Orff Ensembles

Abstract

Playing Orff instruments provides students with a wide variety of opportunities to explore creative musicianship. This article examines the benefits of classroom instrument study, common challenges encountered, and viable teaching strategies to promote student success. The ability to remove notes from barred instruments makes note accuracy more accessible, freeing students to focus on more sophisticated musical elements related to balance, blend, and dynamics. In addition, many Orff arrangements are easy to learn because of the common use of simple ostinato figures and limited harmonic structures. Although these patterns may be simple to grasp, they can be difficult to perform with rhythmic control. Students often rush the beat, causing faulty precision within the ensemble. Within a few measures, ensemble unity can be lost. Teaching solutions offered in this article focus on strategies related to technique development, efficient diagnosis, and effective modeling.