuki Kodaly

and Orff both stress that children learn music as they would learn their mother-tongue through

early eXJXgtsure in the home Suzuki exploits the parent-child relationship The parent is held

responsible for the attitude that the child develops toward music The child-peer group

relationship is also of great importance in the approach The child is motivated and encouraged

by his relationships within the group It is an unfortunate occurrence that this is not always a

JXgtSitive influence Comparisons within the group often lead to unhealthy competition An

Orff-based approach also stresses the child in relation to his peers However as music here is

of an ensemble nature there is less chance for comparison when everyone has their own

contribution to make than in a situation where children are performing the same task

Gardners criticisms of the Suzuki approach include the seeming devaluation of notation

through emphasis on the ear the limited musical skills and knowledge (limited to Western

musical traditions and repertoire) the extreme emphasis on reproducing an interpretation

Gardner holds that the emphasis on reproductive skills develops an attitude that the most

imJX)rtant thing is to replicate sound There is little room for the possibility of changing sounds

This is not the case in the Orff approach where it is desireable to create variation It is true that

the Orff approach also favours the ear over learning notation This stems from the belief that

this is a more direct way of experiencing music Orff did not intend that students not learn

notation Instead notation should come as a result of wanting to save and transmit musical

creations There are many active ways of teaching notation which may be incorporated into an

Orff-based program to overcome the chance of musical illiteracy

One of Gardners criticisms of Orff would surely be its lack of music from the masters If

Gardner (1973) gives three components of a developmental approach to music education

1 Free exploration 2 Building up of skills (cognitive and technical) under guidance

32

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

The role of the creator is creation of a work of art The job of the audience member is to

follow that work so he may be moved The critic puts her affective reaction into words The

performer transmits the work to larger audiences (pp 25-26) Although Gardner maintains that

everyone develops in each of these roles he places a special emphasis in education on creating

as a component in the artistic development of children According to Gardner childrens

sensitivity to artistic fonns comes through far more clearly in their own works than in their

perception of the works of others He attributes this to a fundamental difference in the

intellectual activities involved in making and perceiving

[to achieve] Balance harmony or rhythmic effects in a work a child need only work with symbolic media in contrast he can only demonstrate his perception of these properties in the work of others by speaking of them and this is a verbal and II meta-aesthshyetic task more demanding than simple practice (1973 p 168)

Perceiving requires not only the musical expertise but also the ability to talk about it linguistic

competence The experience of the properties of music is much more immediate in making as

opposed to perceiving activities This is a clear justification for the emphasis on improvisation

and perfonning (not in the sense of a concert) in the Orff approach

The Orff approach includes opportunities for all of Gardners roles Traditionally in

elementary music education the creator and performer are different people However it is more

common in the Orff approach for the creator and performer to be one and indeed also for the

ensemble to be both creator and performer This is the case in the creation of rondos Each

person in the ensemble is given the opportunity to create a part of the whole composition as

well as perfonning the A sections

The role of the audience member is one which is not particularly well-developed in the

Orff approach There is no unique strategy for listening to the works of others The teacher

should make as many opportunities as possible for listening to the creations of the group A

desireable addition to the Orff approach would be a strategy for directed listening which

29

-s features indicative of the approach This is an area of needed and worthwhile

Evaluating the results of the creating process is a part of the lesson which is often left

~ This could be for two reasons The teacher may be ill-equipped to make evaluations

kndf 1bere could also be a misguided sense that critical evaluation of a work of art is not

possible It is possible to objectively view processes and overall effect in a constructive manner

widJout destroying the childs creative spirit Indeed this reflection is necessary if the child is

going to develop and not merely continue to re-create similar works Orff would be the first

10 advocate the evaluation of works in order to guide students to further development of their

musical ideas

In the swing of the pendulum away from skill-oriented programs towards aesthetic

education we too often deny the fact that skills (and a sense of skill) are necessary for both

perception and expression A similar view is expressed in Johnson-Laird (1987) regarding jazz

improvisation where he states that it is necessary for the improviser to have a representation of

the structure of an improvisation (a schema) and of the tacit skills to construct an improvisation

This has particular import for the Orff approach since it is based on improvisation Gardner

raises an important issue in this discussion

in most cases skills do not naturally evolve one is faced with a choice between explicit instruction or the creation of a situation in which that skill is likely to develop (1973 p 195)

The Orff approach is an example of the latter situation Certain skills are necessary for musical

expression even on the seemingly primitive percussion instruments However it would go

against the philosophy of this approach to instruct merely for skills As stated elsewhere the

experience is always of the music

30

Music as Intelligence

Prominent in Gardners research is a theory of multiple intelligences This is set out in

Frames ofMind (1983) In this work Gardner proposes that the musical competence is actually

an autonomous intelligence within our cognitive system He defines musical intelligence as the

abilities of individuals to discern meaning and importance in sets of pitches rhythmically

arranged and also to produce such metrically arranged pitch sequences as a means of

communicating with other individuals (p 98) Reminiscent of the statements on the genesis of

song from the LIGI Gardner speculates that speech and music may have arisen from a common

expressive medium If However over the course ofevolution the cognitive structures controlling

them have changed and speech and music have become autonomous intellectual competences

(p 98) Development in distinct intelligences does not necessarily follow the same pattern of

stages The stages are determined culturally and by the medium as well as by age (p 314)

Education is necessary before the raw intellectual potential can be realized in the form of a

mature cultural role (p 372)

Certain features of this development may be considered natural or innate according

to Gardners theory Part of the process of education simply involves certain natural

processes of development whereby a capacity passes through a predictable set of stages as it

matures and is differentiated (p 372) Music is a special competence however since it

requires specific skills as discussed above Gardner qualifies his stand on natural acquisition

of a competence thus when it comes to the transmission of specific skills and knowledge one

beholds a more complex less natural process at hand (p 372)

Gardners rationale for developing this cognitive framework was to explain why some

educational approaches succeed and others fail (p 333) He particularly favours the Suzuki

approach to music education The features which he finds commendable are available to a great

extent in the Orff approach without some of the drawbacks

31

Among the features which Gardner feels contribute to the perceived success of the Suzuki

method is the stress on early exposure to music This feature is not unique to Suzuki Kodaly

and Orff both stress that children learn music as they would learn their mother-tongue through

early eXJXgtsure in the home Suzuki exploits the parent-child relationship The parent is held

responsible for the attitude that the child develops toward music The child-peer group

relationship is also of great importance in the approach The child is motivated and encouraged

by his relationships within the group It is an unfortunate occurrence that this is not always a

JXgtSitive influence Comparisons within the group often lead to unhealthy competition An

Orff-based approach also stresses the child in relation to his peers However as music here is

of an ensemble nature there is less chance for comparison when everyone has their own

contribution to make than in a situation where children are performing the same task

Gardners criticisms of the Suzuki approach include the seeming devaluation of notation

through emphasis on the ear the limited musical skills and knowledge (limited to Western

musical traditions and repertoire) the extreme emphasis on reproducing an interpretation

Gardner holds that the emphasis on reproductive skills develops an attitude that the most

imJX)rtant thing is to replicate sound There is little room for the possibility of changing sounds

This is not the case in the Orff approach where it is desireable to create variation It is true that

the Orff approach also favours the ear over learning notation This stems from the belief that

this is a more direct way of experiencing music Orff did not intend that students not learn

notation Instead notation should come as a result of wanting to save and transmit musical

creations There are many active ways of teaching notation which may be incorporated into an

Orff-based program to overcome the chance of musical illiteracy

One of Gardners criticisms of Orff would surely be its lack of music from the masters If

Gardner (1973) gives three components of a developmental approach to music education

1 Free exploration 2 Building up of skills (cognitive and technical) under guidance

32

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

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58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

-s features indicative of the approach This is an area of needed and worthwhile

Evaluating the results of the creating process is a part of the lesson which is often left

~ This could be for two reasons The teacher may be ill-equipped to make evaluations

kndf 1bere could also be a misguided sense that critical evaluation of a work of art is not

possible It is possible to objectively view processes and overall effect in a constructive manner

widJout destroying the childs creative spirit Indeed this reflection is necessary if the child is

going to develop and not merely continue to re-create similar works Orff would be the first

10 advocate the evaluation of works in order to guide students to further development of their

musical ideas

In the swing of the pendulum away from skill-oriented programs towards aesthetic

education we too often deny the fact that skills (and a sense of skill) are necessary for both

perception and expression A similar view is expressed in Johnson-Laird (1987) regarding jazz

improvisation where he states that it is necessary for the improviser to have a representation of

the structure of an improvisation (a schema) and of the tacit skills to construct an improvisation

This has particular import for the Orff approach since it is based on improvisation Gardner

raises an important issue in this discussion

in most cases skills do not naturally evolve one is faced with a choice between explicit instruction or the creation of a situation in which that skill is likely to develop (1973 p 195)

The Orff approach is an example of the latter situation Certain skills are necessary for musical

expression even on the seemingly primitive percussion instruments However it would go

against the philosophy of this approach to instruct merely for skills As stated elsewhere the

experience is always of the music

30

Music as Intelligence

Prominent in Gardners research is a theory of multiple intelligences This is set out in

Frames ofMind (1983) In this work Gardner proposes that the musical competence is actually

an autonomous intelligence within our cognitive system He defines musical intelligence as the

abilities of individuals to discern meaning and importance in sets of pitches rhythmically

arranged and also to produce such metrically arranged pitch sequences as a means of

communicating with other individuals (p 98) Reminiscent of the statements on the genesis of

song from the LIGI Gardner speculates that speech and music may have arisen from a common

expressive medium If However over the course ofevolution the cognitive structures controlling

them have changed and speech and music have become autonomous intellectual competences

(p 98) Development in distinct intelligences does not necessarily follow the same pattern of

stages The stages are determined culturally and by the medium as well as by age (p 314)

Education is necessary before the raw intellectual potential can be realized in the form of a

mature cultural role (p 372)

Certain features of this development may be considered natural or innate according

to Gardners theory Part of the process of education simply involves certain natural

processes of development whereby a capacity passes through a predictable set of stages as it

matures and is differentiated (p 372) Music is a special competence however since it

requires specific skills as discussed above Gardner qualifies his stand on natural acquisition

of a competence thus when it comes to the transmission of specific skills and knowledge one

beholds a more complex less natural process at hand (p 372)

Gardners rationale for developing this cognitive framework was to explain why some

educational approaches succeed and others fail (p 333) He particularly favours the Suzuki

approach to music education The features which he finds commendable are available to a great

extent in the Orff approach without some of the drawbacks

31

Among the features which Gardner feels contribute to the perceived success of the Suzuki

method is the stress on early exposure to music This feature is not unique to Suzuki Kodaly

and Orff both stress that children learn music as they would learn their mother-tongue through

early eXJXgtsure in the home Suzuki exploits the parent-child relationship The parent is held

responsible for the attitude that the child develops toward music The child-peer group

relationship is also of great importance in the approach The child is motivated and encouraged

by his relationships within the group It is an unfortunate occurrence that this is not always a

JXgtSitive influence Comparisons within the group often lead to unhealthy competition An

Orff-based approach also stresses the child in relation to his peers However as music here is

of an ensemble nature there is less chance for comparison when everyone has their own

contribution to make than in a situation where children are performing the same task

Gardners criticisms of the Suzuki approach include the seeming devaluation of notation

through emphasis on the ear the limited musical skills and knowledge (limited to Western

musical traditions and repertoire) the extreme emphasis on reproducing an interpretation

Gardner holds that the emphasis on reproductive skills develops an attitude that the most

imJX)rtant thing is to replicate sound There is little room for the possibility of changing sounds

This is not the case in the Orff approach where it is desireable to create variation It is true that

the Orff approach also favours the ear over learning notation This stems from the belief that

this is a more direct way of experiencing music Orff did not intend that students not learn

notation Instead notation should come as a result of wanting to save and transmit musical

creations There are many active ways of teaching notation which may be incorporated into an

Orff-based program to overcome the chance of musical illiteracy

One of Gardners criticisms of Orff would surely be its lack of music from the masters If

Gardner (1973) gives three components of a developmental approach to music education

1 Free exploration 2 Building up of skills (cognitive and technical) under guidance

32

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

Music as Intelligence

Prominent in Gardners research is a theory of multiple intelligences This is set out in

Frames ofMind (1983) In this work Gardner proposes that the musical competence is actually

an autonomous intelligence within our cognitive system He defines musical intelligence as the

abilities of individuals to discern meaning and importance in sets of pitches rhythmically

arranged and also to produce such metrically arranged pitch sequences as a means of

communicating with other individuals (p 98) Reminiscent of the statements on the genesis of

song from the LIGI Gardner speculates that speech and music may have arisen from a common

expressive medium If However over the course ofevolution the cognitive structures controlling

them have changed and speech and music have become autonomous intellectual competences

(p 98) Development in distinct intelligences does not necessarily follow the same pattern of

stages The stages are determined culturally and by the medium as well as by age (p 314)

Education is necessary before the raw intellectual potential can be realized in the form of a

mature cultural role (p 372)

Certain features of this development may be considered natural or innate according

to Gardners theory Part of the process of education simply involves certain natural

processes of development whereby a capacity passes through a predictable set of stages as it

matures and is differentiated (p 372) Music is a special competence however since it

requires specific skills as discussed above Gardner qualifies his stand on natural acquisition

of a competence thus when it comes to the transmission of specific skills and knowledge one

beholds a more complex less natural process at hand (p 372)

Gardners rationale for developing this cognitive framework was to explain why some

educational approaches succeed and others fail (p 333) He particularly favours the Suzuki

approach to music education The features which he finds commendable are available to a great

extent in the Orff approach without some of the drawbacks

31

Among the features which Gardner feels contribute to the perceived success of the Suzuki

method is the stress on early exposure to music This feature is not unique to Suzuki Kodaly

and Orff both stress that children learn music as they would learn their mother-tongue through

early eXJXgtsure in the home Suzuki exploits the parent-child relationship The parent is held

responsible for the attitude that the child develops toward music The child-peer group

relationship is also of great importance in the approach The child is motivated and encouraged

by his relationships within the group It is an unfortunate occurrence that this is not always a

JXgtSitive influence Comparisons within the group often lead to unhealthy competition An

Orff-based approach also stresses the child in relation to his peers However as music here is

of an ensemble nature there is less chance for comparison when everyone has their own

contribution to make than in a situation where children are performing the same task

Gardners criticisms of the Suzuki approach include the seeming devaluation of notation

through emphasis on the ear the limited musical skills and knowledge (limited to Western

musical traditions and repertoire) the extreme emphasis on reproducing an interpretation

Gardner holds that the emphasis on reproductive skills develops an attitude that the most

imJX)rtant thing is to replicate sound There is little room for the possibility of changing sounds

This is not the case in the Orff approach where it is desireable to create variation It is true that

the Orff approach also favours the ear over learning notation This stems from the belief that

this is a more direct way of experiencing music Orff did not intend that students not learn

notation Instead notation should come as a result of wanting to save and transmit musical

creations There are many active ways of teaching notation which may be incorporated into an

Orff-based program to overcome the chance of musical illiteracy

One of Gardners criticisms of Orff would surely be its lack of music from the masters If

Gardner (1973) gives three components of a developmental approach to music education

1 Free exploration 2 Building up of skills (cognitive and technical) under guidance

32

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

Among the features which Gardner feels contribute to the perceived success of the Suzuki

method is the stress on early exposure to music This feature is not unique to Suzuki Kodaly

and Orff both stress that children learn music as they would learn their mother-tongue through

early eXJXgtsure in the home Suzuki exploits the parent-child relationship The parent is held

responsible for the attitude that the child develops toward music The child-peer group

relationship is also of great importance in the approach The child is motivated and encouraged

by his relationships within the group It is an unfortunate occurrence that this is not always a

JXgtSitive influence Comparisons within the group often lead to unhealthy competition An

Orff-based approach also stresses the child in relation to his peers However as music here is

of an ensemble nature there is less chance for comparison when everyone has their own

contribution to make than in a situation where children are performing the same task

Gardners criticisms of the Suzuki approach include the seeming devaluation of notation

through emphasis on the ear the limited musical skills and knowledge (limited to Western

musical traditions and repertoire) the extreme emphasis on reproducing an interpretation

Gardner holds that the emphasis on reproductive skills develops an attitude that the most

imJX)rtant thing is to replicate sound There is little room for the possibility of changing sounds

This is not the case in the Orff approach where it is desireable to create variation It is true that

the Orff approach also favours the ear over learning notation This stems from the belief that

this is a more direct way of experiencing music Orff did not intend that students not learn

notation Instead notation should come as a result of wanting to save and transmit musical

creations There are many active ways of teaching notation which may be incorporated into an

Orff-based program to overcome the chance of musical illiteracy

One of Gardners criticisms of Orff would surely be its lack of music from the masters If

Gardner (1973) gives three components of a developmental approach to music education

1 Free exploration 2 Building up of skills (cognitive and technical) under guidance

32

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

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Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

3 Exposure to great works for study and imitation (p 286)

It is the last component that may be lacking in anOrff approach According to Drff himself

the models presented in Das Schulwerk would satisfy this category It is more likely however

that Gardner intends the term great works to mean acknowledged works of art The materials

presented in Das Schulwerk should be supplemented with examples by other composers For

example following an experience with Chaconne (Book V) students should have the opportunity

to listen to a recorded example of a chaconne

By way of criticism of his own theory Gardner (1983) states

analysis of educational experiments must attend to such factors as motivation personality and value the fact that my own analysis focuses heavily on purely cognitive components must be considered a limitation of the present formulation (p 373)

Gardner maintains that musical competence must include an affective dimension--motivation

personality and value The Drff approach also addresses these three factors We have seen

above that Orff placed high importance on the development of personality Through quality

experiences with music individuals come to value music In the Orff approach the experience

of music is meant to be a positive affirming experience This goes a long way towards ensuring

positive motivation on the part of the student

Serafine and Music as Cognition

Mary Louise Serafine in her recent book Music as Cognition (1988) develops an

innovative theory of music cognition According to Serafine it is necessary to redefine music

before we can form a theory of musical thought She defines music or musical thought as she

prefers to call it as

human aural cognitive activity that results in the posing of artworks embodying finite and organized sets of temporal events described in sound (p 68)

33

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

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Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

Music is both an external phenomenon--the sound--and what is constructed in the mind This

is the definition of music as cognition Serafine explains the externalinternal nature of music

Musical events occur The job of thought is not just to follow but to construct such events

(p73) The sounds may be actual physical sounds Some researchers (Shepard and Kossylyn

1983) are also proposing a mental image of sounds in the brain much like our mental pictures

of visual phenomena This theory of mental representation of sound underscores the fact that

music can and does occur in the absence of sound Beethoven even in his deafness must have

experienced the music he was writing albeit not in the sense of our common experience

Serafine has difficulty with an emphasis on pitch perception as the basis for cognitive

representations Pitches duration loudness and timbral characteristics are merely the medium

for organizing temporal events The use of pitch perception as a basis for a theory of music

cognition does not take into account the complete nature of music Serafine states that while

sound is necessary the definition of music as sound is an insufficient definition The

constructive theory of music cognition developed here includes representations that are specific

to a culturally-learned community-nurtured style as well as those which are universal or

generic The generic processes involved in mentally representing a piece of music are

Identification The musical sounds must be grouped as distinct from the non-musical

sounds Textural Organization The sounds are organized to produce a texture

Temporal Organization a) Simultaneous recognizing the blend and juxtaposition of

sounds timbrally and thematically b) Successive construction of units and extension of

shorter units into larger ones patterning and grouping by phrases

Nontemporal Operations a) Abstraction a theme is relocated to a new context b)

Transformation a theme is altered c) Hierarchic structuring (assigning structural weight) d)

Closure signaling a point of rest as opposed to movement

Serafine borrows many of these processes from other theories One benefit of her work

is the removal of music from the realm of the mysterious art-object stressing instead the

34

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

necessity of mental structuring by an individual--hislher beliefs about and expectations of the

music heard The individual is actively creating music whether he or she is in the role of

composer performer or listener According to Serafines concept of music as cognition these

specific roles are external manifestations of musical cognition (p 75) She defines each role

Composing all deliberate acts of combining sounds within a specified time frame for the purposes of creating interesting temporal events (This includes improvisation but not random sound collection) Listening an active organizing and construing of the temporal events heard in a composition Performing a hybrid activity involving both listening and composing (in the sense of creating a certain interpretation within the bounds of a compositions pre-specified materials )

Serafine indicates that although there are processes unique to each of these activities the

processes above operate in all three activities (p 71) One of the tenets of Serafines theory is

that we form musical communities which express common beliefs about the way music is

structured stylistically The representations involved are style-dependent and serve to structure

the creation production and apprehension of musics of that community

Serafines description of these representations excludes a mental representation of

physical sounds of music When we form a mental representation of a painting are we not

including in our representation colours and lines Yet Serafine believes that it is the temporal

nature of music that is represented Just as we require sounds as a medium of representation

of temporal movement in the real world so too we need something to represent just the temporal

flow mentally Beethoven having lost his hearing late in life after so much musical experience

likely had a very vivid imagination of the sounds Indeed trained musicians can hear a notated

score drawing on their memory for sounds I agree that we do not likely include discrete

pitches in our mental representations Rather we probably have a conception of the whole--of

the way the melody goes ie the contour Melodies with exactly the same contour may have

completely different sounds due to the relative position of the contour in the tonal system In

35

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

holding this concept of a mental abstraction of the do re mi of our tonal system or the

equivalent in the tonal systems of other cultures I concur with Dowling and Harwood (1986)

If a challege to Serafines theory is forth-coming it will take the form of an episteshy

mological argument This is the age-old empiricist vs rationalist debate Serafine herself

recognizes this when she states that the choice is

whether what we perceive is the source of what and how we think [empiricist] or whether what we think is the determiner of what we will perceive [rationalist] (p 235)

Serafines constructivist theory comes down unequivocally on the side of our thoughts

determining what we perceive Without a lengthy philosophical argument to prove or disprove

this position the bias of this paper will be made explicit now

While it is true that we can only perceive and understand events for which we have a

framework or prior knowledge (Le schema) each new encounter changes these cognitive

frameworks--subtly or radically Thus the position favoured here is the middle ground an

interactive process of perception and organization illustrated by the following diagram

influence what you attend to in

------------------------------~

IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC MUSICAL SOUNDS

(schemata)

~--------------------------------------

refine and create new possibilities for

This is the musical equivalent to Lewins (1986) statement about the modification of

schemata in the learning of a dance step (above) If this were not the case continued education

would be useless since there would be no chance of modifying schemata once they had been

36

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

developed This would run counter to the ideas of classical thinkers (Pestalozzi) as well as

current schema theory Serafine states that

the state of a childs cognitive mechanisms the availability of particular processes is the surest determiner of what he will perceive (p 235)

The position supported in this paper argues that these particular processes develop in and only

in the context of experience It is the marriage of cognitive structures with the present stimulus

that determines what the child perceives This difference in doctrine does not negate the importshy

ance of Serafines categories of cogni-musical processes The development of these processes

is useful in building a complete capacity for musical understanding

Orff and the Development of Cognitive Processes

Through a series of experimental tasks with subjects aged five years to adult Serafine

found differences in understanding and competence with regard to her list of generic processes

She found no significant differences within one age group between those with formal training

and those without 18 with the exception of two tasks These two tasks were closure and

motivic chaining The correlations between training and improved performance were significant

but low These results lead Serafine to conclude that

at the least formal instrumental training is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of the generic processes Rather with age as the principal predicter of success on the tasks the more potent factors may be general (nonmusical) cognitive growth and normal everyday musical experience (p 229)

In Serafines definition of the traditional formal approach to instrumental training the emphasis

is on developing dextral skills and learning set pieces generally with an interpretation specified

by the teacher The student memorizes fingerings and absorbs the ideas of the teacher The

development of processes of musical cognition in the individual is incidental dependent on the

innate cognitive capacity of the individual A more complete program however includes

activities which develop the innate processes to the greater musicality of the individual Note

37

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

that the purpose of the latter approach is not to create professional musicians but to develop the

musical intelligence in all individuals

The Orff approach is one such approach which includes activities specific to these

processes More importantly the methodology involved illuminates these processes allowing

for the reflection necessary for composing analyzing and teaching Teaching is included in this

group because it is a meta-musical activity like composing and analyzing In addition to the

ability to recognize and organize musical sounds the knowledge of how to produce that

organization in sound is necessary before that knowledge can be transmitted to others

There are specific activities from the multiplicity of behaviours used in the Orff approach

which aid development of the processes categorized by Serafine A summary of the processes

and tasks Serafine used to test each is followed by detailed application of Orff activities

Temporal Organization a) successive i)

ii) iii) iv)

phrasing patterning motivic chaining idiomatic construction

b) simultaneous i) ii) iii)

textural abstraction motivic synthesis timbre synthesis

Nontemporal Operations a) Closure i) closure task

b) Transformation i) ii) iii) iv)

block task echo task bead task minuet task

c) Abstraction i) ii)

motivic abstraction rhythmic abstraction

38

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

d) Hierarchic structuring i) hierarchic levels

Successive Temporal Processes

Phrnsing In Serafines experiment for phrasing children were expected to make

divisions of a longer melody into shorter units One of the cues for such division was cadence

points Even the young children performed well on this task when cadences were the cues

This confirms Ries findings (1987) that enculturation to musical styles occurs very early in

childhood musical development Perhaps if children from another culture were given the same

melody the cue would have to be different For as much as the process of phrasing (or

chunking) may be generic it seems obvious that the cues are not

The Orff approach develops a natural sense of phrase through its use of speech Phrases

are created in vocal music because of the structure of the text The use of poems rhymes and

jingles is the frrst step to the idea of phrase Secondly the activity of echo--be it rhythmic or

melodic--reinforces phrase structure In a carefully constructed echo activity the echo follows

the model directly within the pulse set up by the model This creates a rhythmic phrase A

third activity for the development of a sense of phrase is question-answer An extension of

echoimitation activities the model (question) given by the teacherleader is answered by a

contrasting or complementary phrase Orffs models in Das Schulwerk indicate that all phrases

should not be two bars of 44 and that it is not always the teacher who provides the model A

good evaluation of childrens development may be gained as much from childrens questions as

from their answers All of these activities are performed in the different modalities of

Orff--speech body-rhythms singing playing instruments and movement At first when

developing phrases it is solely the length of response that is important As one progresses to

some of Serafines other tasks one will see that refinement of these same activities leads to the

development of other processes

39

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

Patterning Serafines experiment in patterning involved attention to a three- to five-note

fragment Two fragments were given A and B These were presented in three ways

1 a phrase involving static alternation [ABABAB etc] 2 a phrase involving descending tonal movement [Le a sequence] 3 a phrase involving harmonic sequence with alteration [sequence with harmonic

accompaniment] (p 113)

The compositions performed and created in arff activities make extensive use of motives

Rhythmic and melodic cells are used to create larger phrases Serafmes tasks depend on the

child being able to recognize the repetition of cells when they are heard in a composition A

task in the arff classroom would involve creating these compositions After extracting or

creating two cells children would be asked to combine these to create a longer pattern

Experimentation with the sounds would lead to a greater perceptivity to these characteristics in

other music the children hear outside the classroom

Serafines first task static alternation is part of early training in the arff approach The

other two tasks melodic and harmonic patterning represent a later stage of compositional tasks

One way of developing the idea of melodic sequence is through movement eg Pick a moveshy

ment then Can you perform that same movement higher lower The childs aural

understanding is reinforced through the visual representation of a cell This representation could

also take the form of graphic notation However given that young children learn a great deal

kinaesthetically movement is a much better form of representation for young children

Serafines third task harmonic patterning involves an added simultaneous feature The

subject is given added harmonic information Whether this is in fact the same category of task

is doubtful The cell with harmonic accompaniment would either become a different cell or the

harmonic accompaniment would be considered in addition to the original cell a simultaneous

not successive task

40

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

Motivic Chaining Serafine uses motivic chaining to refer to the process of combining

units to produce longer chains In this task two melodic cells A and B were again introduced

The tasks involved subjects judging whether what they heard was the phrase AB or some other

combination of cells (AX ZB etc) It seems reasonable that the same activities which increase

a childs understanding of repetition and alternation of cells will increase her ability to recognize

when a different cell has been introduced Activities which involve completing a phrase--a

development of question and answer activities--in a variety of ways will develop this process

For example a child could be asked to continue a given rhythm pattern using choices from a

particular set of rhythm values Following a first attempt the same opening with a different

ending is requested Vocally or at the instruments the task could be to continue a given

melody ending high then ending low These tasks involve creating different chains beginning

with the same motive

Idiomatic Consttuction Serafine admits that although she considers the above processes

generic an individuals musical experience is influenced by an unavoidable exposure to the

music of the cultural style of his environment Idiomatic construction involves creating a unit

which abides by the organizational rules of some idiom Units may be melodic fragments

or motives longer melodies rhythmic patterns harmonic or timbral sequences or any coherent

block or area of sound that acts as a cohesive unit (p 75) The experimental task was again

purely auditory Serafine presented nine-note melodies There were four melodies which

conformed to a tonal idiom Each of these four produced two more melodies which were

created by randomizing the nine-notes partially and completely The twelve melodic cells were

then presented in a random order each with an echo The task was to discern whether the echo

was the same as or different from the model The point of this task was to prove that the four

original tonally-idiomatic melodies were easier to process for the purposes of comparison with

a second stimulus An idiomatic response was registered if performance on intact melodies was

better than that on random melodies The question here is whether idiomatic global references

or individual pitch recognition are at work in the comparison of melodies Children did not

41

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

generally find the idiomatic melodies easier to discriminate than the random ones Serafine

draws the conclusion that pure discrimination ability represented in the random items precedes

and is not a sufficient condition for sensitivity to idiomatic rule-governed melodic constructions

(p 132)

What are the activities in an Orff approach that lead to this sensitivity for the idiom On

a large scale of course it will be argued that performing compositions in a given idiom

increases sensitivity to that idiom This is only common sense If one adopts Serafines unit

level however it seems that the feature of the Orff approach that would best encapsulate

idiom-recognition would be the creation and use of ostinato These cells are created to match

(Le be idiomatically cohesive with) the song melody or poem for which they are intended

They must fit tonally rhythmically and in the case of speech or vocal ostinati textually

Ostinati are a mainstay of the Orff approach and are used in all stages of musical development

Extraction and creation of ostinati require the student to reflect on the salient features of an

idiom Ostinati which are taught provide models for critical evaluation of the suitability of

ostinati

Simultaneous Temporal Processes

Textural abstraction The purpose of this test was to determine awareness of simultashy

neous parts in a piece of music (Le recognition of individual lines in a vertical texture) The

subject was made familiar with individual parts before hearing them in combination The two

textures used were homophony and polyphony The results showed that young children had

difficulty discerning the number of parts--substituting rhythmic complexity for dense texture

Serafine found that perceiving individual parts in a texture did not occur until age ten and then

only in two parts

The use of melodic and rhythmic ostinati creates a polyphonic texture It is part of the

pedagogy of Orff that each participant learn every part regardless of his or her role in the final

42

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

ensemble rendition This probably aids children in the development of greater awareness of the

components in the finished texture It is difficult within the context of lessons on an instrument

to provide this same sort of textural awareness It is possible to highlight certain parts of the

overall texture in a band or choral class However the players do not gain the same degree of

awareness of the individual parts as they would if the students were given the opportunity to play

every part The layered process of building a composition in the Orff approach lends itself to

heightened awareness of texture One traditional activity which could aid development in this

area is the use of partner songs (eg Fish amp Chips amp Vinegar Rufus Rustus etc)

Motivic Synthesis Similar to the task involving successive combination of motives

motivic synthesis required the subjects to recognize the simultaneous combination of motives A

and B ( shorter fragments than in the first test) Results showed that younger children could be

successful at this task

Activities from the Orff approach are the same as above The multi-layered accompanishy

ment to many Orff compositions consists of the simultaneous performance of small cells

Timbre synthesis This task is similar to the above with the exception that the two or

more parts used had different instrumental timbres It is a simpler task to discern individual lines

in a texture when their individuality is not merely melodic but also timbral

The variety of timbres usually employed in the Orff Instrumentarium in addition to the

use of melodic ostinati and patterns of accompaniment seem a natural teaching tool for this

process There has been some criticism levelled at perceived limitations of timbre in the Orff

process Orff himself encouraged the use of any and all instruments--folk and traditional--along

with the Instrumentarium although the tendency is to restrict the students to the so-called Orff

instruments Such limitations are unfortunate as they neglect string brass and keyboard timbres

43

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

The use of Gamba (plucked and bowed) is specified in many compositions in Das Schulwerk

Its use however is rare in this writers experience

Non-temporal Processes

Closure Although the methods used to obtain closure--or points of rest in a compositionshy

-are style specific the process of including these points of rest is generic according to Serafine

Serafine chose the use of open and closed cadences to indicate closure Examples included both

simple melodies and harmonized items Results showed that young children did not consistently

recognize which phrases were finished and which were not

There is a specific activity used in the Orff approach which leads to this end We have

discussed the question-answer technique above In early stages of instruction the restrictions

placed on the answer are minimal Gradually certain restrictions may be included to teach

certain concepts One process for familiarizing the ear with cadences follows The teacher

remarks that the question she plays ends high Could you make your answer end low The

reverse is also explored After establishing that we are performing in a given key the teacher

ends the question on the dominant requesting the students to end their answer on the tonic

Students are given the opportunity to play both parts--question ending on the dominant answer

on the tonic This is the first step in establishing tonic-dominant harmony The same process

would work for other tonal systems

Transfonnation In the transformation tasks of Serafines investigations students were

tested for their ability to discern similarities and differences in four different activities In the

block test the subject was asked to choose which of two fragments sounded most like a given

model One was a transformation of the original model the other completely unrelated The

degree of success increased with age

44

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

The echo test was similar except that half of the models were transformations of a

previously learned rote-melody The premise was that familiarity with this ur-melody would

increase correct response on those examples which were transformed versions of this melody

The results did not support this

The bead task was the reverse of the echo task The task was to choose which of the two

model melodies the experimental fragment was most like This is more difficult as the child

must remember two phrases and test the experimental fragment against each More memory

is required for this task than for either the block or echo tasks Again the success rate increased

with age indicating to Serafine that this task is associated with cognitive growth

The final task in this section was the minuet task in which the subject was required to

recognize occurences of a target melody within the context of a short piano piece Of eight

occurences five are exact melodic repetitions with harmonic variation the other three are

melodic as well as harmonic tranformations This is a very difficult task and as may be

expected from other results young children fared poorly An overall view of the four tasks

showed that those which required the most memory--the bead task and the minuet task--were the

ones in which children fared the worst It is interesting to note here that a group of subjects

with intense Suzuki training fared better at younger ages Serafine attributes this to the rigorous

musical memory training involved in the Suzuki approach

Like Suzuki the Orff approach is a rote-based approach Notation is introduced when

it is needed for the purposes of recording students compositions Music is experienced directly

without the intermediary symbols of notation As such this approach also develops a musical

memory We might reasonably expect therefore that subjects with Orff-based training would

also fare better in memory-determined tasks

45

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

Activities pertaining to the process of transformation really depend on the creativity of

the teacher Creating variations on given poems rhythms and melodies would surely train the

student to recognize similarities It would also give opportunities to study what must be varied

to make a variation This is an activity for later stages of the approach Beginning steps in

transformation could be as simple as timbral differences playing the same rhythm ort a different

instrument or orchestrating it differently with body percussion Other early experiences with

transformations could include playing a melody with a different rhythm or varying an

accompaniment pattern

Abstraction Abstraction tasks involve recognizing a motive in a different context

Serafine created two such tasks Motivic abstraction and Rhythmic abstraction In the first the

subject was required to find a melodic motive within different melodic phrases A model phrase

containing a certain motive was compared with two other phrases One was a related theme

which contained the same motive The other was unrelated and did not contain the motive

Other variables for choice such as the same key contour or mode were avoided Serafine found

that young children were unable to recognize a chunk of melody when it had been placed in a

new context

One activity which would aid in the development of this process is a game derived from

the Orff activity of echoing In this game (really a version of the classic Simon Says) students

are asked to imitate the model given by the teacher only if a given component is present This

game is possible using singing movement rhythms speech or instrumental behaviours For

example the teacher plays a melody on the xylophone If that melody uses the interval s-m then

the class echoes If not then the class plays nothing This would at first be played using

distinctly different melodies--those which use completely different intervals vs those which

consist solely of this interval This is a first step The restrictions could get amazingly

complex

46

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

A second category of abstraction is rhythmic abstraction Again three melodies were

used the model a melody rhythmically identical but tonally different and aoil (different both

in rhythmic and tonal properties) Again young children could not match melodies based on

shared rhythms The Simon Says game could be adapted to this task Another task however

is the improvisation of melodies to a given rhythm This is a favourite activity in the Orff

approach Often an instrumental melody is created using the rhythms of a poem19 After

learning the words of a poem the rhythm is extracted and transferred to melodic instruments

Through this activity a wide range of melodies all sharing the identical rhythm are created

Hierarchic structuring Hierarchic structuring in Serafines view is similar to the

structural analysis of Lerdahl and lackendoff (1983) A derivative of the Chomskian

tree-diagrams for grammatical syntax hierarchic structuring maps the structural weight of

musical events It is a reductionist version of the Schenkerian school of analysis

Serafines experimental task was to choose from two possibilities the most likely

reduction of a given model It was in this task that older Suzuki-trained subjects out-performed

their untrained counterparts

The Orff approach is generally thought of as the opposite process--from simple to

complex It depends on elaboration of skeletal patterns for activities and compositions It is

quite possible that this activity--the progressive elaboration of structures--would sensitize students

to hear the reduction in the final form However it is not certain that this is such an important

skill The elaborated melody has a character all its own that transcends the character of the

original harmonic structure

There are examples in Dos Schulwerk of this progressive elaboration Two particularly

worthwhile examples are Gassenhauer (Book III) and Chaconne (Book V) Each of these begin

with a simple ostinato--a chord progression in the first case a melodic pattern in the second

47

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

The texture increases progressively and the melody becomes more complex until at last the

complete ensemble is playing In both cases the final form is derived from an extremely

elementary ostinato pattern

Serafines research found that for all of the processes performance improved with

age 20 This led her to her conclusion that the increased success was due to the cognitive

development associated with maturing Except for the cases noted the rigorous training of the

Suzuki approach did not increase performance success in the given tasks However within the

framework of the Orff approach there are activities which would specifically train the processes

given by Serafine as generic-cognitive processes

The- study documented in Music as Cognition is not without flaws It is not within the

scope of this paper to detail these flaws However two exceptions must be made with regard

to the Orff approach

Serafine posits three activities for the posing of an artwork -- composing listening and

performing Her tests are one-sided in that they exploit only one listening The Orff approach

stresses listening only in so far as it relates to hearing the works created and performed by the

group There is no explicit provision made for an approach to listening which incorporates the

ideals of the approach (Le active participation corporal involvement and foundational role of

speech) It is the area of listening activities that proponents of Orff need to develop

Serafine completely excludes the affective side of music The theory is perhaps like

Herders fourth age of language which is clinical analytical and rule-driven to the exclusion

of delight in the sheer sensuousness of music This is in opposition to the very essence of

Orff--the magical and mystical

48

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

Summary

Cognitive psychologists are exploring a number of different theories that have

implications for educational practice Among these are schema theory play theory music as

intelligence and music as a cognitive process There are elements of each which are compatible

with the Orff approach One of the areas in the Orff approach which is neglected is listening

Listening strategies which employ the activities used in the approach should be developed

49

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

SUMMARY

AND

CONCLUSIONS

The background and educational theory of the Orff approach to music education is very

rich and not without compatibility with several current paths in contemporary cognitive theory

Orffs selection of compositions in Dos Schulwerk was made on the basis of the historical

development of music Sequencing was based on Orffs belief in the theory of recapitulation

Carl Orff believed that there was no such thing as an unmusical child Rather he held that

music was latent in all human beings The purpose of education according to Orff was the

liberation or the release of this latent force Many of Orffs educational ideas seem to have

developed from the writings of Herder Goethe and Pestalozzi educational reformists of the

nineteenth century

Current research in cognitive psychology is stressing schema theory ie the

development of conceptual frameworks with which we organize our knowledge of the world

Activities associated with the Orff approach are designed to teach through experience the one

necessary component in the building of schemata

Other researchers in cognitive psychology are looking at music as an intellectual function

Howard Gardner defines music as one of seven intelligences He posits a theory of artistic

development based on this belief Included in this theory is a belief in the need for early

exposure to music and the development of situations which promote the learning of necessary

skills

51

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

Mary Louise Serafine has redefined music as a set of cognitive processes These

processes may be style-oriented or pan-stylistic The Orff approach includes activities which

seem germane to the development of the processes she proposes

Conclusions

Gardner and Serafine both see music as a universal acquisition not merely something that

belongs to the talented few Orff would agree with this position How can we educate this

universal intelligence in Pestalozzi s sense of IIguiding the child towards the best realization of

himself and of the things of the world II in this case music It has been the purpose of this

monograph to explain in what sense the Orff approach to music education shares the goals of

several contemporary cognitive scientists and in addition how Orff offers the activities and

method to facilitate the development of music cognition

The Orff approach allows for musical and artistic development through its multiplicity

of musical activities and opportunities for practicing artistic behaviours Students are not merely

studying music they are acting as musicians engaging in the same activities as artists--creating

performing and listening The approach is not without its limitations however A weakness

of the Orff approach is its lack of opportunities for listening to music performed and composed

by others A process for directed listening activities needs to be used as a supplement to this

approach Yet it is not inconceiveable that some of the activities used in the Orff approach

could be encorporated into a strategy for listening Orff specialists are currently exploring the

role of directed listening activities in the approach With this necessary addition the Orff

approach would seem to be a viable and developmentally sound approach to of music education

limited only by the resources of the individual teacher

52

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

ENDNOTES

1 the strength of Onfs Schulwerk is its appeal to children Onfs Schulwerk allows children to grow artistically in ways that are most meaningful for them (p 122)

2 Authors include B Landis and P Carder (1972) and L Wheeler and L Raebeck (1972)

3 See the importance of play in the Onf approach below on page 25

4 It is interesting to note that the recorded version of Onfs Schulwerk is called Muska poetica This is a play on words involving both the artistic sense of poetic and the translashytion of the Greek poiein to make (Thomas 1976 p 11)

5 For a discussion of current trends in schema theory see page 22

6 This speech is given by the supervisor of the school where Wilhelm is enrolling his son Felix

Here song is the first stage of education from which everything else follows and by which everything else is imparted Therefore underneath all thought we have chosen music as an element of our instruction since similarly paved paths progress from it in all directions (trans by L Dolloff)

7 An example is the use of such Canadian folksongs as Land of the Silver Birch II and Les Raftsmen in Doreen Halls English translation The American Orff-Schulwerk pUblications make use of the blues and jazz forms indigenous to the United States

8 These five forms were translated and summarized from Pestaiozzi s original German as quoted in Preussner 1962 pp 7-8 (Translation and summary by L Dolloff)

53

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

9 The importance of song as a part of education its role in the whole process of education and the need of the people and elementary schools for it are so absolutely recognized that it would be completely superfluous to say another word here (trans L Dolloff)

10 True elementary education is only established when we make rhythm the foundation (in Heise et al 1973 p 12) (trans L Dolloff)

11 In the beginning was the drum The drum entices us to dance Dance is closely bound to music

Rhythm is difficult to teach We can only set it free release it Rhythm is not abstract rhythm is life itself it is the unifying force behind speech music and movement (trans L Dolloff)

12 This is an idea ascribed to Jerome Bruner cited in A E Burkart 1977 p 39

13 See Orffs discussion of his pedagogical approach on page 5

14 Authors who find a strong relationship between Piagets ideas and music cognition include Serafine (1979) and Pflederer and Sechrest (1968) One psychologist that rejects Piagetian conservation as a measure of musical development is Wohlwill (1981)

15 We are able internally to construct notions and ideas which we have not experienced due to a resemblance with things already experienced (trans L Dolloff)

16 This same idea is expressed through extension of Pestalozzis fourth statement about Anschauung As a result of activity [read experience] knowledge [read perception] becomes more specific

17 Thus a basis for all later music-making and interpreting should be created [by the features he mentioned prior to this] ie a true understanding for musical language and expression that is here as in a primer first developed (Trans L Dolloff)

18 By training Serafine implies a formal instrumental training She differentiates this from school music and normal everyday musical experience

54

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

19 This activity is not unique to Orff Bruno NetU relates evidence that the xylophone orchestras of the Chopi Indians use speech as a basis for musical composition (NetU 1956 p 21)

20 A noted exception to this conclusion was a characteristic slump at age eleven (p 225)

55

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

56

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

REFERENCES

Bamberger J (1979) Music and Cognitive Research Where do our questions come from Where do our answers go Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association ERIC document ED174507

Burkart A (1977) Process as Content in Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) Orff Re-echoes (pp 37-42) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Coulter D (1982) The brains timetable for developing musical skills Orff Echo 145-8

Dewey J (1934) Art as Experience New York G P Putnams Sons

Dewey J (1938) Experience amp Education New York MacMillan Publishing Co Inc

Dowling W J and Harwood D (1986) Music Cognition Orlando Fla Academic Press Inc

Frazee J (1987) Discovering OrjJ New York B Schotts Sohne

Furth H G (1981) Piaget and knowledge (2nd ed) Chicago The University of Chicago Press

Gardner H (1973) The Arts and Human Development New York John Wiley amp Sons

Gardner H (1982) In search of Ur-song In Gardner H (Ed) Art mind and brain (pp 144shy157) New York Basic Books

Gardner H (1983) Frames omind New York Basic Books

Gjerdingen RO (l988) A classic tum ophrase Music and the psychology 0 convention Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press

57

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

Goethe J W von (17951966) Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (H M Waidson Trans) London John Calder

Goethe J W von (18061962) Aus der Besprechung von Des Knaben Wunderhorn Reprinted in 01jJ Institut lahrbuch III (pp 24-26) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Hargreaves D J (1986) The developmental psychology of music Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Harrison L N (1983) Getting staned in elementary music education Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc

Harwood DL (1976) Universals in music A perspective from cognitive psychology Ethnomusicology 20521-533

Hawn C M (1986) Musical learning through play 01jJ Echo 1818-20

Heise W Hopf H amp Segler H (Eds) (1973) Quellentexte zur Musikpadagogik Regensburg Gustav Bosse Verlag

Herder J G (17761968) Von den Lebensaltern einer Sprache Reprinted in Orff-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 18-20) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Holahan IM (1984) The development of music syntax Some observations of music babble in young children Presented at the Music in Early Childhood Conference Provo UT June 28-30 1984 ERIC document ED 248978

Johnson-Laird P N (1987) Reasoning imagining and creating Bulletin of the Councilfor Research in Music Educalion 9471-87

Keetman G (1970) Elementaria Stuttgart Ernst Klett Verlag

Keller W (1962) Elementare Musik Versuch einer Begriffs bestimmung Orff-Institut lahrbuch (pp 31-35) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Kimball J W (1974) Biology (3rd ed) Reading MA Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Landis B amp Carder P (1972) The Eclectic Curriculum in American Music Education Contributions of Dalcroze Kodaly and 01jf Washington DC Music Educators National Conference

58

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

Langer S K (1953) Feeling andform New York Charles Scribners Sons

Lewin P (1986) Reflective abstraction and representation Presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society ERIC document ED277481

Liess A (1966) CarlOrjJ (A amp H Parkin Trans) London Calder and Boyars

Mark ML (1986) Contemporary music education (2nd ed) New York Schirmer Books

Nettl B (1956) Music in primitive culture Cambridge MA Harvard University Press

Orff C amp Keetman G (1950-54) Das Schulwerk Musikftir Kinder Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Orff C (1962) Demonstration with recordings Reprinted in OrjJ Echo 153-9

Orff C (196311977) Orff-Schulwerk Past amp Future In I MCNeill-Carley (Ed) OrjJ Re-ecboes (pp 3-9) American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Orff C (1976) Schulwerk Elementare Musik Vol 3 Carl OrjJ und Sein Werk Tutzing Hans Schneider

Pflederer M amp Sechrest L (1968) Conservation in musical experience Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 13 19-36

Preussner E (1962) ABC der musikalischen Anschauung Versuch einer Ortsbestimmung des Orff-Schulwerks OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch (pp 7-13) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Reich W (1965) Elementare Musik Schweizerische Musikzeitung Schweizer Musikplidagogische Bllitter 3143-146

Ries N L (1987) An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions Replication report Canaadian Music Educator Research in Music Education 295-20

Schiller F von (179394) Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen Reprinted in OrjJ-Institut lahrbuch III (pp 21-24) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Serafine M L (1979) A measure of meter conservation in music based on Piagets theory Genetic Psychology Monographs 99 185-229

Serafine M L (1988) Music as cognition New York Columbia University Press

59

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I

Silber K (1965) Pestalozzi The man and his work London Routledge amp Kegan Paul

Shuter-Dyson R amp Gabriel C (1981) The psychology ofmusical ability (2nd ed) London Methuen amp Co Ltd

Sparshott F (1988) Aesthetics of music Limits and grounds In P Alperson (Ed) What is Music New York Haven Publications

Thomas W (1960) Orfrs Schulwerk In Carl Orff A Report in WordS and Pictures Mainz B Schotts Shone

Thomas W (1962) Das Orff-Schulwerk-eine padagogische provinz 01jf-lnstitut lahrbuch I (pp 80-90) Mainz B Schotts Sohne

Thomas W (1977) Musica Poetica Gestalt WId Funktion des 01jf-Schulwerks Tutzing Hans Schneider

Walter A (1987) Meditation on method OljfEcho 3028-29

Wheeler L amp Raebeck L (1972) Oljf and Kodaly adapted for the Elementary School Dubuque William C Brown Company

Willman M M (1983) An Investigation of conceptual congruencies between the Kodaly method and Jerome Bruners instructional theory Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Texas at Austin

Wohlwill J (1981) Music and Piaget spinning a slender thread Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association ERIC document ED 208 984

Wuytack J (1977) Apologia for Orff-Schulwerk In I McNeill-Carley (Ed) OrffRe-echoes American Orff-Schulwerk Association

60

I