Below is Sue Snyder's response to this request to an Orff group, by Rosalie:
I've been asked to make a short presentation to teachers about how music can strengthen reading skills. Generally, I consider music to be an area that should be valued on its own worth; and not need to be tied to other areas to be considered valid. I often worry that the more energy we spend on tying music to everything else, the harder it will be to justify the value of beauty down the road, and the beauty and emotions of music are the heart of it, I believe. However, Orff-Schulwerk is so good for incorporating reading and literature, I've decided to make an exception, and agreed to do a short, 15-20 minute activity.
Now that I've said yes, I'm looking for suggestions. I would like to do a hands-on music lesson processed, and have several ideas. One would be a short dramatization of a story. I'd read the story, brainstorm instrument color ideas, brainstorm dramatic ideas and characters, and perform with several narrators. Any other ideas?
I'd love to hear from the reading perspective; I know far more about teaching music than teaching reading! Can any of you tell me what skills would be nice to incorporate? Or any other ideas you might have!
-- Rosalie
Sue Snyder replied:
Rosalie,
It seems that you're getting some ideas for activities from the group, so I will focus on the broader idea of reading skills from an Orff teacher's perspective. There is reading in music, reading in words, and reading in both. We do all of these. Reading is the ability to both decode (say, sing, or play what is written), and to encode (understand what is written).
Decoding means just reading what is there, whether it is notation, words, or both. So any time you have a chart with pictures, notation, or words; there is an opportunity for practicing reading skills. Tracking from left to right and top to bottom is a big skill for young children. Seeing the differences between circles, squares, and triangles (quarters, eighths, and rests) (different words) can be made easier and more fun by using different instruments for each visual cue.
Encoding is more about interpretation. Once the kids can decode to play the notes or read the words, how is it different if you play it softly or loudly, quickly or slowly, building a crescendo and decrescendo over two phrases, contrasting the A section and B section? With words, what is the difference when different words are accented? Or said higher or lower, faster or slower, with different vocal tone colors? When words are sung, what changes in interpretation change the meaning?
Another way to go after encoding is to play with character, setting, and/or plot, important literacy concepts that reading teachers are working on all the time. These can be highlighted with music, or explored through music. An obvious activity is assigning different instruments or movements to different characters or actions in a story. If the story has a specific sequence of events, it could be told through a sound piece. If you have pictorial representations that map the sequence of sounds, you are reinforcing the language arts concept as well.
One of the beauties of Orff-Schulwerk is that the blending of the languages of words, gestures, music, and images allow us to develop literacy in multiple languages all at the same time. This also allows each of the languages to be used to help children understand the others. We don't abandon teaching music in order to teach word language, but the process of learning to read notation and words is parallel, and we just can't help ourselves! It's a natural link that you do every day, but perhaps just don't know the reading teacher's terminology and goals.
Hope this helps give you some reading context for your presentation. If you share your beautiful teaching process and relate it to the reading teachers' terminology, it could be a great opportunity for you to gain their support, and get them to be excited about using this process in their classrooms too!