Purpose: Music class should function as a class that triggers joy and a platform for students to express their feelings. Based on observation, there are music teachers who teach singing and the playing of musical instruments based traditionally on a teacher-centered approach. This has caused music classes to become passive and dull, with unexcited…

This ethnographic study examines the development of agency in students with special needs during an experiment of classroom music teaching in a special school. The experiment took place from August 2015 to March 2016 and was based on Emile Jaques-Dalcroze's ideas of music and movement as a means of developing competencies, skills and understanding…

Although early childhood caregivers in South African townships integrate singing into their teaching on a daily basis, they are often unaware of how to facilitate other musical interactions through movement, playing instruments or body percussion. The 'Bejazzled' action research project was initiated to facilitate these interactions through…

Music plays a major role in the education and development of all children. Although the use of music in the education process may seem obvious to most professionals, there are only a few studies that discuss the effect of music on the purposeful movement of students with visual impairments (DePountis, Cady, & Hallak, 2013; Desrochers, Oshlag,…

String educators must find a way to strengthen the development of rhythmic abilities so that their students play with a steady beat and accurate rhythm. Perhaps it is not what they teach their students as much as the sequence of instruction they use to teach them. String educators teach rhythm only as it pertains to the instrument, either through…

Historically, music educators have expressed concerns about inadequate preparation to work with students with special needs, specifically desiring skills related to instruction adaptation. Research has indicated that educational supports (written words, color coding, icons, echoing, buddy system, and other visual aids) can be particularly…

Orff-Schulwerk, or simply Orff, is an approach for teaching music to children that was developed in the early 1920s by the German composer Carl Orff (1895 1982) and his fellow composer Gunild Keetman. The Orff approach encompasses music and movement and is based on activities that come naturally to children: singing, clapping, and dancing. Orff…

Described are improvisational activities based on the Orff-Schulwerk teaching technique which include: sound and movement; sound and movement plus visuals; interpretation of designs from nature, architecture, paintings, rotating rondo, singing hands, and moving from words to song. Pictures of children participating in these activities are…