Season One: Episode 23 Part II with Darla Meek
Using the Orff Approach with Children's Church Choirs
TRANSCRIPT OF THE SHOW
Using the Orff Approach with Children's Church Choirs
Darla Meek is the Music Education Coordinator and Lecturer at Texas A&M University in Commerce. She teaches undergraduate and graduate elementary music education classes and supervises student teachers. She earned her Bachelor of Music Education from Dallas Baptist University and her Master of Music from Southern Methodist University. Darla also earned a Performer’s Certificate from the Performing Artist’s Musical Theatre Conservatory in Dallas. She is currently working toward her Doctor of Education in Supervision, Curriculum, and Instruction.
Darla is certified in Kodaly and Orff Schulwerk and serves as a teacher trainer for the American Orff Schulwerk Association in both Basic Pedagogy Level I and Movement for Orff Levels Courses. She has served as assistant conductor for the Mesquite Children’s Chorus and the Children’s Chorus of Collin County and has served as Children’s Choir Coordinator for 3 churches in the Dallas area.
Darla has written children’s choir curricula for LIfeway Christian Resources and Celebrating Grace Inc. Her recorder method books Journey Around the Globe with Recorder and Flight 2: Another Journey Around the Globe With Recorder were published by Sweet Pipes, Inc. Her resource for church musicians All Things Bright and Beautiful is available through Chorister’s Guild.
She is a member of AOSA, OAKE, KET, TCDA, TMEA, Dalcroze Society of America, the College Music Society, and NAfME. She is a past President of the North Texas Chapter of AOSA. Darla is married to Keith Meek and has two children - Gregory and Aubrey.
TRANSCRIPT OF THE SHOW
Jessica: You created a resource for churched called All Things Bright and Beautiful. So how did that one come up? Were you teaching a choir at a church?
Darla: Actually it was fifth grade VBS. Vacation Bible School, yeah. The children were given a challenge by the Minister of Music to memorize several bible verses in the course of that week. My kids were struggling to do this. And so being a musician I know the power of music to help with memorization and so I decided to create melodies for the verses that they could sing. And while I was at it I thought, 'well, I'm just going to add some simple accompaniments that they can play,' and I borrowed all these Orff instruments from a nearby school because of course our church didn't have any. And when they came in the next day and the instruments were all set up and they were so excited. We talked about the rules and that stuff. Within thirty minutes I had taught them the entire scripture with the barred instrument arrangement and they were so proud of themselves that we videotaped them. And, yeah, I sent it to the deacon board so they could see it and they were so impressed that they bought the entire instrumentarium for the church.
Jessica: Wow!
Darla: A video says a thousand words y'all.
Jessica: I had never, um, really thought about how Orff would work with children's music at church because at church growing up we always sang or we did musicals and things, but I guess I just never considered how fabulous that would integrate into a children's program at church.
Darla: And you know, most - a lot of children's music programs at church have a hymn memory program. Did you have those when you were growing up? Where you learn one hymn per month.
Jessica: We, you know what, we - my kids learn that at church right now. They have a hymn per month. Or not a hymn per month. They have a bible verse - a scripture verse per month.
Darla: Okay. I said hymns because we had the hymns memory program, but I wanted to add a scripture memory program. So that's how this book came about is a years worth of work with the kids. One scripture that I wanted them to memorize is every month.
Jessica: Oh that's great. And you even have powerpoints, right? Like bonus materials on, is it the Chorister's Guild?
Darla: I probably should talk a little bit more about those powerpoints. They can be found on the Chorister's Guild website. If you're a church musician, whoever's listening to this, I really encourage you to check out Chorister's Guild. They're not just a publishing company. They also have an institute where you can go and get choral training. They offer terrific conferences. There's one in the Dallas area every January.
Jessica: How can we implement the Orff approach with children's choirs in the church setting?
Darla: Well, in a creative setting the role of the teacher changes to that of a collaborator or facilitator. An encourager. A cheerleader. And so this is the part of Orff I think that concerns choir directors the most. How to allow the children just the right amount of freedom to explore and then still deal with all the noise and activity and controlled chaos that seems to come with that can be unsettling to some. So if a teacher is willing to take on this new role, the possibilities are endless. So I've got some specific ideas that I like to do with my kiddos.
We already talked about how important music is for memorizing scripture. You can start with a scripture. Perhaps a scripture based poem and guide the children to create a rhythm and/or a melody for it. And then they could accompany their melodies with speech ostinati or body percussion or instruments or, you know, alternative instruments that they have on hand. And then the piece, of course, can be extended by performing in canon or adding improvisation or whatever you want to do.
And this idea can be used for memorizing just about anything:
Books of the Bible
The days of creation
The twelve disciples
Major Prophets
Fruit of the Spirit
Another big area that I see as being neglected in the church is movement. I've seen a lot of choralography in the church setting, but hardly any creative movement. And it's just a splendid way for the children to create a visual representation of the text.
So you're probably heard of sound stories, right? Where the leader reads a story to the children and then they give a specific sound when they hear a key word. Yeah? I like to do gesture stories with children. So you take a bible story and you select key words for which the children create a gesture. So then when you or a child reads the story, the children perform the gestures when they hear the key words. And this sounds really simple, but when you set it to music playing in the background, it can be really powerful. A really unforgettable way for the children to experience the story. I've actually seen tears from children going through this experience. Yeah, it's really cool.
Another thing I like to do is create soundscapes. You've probably heard the word sound carpets. It's also called sound carpets for scriptures and bible stories. It just, adding these instrumental sound effects really enhances the scripture. Makes it so much more dramatic. And it also gives the children the opportunity to explore all the different timbres that are available to them. And to make artistic decisions with how to use them in a musical setting to communicate a spiritual idea. So I like to have them add movement to that as well.
Another thing I like to do is just take an instrumental piece from the Volumes (Music for Children Volumes by Gunild Keetman and Carl Orff) or any other favorite source and change the words. So last spring we used this/that simple, but really lovely piece - the Spielstucke, you know, by Keetman. And we were studying Psalm 139. That part that goes:
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I go from your presence? If I go to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. - Psalm 139:7,8
And so the children created the text for the really simple melody. It went like:
(singing) In the heavens, in the valleys, in the darkness - you are there
Really simple. And they added instrumental parts and they added an improvisatory section. It was really lovely. You could also do this with a hymn. You take a hymn. You can't use just any hymn. It has to be one that can be harmonized with only one or two chords. One of my favorites is:
(singing) Brethren we have met to worship
And create a simple ostinato-based accompaniment. And the more primitive sounding hymns that have more of a folk-like character, they really work well for this. It's perfect for bringing in those folk dances movements that they already know. I just list them right there on the board. Let's name some folk dance movements that you know:
Circle right
Circle left
Right hand star
Left hand star
Do-si-do
Swing
In-and-out
And then have the children decide which ones they want to use and in what order. It makes it really an effective way to portray a hymn.
And then, of course, a creative music teacher can come up with lots of ways to approach teaching an octavo. I see a lot of echo singing. Echo singing is great, but there are lots of alternatives. First of all, it's always good to have the children listen to a piece in its entirety several times before you break it into sections for nitty-gritty teaching. So you could start by having them listen and analyze the form of the piece. Or you could take a little section of the rhythm or the melody that occurs several times throughout the piece and have the children read it in isolation and then find it in the piece. Or they could create their own sound maps of the song as they listen.
Or you could approach it through text. Put the text on sentence strips and cut them into pieces and have the children put them into order as they listen. That's really helpful for later when it's time to memorize and you've got that on the board and you just remove one piece as they sing the song repeatedly. But, myself, I of course like to start introducing pieces through movement most of the time.
So last year my second graders were learning the 23rd Psalm. And we sang that lovely arrangement by Sarah Moore: The Lord is my Shepherd. Have you heard that? Ah - it's so pretty. And I wanted them to sing it with grace and flow and so I introduced the piece by having them waltz through our shared space as the accompaniment played and I sang the melody on a neutral syllable. Of course you could play it on recorder. And after they learned the piece, I wanted them to be able to express their thoughts about the Psalm several different ways besides only singing. So I divided the students into partners and each partner group selected a phrase from the text for which they created a movement - not a motion. A movement. There's a difference. A movement that reflected the essence of the text. And so then they taught their movements to each other and they all worked together to fuse them all into a dance that ended up being really lovely.
And then one day they walked into choir and all the tables that we normally use for early arrival activities, they were covered with plastic tablecloths and watercolor and paint brushes and art paper. And there were prints of art all the way around the room. We did the gallery walk and walked and talked about each one and the content and the techniques of the artist and the use of color and all that stuff. What the artist was trying to portray. And I did have to teach them some technique. You know, how to cover the entire paper with a wash. How to load the brush. The different strokes they could use. That kind of thing. But their art turned out really nice. So they each did a picture of their little section of text that they have created the movement with before. Right? And so when they performed this piece on their concert, they sang the piece first and then they moved down to the creative movement space as the music accompaniment continued to play and they showed the movement that they had choreographed. And in the background their art was showing, you know, as a slideshow.
Just to sum up: just about anything you do in the school setting, can be adjusted for a church setting.
Jessica: So what is the difference between motions and movement then? What would that look like?
Darla: A motion is kind of like sign language I would almost say. And a movement shows more of the spirit of what you're trying to say. That's the kind of awkward difference. A way for me to describe the difference.
Jessica: So more full body?
Darla: Oh yeah. Definitely more full body. Yeah, instead of like if you're saying 'the Lord is my Shepherd,' well of course they're going to want to hold the staff, you know, like a shepherd. Maybe hold the sheep. Okay, so we really have to talk about what a shepherd is and then in the larger sense something that takes care of something. Something that nurtures and protects. So instead of holding the staff like 'I'm a shepherd,' they showed movements that showed nurturing and care and love and protection.
Jessica: Drawing close with their arms wrapping around. Okay.
Darla: Yes exactly.
Jessica: I don't know how many churches actually have Orff, what we would consider barred instruments.
Darla: Um, I actually wrote an article about that that you can access on my new website. It just went live. https://www.darlameek.com. And the purpose of that website is because I'm very soon going to start producing videos for each of the pieces from the Journey books so that teachers can see what the finished products might look like. Now most churches don't own Orff instruments and that doesn't matter because we have to keep in mind that the Orff approach is not about the instruments. That's just one of the tools that's used. It's the idea that children make music their own by making music themselves. That's a quote from the wonderful pedagogue Brigette Warner.
Then in church choirs I've found that there's a lot of one directional instruction from teacher to student and that a lot of time is spent sitting in chairs rehearsing for singing and worship services. And that's very important. But it's also really important for us to allow the children to worship in a manner that's meaningful for them. And unfortunately often this God-given capacity to express themselves is dampened for children at a young age. God made us creative beings so what better place to give children a creative outlet than the children choir setting?! So I would encourage any children's choir directors that are listening to allow your children to submit their ideas to the music making process. Just take baby steps. Maybe just 'raise your hand if you have an idea for a motion that we can use for this line of text.' Something that simple. But the article does give the basics of the instruments and some classroom management tips and it gives the resource list for Orff supplements that you can use in the church setting. And I also present sessions for children's choir workers so I'm using Orff in the church. So feel free to contact me at any time and I'll be happy to help you.
Jessica: I love that you've got that resource out because I, I don't know how many there are available.
Darla: Not many. Hardly any. And um, the other ones that I've found are quite old. So it's time for more. We need more!
Final Questions:
Tea, coffee, or something else that suits your fancy - Chai Latte
Artists, song, or genre - anything musical theater. It's my after-school hobby! Right now it's Addams Family. And music from around the world. If I'm in a bad mood, I listen to mariachi music. It's so happy!
What is something you do, or try to do, every day - Reading through the Bible together at church. App called Read Scripture. Comes with videos to help you see the big picture.
How to get in touch with Drue - website: www.darlameek.com
Darla: Actually it was fifth grade VBS. Vacation Bible School, yeah. The children were given a challenge by the Minister of Music to memorize several bible verses in the course of that week. My kids were struggling to do this. And so being a musician I know the power of music to help with memorization and so I decided to create melodies for the verses that they could sing. And while I was at it I thought, 'well, I'm just going to add some simple accompaniments that they can play,' and I borrowed all these Orff instruments from a nearby school because of course our church didn't have any. And when they came in the next day and the instruments were all set up and they were so excited. We talked about the rules and that stuff. Within thirty minutes I had taught them the entire scripture with the barred instrument arrangement and they were so proud of themselves that we videotaped them. And, yeah, I sent it to the deacon board so they could see it and they were so impressed that they bought the entire instrumentarium for the church.
Jessica: Wow!
Darla: A video says a thousand words y'all.
Jessica: I had never, um, really thought about how Orff would work with children's music at church because at church growing up we always sang or we did musicals and things, but I guess I just never considered how fabulous that would integrate into a children's program at church.
Darla: And you know, most - a lot of children's music programs at church have a hymn memory program. Did you have those when you were growing up? Where you learn one hymn per month.
Jessica: We, you know what, we - my kids learn that at church right now. They have a hymn per month. Or not a hymn per month. They have a bible verse - a scripture verse per month.
Darla: Okay. I said hymns because we had the hymns memory program, but I wanted to add a scripture memory program. So that's how this book came about is a years worth of work with the kids. One scripture that I wanted them to memorize is every month.
Jessica: Oh that's great. And you even have powerpoints, right? Like bonus materials on, is it the Chorister's Guild?
Darla: I probably should talk a little bit more about those powerpoints. They can be found on the Chorister's Guild website. If you're a church musician, whoever's listening to this, I really encourage you to check out Chorister's Guild. They're not just a publishing company. They also have an institute where you can go and get choral training. They offer terrific conferences. There's one in the Dallas area every January.
Jessica: How can we implement the Orff approach with children's choirs in the church setting?
Darla: Well, in a creative setting the role of the teacher changes to that of a collaborator or facilitator. An encourager. A cheerleader. And so this is the part of Orff I think that concerns choir directors the most. How to allow the children just the right amount of freedom to explore and then still deal with all the noise and activity and controlled chaos that seems to come with that can be unsettling to some. So if a teacher is willing to take on this new role, the possibilities are endless. So I've got some specific ideas that I like to do with my kiddos.
We already talked about how important music is for memorizing scripture. You can start with a scripture. Perhaps a scripture based poem and guide the children to create a rhythm and/or a melody for it. And then they could accompany their melodies with speech ostinati or body percussion or instruments or, you know, alternative instruments that they have on hand. And then the piece, of course, can be extended by performing in canon or adding improvisation or whatever you want to do.
And this idea can be used for memorizing just about anything:
Books of the Bible
The days of creation
The twelve disciples
Major Prophets
Fruit of the Spirit
Another big area that I see as being neglected in the church is movement. I've seen a lot of choralography in the church setting, but hardly any creative movement. And it's just a splendid way for the children to create a visual representation of the text.
So you're probably heard of sound stories, right? Where the leader reads a story to the children and then they give a specific sound when they hear a key word. Yeah? I like to do gesture stories with children. So you take a bible story and you select key words for which the children create a gesture. So then when you or a child reads the story, the children perform the gestures when they hear the key words. And this sounds really simple, but when you set it to music playing in the background, it can be really powerful. A really unforgettable way for the children to experience the story. I've actually seen tears from children going through this experience. Yeah, it's really cool.
Another thing I like to do is create soundscapes. You've probably heard the word sound carpets. It's also called sound carpets for scriptures and bible stories. It just, adding these instrumental sound effects really enhances the scripture. Makes it so much more dramatic. And it also gives the children the opportunity to explore all the different timbres that are available to them. And to make artistic decisions with how to use them in a musical setting to communicate a spiritual idea. So I like to have them add movement to that as well.
Another thing I like to do is just take an instrumental piece from the Volumes (Music for Children Volumes by Gunild Keetman and Carl Orff) or any other favorite source and change the words. So last spring we used this/that simple, but really lovely piece - the Spielstucke, you know, by Keetman. And we were studying Psalm 139. That part that goes:
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I go from your presence? If I go to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. - Psalm 139:7,8
And so the children created the text for the really simple melody. It went like:
(singing) In the heavens, in the valleys, in the darkness - you are there
Really simple. And they added instrumental parts and they added an improvisatory section. It was really lovely. You could also do this with a hymn. You take a hymn. You can't use just any hymn. It has to be one that can be harmonized with only one or two chords. One of my favorites is:
(singing) Brethren we have met to worship
And create a simple ostinato-based accompaniment. And the more primitive sounding hymns that have more of a folk-like character, they really work well for this. It's perfect for bringing in those folk dances movements that they already know. I just list them right there on the board. Let's name some folk dance movements that you know:
Circle right
Circle left
Right hand star
Left hand star
Do-si-do
Swing
In-and-out
And then have the children decide which ones they want to use and in what order. It makes it really an effective way to portray a hymn.
And then, of course, a creative music teacher can come up with lots of ways to approach teaching an octavo. I see a lot of echo singing. Echo singing is great, but there are lots of alternatives. First of all, it's always good to have the children listen to a piece in its entirety several times before you break it into sections for nitty-gritty teaching. So you could start by having them listen and analyze the form of the piece. Or you could take a little section of the rhythm or the melody that occurs several times throughout the piece and have the children read it in isolation and then find it in the piece. Or they could create their own sound maps of the song as they listen.
Or you could approach it through text. Put the text on sentence strips and cut them into pieces and have the children put them into order as they listen. That's really helpful for later when it's time to memorize and you've got that on the board and you just remove one piece as they sing the song repeatedly. But, myself, I of course like to start introducing pieces through movement most of the time.
So last year my second graders were learning the 23rd Psalm. And we sang that lovely arrangement by Sarah Moore: The Lord is my Shepherd. Have you heard that? Ah - it's so pretty. And I wanted them to sing it with grace and flow and so I introduced the piece by having them waltz through our shared space as the accompaniment played and I sang the melody on a neutral syllable. Of course you could play it on recorder. And after they learned the piece, I wanted them to be able to express their thoughts about the Psalm several different ways besides only singing. So I divided the students into partners and each partner group selected a phrase from the text for which they created a movement - not a motion. A movement. There's a difference. A movement that reflected the essence of the text. And so then they taught their movements to each other and they all worked together to fuse them all into a dance that ended up being really lovely.
And then one day they walked into choir and all the tables that we normally use for early arrival activities, they were covered with plastic tablecloths and watercolor and paint brushes and art paper. And there were prints of art all the way around the room. We did the gallery walk and walked and talked about each one and the content and the techniques of the artist and the use of color and all that stuff. What the artist was trying to portray. And I did have to teach them some technique. You know, how to cover the entire paper with a wash. How to load the brush. The different strokes they could use. That kind of thing. But their art turned out really nice. So they each did a picture of their little section of text that they have created the movement with before. Right? And so when they performed this piece on their concert, they sang the piece first and then they moved down to the creative movement space as the music accompaniment continued to play and they showed the movement that they had choreographed. And in the background their art was showing, you know, as a slideshow.
Just to sum up: just about anything you do in the school setting, can be adjusted for a church setting.
Jessica: So what is the difference between motions and movement then? What would that look like?
Darla: A motion is kind of like sign language I would almost say. And a movement shows more of the spirit of what you're trying to say. That's the kind of awkward difference. A way for me to describe the difference.
Jessica: So more full body?
Darla: Oh yeah. Definitely more full body. Yeah, instead of like if you're saying 'the Lord is my Shepherd,' well of course they're going to want to hold the staff, you know, like a shepherd. Maybe hold the sheep. Okay, so we really have to talk about what a shepherd is and then in the larger sense something that takes care of something. Something that nurtures and protects. So instead of holding the staff like 'I'm a shepherd,' they showed movements that showed nurturing and care and love and protection.
Jessica: Drawing close with their arms wrapping around. Okay.
Darla: Yes exactly.
Jessica: I don't know how many churches actually have Orff, what we would consider barred instruments.
Darla: Um, I actually wrote an article about that that you can access on my new website. It just went live. https://www.darlameek.com. And the purpose of that website is because I'm very soon going to start producing videos for each of the pieces from the Journey books so that teachers can see what the finished products might look like. Now most churches don't own Orff instruments and that doesn't matter because we have to keep in mind that the Orff approach is not about the instruments. That's just one of the tools that's used. It's the idea that children make music their own by making music themselves. That's a quote from the wonderful pedagogue Brigette Warner.
Then in church choirs I've found that there's a lot of one directional instruction from teacher to student and that a lot of time is spent sitting in chairs rehearsing for singing and worship services. And that's very important. But it's also really important for us to allow the children to worship in a manner that's meaningful for them. And unfortunately often this God-given capacity to express themselves is dampened for children at a young age. God made us creative beings so what better place to give children a creative outlet than the children choir setting?! So I would encourage any children's choir directors that are listening to allow your children to submit their ideas to the music making process. Just take baby steps. Maybe just 'raise your hand if you have an idea for a motion that we can use for this line of text.' Something that simple. But the article does give the basics of the instruments and some classroom management tips and it gives the resource list for Orff supplements that you can use in the church setting. And I also present sessions for children's choir workers so I'm using Orff in the church. So feel free to contact me at any time and I'll be happy to help you.
Jessica: I love that you've got that resource out because I, I don't know how many there are available.
Darla: Not many. Hardly any. And um, the other ones that I've found are quite old. So it's time for more. We need more!
Final Questions:
Tea, coffee, or something else that suits your fancy - Chai Latte
Artists, song, or genre - anything musical theater. It's my after-school hobby! Right now it's Addams Family. And music from around the world. If I'm in a bad mood, I listen to mariachi music. It's so happy!
What is something you do, or try to do, every day - Reading through the Bible together at church. App called Read Scripture. Comes with videos to help you see the big picture.
How to get in touch with Drue - website: www.darlameek.com
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