Music activity reports by music teachers with varying training in Orff Schulwerk

The purpose of this study was to examine music activities occurring in the music classroom of teachers who received different levels of training in Orff Schulwerk. The subjects (N = 49) were teachers participating in three training levels at a summer Orff Schulwerk certification program in a university in the USA. Teachers were asked to report the types and amount of musical activities in their own classroom. A questionnaire modeled after one used in a published research study was used to obtain the data. Results from the selfreport of participants indicate that there were similarities as well as differences among music teachers of three levels of Orff training. Similarities were found in the amount of time devoted to reading, listening, and singing. The impact of the Orff Schulwerk was detected in increased amount in playing, creating and moving for teachers with advanced training. It appears that with increased training teachers increase the amount of activities with the children without replacing any of the activities. There was also an increase in student participation in decision making for teachers with more advanced Orff training.