About Us

 

AROSA is a non-profit music organization dedicated to the promotion of the Orff-Schulwerk process of teaching and its implementation in the greater Sacramento area.

Being a chapter of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association, we support the mission and dedication to this creative teaching approach. We believe that learning about music — learning to sing and play, to hear and understand, to move and create — should be a joyful experience.  We support this mission by providing professional development to our members in the form of  music and movement workshops.

 

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What is Orff-Schulwerk?

 

Orff-Schulwerk is a way to teach and learn music.  It is based on things children like to do: sing, chant rhymes, clap, dance, and keep a beat on anything near at hand.  These instincts are directed into learned music by hearing and making music first, then reading and writing it later.  This is the same way we all learned our language.

Orff-Schulwerk is designed for all children, not just the priveleged, talented, or selected few.  There is a place for every child and each contributes according to his/her ability.  Orff-Schulwerk happens in a non-competitive atmosphere where one of the rewards is the pleasure of making good music with others.  When the children want to write down what they have composed, reading and writing find their moment.

Orff-Schulwerk uses poems, rhymes, games, songs, and dances as examples and basic materials.  These may be traditional or original.  Spoken or sung, they may be accompanied by clapping and stamping or by drums, sticks, and bells.  The special Orff melody instruments include wooden xylophones and metal glockenspiels that offer good sound immediately.  Played together as in a small orchestra, their use helps children become sensitive listeners and considerate participants.

With Orff-Schulwerk, improvisation and composition start students on a lifetime of knowledge and pleasure through personal musical experience.  Learning is meaningful only if it brings satisfaction to the learner, and satisfaction arises from the ability to use acquired knowledge for the purpose of creating.  For both teacher and student, Orff-Schulwerk is a theme with endless variation.