Music for Children 1

It was in the mid-1950s that the ideas which Carl Orff established in his "Schulwerk" first achieved prominence in the United States and Canada; the publication in 1956 of Doreen Hall and Arnold Walter's adaption into english represented the first venture in applying the original Carl Orff/Gunild Keetman work towards the needs of a different language and educational culture.

The new American Edition, developed twenty years later to meet the needs of a country with an immensely rich cultural and ethnic heritage, demanded a large and diverse team of collaborators to draw upon this wealth. Carl Orff and his publishers entrusted Hermann Regner from the Orff Institute in Salzburg with the concept and co-ordination of the series; in this way, the Edition would profit from the experience gained from all parts of the world in this adaption of Orff's pedagogical ideas.

The three volumes of the American Edition contain a wide range of both traditional and new material (speech exercises, games, dances, texts, songs with instrumental pieces, information on how to use the material). Orff-Schulwerk is not a method that should be followed page by page; it is a collection of material that invites original arrangements or variations and the composition of complementary and contrastiong material.

It mirrors a vision of an education which considers music and dance not as a 'fringe programme' but essential for our entire being. These media '...are, in all world cultures, as important for survival as water and air. Man becomes an entity again when he makes music and when he dances; he uses his hands and feet, his body, his senses, his intellect and emotion.' (Hermann Regner, in the Foreword to Volume 1 of the American Edition)

This edition follows the tradition of Schulwerk editions from other countries and contains some vocal and instrumental material from the original Schulwerk. However, most of the material has been contributed by leading educators using material developed in American classrooms, that reflects the vast panorama of the cultural heritage of the United States. Photographs and sample lessons illustrate the work.

In all volumes there are several articles, each dealing with a specific topic within the field of Music and Dance Education. These unique volumes provide a rich and varied source of material which will stimulate the imagination of Orff-Schulwerk teachers everywhere.

Contributors of Volume 1: Tossi Aaron, Millie Burnett, Isabel Carley, Virginia Ebinger, Nancy Ferguson, Ruth Pollock Hamm, Maureen Kennedy, Marcia Lunz, Dorothy Lyons, Virginia McGivern, Erik Nielsen, Sue Ellen Page, Martha Pline Polon, Arvida Steen, Judith Thomas, Lillian Yaross