~Musical Notations~
~Malletts Bay School Music - an Orff-Schulwerk Approach~

~The music classes at Malletts Bay School are based on things children naturally like to do: sing, chant rhymes, clap, dance, play instruments, and keep a beat. This teaching style is called the Orff-Schulwerk approach, and it is a way to teach and learn music. The students learn by hearing and making music first, then reading and writing it later. This is the same way we all learned our language. The Orff-Schulwerk approach uses poems, rhymes, games, songs, and dances as a basic classroom framework, and when spoken or sung, each may be accompanied by clapping and stamping, or by drums, sticks, bells, and pitched mallet instruments. Music making in our Orff-Schulwerk classroom happens in a non-competitive atmosphere where one of the many rewards is the pleasure of making good music with fellow classmates.

~Much of what we do in music begins with speech and movement. We first put the beat or rhythm in our voices through the use of poems, speech and song. Once we can say the beat, we put it in our bodies (arms, hands, feet, etc.) through the use of games, dances, and movement activities. Once we can feel the beat, we can then transfer that beat or rhythm onto our recorders, unpitched percussion instruements (tambourines, drums, triangles, wood sticks, etc.) and pitched mallet instruments (Orff instruments). These special Orff melody instruments include metalaphones, wooden xylophones and metal glockenspiels that provide a good and successful sound immediately. Played together as in a small orchestra, their use helps the students to become sensitive listeners and considerate participants in music class.