Mu& in edilcationTwenty-five years ago, music teachers used to quarrel about the
merits of such different methods as the stress-word, the tonic sol-fa,
or the number method. Nowadays, no quarrels of the kind are neces-
sary, because the music teacher tries to penetrate the entire world of
folk and art music, whatever the method may be. There are problems
more urgent to be solved: to see that the child's approach to music
remains in full accordance with its natural psychological development
and to give it the means to enjoy the best music-contemporary
creation included-as a performer or as a listener.
A great role in the achievement of these new trends was played by
one of the outstanding contemporary composers, Carl Orff. This
unique case in history is worthy of careful consideration. Until 1936
Carl Orff had been for many years musical director of the Guenther
Schule in Munich, famous for its teaching of gymnastics, eurhythmics
and dance. Here he encountered all the problems of music education
while working with his pupils. He realhed that the music then being
used for dance or eurhythmic exercises was not always appropriate.
Music of the rommtic composers was performed at these lessons and
the pupils had to show through their movements and dances what it
conveyed to them. He soon found that this kind of music did not
provide a satisfactory relationship with movement. Consequently, he
developed the idea that the pupils should compose their own tunes
and find at the same time their own means of expression through their
movements and dances. The problem then arose of how to enable an
ordinary person-not a musician-to create his own music. Which
instruments were suitable for this purpose? Orff knew that many
eurhythmic and dance teachers employed percussion instruments,
mostly with piano, using the percussion especially in order to obtain
certain effects. This he wanted to avoid. The instruments he finally
chose or invented or had specially built were melody instruments such
as glass-bells, xylophones, metallophones, recorders and fiddles. The
percussion instruments chosen were wood-block drums, tambourines,
triangles, cymbals, rattles, kettle-drums. In connexion with the develop-
ment of the technique of percussion instruments especially, the name
of Hans Bergese, one of OrfF's pupils, deserves special mention.
The harmonious style of accompaniment by piano is not at all
suitable for the development of the rhythm sense and above all not
recommendable for children. This idea arose from the psychological
approach to the subject of the child's natural development.