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The Orff-Schulwerk Process
The Orff-Schulwerk Process
Mrs. Bramlett is an Orff-Schulwerk certified music teacher as well as an active member of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA). Orff-Schulwerk is an internationally recognized music teaching method and certification.
She received her certification after 3 consecutive years of summer professional development courses at Appalachian State University. She was instructed by Dr. Lisa Runner (left) and Dr. Maribeth Yoder-White (right).
What is Orff-Schulwerk?
What is Orff-Schulwerk?
Orff-Schulwerk is a unique and child-centered approach to music education based on the teaching of Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman. It is a nationally and internationally recognized method of teaching children how to be and thinking like a musician through music, speech, movement, drama, and play.
The philosophy of Orff-Schulwerk is providing structure and process to instill a creative environment to allow children to actively engage with music, experiment with music, critically think like musicians, and empower children to create independently and collaboratively.
If you would like to read more, please feel free to check out the American Orff-Schulwerk Association's website by clicking here!
Modern Band Approach
Modern Band Approach
The modern band approach teaches students to play, perform, improvise, and compose their own music based on student-selected popular music. Modern band focuses on multiple genres of music such as rock, pop, Latin, rap, R&B, country, blues, and more genres to empower students to begin playing songs they know and love on day one. These skills taught to them in the informal approach of modern band empower them to explore learning a variety of instruments, refining their ability to communicate and collaborate with other musicians, connecting their own knowledge and background of music to other musical skills, self-paced and guided practice, builds self-confidence, builds confidence in public speaking and performing, and developing their creative choices and decisions.
I had the opportunity to perform with over 15 other South Carolina music educators while attending the Modern Band Summit 2025 music education workshop in Colorado.
Teacher demonstration from "But I Don't Have a Drum Set!" Modern Band for the Traditional K-5 General Music Classroom session.
Guest performance from 3 Strings' Student Performance led by the 3 Strings founder Ruth LeMay.
Demonstration from guest speakers Asante Amin and Chen Lo of Soul Science Lab and creators of the "Make a Joyful Noize" program from Carnegie Hall.
Music Will - Modern Band's History
Music Will - Modern Band's History
The modern band approach to music education was created by Music Will (formerly known as Little Kids Rock), the largest non-profit music program in the US public school program. It was founded by Dave Wish, a former first grade teacher in California, in 2002 who began teaching an afterschool guitar program to provide music education to the students at his school. Music Will supports schools the nation provide accessible music education to students who may not otherwise have access in their schools. Their mission is "to make music education available to all students regardless of their socioeconomic background, and it should reflect the culture of the students we serve." (1)
For over 20 years, Music Will has provided teacher trainings, public resources, and instruments to restore and expand music education for students across the nation. In their time as an organization, they've served 1.8 million students, donated 100,000 instruments to public schools, and have supported 6,000 schools in their music education programs (2). As there are still 3.7 million students who have no access to music education across our nation still, Music Will is determined to provide music education for as many students as possible (2).
Music Will seeks to provide training, tools, and resources to help them build classrooms that are student-focused and highly inclusive. They state on their website, "Many music educators don’t have access to resources or professional development training. We support these teachers by offering free virtual and in-person workshops as well as student curriculum. We also provide a community for teachers to inspire and learn from each other as they strive to positively impact their students." (2)
Music Will has partnered with and honored many different musicians that continue to invest in music education being accessible to all through donations, benefit concerts, and more such as Slash, Usher, Hozier, Mavis Staples, Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Paul Simon, Babyface, Idina Menzel, Tom Morello, Josh Groban, Andra Day, Riannon Giddens, Wyclef Jean, Sara Bareilles, Jackson Browne, Blake Shelton, David Hidalgo, Trombone Shorty, Steve Berlin, Louie Perez, Lindsay Ell, Billy Strings, Don Was, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti, Mark Rivers, Shira Elias, Darryl McDaniels (Run-DMC), Caroline Jones of the Zac Brown Band, Jon Secada, Kristin Chenoweth, Pharrell Williams, Laine Hardy, Jessie J, and Wiz Khalifa. Learn more about the several ways in which these professionals worked with Music Will to support music education across America by clicking here.
What else do I teach in my classroom?
What else do I teach in my classroom?
Students are given clear structure and tools in the classroom to instill attributes of a musician. Learning the literacy of music is an element, but not all music is made to be.
Music gives us insight into other cultures and a doorway into their world. Global music and dance introduces children to see different social expectations, structures, and values of other cultures to see that we might have differences but also are very similar. It not only helps them begin to discover the world is more than just their school or neighborhood, but how they as an individual find their place in the world.
Students are taught global music in the classroom as well as music from their own region as a way to spark their curiosity and wonder of the world around them and find connections with people from other countries.
How does all of this look in my classroom?
How does all of this look in my classroom?
With the combination of the Orff-Sculwerk method, the modern band approach, and global music, my classroom is structured to allow for creative choice and exploration.
For all students, I uphold the expectations through using our "B.R.A.I.N." in music class:
Being Musically-Minded.
Respecting others and instruments.
Attentive focus in class.
Involving yourself in class.
New things (trying new things).
These expectations help provide students the environment to work together, create together, perform together, and be open-minded towards new experiences to help stretch their creativity. Students are encouraged by the Orff process and modern band approach to have confidence in their ideas, share them, and try them out.
As the year progresses, students are given opportunities to create together as a class, in small groups, and individually. Music literacy is valued as a tool in my classroom -- a gateway to expressing an individual's musical expression. As they learn more tools and and thinking of music as a second language, they begin to expand their ability to express their musical ideas and compositions with others.
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