Orff- Schulwerk Music For Children – Volumes I – V

Schott Publishing adapted by Margaret Murray

How to Use the Volumes Effectively in the Elementary Music Class Room

The five volumes of pieces written by Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman are a treasure of highly accessible music for children. Many are for barred instrument alone, but others are full arrangements for vocal, soprano, unpitched percussion and stringed instruments. From the easiest piece for kindergarten to the pieces which might challenge adult musicians, they are filled with elemental music expressly written to move musicians step by step to better musicianship.

Orff himself says this about the volumes of Schulwerk:

“May this be a stimulant and starting point for those teachers that follow. It has been written for the young and to them it is dedicated.”

Volume I is Pentatonic. Students can learn a never changing bordun and be able to play the entire song. Nursery rhymes and lots of rhythm and body percussion songs are included in this volume.

Volume II is Major: Drone bass triads. Volume II builds on earlier steps of knowledge and adds the first two parts of the major scale exercises: drone basses and triads. Great ostinati pieces and short instrumentals

Volume III is Major: Dominant and subdominant triads. These triads were implied in Vols. I and II, but in Vol. III they are used consciously.

Volume IV is Minor: Drone bass triads. There is more use of folk song rather than early child hood works from I, II, and III. Minor allows for a wider range of experience and feeling as does the printed text.

Volume V is Minor: Dominant and subdominant triads. The progression continues as it does in major. The volume also works with Aeolian, Dorian, and Phrygian modes which have special significance within the diatonic framework of the Schulwerk.

There are many ways to use these precious resources. Orff himself said the pieces are all meant as a framework and should always be made one’s own. So here is a short look at some different ways I have used the Volumes.

  1. I will use only some of the parts in the arrangement. That may bring the piece to a level easily played by younger students or played and sung by older students. I might also give a little bit more advanced student a tougher part to play in the arrangement.
  1. The piece may be really nice and fit perfectly if only one or two of the parts weren’t so hard. Rewrite the parts just a little to make them work for your students, or for a particular class.
  1. You find a great piece that fits the mood of a program you are thinking of, but you need something with lyrics. Write some! Or rewrite the ones in the volume.
  1. You find the perfect piece but the lead instrument is ---- glasses! What now? Substitute a different instrument and enjoy the timbre experiment. Feel free to substitute the instrument you have for one you don’t have. Feel free to give the high soprano recorder part your students can’t play because of the half-hole to the glockenspiels. Much easier with good effect.
  1. You really like the A section of the piece, but the B section really doesn’t do it for you. Leave it out and repeat the A section again. Or skip the B section and go on to the C section. Or use the A section of piece #47 and the A section of piece #72.