The Orff Site Show

A music teacher sharing the joy of teaching elementary music using the Orff-Schulwerk approach. Practical applications elementary music teachers can use.

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Episodes

Bluesy Body Percussion

Using the body percussion patterns as taught by both Jim Solomon and Jo Ella Hug, we add a little bit of 12 bar blues. Students as young as second grade can learn and be successful with this pattern. Next, you can move this pattern to drums and barred instruments. Mix it any way you want. Use canon form or even add an ostinato below the pattern. Retrograde some numbers, 3,2, 1 and always play the "1" in the center of a conga or djembe for an interesting sound. Have fun! Visit my site www.orffsit...

Oct 28, 2011•6 min

Ostinati or Nice

This podcast contains excerpts from a 3rd grade class lesson. In the lesson, I start with a poem, the have the students help create ostinati by using word chains. They practice the rhythms using body percussion and then move the body percussion to actual non-pitched percussion instruments. The next lesson, not included in this broadcast, would be to move the poem to pitched instruments as a melody. From there you can build a form and add other speech and movement.

Jun 20, 2011•10 min

This and That on Groundhog Day

This podcast deals with story selection for Orff based lessons, mentions where to find teaching visuals and some lesson ideas on the Orffsite.com website, and offers an Orff Approach teacher planning process outline to listeners. www.orffsite.com

Feb 02, 2011•5 min

Playing with Poetry

In this episode I illustrate ways to take a simple poem and do many different musical activities with the poem or rhyme. This episode refers to a poem and lesson that is posted on my website. You can find the "Black Bat" lesson and PowerPoint at my site, http://www.orffsite.com Find the lesson under the lesson section or the PowerPoint section.

Oct 03, 2010•6 min

Dr. Julie Scott, President of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association

Julie Scott is Assistant Professor in Music Education at Southern Methodist University. She recently completed a Ph.D. at the Eastman School of Music, where she was Assistant Professor of Music Education for one year. Prior to teaching at the collegiate level, Dr. Scott taught elementary music in Texas schools for 17 years. She has been a director of children's choirs in both school and church settings, currently as director of the Lewisville ISD 5th Grade Honor Choir, which was selected as one ...

Jul 03, 2010•16 min

Workshops and Continuing Education

This episode concerns the importance of workshops and continuing ed. Workshops are my favorite sources of teaching procedures and lesson ideas. They are highly motivational and put me in contact with great fellow teachers. This podcast refers to a NTAOSA workshop led by Paul Cribari in Dallas, TX on April 24, 2010. Paul Cribari teaches music to children in kindergarten through fifth grade in the Cherry Creek School District of Colorado. In addition to teaching general music, Paul conducts the sc...

Apr 25, 2010•10 min

Presenting Programs

The subject of today's podcast is programs. In today's show, I share one of the ways I present a program to parents. I believe in using the music I already am teaching, and do not use commercial kids musicals. The type of program discussed here is a demonstration program. "One, Two Three" is a poem I found in Jim Solomon's book. The "Snowflake Song" is from one of Jeff Kriske and Randy DeLelles's Game Plan books. I also use traditional concerts and programs that use stories and drama. Actual aud...

Feb 07, 2010•13 min

Holiday Music

This is episode 3 of the Orffsite Show Podcast, for December 12, 2009. This podcast is designed to show how I'm implementing the Orff Approach in my elementary music classes. This show's topic is Holiday music. See how I use the Orff Approach in singing, moving and playing instruments. Thanks to Carl Vasta for his Bluegrass Jingle Bells. http://www.carlvasta.com/Bluegrass_Jingle_Bells-MP3.html Other materials include Phyllis Weikhert's book, Teaching Movement and Dance, Music from Rhythmically M...

Dec 12, 2009•15 min

Speech to Music Part Two

The Orff approach in today's show is, again, moving from speech to music. The episode includes audio of a classroom activity for older students. This activity shows how you can move a group from speech to playing music. In this audio, I use rhythms from Jim Solomon's book, The Body Rondo Book, available from Amazon.com (http://tinyurl.com/yh865mt) The intro/outro song is Starfish, by Jerry Bradley.

Oct 25, 2009•8 min

Speech to Music

The Orff approach in today's show is moving from speech to music. The episode includes audio of a classroom activity. This activity shows how you can move a group from speech to playing music.

Oct 22, 2009•5 min

About the Orff Site Show

The Orff Site Show is a podcast about using the Orff-Schulwerk approach in your elementary music class. This is the introductory episode which tells the listener what the show is about and what to expect in the future episodes. It is a podcast that should interest elementary music teachers who use the approach or those who are curious about the approach. It is hosted by a current elementary music teacher with 20 years of teaching experience, most in the secondary level, but the last 3 years have...

Oct 20, 2009•5 min

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