by Sarah Hruska-Olson
On October 25th, I attended a Minnesota Orff Chapter workshop presented by the internationally known elemental music expert and master Orff Schulwerk teacher, Steve Calantropio. I looked forward to this event for months, not only because of Mr. Calantropio’s excellence as a…
by Sarah Hruska-Olson
The recent September 27 Minnesota Orff workshop featured a lunch time panel discussion with three Orff Schulwerk master teachers: Judy Bond, Arvida Steen, and Jane Frazee. They talked about their early experiences with Orff Schulwerk and answered questions from audience members…
by Sarah Hruska-Olson
The September 27 Minnesota Orff Chapter workshop, presented by Dr, Julie Scott, was on a favorite topic of mine: singing! The title was: “Singing in Orff Schulwerk.” Dr. Scott is a past president of AOSA, the national Orff Schulwerk association. She was my recorder pedagogy…
by Sarah Hruska-Olson Olson.Sarah@MacPhail.org
During my early experiences sharing music with young children, I was surprised by the rhythmic way infants responded to my singing and guitar playing. Babies who could not yet walk or crawl would bounce up and down or move their arms rhythmically. …
by Shannon McGuire McGuire.Shannon@MacPhail.org
Singing is extremely personal. It is important for the educator to have an open mind to provide encouragement in a gentle and kind manner, which will encourage the human voice to match pitch. It is definitely OK to be honest when the student does not …
by Sarah Hruska-Olson Olson.Sarah@MacPhail.org
Part Two: Pitch Matching with Children
In the book, “Music in Childhood: From Preschool through the Early Grades,” Patricia Sheehan Campbell outlines the progress children make from vocal babbling as infants to more structured vocalization and chan…
by Sarah Hruska-Olson Olson.Sarah@MacPhail.org
“I’m sorry, Johnny. Our voices do not sound the same,” announced my music education professor to a hypothetical child singing out of tune. The professor’s tone of voice was mournful, as if perhaps Johnny’s dog had died. The professor went on to g…
by Sarah Hruska-Olson Olson.Sarah@MacPhail.org
Jennifer Sylvester writes:
Behavior changes can be hard in a classroom full of kids, but as a music teacher, I have found that having set routines really help, and endorsing the help of students can also be a great strategy. Older kids who can read…
by Sarah Hruska-Olson Olson.Sarah@MacPhail.org
“Enter if you dare,” said the sign on the classroom door to one of my Early Childhood Music teaching sites. Although the sign was actually part of a Halloween display, it can really be a bit scary to enter this toddler room when there are multiple …
by Sarah Hruska-Olson Olson.Sarah@MacPhail.org
Our local Twin Cities Orff Schulwerk chapter is an inspiring, economical, and practical source of professional development for K-8 general music teachers. Participants include music education students, beginning teachers, experienced teachers, and mus…
by Sarah Hruska-Olson Olson.Sarah@MacPhail.org
Most of us in ECM work with children of many different ages and developmental stages. Our students may range in age from newborns to eight-year-olds. Those of us who teach in other MacPhail departments like Community Partnerships may work with an eve…
by Sarah Hruska-Olson Olson.Sarah@MacPhail.org
As the ECM department at MacPhail prepares for the start of Fall Semester, I remember how excited and nervous I was to teach my very first Early Childhood Music class at MacPhail in the fall of 1997. I was so preoccupied that I left my garage door up w…
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
Learning Sequences in Music by Edwin E. Gordon is a great summer reading book. Not a "sit on t
he beach and feverishly turn pages" book or the new Grisham, but more like "I finally have time to seriously devote to this huge book." Gordon is a music ed res…
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
The Tropical Recorder is a book of recorder tunes with Orff instrument (hand drum, xylophones, shakers et. al) accompaniments by Jim Solomon and Mary Helen Solomon. This book is available in the Community Partnership Resource Library on the 3rd floor and i…
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
One of the great books in the Community Partnerships Resource Library is Jump Right In: The Music Curriculum Level 4 by Cynthia Taggart, Beth Bolton, Alison Reynolds, Wendy Valerio, and Edwin Gordon. MacPhail owns the Teacher's Guide along with the four CDs…
by Jeremy Hanson Hanson.Jeremy@MacPhail.org
The third in a series showing HOW exactly technology has improved the quality of teaching or music therapy, i.e. Problems and solutions. No how-to's, just what impact is seen with students and clients
I use many kinds of technology in my teaching every d…
by Sharon Mazion - Breck School
Note from David Birrow: Sharon sent me this excellent reply to last week's posts about the pentatonic
scale's use in general music settings. I thought it was convincing and warranted it's own post.
I tend to approach my teaching more from an Orf…
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
Two things today. First some interesting pentatonic stuff:
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
The pentatonic scale is certainly common in music from around the world. As a percussionist, I've been in African and Javanese percussion ensembles that have used the scale almost exclusively and of course I think that students should experience music from …
by Sarah Hruska-Olson Olson.Sarah@MacPhail.org
Many years ago, I took my son to an ECFE parent/infant class. The instructor gave us a sheet entitled, “The 10 Super Sun
ny Joys of Peek-a-Boo.” Peek-a-boo is such a natural and universal game to play with babies, but there are so many great underl…
