CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE SING A SONG OF SUNSHINE A Teacher's Guide of Music in Game Form For Young Children based on Orff-8chulwerk Philosophy a.nd Method A project submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education With a. specialization in Early Childhood Department of Psychological Foundations by Millie H. Burnett ~- January, 1973 The abstract of Millie H. Burnett is approveda I ' California State University, Northridge January, 1973 ii ABSTRACT This guide has been written and presented as an answer to an observed need regarding the direction of musical experience for the young child. It is an alternative to the "record player." At a time when schools are stressing reading programs and nursery schools are stressing cognitive development, this guide makes an attempt to restore some interest in the creative and artistic needs of the child. In many nursery schools and public classrooms music for children means a time for sitting, listening, occasional singing, and more often than not a vocal contest between child and phonograph. Music has become a passive activity inserted as an interlude between rest and play, or as a stopover between going and coming. It is too often a time of non-involvement. The teacher plays records because it is better than nothing at all, but there is no personal interaction between ~aoher and child which could happen if the experience were created and shared together. As it is, both teacher and child are subjugated~ to the voice on the record. The question arises then, what part does music experience· actually play in the education of children if they were to have optimum opportunity to enjoy it. We as educators know that a child's progress is directly related to his own self-concept. We also know that each child's pace of learning is an individual matter. In most school districts millions of dollars are spent working to improve and increase the pace academic growth, but little is spent on facilitating the improvement of self-concept which is certainly the basic foundation for other successes. iii Music for young children, properly presented, can do this job. In the music experience there is joy, and the joy comes because there is participation in a successful experience. In short, there is no failure. It is very interesting that recent brain studies have verifies the fact that the part of the brain which controls the ability to enjoy and respond to music is practically invulnerable to damage. Therefore, if even the child with acknowledged handicaps has this ability, even so do all children, and I prefer to think of each child as exceptional in this way, be he gifted or retarded. It is a fact that a child's self-concept is directly rel.a.ted to the number of successful experiences he has had. Music in the early years is one of the best ways to provide for this. The second question that arises is why Orff-8chulwerk? Orff-8chulwerk, as authored by the composer Carl Orff who was also a music educator, is a method of facilitating spontan­ eous and creative expression of the natural rhythms found in language, movement, and melody. It is not a method that can be taught mechanically, but it is one which relies on the joy of children's play to bring about an internalized feeling for rhythm. This feeling often expresses itself in what we refer to as elemental music. This then is not music that one must intellectualize about, but something that becomes a part of you through this process of internalization of feeling and attitude. It can come through the experimentation and improvisation within the four facets of the Scbulwerk. iv The purpose of this guide is to make classroom teachers aware of their potential as the facilitators of musical growth of children. It will introduce them to the techniques of using language, movement, and melody for classroom experiences. It will further develop their understanding of the Schulwerk philosophy and its• practical applications, It should above all help them to develop skills in the use of musical experiences to promote creative growth and aesthetic appreciation in children. It will facilitate the education of the whole child which lately has been ignored. When you give the child some experiences in which he can succeed, you may see a significant improvement in his ability to learn and in his attitudes toward himself and his society. v SING A SONG OF SUNSHINE A GUIDE FOR MUSICAL EXPERIENCES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN based on ORFF-SCHULWERK PHILOSOPHY AND METHOD by Millie Burnett illustrated by Terry Burnett Dedicated to the many classroom teachers who find Early Childhood an exciting place to be. With special thanks to Mary Ann Cummins, Eloise McCormick and other members of the Los Angeles Chapter American Orff-Schulwerk Assoc. Sing a song of _sunshine Play the blowing wind Hear the sound of silence Move the soul within M. Burnett The four basic elements of Schulwerk presented in this guide are written in the form of musical games for children. They are only the beginning of an experience. Where they lead is left to the individual teacher and the children who will come up witb many more ideas than are presented here. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. Preface 1. II. Concepts and Terminology 2. III. Musical Aids 4. IV. Two Golden Rules 7. v. The Pentatonic Scale 8. VI. Rhythm Through Language 11. 1. The Name Game 11. 2. Mother Goose 16. 3. The Clock 21. 4. The Bubble Bath 24. 5. Wishes 2 7. 6. Sound Words 28. 7. Names of things and this and that •.. 29. 8. What's in the Pot? 32. VII. Games for hnitation and Rondo 35. .. 1. Indian Drums 36. 2. Hide and Seek 36, 3. Question and Answer Rhythms 37. VIII. Rhythm Through Song 38. 1. The Echo Game 410 2. Sing a Song of Sunshine 41. 3. I Have a Little Cupboard 42. 4. Two Rain Songs 43 & 44 5. Greetings 45 6. This Train 46 7. The Muffin Man 47 Page IX. Rhythm Through Movement 48. 1. Two Chants for Action 49. 2. Teaching Concepts Through Movement 50. 3. At the Zoo 53. 4. Game Songs for Movement Experience 54. "Sally Go Round the Mountain" 54. "Old Brass Wagon" 55. "Roll the Ball" 56. "Hop up My Children" 57. X. Simple Songs for Special Days 62. 1. Halloween 62. 2. Thanksgiving 64. 3. Hanukah 65. 4. Christmas 66. 5. Valentine 67. 6. Easter 68. XI. An Experience Unit: Putting it all together: "BUILDING" 70. PREFACE This guide has been written in order to provide an alternative to the record player. In too many nursery schools and classrooms, music for young children has become a time of sitting. listening, occasional singing. and struggling to be heard over the phonograph which is purposely louder than the noise the children are making. MUSIC HAS BECOME A PASSIVE ACTIVITY. It is an interlude between rest and play or a stopover between going and coming. It is too often a time of non-involvement. The teacher plays records because it is better than no music at all. but there is no personal involvement on the part of teacher or child to interact with each other in a warm and shared experience. Both are subject to suggestion and control by the voice on the record. Orff-Schulwerk is a wonderful world of rhythfm. movement. language, and melody in game form which can be put together to provide a unique and complete musical experience for children. It is hoped that teachers who have no particular facility for singing or playing an instrument will find many ideas in this manual which they can implement with full confidence.· In these experiences the teacher acts as facilitator and is therefore not the authority of what is right or wrong, but is rather a person who is sharing and learning. participating and experiencing with the rest of the group. The ideas inherent in the Schulwerk philosophy of music education were developed by Carl Orff, a composer and educator who likened it unto a wildflower. Once the seed is planted, it grows and blossoms where conditions are favorable. "It needs little formal cultivation, yet in proper surroundings it will continue to develop, always growing, always flowing". This guide does not present a program which can be instantly implemented. All that is possible is to plant the seed. The implementation occurs by allowing a human experience to develop, one which in a large measure depends on the ability of the teacher to be creative herself and accept that which is creative in the children. A beautiful thing can happen. You may see the development of listening and discrimination skills. You may see the children gain in the ability to give a divergent response. And undoubtedly you will see the children grow to value their own contribution to a group effort as well as that of others. This is an active rather than a passive experience. I think it's worth a try. -1- PLANT THE SEEDS OF RHYTHM through LANGUAGE MELODY Although you can not separate the components of Schulwerk, the ideas in this guide are grouped in this way in order to facilitate the teachers selection of material for presentation. A good experience should allow more than one element to be included. Rhythm is feeling and hearing. Rhythm is the internalization of both pulse and syncopation. It is the distinction one makes between sound and silence, and it is acknowledging the importance of both.