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
From the Classroom: Wordmaker, Wordmaker… Creating and Playing with Language
Schulz discusses how she used of the poem “Wordmaker, Wordmaker” in a lesson for her Wyoming classroom.
Music Literacy and Orff Schulwerk
Warner discusses the issue of when children are ready to learn to read musical notation. She says that children must be prepared before teaching music literacy and compares the Orff and Kodaly philosophies of teaching.
Using Folk Songs as a Means for Achieving Musical Literacy
Trinka says that folk songs are the best literature to teach children to read music but that we must take into consideration the cultural from which the music arises so that the notation accurately reflects authentic performance.
Dance Literacy
Levine writes about notation symbols for dance and shares graphic examples from a variety of sources.
Rote vs Note, 1720-1995
Hardy discusses the teaching of music notation in elementary music classes in the U.S. While some teach literacy and some do not, the primary goal is to make music a part of children’s lives.
Focus on Research – Discovered Literacy
Gromko writes about a project in which she and several classroom teachers experimented with invented notation.
Orff Schulwerk: Past and Future
Speech given by Carl Orff at the opening of the Orff Institute in Salzburg, 1963, chronicling the evolution of the Schulwerk and the establishment of a training center at the Orff Institute.
The Mysteries of Creation: A Conversation with Libby Larsen
An interview with composer Libby Larsen sheds light on her creative process and her work on “Song dances to the Light” commissioned by AOSA for the 1995 Carl Orff Centenary.
The Role of Myth in Native American Art and Culture
Discussion of the role of origin stories in indigenous American culture and art, along with teaching suggestions and resources for exploring the cultures of tribal nations in the classroom.
Primal Fires
One teacher’s reflection on the importance of including a song’s cultural context and function as a way to bring wonder and magic into her teaching and students’ learning.
The Magic of Myth
The author makes a case for the importance of myth in society and education, and takes the reader into her elementary classroom where myth inspired music, dance, and poetry .
The Myth of Creativity
The mysterious and spiritual side of creativity is explored, and steps for uncovering creativity in our work as performers, composers, and teachers are discussed.
Reflections: Voice of Adolescence
An interview with a group of six male teens enrolled in classes at the Grenoble Studio reveal valuable insight into their Orff Schulwerk experience and teaching strategies they favored.
From the Classroom: Creating Theater
Creating Theater in the Music Classroom: One teachers’ favorite aural and visual techniques for creating a classroom atmosphere that transforms teaching spaces into theatrical spaces.
Joachim Matthesius, a Remembrance
One of the founders of AOSA, Joachim Mattesius, is remembered in testimonials from many of his friends in the Orff world.
Gold Rush Revels
Riddell discusses the songs of the California gold rush in 1849.