Carl Orffs Philosophies In Music Education :: essays research papers

While Carl Orff is a very(prenominal) seminal composer of the 20th century, his greatestsuccess and influence has been in the sketch of Music Education. Born on July10th in Munich, Ger umpteen in 1895, Orff refused to enunciate about his past almostas if he were ashamed of it. What we do know, however, is that Orff camefrom a Bavarian family who was very active in the German military. Hisfathers regiment band would often play through some of the young Orffs world-class attempts at composing. Although Orff was adamant about the secrecy ofhis past, Mosers Musik Lexicon says that he studied in the Munich Academy ofMusic until 1914. Orff thence served in the military in the first world war.After the war, he held various positions in the Mannheim and Darmstadt operahouses then returned home to Munich to further study music. In 1925, and forthe rest of his life, Orff was the head of a department and co-founder of theGuenther School for gymnastics, music, and dance in Munich where he w orkedwith musical beginners. This is where he developed his Music Educationtheories. In 1937, Orffs Carmina Burana premiered in Frankfurt, Germany.Needless to say, it was a great success. With the success of Carmina Burana,Orff orphaned all of his previous works turn out for Catulli Carmina and the Entrata which were rewritten to be acceptable by Orff.One of Orffs most look up to composers was Monteverdi. In fact, much ofOrffs work was based on ancient material. Orff verbalizeI am often asked why I nearly incessantly select old material, fairy tales andlegends for my stage works. I do not look upon them as old, but rather asvalid material. The m element disappears, and only the spiritual powerremains. My entire interest is in the expression of spiritual realities. Iwrite for the theater in lodge to convey a spiritual attitude.1What Orff is trying to say here is that he does not use "old" material, butmaterial that is good generous to be used again. If one eliminates t he factthat this material was written many years ago, then there is nothing to stopthat material from world any less legitimate in recent times.Orffs work in Music Education has been astounding. In the early 1920s,Orff worked with Mary Wigman. Wigman was a learner of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze,another very influential name in Music Education. In fact, Orffs approachto music is very similar to Dalcrozes, but Orff focuses on educational activity throughpercussion instruments. In 1924, Orff joined Dorthee Guenther and together