Classroom music is sometimes called "general music." Each teacher's class comes to the music room as a group to get instruction. The classroom music program at Calais Elementary School is based on the Orff Schulwerk approach in order to achieve the MENC National Standards. Classroom music is the heart and soul of our program, providing all students with the key experiences that are the foundation for choral and instrumental music making.
Music classes meet twice a week for thirty minutes in grades K-6, and once a week for 15 minutes for preschool. Scroll down the page to learn about the traditions and approaches that influence our classroom music making at the Calais School.
ORFF SCHULWERK is the heart of our music program. According to the American Orff Shulwerk Association,
"Orff Schulwerk is a way to teach and learn music. It is based on things that children like to do: sing, chant rhymes, clap, dance and keep a beat on anything near at hand. These instincts are directed into learning music by hearing and making music first, then reading and writing it later. This is the same way we all learned our language. Orff Schulwerk is designed for all children, not just the privileged, talented or selected few. There is a place for every child and each contributes according to ability."
Mr. Owens has completed Levels I and II of Orff teacher training Vivian Murray (ensemble and recorder) and Debbie Szanjberg (movement) and Level III with Jay Broeker (ensemble), Cindy Hall (recorder), and Brian Burnett (movement) These are intensive two week courses in the methods of teaching and composing for children. He will be taking additional masterclasses in the Orff aproach during the summer of 2008.
MOVEMENT EDUCATION Movement education is an integral component of Orff Schulwerk. We use movement activities and dance to express the ideas and feeling of poems and music non-verbally, to achieve beat competence and rhythmic independence and to express concepts such as form and meter.
Phyllis Weikart (High Scope/Perry Preschool) has been an important influence on Mr. Owens from outside the Orff approach. She says that rhythm is the glue that binds together words into meanings, therefore rhythmic competence is essential to good reading skills.
We employ a variety of techniques from both Phyllis Weikart's work and from the Orff tradition to enhance students' movement skills. Central to these efforts is the psychological safety of the student. As Phyllis Weikart says, "No student will deliberately choose a movement that is beyond his/her developmental level." We use effective activities that allow the students to work at their own pace and comfort level, while assuring their growth. This is the essence of differentiated instruction.
RECORDER We play recorders (small end-blown flutes) in third and fourth grade. Recorder helps students reinforce important musical concepts. This year an Orff integrated approach to recorder instruction has been introduced through the use of the "Recorder Routes" curriculum of noted Orff educator Carol King.
Recorders are provided at school for classroom use. While home practice is not required at this level, students are welcome to purchase recorders and books for their own enjoyment. A Yamaha recorder costs around $7.00. Recorder Time Book 1 is nice supplemental method book for beginners. Parent could even learn along with their children! GuitarSam (229-0295) in Montpelier is a good place to purchase these materials.
Remember, the recorder is not just for children! The recorder is really an important historical instrument, and there are very fine professional musicians who are famous players. Great composers, such as Bach and Handel, wrote music for it. While a plastic recorder is inexpensive, a wooden professional recorder can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
SIGHT SINGING Learning to sing from music notation is a life-long learning skill. It is an ability that will appreciated by students throughout their lives, whether they are singing with their church choir, or just trying to help their children learn music.
Sight singing work starts in kindergarten with the introduction of Curwen hand signs. These are shapes we make with our hands to represent the notes of the scale (Do, Re, Mi, etc.) This symbolic representation of pitch by hand movements prepares students to read conventional music notation, which is introduced in second and third grade.
Understanding of music notation and sight singing is a natural outcome of the Orff approach. As the need arises to express more complex ideas, children naturally gravitate to the use of notation, although a bit of encouragement helps.
