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Welcome!
Welcome to the Berkshire-Hudson Valley chapter of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. In 2022 we celebrated our 50th year of providing high-quality professional development workshops for music educators. We serve the greater capital region of New York, as well as southern Vermont and western Massachusetts. We invite you to join us at one of our upcoming music and movement workshops. We celebrate the approach of Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman and their belief that music education should be an active, joyful, and creative experience.
BHV is an Approved Provider of Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE)
What is ORFF?
Carl Orff, a German composer well known for his cantata, Carmina Burana, took a strong interest in exploring creative processes of music and movement education. Together with Gunild Keetman and other musicians and dancers, Orff and his colleagues developed an approach to music and movement education which is now known as Orff Schulwerk. Orff and his colleagues involved their students as collaborators in the creation of music and dance performances. The four principal aspects of the Orff Schulwerk approach are imitation, exploration, improvisation, and composition.
Like-minded music educators from other parts of Europe and eventually the United States began to employ the processes of the Orff Schulwerk approach during the 1950s. Since the establishment of the American Orff Schulwerk Association in the late 1960s, dozens of local chapters have been established throughout the United States. The primary purpose of these chapters is to promote the use of the Orff Schulwerk approach by providing high-quality professional development workshops for music and movement educators.
Do You Need Orff Instruments to Reap the Benefits of These Workshops?
Not necessarily. Much of what is shared in a workshop can be adapted to whatever combination of instruments you have....even if you don’t have any! The good news is that BHVAOSA has instruments we can lend to educators who want to explore the use of pitched percussion in their lessons. For more information see our Mobile Ensemble page.
What to expect at a workshop:
You can participate as fully as you would like! Usually, a workshop will include singing, playing instruments, and dancing. You may do everything or feel free to hang back and take notes. You’ll meet lots of people from other schools. Use the time to network and make some new connections.
