Orff-Schulwerk Awesomeness

Eric Young, at The Orff-Schulwerk Classroom, is a teacher and presenter.  He shared this video on his blog about building marimbas at your school.  I can't even wrap my brain around all of the logistics of making this happen yet, but I know it's awesome!  I especially love the teaching tips after the photo section of the presentation.  For those of us who are Orff-challenged (okay, just less experienced), it helps to see it broken down into baby steps.  I see myself using this soon...I hope you enjoy it, too!

Making Music... Literally on Prezi

FREE Marimba Music!

This summer I taught a one-week music camp for elementary kiddos.  I wanted some music we could play on Orff instruments with younger kids, with minimal practice time.  As I was searching, I found this FREE piece on marimbamusic.com.  It was really easy to teach, and the kids loved it!  It was great for familiarizing the kids with the instruments, teaching how to play a tremolo, and building confidence.  And did I mention that it's FUN?

You can see and print the whole song here. 

First, I taught the kids to sing the song, with me singing first and the kids clapping the instrument part.  We quickly moved to the instruments to play.  They were able to perform the piece (with me singing) almost immediately.  The next rehearsals we polished singing and playing at the same time, and traded instruments for variety.  The kids performed for their parents at the end of the week, and they all wanted to play this song.  Love it!