The Application of the Orff Schulwerk Approach to Improve the

Pedagogical Competency of Teacher Candidates

Susi Gustina

Department of Music Education, Indonesia University of Education, Jl. Dr. Setiabudhi no. 229, Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Orff Schulwerk; Exploration; Pedagogical Competency; Teacher Candidates.

Abstract: The Orff schulwerk is one of the creative approaches in the music learning process. The aim of this approach

is to develop the sense of ‘pulses, meters, tempos, and rhythms’ physically by expressing those elements of

music through movement and music activities. In our research, we propose to apply this approach to improve

the pedagogical competency of teacher candidates that will be needed when they have to teach music in

school. By using the method of action research, teacher candidates are treated to apply this approach. The

findings is the understanding of Orff schulwerk approach in the music learning process is depend on the

teacher candidates’ confidence to express their musical ideas freely. The result show that the more freely they

expresses their musical ideas through exploration activities, the better the improvement of their pedagogical

competency in teaching music. The conclusion is the application of Orff schulwerk approach can improve the

teacher candidates’ pedagogical competency as long as they understand that teaching music in school is not

to make professional musicians, but to foster the characters of students that related to the educational goals in

the school curriculum of Indonesia, i.e. the students character building.

1 INTRODUCTION

Music cannot be separated from the human life. The

fact, music is enjoyed and learned by the peoples all

over the world, both formally and informally. Related

to the reality, Hargreaves, Marshall, and North stated

that, “Music has cognitive, emotional, and social

functions for all of us: and the social functions of

music are manifested in three main ways in everyday

life, namely in the management of selfidentity,

interpersonal relationships, and mood.” The same

perspective of the benefit of music is stated by Susan

Hallam (2010) that the general attainment may be

influenced by the impact that music has on personal

and social development.

Playing an instrument can lead to a sense of

achievement; an increase in self-esteem; increased

confidence; persistence in overcoming frustrations

when learning is difficult; self-discipline; and provide

a means of self-expression. These may increase

motivation for learning in general thus supporting

enhanced attainment. … Participating in musical

groups promotes friendships with likeminded people;

self-confidence; social skills; social networking; a

sense of belonging; team work; self-discipline; a sense

of accomplishment; co-operation; responsibility;

commitment; mutual support; bonding to meet group

goals; increased concentration and provides an outlet

for relaxation (Hallam, 2010).

In music education, the specific goal of using

music can build the atmosphere of learning needed to

improve the teaching and learning activities. Based

on the benefits of music in education, there are some

methods or approaches offered by some experts of

music education. One of the approaches that more

focused on learning music creatively and related to

the children life is the Orff schulwerk that pioneered

by German Composer, Carl Orff (1895 – 1982), and

his colleague, Gunild Keetman (1904 – 1990). Orff

schulwerk can be said as an approach to music

education (Cunha and Carvalho, 2012; Long, 2013).

Its foundation was concerned with the child: the

needs of the child and the emphasis on nourishing the

musicality of each child through elemental activities

in music and movement. The Orff teaching process

involves singing; body percussion; playing on a

variety of both tuned and un-tuned instruments;

movement and dancing; and speech activities to

encourage active music making. It can be said that the

practices of Orff schulwerk approach is important to

learn because it highly focus on music learning

actively. The purposes of this method are to develop

Gustina, S.

The Application of the Orff Schulwerk Approach to Improve the Pedagogical Competency of Teacher Candidates.

DOI: 10.5220/0008545400590065

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities (ICONARTIES 2019), pages 59-65

ISBN: 978-989-758-450-3

the sense of ‘pulses, meters, tempos, and rthythms’

physically by expressing those elements of music

through movement and music activities (Stewart,

2013). The output of this approach relies heavily on

the teacher as a facilitator in the learning process.

Teacher is one of the important elements in the

learning process in every stage of education. Like

Stewart, Southcott (2012) also stated that.

Orff believed that music education for young children

should start as early as possible and that such

education should not be delivered through mere singing

or instrument playing but through the involvement of

the whole body. The Orff pedagogical strategies enable

children to learn music through constantly integrated

mental, physical and sensory engagement through the

experiences of moving, singing, chanting and playing

instruments.

The Department of Music Education, the Faculty

of Art and Design (FPSD), the Indonesia University

of Education (UPI) is the one of the higher education

institutions that provide music education for teacher

candidates in school. Based on our survey, many

teachers in schools have many problems, especially

when they are required to teach that combine music

with other arts, i.e. dance, visual art, and theater, such

as the art and culture lesson in 2013 Curriculum.

Because the Orff schulwerk approach involves music

and movement as well as speech activities so that its

application in school can be seen as a solution to

improve the teacher candidates’ pedagogical

competency.

The problem in this research focus on the

application of Orff schulwerk approach. Some

questions that need to be solved are: 1) what kind of

the Orff schulwerk approach that can be used to

improve the pedagogical competency of teacher

candidates?; 2) how teacher candidates can apply the

Orff schulwerk approach in music learning?, and 3)

how about the impact of teacher candidates’

understanding to the Orff schulwerk approach in the

improvement of their pedagogical competency?.

The objectives of this research are: 1) teacher

candidates have a better understanding to apply the

Orff schulwerk approach that can be used to improve

their pedagogical competency; 2) students as teacher

candidates know how to apply Orff schulwerk

approach in music learning, and 3) the understanding

of Orff schulwerk approach gradually can improve

teacher candidates’ pedagogical competency.

This research was taken place in the Department

of Music Education, FPSD UPI that located in

Bandung City, West Java. The participants of this

research were some students as teacher candidates

who attended the course of the Music Learning

Methodology as a subject that must be studied by all

of the students.

2 RELATED WORKS /

LITERATURE REVIEW

The topic about the Orff schulwerk approach have

ever written by some researchers. One of them is

Stewart (2013) in her master thesis, Facilitating

Elemental Composition in an Orff Classroom. In her

research findings, Stewart explained that.

the most successful pedagogical strategies that

facilitated successful outcomes for this group of

students were: creating a safe and supportive

environment; facilitation of collaborative learning;

encouraging and empowering the children to make

connections to, and draw on, their previous learning;

facilitating opportunities for in-depth reflection by the

peer group and the students themselves; providing

constructive feedback and feed-forward; the provision

of sufficient time and opportunity; the use of humour;

teacher modelling: ensuring the aims and expectations

are clear and managing classroom behaviour (Stewart,

2013).

Stewart’s findings above showed that the teachers

who have a good pedagogical competency in music

learning at school are those of who understand about

the Orff schulwerk approach so that they can

empower their students’ musicality in the classroom.

Unfortunately, she did not explain about music

teachers or teacher candidates who were unfamiliar

with it. Differ from Stewart, in our study (Gustina et

al, 2017), teacher candidates are introduced to the

Orff schulwerk approach that focus on improving

students’ creativity. As their pedagogical competency

increase then they can create a safe and supportive

environment; facilitate collaborative learning;

encourage and empower the children to make

connections to, and draw on, their previous learning;

facilitate opportunities for in-depth reflection by the

peer group and the students themselves; and so on.

Other findings of Stewart’s research is related to

Orff media and Orff pedagogy. In her thesis she stated

that,

In investigating the general nature of activities, this

study found that the most successful were those that:

explored Orff media and utilised Orff pedagogy;

energised and focussed the participants; involved the

children in practical music making where they were

using their whole bodies to sing, move and play; were

scaffolded and allowed children to enter at a level that

was comfortable for them; had clear links to both the

short and long-term goals; and made links to children’s

ICONARTIES 2019 - 1st International Conference on Interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities

lives and experiences. The specific activities that the

students found most successful were those that explored

... and provided opportunities for improvisation and the

playing activities, with both body and untuned

percussion (Stewart, 2013)..

Stewart’s statement above clearly describe the

music teachers who have many experiences in

teaching music with Orff schulwerk approach to

achieve the goal of music learning. They understand

that music learning is not only limited to singing or

playing an instrument, but can also involves other

media that links to children’s lives and their

experiences, such as their body and un-tuned

percussion. But, based on some survey that we have

ever observed at the pre-schools and kindergartens in

some regencies in West Java, such as Cirebon and

Garut, generally teachers did not realise that the

students’ body or un-tuned percussion can be used as

learning media. Differ from Stewart, in our study,

teacher candidates are treated to do some explorations

that related to the Orff schulwerk approach, i.e. the

exploration of sound, space, and form that appropriate

to the ability of students in school (Gustina et al,

2017).

According to Stewart (2013), Orff schulwerk is a

child-centred approach to music education, which

uses songs, dances, rhymes, clapping games, poetry

and stories from the child’s world as the basis of

music and movement activities. Carl Orff, originator

of the approach, called this music and movement

activity “elemental” – basic, unsophisticated,

concerned with the fundamental building blocks of

music and movement. Therefore the Orff schulwerk

approach can be categorized as an approach that uses

student-centered paradigm. The same perspective

with Stewart, the research of student-centered

paradigm has been done by Gustina et al in 2006. In

this research Gustina et al concluded that

studentcentered paradigm can improve: the

motivation of students in the learning process, the

sensitivity to ‘feel’ the elements of arts (sound,

movement), the creativity in making music, and the

ability to solve problems. The results of this study

showed the lack of teachers’ ability to manage music

learning in the classroom with many students by

using studentcentered paradigm.

Based on both studies it can be said that there are

three major obstacles in implementing the Orff

schulwerk as student-centered approach, i.e. the

teachers’ understanding of the approach itself, the

using of learning materials that is based on the

students’ lives and experiences, and the ability to

manage the Orff schulwerk approach in the active

music making. These obstacles indicate that there is a

‘gap’ that can be ‘covered’ by doing another study

that focuses on the application of the Orff schulwerk

approach to improve the pedagogical competency of

teacher candidates (Gustina et al, 2017).

3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Data

In this research, data was collected by observation to

the exploration done by five participants, both in

individual and group participation. Data consist of

three kind of exploration according to the Orff

schulwerk approach, i.e: exploration of space, sound,

and form. Data of each explorations is analysed in

qualitative approach. The exploration of space

explained the improvement of all participants to

explore the qualities of movement, such as light,

heavy, down, up, in, out, and so on (Choksy et al,

2001).

Participant

Exploration of

Space (the qualities of

movement)

Evaluation

The exploration of sound describe the

improvement of participants’ ability to play and

experiment with sound qualities, such as hard sounds,

soft sounds, wood sounds, metal sounds, and so on.

The first instruments are not of necessity any standard

ones, but rather natural instruments found or invented

by the participants, such as bottles, tables, chairs, etc.

The sounds produced on these ‘unusual’ instruments

are organized into simple forms that demand

beginnings and endings and involve a sense of

duration within defined limits. Sound sources are

grouped into families of like sounds and the whole is

worked into “pieces” not for performance but for

growth and development to the next stage of

exploration (Choksy et al, 2001).

Participant

Exploration of Sound

(experiment with

sound qualities)

Evaluation

The Application of the Orff Schulwerk Approach to Improve the Pedagogical Competency of Teacher Candidates

Data in the exploration of form occurs concurrently

with the exploration of space and sound. Movements

are organized into patterns, and patterns into dances.

Sounds are organized into compositions with like and

unlike phrases, introductions, and codas. The shapes

of movement and sound are diagramed and symbols

are invented to represent them (Choksy et al, 2001).

Participant

Exploration of Form

(shapes of movement

and sound)

Evaluation

3.2 Method

The research method that used is the action research.

Ferrance (2000) stated that, “action research is ... or

looking for ways to improve instruction and increase

student achievement. Rather than dealing with the

theoretical, action research allows practitioners to

address those concerns that are closest to them, ones

over which they can exhibit some influence and make

change”. In this kind of research, we will begin a

cycle of posing questions, gathering data, reflection,

and deciding on a course of action (Ferrance, 2000).

Following the Kurt Lewin’s model, we conduct our

research in three cycles. Each of the cycles involve

planning, action, observation, and reflection. The

three cycles of our research can be described as

follow:

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Results

The research is started with the explanation about the

Orff schulwerk to teacher candidates. Differ from

other music learning methods, the Orff schulwerk

approach focus on three kind of explorations, i.e.

exploration of space, sound, and form. This approach

also involve speech and the using of non-Western

instrument, such as gamelan.

The result of this research consists of three

elements, i.e. the exploration of space, sound, and

forms. In the exploration of space, the participant are

encourage to explore the qualities of movement, such

ICONARTIES 2019 - 1st International Conference on Interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities

as light, heavy, down, up, in, out, and so on. Body

positions are explored and experienced, without

discussion and without teacher-imposed definition.

Figure 1: Exploration of Space The participants do some

qualities of movement

In the exploration of sound, the participants play

and experiment with sound qualities, such as hard

sounds, soft sounds, wood sounds, metals sounds, and

so on. The first instruments are not of necessity any

standard ones, but rather natural instruments found or

invented by the participants, such as bottles, tables,

chairs, etc. The sounds produced on these ‘unusual’

instruments are organized into simple forms that

demand beginnings and endings and involve a sense

of duration within defined limits. Sound sources are

grouped into families of like sounds and the whole is

worked into “pieces” not for performance but for

growth and development to the next stage of

exploration.

Figure 2: Exploration of Sound: The sound from a glass

plate and a fork

Figure 3: Exploration of Sound: The sound from human

voice and body

Figure 4: Exploration of Sound: The sound from a pen that

being knocked against the wall

Figure 5: Exploration of Sound: The sound of a pen rubbed

against the bottle

The exploration of form occurs concurrently with

the exploration of space and sound. Movements are

organized into patterns, and patterns into dances.

Sounds are organized into compositions with like and

unlike phrases, introductions, and codas. The shapes

of movement and sound are diagrammed and symbols

are invented to represent them.

Figure 6: Exploration of Form A participant do some

movement patterns into ‘dance’ and the others response his

‘dance’ with sound into a ‘composition’

The Application of the Orff Schulwerk Approach to Improve the Pedagogical Competency of Teacher Candidates

A diagram that represent the shapes of movement

and sound that produced by the participant in this

research.

Figure 7: The diagram with symbols that represent the

movement and sound

Notes:

= both hands are above the head with the sound

from a glass plate and a fork (high sound)

= both hands are at the waist with the sound of

a pen rubbed against the bottle (medium sound)

• = walking movement with the sound of foot that

hit on the floor (low sound)

4.2 Discussion

Based on the result, it can be said that all the

participants in this research have a variety of their

ability to explore the spaces, sounds, and forms. At

the beginning in exploring the sound, for example,

they looked confused to find some sound sources

which can be identified as ‘music’. Their confusing

can be understood based on some reasons. The first is

their assumption that music only related to usual

instruments, such as guitar, piano, keyboard, and

violin. The second is their assumption that they will

teach music in school with usual activities, such as

singing, playing instruments, or choir. They have no

idea that all sources, including their body, can be used

as sound sources. It shows that their understanding of

‘what music is’ still limited. The participants also

have some weaknesses in exploring the form at the

beginning. The main of weaknesses of the

participants are the lack of confidence and the ability

to express musical ideas freely.

The ability to express musical ideas as well as

explore sound and space are the important elements

of Orff schulwerk approach (Choksy et al., 2001).

Sound exploration which involves musical elements,

such as pitch, rhythm, dynamic, and tempo developed

from the simple forms and gradually experimented

through practical experiences. Furthermore, those

elements are refined and developed to exploration and

experience in more difficult levels. And, at each steps

of the process the participants will practice.

The same with Long (2012), in this research, all

the participants did the same pattern in all

exploration, i.e. observe – imitate – experiment –

create. First, the participants started to observe the

teacher, music, videos, other students, or any other

forms of watching someone actively “do" something

and indicated the pitch, duration, dynamic, tempo,

and timbre of it (observation). Second, they work on

developing basic skills in rhythmic speech, singing,

body percussion, playing instruments, and movement

by following the teacher's example (imitation). Third,

the participants can discover and explore the

possibilities available to them in both sound and

movement (experimentation). Finally, the

participants are extending the skill as to the point

where they can initiate their own patterns

spontaneously (creation). Choksy et al (2001) also

stated that the pattern is repeated for each new

concept presented. In the process of individual to

ensemble, although the participants must discover the

qualities of space, sound, and form for themselves,

each individual simultaneously contributes to the

group as a whole, and that community of individuals

becomes the ensembles (Choksy et al, 2001).

The result shows that the confidence and courage

of the participants to express musical ideas gradually

increased after practicing this approach in the process

of learning. Therefore, it can be said that Orff

schulwerk approach is useful to achieve some goals,

such as: 1) to support a sense of togetherness or

community, 2) to understand the music organization,

3) to understand music as art, 4) to develop musical

freedom, 5) to strengthen the development of

individual musical, 6) to perfect the play capability,

7) to develop the self-confidence, and 8) to increase

students’ appreciation. Stewart (2013) stated that

because of its benefit, refer to Orff pedagogy, the

pedagogical strategies that can be successfully used

are: creating a safe and trusting environment that

ICONARTIES 2019 - 1st International Conference on Interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities

enabled learner to take risks; allowing time for

reflection, feedback and feed-forward; facilitating

group learning; the importance of sound classroom

management; setting goals and challenging the

children to extend their learning; teacher modelling;

and the importance of using humor as a tool to

facilitate learning.

Based on the result, we assume that the Orff

schulwerk approach can be used by the teacher

candidates when they have to teach in schools. In

accordance to the 2013 Curriculum, music is not

studied separately, but integrates with other fields, i.e.

dance, visual arts, and theatre. Therefore, this

approach can be seen as a solution for problems that

faced by many teachers in school today. So, our

hypothesis in this research is the application of Orff

schulwerk approach is not only beneficial to the

improvement of teacher candidates’ pedagogical

competency, but also useful to support educational

goals in the school curriculum of Indonesia, i.e. to

develop the characters building of students in school.

5 CONCLUSIONS

In this research it is clear that that the activities taught

using the Orff schulwerk approach can improve the

pedagogical competency of teacher candidates,

especially in the art and culture lesson in 2013

Curriculum. Unfortunately, this research have not

specified the application of Orff schulwerk at every

stages in school yet. We only tried to improve the

pedagogical competency of teacher candidates, but

we have not tried to find a solution on how this Orff

schulwerk approach can be applied at every level in

the school. It can be seen as a ‘gap’ for the future

research. The main shortcomings of what we have

done is the duration of treatments in this research. It

can be assumed that the more often the application of

this approach is treated, the better teacher's

pedagogical competency will improve. However,

based on the results, we believe that the Orff

schulwerk approach has benefits for the development

of students' character in school. And, with the

application of the Orff schulwerk, we can realize that

teaching music in school is not to make professional

musicians, but to foster the characters of students that

related to the educational goals in the 2013

Curriculum, i.e. the students character building.

Therefore, we hope that there will be other researches

that also focus on the same topic as an effort to

improve the pedagogical competency of teacher

candidates.

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Ferrance, E., 2000. Action Research. Providence, Rhode

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The Application of the Orff Schulwerk Approach to Improve the Pedagogical Competency of Teacher Candidates