Shaping the future together.
The idea for the artistic and educational concept of the Orff Schulwerk originated in the 1920s, when Dorothee Günther and Carl Orff broke new ground in music education with elementary music at the Günther School for Gymnastics, Rhythm and Dance.
They innovatively combined music, language and movement or dance and combined these with improvisation. The newly assembled, elementary instruments – consisting mainly of percussion instruments – and the body-oriented creative use of the instruments were groundbreaking. In 1944, the Günther School was closed and the building was destroyed in the war.
As early as 1948, Bayerischer Rundfunk launched a series of school radio programmes with Carl Orff, Gunild Keetman and Godela Orff, marking the beginning of the successful Orff Schulwerk for children. In a 12-part series, they presented language, song and instrumental compositions as models and source material for improvisational work with children and young people. For the first time, the Orff instruments, which were very unusual at the time, were introduced to a wide audience.
Orff and Keetman used language and singing as the basis for music-making, as both are familiar and present in the world of children: nursery rhymes, counting rhymes, sayings, poems and songs are the starting point for exercises that stimulate children's creativity. The Orff Schulwerk is structured in a progressive manner. It leads from two- and three-tone spaces via pentatonic scales to major and minor scales, cadences and church modes. The focus is on practical musical instruction rather than theoretical and didactic teaching. This appeals to children of all ability levels and potential.
