Wake Up Singing

(POSA Veep Mark Anderson blogs about his first AOSA National Professional Development Conference, Rocky Mountain Rendezvous, Denver, November 13-16, 2013)

I didn't sleep well. The altitude, the flight, the strange bed, Dax coming in at midnight (not his fault, and he was as quiet as a kindergarten at nap time), and just the expectancy of something new, of being in a place with hundreds (as opposed to dozens) of kindred spirits--all told, I got maybe four hours of sleep. I finally gave up at 5:45, had an overpriced bran muffin for breakfast, registered, and was in time for the 7:15 singing session.  We sang two songs: a spirited gospel number that, toward the end, coaxed our bleary eyes into Orffland; and then the sacred Austrian yodel, which despite its amusing (tommy ears) name is hair-raisingly gorgeous when sung in the multiple parts Orff-trained teachers can improvise at a moment's notice. 

This is one of the things that sets an Orff gathering apart from any other music educators' event I've been to: how quickly, how often, how beautifully we sing together. Yes, a gathering of choral directors would naturally have some lovely reading sessions. Many of those directors can sight sing anything, and most likely improvise harmonies with ease. What's different about Orff teachers is the instant musical community we create with our voices and bodies.  It's not that we wear our hearts on our sleeves, though many of us do; nor is it that we all know each other, though there is for me (a first timer) an amazing sense of reunion with people I've never met. No, what binds us all together is how deep land sincerely we believe in what we do. This is not just a job for us. It's who we are: people who know, deep down, that teaching music this way will change the world for the better.