Reverberations: Teachers Teaching Teachers is a weekly, online publication available to members that publishes models of best practice from Orff Schulwerk classrooms in the form of lesson ideas, student-tested teaching strategies, articles related to classroom applications, and more.
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List of Reverberations Articles
What Carl Said…
In the early years of AOSA, The Orff Echo published articles that contain the translated words of Carl Orff from speeches and an article from the Orff Institute. They are summarized here with links to the source articles. “Anyone who has worked with children or young people in the spirit of the Schulwerk will have discovered that it has a humanizing influence which transcends its musical function.” (Carl Orff, 1962 in a speech at the University of Toronto)
Snow, Snow, Snow
Sing a lovely canon about snow and then interpret snow through movement, speech, poetry, and more.
Creative Risks Benefit Both Teachers and Children
How can teachers become comfortable opening the door to creative risk in the classroom? These articles and a video from the Resource Library share ways to include risk in your classroom in playful and supportive ways.
Recorder in the Orff Process
The author shares a recorder lesson model that uses the Orff process of exploration, imitation, improvisation, and composition. The lesson idea includes a movement activity based on a traditional African American playground game.
Documenting Learning Through Student Reflections
The author shares models of student reflections on learning during an activity, as part performance, and as formative assessment for report cards.
“New” in the Video Library
Annotated list of pre-2000 videos of international presenters from AOSA Professional Development Conferences that have recently been added to the resource library. The article also includes a list of other VHS tapes that were digitized in 2024 and added to the video library.
Gratitude
A text written by a contemporary Apache woman is adapted for use in a vocal canon. The lesson includes creative movement and performance suggestions.
Artful Teaching: Lessons from a Master Teacher
Two AOSA Teacher Educators share what they learned from working side-by-side with Danai Gagné. A sense of play, artful gestures, and drama were all part of her magic that kept children engaged at all times. A lovely, autumn canon by Danai is included with this article.
Shanties and Schulwerk: A Blindingly Brief Tour of the Seven Seas
All students love to sing sea shanties, even the most reluctant singers. This article shares ways in which these lively songs lend themselves naturally to Orff-style creativity. Bonus: they also offer opportunities for SEL conversations.
Autumn Colors
This lesson idea inspired by autumn leaves has multiple entry points for creative exploration. The ideas can be adapted work with the age and stage of many grade levels.
What Grade Level is This? It Doesn’t Matter!
Two classroom music teachers, who are also part of the AOSA Teacher Educator team, share ways in which a teacher new to Orff Schulwerk can apply what was learned in Level I across all grade levels. The article includes a lesson idea that shows how the same concepts can be adapted for students of different ages.
Protected: The Magic Carpet
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.