The Orff Echo is the national, peer-reviewed quarterly journal and philosophical voice of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. Our mission is to demonstrate the value of Orff Schulwerk and promote its widespread use; to support the professional development of our members; and to inspire and advocate for the creative potential of all learners. Non-members may contact the editor for information.
Interested in writing for The Orff Echo? Check out how to get involved in the process:
Extensions to articles published in The Orff Echo can be found in the AOSA Resource Library.
List of Orff Echo Articles
Questions from a First-year Orff-Schulwerk Teacher
Beam reflects on his first year as an Orff-inspired music teacher.
Teaching in an Inner-city School in Little Rock, Arkansas
How does a refined, conservatory-trained music teacher connect with inner-city teenagers? Headley tells of her successes.
A Private Orff Studio Serves the Home-school Community
Oklahoman, Suzi Lenhart, writes about her successes with a private Orff Studio aimed at home-schooled students.
Leading Without Power: Finding Hope by Serving Community
Professional Development Book Review: Cole calls this book, by Max De Pree, a “concise and readable book about a person who practiced servant leadership in the corporate world for over 45 years.”
Leaf Man
Children’s Book Review: This beautiful book is an invitation to dance with a text that begs for musical interpretation…and begs you to go outside to celebrate the changing colors in your neighborhood.
After the Storm: Teaching Music after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
Four music teachers discuss teaching their students on the Gulf Coast after two devastating hurricanes.
Lullabies: An Illustrated Songbook
Children’s Book Review: Words and music from thirty-seven traditional lullabies. Each song is thoughtfully matched with works of art from the Metropolitan Museum’s collections.
Mama Don’t Allow
Children’s Book Review: Picture book with saxophone-playing, jazz musician Miles and his Swamp Band who find a bevy of sharp-toothed, long-tailed alligators that love to listen to their jazzy music.
Rethinking Curriculum: From Activities to Instruction
The author shows how teachers can design lessons that reach the higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy.
Portrait Series: Mimi Samuelson
An in-depth profile of the extraordinary life of Mimi Samuelson, her lifelong incomparable accomplishments with the recorder, and her immeasureable contributions to Orff-Schulwerk in the United States and Canada, and the Orff Institute in Autria. A must-read for recorder teachers.
Nurturing Expression, Understanding and Artistry in the Orff classroom: A celebration and a Challenge
A music education icon provides a step-by-step guide to selecting songs, instrumental pieces, dances, and stories that will deepen your students’ understanding of both music and themselves, perhaps for a lifetime.
A Reflection: What is Artful Education
Professional Development Book Review: A commentary about Bennett Reimer’s book A Philosophy of Music Education: Advancing the VIsion, and a conclusion that “helping children experience, understand, compose, and listen to music educates their feelings, co-creates them as storied individuals, promotes self-knowledge, and gives them an even deeper capacity for ‘knowing within’ music.”
Quality Materials and Flexibility are Hallmarks of an Artful Lesson
This article encourages teachers to converse with their students before they establish the final structure of an activity and to not be afraid to “bend the rules” if it encourages students to think on their feet.
Saying Good-bye From the Heart
Activities that teachers can use to say heartfelt goodbyes with their classes to students who are leaving their school because of a sudden family move or other traumatic experience.
Schulwerk Provides Structure: Developmental Artistry
Maslow meets Orff in the music education clsssroom. A primer on how to expand our thinking to include cognitive curricular safety and security, and still meet the students’ social needs. Includes songs that are both developmentally appropriate and artistically satisfying.
Incorporating Student Art Into Musical Programs
Collaboration between an art teacher and a music teacher that brings the ideas of Howard Gardener into the planning.