My final activity last night (apart from blogging) was a supposedly hour long concert celebrating all aspects of the Orff oeuvre. The concert hall was, if not packed, certainly loaded with conference attendees like myself and families of the many children performing over the course of the concert. It was unified by narration on the life and career of Our Founder (may his name be rhythmically revered), Carl Orff. Much that the children did was delightful. There were also adults involved in many of the performances, as well as a high school choir. There was speech, body percussion, movement, strings, piano: four hands, choral reading and singing, and at the end, selections from Orff's only mainstream success, "Carmina Burana," which concluded with a sing along of the iconic "O Fortuna." That was fun. It was also much too long coming.
There's a reason that, except for "Carmina," Orff is associated almost exclusively with holistic hands-on music education: the stuff he wrote for serious audiences is eminently forgettable. I'll take it up a notch: if it weren't for the Schulwerk, Orff would be a one-hit wonder.
But oh, that method! The genius of this approach, of learning through all the domains, so far ahead of its time, holding up so well, effective in so many settings: there's nothing wrong with being remembered for what you did for children. JK Rowling is deservedly revered for Harry Potter, but a year from now, her first adult novel will be in bargain bins, if it isn't already. Through the Schulwerk, Orff made it possible for countless children to grow up loving music.
So I don't feel at all guilty for forgetting almost everything I heard in that concert last night almost as soon as I was out of the hall. The masterpiece I'll take with me from Denver is the myriad variations on Orff's theme of uniting music, movement, and improvisation. Now that's a tune worth humming.
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