Introduction
Pre-school is the first stage of institutional education. The pre-school years are particularly important in the overall educational process. In addition to intensive physical development, the child’s speech and thinking develop, interests are directed, social and moral attitudes are formed during that time. Musical abilities also develop over the pre-school period. According to the core curriculum for pre-school education for kindergartens, pre-school units in primary schools and other forms of pre-school education, the aim of pre-school education is to support the holistic development of children. Such support is implemented through care, upbringing and teaching/learning, which make it possible for children to discover their capabilities, their purpose and accumulate experience on the path leading to truth, goodness and beauty. Bearing in mind that the primary form of activity of a pre-school child is play, working methods should be selected in a way that makes learning attractive and easy through play, encourages children to act, awaken their interests, and encourage spontaneous and free creative expression.
Carl Orff’s method of expressive movement is one of the most original and innovative methods in pre-school education. This method is based on the primal, the innate, the subconscious, creating many more opportunities for children to experience, to express themselves in movement, to create and to experiment, thus creating the most favourable conditions for children’s development (Lamęcka-Adamek, 2001).
At the heart of this method is the assumption that music is closely linked to movement. Movement is the most characteristic and natural feature of a young child, so the child’s physical development should be closely linked to education in rhythm and music, and word culture. In fact, music, movement and words permeate each other, with one of these elements usually dominating in specific exercises, while the others play a complementary role.
Carl Orff’s pedagogical concept
Carl Orff (1895–1982), a German composer, conductor and pedagogue. He inherited his musical talent from his pianist mother. He created a method of teaching music based on rhythm and improvisation. He based his method on the idea that music has its roots in the word. Therefore, music education for preschool children should begin with rhythmisation of people’s names, names of toys, flowers, vegetables, etc. At a later stage, one can move on to proverbs, sayings and rhymes. Two, three, and four-beat meters are introduced by using words with different numbers of syllables. Words, clapping, stomping, snapping, singing and rhyming constitute the basis of children’s musical education according to Carl Orff’s concept. In contrast, theoretical knowledge of metre and rhythmic values is not introduced (Szulc, 1996).
In 1924, Carl Orff founded his unique Güntherschule, i.e. the School of Gymnastics, Music and Dance, in Munich, where he developed his method of musical education for children. The teaching of music was accompanied by specially selected and adequately conducted gymnastic exercises and dance classes(Makarewicz, 2001). Playing non-melodic percussion instruments (drums, rattles, triangles), complemented by a kind of rhythm and dance training, played a very important role in the implementation of the programme. Through his collaboration with musical instrument maker Karl Maendler, Carl Orff created his instrumentarium, today known as the Orff Instrumentarium(Stasińska, 1986). The school prepared performances with an extensive programme (dance, pantomime, gymnastic exercises, choral singing combined with dance as in ancient Greece) (Makarewicz, 2001).
The aim of the Orff method is to preserve children’s natural vitality, to increase physical fitness, to develop inner strength in each child through play, dance, gymnastics and music. Carl Orff has created an opportunity to acquire as many different experiences as possible, through which children learn about the world and themselves, while mastering their own bodies. The intertwining of movement and music education in combination with words and play not only influences the development of the body, i.e. all systems and organs, as well as reflexes, the ability to concentrate and perceptiveness. It also has a positive effect on the correct behaviour of children who, satisfied in terms of movement and art, accustomed to collective life, are calmer, better developed emotionally, not that noisy, while they remain active at work and bolder in expressing themselves. They are also more sensitive to the beauty of words, shape, colour, and sound (Olszewska, 1985).
The unity of speech, music and dance is the central tenet of the Orff system. In practice, this means using the means closest to the child in musical activities: words, gestures, movement, and singing (Makarewicz, 2001).
The word is a speech exercise that serves to familiarise children with rhythmic and dynamic phenomena and shapes expressive and correct diction when singing songs. Rhythmic speech is the source of children’s improvisations of rhythmic themes: with voice, movement accompanied by percussion instruments or done naturally, i.e. with arms and legs (Gniewkowski, Olszewska, 1983). Speech forms, suggested by the children and the teacher, are used in poems, enumerations, proverbs, adages, stories, etc. The children choose appropriate words for rhymes or rhymes for words. Words play an important role in intellectual development, in experiencing beauty, in enriching the freedom and purposefulness of movement, gestures, and visual scenes (Karpala, 1987). With regard to physical education, the beauty of words and speech aims to eliminate loud behaviour and carelessness in the way people express themselves, which distract the group, hinder learning and makes the culture deteriorate (Gniewkowski, Wlaźnik, 1990).
Music highlights common phenomena linking them to movement. Identifying and determining the basic phenomena occurring together in music and movement means using music in such a way that the child better senses or becomes aware of spatial and temporal relations, as well as correlations in terms of dynamics, form and expression (Gniewkowski, Olszewska, 1983). When a child can create their own melody to a lyric, they are ready to build simple musical forms. The first two or three audio exercises are sung dialogues used in the form of questions and answers. They are a prelude to creating musical stories or musicalising simple texts from children’s literature. Beginning with the simplest forms of rhythm and metre, children gradually learn increasingly richer, one- and two-part structures of the tone scale, melody and key, as well as principles of melody creation and accompaniment technique (Gniewkowski, Wlaźnik).
Movement – has no set patterns, gestures or figures, nor does it require special attention to the beauty of movement. Movement forms flow from different types of text. The movement is lively and creative. It occurs during play and learning tasks that develop creative activity. It is unfettered and depends on each child’s inner feelings. Its form and nature refer to the child’s ingenuity triggered by an event, children’s literature, a drawing or a story. Initially, the movement with music is uncomplicated. There are rhythmic gestures, movements, steps, walking, running, jumping, spinning, pendulum movement and movement, dance and staged games. Later, movements become improvised and eventually takes the form of rich, creative and even artistic movement. In addition, Carl Orff attached great importance to regional, folk or national dances. However, it was not about pure learning of the steps of these dances, but rather about improvising them. The culmination of all forms of music education in the Carl Orff system is in the development, precisely on the basis of music and movement activities, of a musical theatre. According to Carl Orff’s method, children’s irresistible liveliness and their need to express themselves through movement are variously linked to a specific movement task, manifested in gestures and facial expressions. It is mainly about children learning their motor skills, mastering spatial and temporal relations and how to cooperate within a group (Przychodzińska, 1989). They achieve these goals and objectives through independent and collaborative experimentation, discovery and the completion of open-ended movement tasks that give the children a lot of freedom, allowing them to develop their individualities, their unconventional and unique characteristics (Gniewkowski, Wlaźnik, 1990). Each movement takes place in a space that can be used in a vigorous, spontaneous, profligate manner, or sparingly, restrainedly, tied to a specific place in which it needs to be contained. Spontaneous, expansive movement is characteristic of children, e.g. when they enter a gym. Appropriate music brings order to the group’s behaviour, induces a concentration, imposes a rhythm in which to move and introduces elements of order and discipline. Different types of music inspire expansive or more restricted movement. In addition, an adequate selection of music regulates time in movement, which preserves balance, teaches order and precision in the functioning of the motor system and the coordination of whole-body movements (Olszewska, 1985).
Singing involves performing children’s and folk songs and fragments of classical music – a capella or with percussive accompaniment (Burowska, 1976). Songs that have a story-driven text are used to create performances, i.e. small dramatic forms. Movement, gesture and the playing of instruments have a big role in such performances. Songs are also used in order to teach the skill of observing musical forms and to learn notation. In addition, singing plays an important role during music making (Kisiel, 2001).
The specificity of Carl Orff’s system lies in the more frequent use of playing instruments, movement with music, making music, integrating forms of music education with other teaching activities, and less frequent singing and listening to music. Carl Orff did not neglect singing, however, it was not about traditional singing instruction based on learning songs and combined with emission exercises (Przychodzińska, 1989).
According to Carl Orff, the use of music in various forms allows appropriate reactions to sound stimuli to be shaped, develops the sense of rhyth m and children become more orderly in their actions as a result (Kisiel, 2001). This leads to preserving children’s natural movement style for as long as possible. Creating opportunities for play, sports recreation, movement improvisation, dance, enrichment of psychomotor experiences in different conditions, namely in the open air, water, snow, etc., prepares children to be active in different conditions, to experience and cope with different situations, and at the same time develops the culture of movement (Olszewska, 1985).
Listening to music takes place while improvising together (e.g. in movement), playing music and playing instruments. This enables children to listen to sounds, become sensitive to the timbre of instruments and develop a sensitivity to the consonance of instruments. Therefore, Carl Orff’s method prepares children for music perception. It is not a way of learning to listen to music that involves introducing children to a particular repertoire of musical literature (JakóbczakDrążek, 2008).
Playing instruments, based on Orff’s Instrumentarium, plays an extremely important role in Carl Orff’s concept. Orff musical instruments enable rhythmic and melodic exercises to be introduced in a colourful and creative way and allow music to be practised in children’s ensembles. Content from visual arts, dance, music and movement exercises, living word culture should be incorporated into music lessons. Such diversity of values forces children to think and act creatively, and allows them to discover their innate predispositions (Olszewska, Pawłucki, 1987).
One of the cornerstones of the Carl Orff system is children’s musical creativity. It is organically integrated with other forms. It takes the form of vocal, instrumental, vocal-instrumental and movement improvisation. It is usually an improvisation that has the characteristics of self-expression and is therefore completely free and unrestricted by any rules (Burowska, 1976).
The further stages of musical creation in Carl Orff’s system already have some characteristics of guided improvisation. The teacher can impose certain rules on the children governing this improvisation, e.g. the choice of instrumental consonances, the shaping of the melodic line, rhythm or musical form. Carl Orff developed the following forms of musical improvisation (vocal and instrumental) specific to pre-school children:
verbal and musical,
rhythmic echo,
rhythmic canon,
rhythmic-melodic improvisations,
rondo,
rhythmisation of speech,
creating a rhythmic ostinato,
matching texts to given rhythms,
continuation of the given rhythm (Przychodzińska, 1989).
Under the influence of movement games and exercises and a variety of artistic and technical activities, an intensive development of verbal and muscular sensations takes place, through which the central nervous system receives information about changes in the tension of individual muscle groups and the position of the body in relation to itself. This is important for improving perception and coordination of movements (Olszewska, 1985). The forms of movement used in this method result in an opportunity to revitalise the functions of the entire organism (Karpala, 1986).
The practice of making music with children was presented by Carl Orff in his five-volume work Music for Children. For this collection, he developed a whole series of pieces in the form of vocal and instrumental exercises(Jakóbczak-Drążek, 2008).
Pre-school according to the Carl Orff concept
In a nursery school implementing Carl Orff’s concept, particular importance is attached to eurhythmics, which favours all forms of movement and combines musicality with physical education in forms such as movement, dance, play, free expression and improvisation. Children’s main activities include:
movement play and games, including rhythmic and dance games,
gymnastics based on natural movement that does not resemble traditional formalised forms of movement performed on command, namely:
exercises and games to prepare for interaction with a partner or in a group,
exercises to develop awareness (feeling) of one’s own body, space, time,
exercises and games to develop quick reflexes, purposeful reactions in specific situations,
sensory exercises to sharpen the senses and develop the imagination,
music and movement exercises:
illustrating a piece of music with movement,
staging of songs, poetic works, stories, tasks, etc,
regional, national and social dances, as well as spectacular dance routines,
movement improvisation with or without music and rhythm, which may include improvisation of the arms, legs or the whole body with or without an instrument,
movement canons synchronised with or without correlation to words, singing and music,
rondos with a single musical or movement motif in the leading role, repeated in cycles,
pantomime rich in themes and means of expression (humoresques, events from everyday life, dramatic scenes),
athletic elements practised outdoors or indoors,
excursions for the combined objectives of exploring and developing a “feel for the area”,
the living word: individual words, rhymes, proverbs, riddles, rhymes, etc., shouts, whispers and making various inarticulate noises:
rhythmisations,
choral and solo singing,
making music on melodic and non-melodic instruments; individually in small groups or in an orchestra, listening to pieces recorded on tape or CD.
Work according to Orff’s method takes place in three stages:
Classes conducted according to Carl Orff’s concept begin with play and movement and rhythm activities, selected according to the children’s physical fitness. A variety of verbal texts linked to movement are introduced after that. Each activity contains elements of music, movement and words, but the order of the elements can change significantly, and the ways in which these elements are combined depends on the teacher’s invention.
Word-based play gives rise to rhythm, articulation and sound. Rhythm arises from the rhythmisation of words. Children rhythmise words, groups of words, whole sentences or enumerations. After the exercises, accompanied by more or less familiar rhymes, children try to compose similar ones on their own. Initially, one child makes up the initial phrase of an enumeration, while the other child tries to make up the continuation. The children then put the whole thing together. The resulting texts can be used in a variety of ways: by tapping or executing their rhythms with movement, by choosing ostinato accompaniment or by singing on two or three notes. In these games, language and its elements become the authentic sound material from which music is made.
The retelling of fairy tales, legends and legends begins with words spoken in a quiet rhythm. This is then accompanied by body movement, which is then transferred to percussion instruments or objects in the environment (paper, blocks, chair, etc.), which – by making sound – illustrate the content of the fairy tale. Texts delivered in this way teach children many skills: memory, musical hearing, sense of rhythm and eye-hand coordination. However, the most important thing is to unleash creative invention and self-expression.
Once children learn to perform music with their bodies, they try to find sounds in the environment. Then, for example, two pencils can be replaced by claves, shaking a pencil case with crayons by a rattle, etc. In this way, the children become familiar with different instruments one by one. It is important that a child’s first contact with an instrument starts with an independent discovery of its sound, with a search for how to make a sound. The child figures out on his or her own how to hold the instrument and how to strike so that the sound produced is the fullest and most beautiful.
Gesture sounds, i.e. sounds that make use of the body’s own capabilities, are introduced in parallel to playing instruments: clapping, stomping, tapping the hands on the knees and thighs, finger snapping, tongue clicking, producing interesting sound and expression effects. They add variety to songs and rhymes and are also used to play typical rhythmic games. Children learn the following gestural notation:
In addition, instruments from the immediate environment are used in the games – objects that can be used to produce a variety of sounds of different timbres, intensities and strengths. The production of these sounds is combined with orthophonic sounds (various articulated sounds: uuu...iii...uaua...etc.). In the beginning, short and simple rhythms are used because children are not able to repeat them accurately. As they practice, the difficulty is increased. The next stage is to move at a specific pace and illustrate changes in speed with movement. Special care must be taken here to ensure that this adaptation proceeds freely, without tension, and constitutes an adjustment to the passage of time measured by the music.
Dynamics is a further step in learning the secrets of movement. Here the music allows us to distinguish its degrees, the transition from light to heavy movements, from soft, gentle, rounded movements to angular, forceful and hard movements. Depending on the level of the group and the age of the children, properly selected and interpreted music allows for free expression through movement. In gestures or singing, the children join together in groups, inspire each other, create their individual or group beginnings of music and movement compositions, as well as various forms of movement-based reactions. During the exercises, reference is made to the seasons, trips taken, plays watched or holidays celebrated. The previously learnt rhymes and songs are used, and didactic elements such as size features, spatial relations, geometrical figures, letters and numbers are reinforced through movement. In addition, with a view to organisational and methodological guidelines, sets of exercises are designed in such a way, and the means, methods and forms are chosen so that each activity is fun for the children, shapes their physiques, enables them to become proficient in a variety of movements and leads to increasingly better results.
Curricular content covering topics promoting development of music and movement skills is divided into thematic blocks linked to other sections of the curriculum. In addition to the main tasks, the classes include elements such as corrective exercises, shaping spatial orientation, auditory-visual coordination, eye-hand coordination, jumping ability, agility and motivational elements.
Children practise barefoot and in light comfortable clothing (shorts and blouses). For the sake of the aesthetic appearance of the group, all children have identical costumes, differentiated by colour for each age group.
During the classes, the timing of movement in conjunction with music is adjusted to teach precision in the functioning of the motor system and coordination of the entire body. By developing free and unforced motor skills, by shaping an appropriate response to sound stimuli, children become more orderly and independent in performing all the activities of life. The idea is for children to move quickly or slowly to the rhythm of the music, so that they acquire the relevant musical values of the notes and are able to express them through movement.
In a nursery school implementing the Carl Orff method, the focus is on a properly organised environment. It is the backdrop for true inner development, it is a help for the child, a signpost for actions taken, a launching pad for independent life in the adult world. It brings out the child’s activity, joy and well-being.
The appearance of the nursery building is particularly important in creating a suitable environment. The building is spacious with large, functional rooms. The exterior walls of the building are painted in bright warm colours. The area around the kindergarten is surrounded by a band of curtain greenery, variegated, which protects against harmful factors and decorates and enhances the aesthetics of the surroundings. The basic elements of land development in an area meant for children consist of a terrace, verandas, play and games areas (green room), areas with sports and play equipment for the different wards, sandpit, toboggan hill and sanitary facilities. The terrace is close to the building on the garden side and has a levelled and paved surface.
During spring and summer, garden umbrellas or expandable tarpaulin canopies are placed on the terrace. Verandas serve as a place to relax, a summer dining area, protection from the sun and rain.
A space in the kindergarten square is designated as a “green room”. It is a large, carefully maintained lawn with an even surface. It is used to conduct music and gymnastics exercises and music and movement games in warm weather.
There is also a decorative area, i.e. space for flower beds and spreading shrubs, which form a beautiful element of the kindergarten square.
In addition to the classrooms and playrooms, the kindergarten has a gymnasium, library, kitchen and food storage, director’s office, secretarial office, doctor’s office and pedagogical staff room.
Each pre-school unit has its own room where activities and games take place, as well as a dining room, cloakroom and bathroom, and the younger children also have a room where they can lie down. The classrooms are spacious, bright, dry and warm, with south-facing windows. Warm, cheerful colours prevail in each classroom, putting people in a happy mood, as only in such conditions can the creative process take place. Therefore, one of the walls in each classroom is decorated with scenes from the well-known and well-loved fairy tales from which the group names are derived. The classrooms are made to look like:
a forest inhabited by Snow White and the 7 dwarfs – the 3-year-olds’s group is called “Dwarfs”,
a meadow inhabited by Maya the bee and her friends – the 4-year-old’s group is called “Bees”,
the village courtyard with characters from the fairy tale about the Ugly Duckling – the 5-year-olds’ group is called “Ducklings”,
a flower garden inhabited by elves and Thumbelina – the group of 6-year-old “Elves”.
Other walls are decorated with familiar images of animals, plants, scenes from life, photographs and reproductions of works of art. The décor changes according to the children’s interests, the seasons and the teacher’s creative invention. Attached to one wall is a polystyrene board for displaying the children’s work and next to it is a fibreboard covered with large sheets of paper for free drawing and painting.
The material conditions of the kindergarten play an important role, i.e. the objects in the child’s environment (furniture, toys, natural and technical material), their colour, shape, number and placement. In addition to the abundance of children’s items, the ease of access and mainly the ability to use them is very important. Therefore, the children have easy access to toys and aids through appropriate room design and equipment. The classrooms are equipped with low, multifunctional and aesthetically pleasing furniture. There is shelving for teaching aids, toys, tables and chairs adapted to the children’s height. In addition to this, each classroom has colourful wooden boxes on wheels for storing different types of building blocks and construction sets, with different functions in play.
Play areas are arranged around the perimeter of the room, with specific functions in organising children’s activities:
a corner with a “treasure chest” containing everything necessary and unnecessary, i.e. string, buttons, bobbins, pebbles, rags, paper, etc,
a “grotto” corner as a place of intimacy and seclusion, furnished with small cushions of different shapes, colours and material textures,
a library corner containing books, illustrated magazines, song and counting books,
themed corners: kitchen, a corner for dolls, a shop, a car,
a theatre corner to encourage children’s creativity and self-expression, equipped with screens, a mirror and wicker chests containing a variety of costumes and props – dolls, hand puppets and silhouettes for playing theatre,
music corner, equipped with stereo equipment with headphones placed on low tables, used by children to listen to instrumental music, songs and fairy tales.
In addition, the classroom’s design is complemented by basic note diagrams, a full notation of gestural notes and examples of rhythmic tasks displayed on the wall. The shelves are stocked with CDs, cassettes and literature with suggestions for games, activities and songs for children. An important part of the equipment is the Orff instrumentarium, which includes the following instruments: a drum, claves, a tambourine, an acoustic box, a cabasa, a washboard, a triangle, a gong, maracas, cymbals, a rattle, a bell, “janczary” bells, bongos and castanets.
The instruments listed are placed on a special rack within easy reach of the child. Each instrument has a graphic designation, i.e. its own symbol that the children learn. Percussion instruments are labelled on the shelves, making it easy to put them back in their proper place after making music together. The designations are, as follows:
The classroom’s musical décor is enhanced by instruments made by the children in class, such as:
rattles – all sorts of boxes, cans, containers with lids or plastic bottles, filled with groats, peas, pebbles, buttons, pasta, etc,
buzzers – bottle caps, tinsel, tubes or screws suspended on fishing lines attached to the spokes of old pram wheels,
castanets – walnut halves to which handles are glued in the form of triangularly folded strips of paper,
plates – metal lids with strings tied to the handles.
In addition to musical instruments, a kindergarten implementing the Carl Orff method uses gymnastic instruments and equipment. Sticks, bags, hoops, sashes, skipping ropes, strings, balls, etc. are used as required, along with unconventional utensils such as: plastic hoses, balloons, newspapers or sheets of paper, lightweight scarves or shawls, transparent plastic film, kaleidoscopes of various designs, blocks of different shapes and colours, dolls with joints allowing them to assume various positions of the arms, legs and head, which can be held for a long time, chestnuts, pebbles, bottles, buttons, acorns and feathers. They enrich the range of games and exercises, make the activities more interesting, stimulate children’s activity, and promote imagination and ambition. There is a piano in each classroom.
All observations, impressions, experiences, situations, etc., occurring during music and physical activities are readily expressed by the children through various art forms. Such art forms can include drawing, painting, papercraft, sculpture, cut-outs, etc. For this reason, a kindergarten working according to Carl Orff’s concept has an art room, equipped with the necessary materials and utensils such as tables, chairs, easels, crayons, paints, tissue paper, modelling clay, plasticine, paper, cartons, newspapers, cardboard, various fabrics, buttons, salt dough, paper pulp, clay, etc. These activities develop the children’s creative invention and do justice to the principles of alternation and versatility.
Conclusion
Carl Orff’s method is an example of a pedagogical tool for synthesising learning objectives at the pre-school level of education. It introduces intra- and inter-educational correlations, sets appropriate priorities in terms of activities attributed to the different types of education or educational teaching activities. Therefore, music and singing will be the leading values during music classes, movement in physical education classes, the ability to express oneself in drawing, sculpture or ornamentation during the art classes, and the mastery of words in Polish language education. It is, therefore, a complementary programme that opens up more opportunities for participation in culture than any other programme usually limited to one of its fields (Chyła-Szypułowa, 2008).
Carl Orff developed a set of simple musical instruments that trigger children’s full engagement in musical creativity in the form of free and spontaneous improvisation.
Carl Orff’s programme challenges the child to act. It is an innovation in music and movement education. The unquestionable value of Carl Orff’s method is the gradual development of all the physical, mental and emotional strengths of children in a harmonious way, guiding them from simple, easy things to complex, artistic things, to increasingly clear awareness and full motor coordination without command or coercion. And all of this is achieved through free movement associated with music and through highly meaningful words (Herzyk, 2004).
