February 23, 2013 at Grimwade House, Melbourne Grammar Junior School, Caulfield.
It was such an amazing day mixing and working together with a group of creative music teachers, both Kodaly and Orff enthusiasts, from all over Victoria. The seminar was organized by KMEIA and VOSA and divided in two sessions:
1. Lower Orff and Upper Kodaly, and
2. Lower Kodaly and Upper Orff.
Since they were overlapping, I chose to attend Lower Kodaly and Lower Orff.
The first one (Orff) was presented by Melissa Dods in a wonderful way – her skillful guidance through the serious of activities (singing, body percussion, movement, playing percussion instruments) was poetically and creatively weaved into the texture of musical exploration and improvisation. I felt caught in the moment of time in which you are ageless and completely spontaneous in your own inner expression. How magical and divine!
In the second session (Kodaly), Julia Trifonov presented a cross section of musical activities and games which would have illustrated a developmental method in teaching music literacy to children from Prep to Grade 3. We all succumbed to Julia’s contagious energy and turned into a playful and joyous group of kids interacting and communicating with music.
At the completion of both sessions we concluded the day in a perfect cadence, a harmonious unity of our energies and voices singing a gospel “Yonder Come Day” under the perfect ‘baton’ of Ruth Friend.
We, as teachers, have a task to help our students develop not only into performers with great musical skills and technical abilities, but into imaginative and intuitive musicians that have built a personal and creative relationship with their instrument. To be able to guide them to the level of that self-expression, we have to be able to experience it ourselves first!
