ALBERTA CHAPTER OF CARL ORFF CANADA
  • Home
  • About
    • Carl Orff
    • Alberta Orff Chapter
    • Alberta Orff Chapter Bylaws
    • Meet the Board
    • Blog
    • Emails & Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Library
    • Boutique
    • Online Resources >
      • Sherryl Sewepagaham Online Resource
    • Outreach
  • Workshops/Events
    • Workshops
    • Other Events >
      • January 16th COC Roundtable Cafe
      • March 20th COC Developing Critical Views for the Music Classroom
    • Orff Levels Courses: University of Alberta
    • Past Workshops >
      • 2020 - 2021 Workshops
      • 2019 - 2020 Workshops
      • 2018 - 2019 Workshops
      • 2017 - 2018 Workshops
      • 2016 - 2017 Workshops
      • 2015 - 2016 Workshops
  • Membership
    • Become a Member
    • Scholarships

Brian Hiller and Don Dupont: Viva la Musical, Saturday, October 5th Workshop Review

1/7/2014

 
On Saturday, October 5, members of the Alberta Chapter of Carl Orff Canada were treated to a workshop “Viva la Musica!” presented by Brian Hiller and Don Dupont. This was a much anticipated workshop by members of the Alberta Chapter. Alberta’s own Bob deFrece was Brian and Don’s Orff instructor and we could see many aspects “Bob” in their approach to music education. 
The workshop started with an original piece created by Don and Brian entitled “Viva la Musica!” which included an Orff orchestration, three part recorder interlude, percussion parts with a Latin flair, speech and a dance! This piece could be useful as a September activity for division two students, as it highlights almost every aspect of Orff media and celebrates the joy in creating music together. 

Brian and Don included a variety of pieces from the “Music for Children” volumes. They encouraged teachers to work with the volumes by adapting small chunks of the material for easy use for their students. A piece titled “Simple Simon” highlighted ABA form, body percussion and the creative implementation of non-pitched percussion in small groups. 

Brian and Don infused their orff curriculum with musical literacy “moments” to help students experience conceptual elements in diverse ways (movement, playing instruments, singing). The train song “Jubilee” included body motions to label half notes, quarter notes and eighth notes. In the traditional song “Alley Alley-Oh”, we experienced 
the difference between 4/4 time and 6/8 time through playing with words and body percussion, and then applied our knowledge by performing movement, singing and playing the song in 6/8 time.

Another highlight of the workshop were songs geared towards division one students. “Bubble Bath”, intended for kindergarten, started as a movement activity and morphed into a wordless exploration of the Orff instruments. “One for the Money” reinforced the concept of rondo form, allowing students to make up movement to go with familiar rhymes. 

Brian and Don provided many practical teaching suggestions throughout the workshop. Teachers gasped at the brilliance of the rhyme “Hand on top, hand below, gently lift and there you go!” for removing bars off instruments. Equally amazing was the demonstration of how to easily form a double circle: Number off as 1’s and 2’s around the circle, then ones put their right hand on the two’s shoulder and wordlessly step into the circle! Simply magical for the elementary classroom!

Throughout the workshop Brian and Don modeled attention to detail when presenting songs to students and careful planning and “troubleshooting” in their “process”. Before you knew it, the workshop was over, and we had effortlessly spent hours immersed in the process of music making. Many thanks to Brian and Don for making this a beautiful experience for all participants and sharing their love of making music together! 

by Rosaleen Kulba

Comments are closed.

    Alberta Orff  Blog

    We invite members to submit articles for our blog. Please contact Melissa Andrews for more information.

    Archives

    November 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    April 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    RSS Feed

Connect

Inquiries can be sent to the President of the Alberta Chapter of Carl Orff Canada via email at president@albertaorff.ca

Photo Credit

Header photos courtesy of: 
Jan Studios.  
www.janstudios.com

Site Map

About the Alberta Orff Chapter
About Carl Orff
Membership
Blog
Resources 
Upcoming Events
Contact Us

Professional Development

Workshops
Scholarships
Courses

resources

Boutique Online Store

Borrow from our Library

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required
Email me updates from the Alberta Orff Chapter:

Alberta Orff, a chapter of Carl Orff Canada, supports quality music education by providing professional development opportunities, resources, and a community for music teachers in central and northern Alberta.