Orff Instruments/Certification

[nafmeadmin]

This summer I plan to start my Orff certification. Where did you go for certification, or which programs would you recommend?

In anticipation of this, I’d like to start adding to the Orff instruments I have at school now. Budget-wise I will probably only be able to add one at a time. Right now I only have a bass, alto, and soprano xylophone, and several soprano glocks. What instruments would you recommend getting first?

Thanks so much!

[nafmeadmin]

Hi Rebekah – Congratulations! The choice of where to attend your Orff training is a personal one. Some folks choose to attend whatever course is local while others may choose to travel to a course somewhere else in the country. Cost is also a factor to consider. There are large courses that offer all three levels each summer (The San Francisco Orff Course, The University of Memphis, Anderson University, George Mason University, Anderson University, Villanova University, Vandercook College of Music, UNLV) and smaller course that offer just one or two of the levels. There are more courses that offer Level I because of the high demand for initial training. In fact, some of the larger courses fill up early and may have a waiting list to get in, so you might consider starting off with Level I at a smaller course. Personally, I attended Level I at the University of South Florida (it was my local Orff course) and finished Levels II, III and Master Courses at The San Francisco Orff Course. All of the courses, big or small, have to adhere to strict guidelines set forth by AOSA. You can view the list of approved courses at http://www.aosa.org/approvedcourses.php. Keep checking back because more courses will be added to the list as they file their paperwork with AOSA.

As for instruments, it is always a good idea to use a 2:1 ratio of woods to metals and altos to sopranos. Having said that, my advice is to add an alto xylophone, another alto xylophone, then a soprano xylophone and finally an alto metallophone. FYI the range of the soprano metallophone and the alto glockenspiel is the same, so if you feel you need one or the other it is a matter of timbre preference.

I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time this summer! Good luck!

Dave

[nafmeadmin]

I can’t recommend Anderson University highly enough. I’ve done Levels I & II there, and the teachers are awesome! I went with it because it’s in the same region where I live and I have family in the area to stay with for free, but I lucked out. The same teachers also teach at DePaul in Chicago after they’re done in Anderson.

[nafmeadmin]

I’ll be attending Orff Level 1 at Anderson this year, as well, and I’m really excited about it. I know one of the teachers personally and she is wonderful! Good Luck whereever you decide to go for your training.

[nafmeadmin]

Thank you so much for your responses! One other question…has anyone bought Empire Music Orff before? They are significantly cheaper than what I can find on West Music, but I’m leary of the quality. I have Suzuki ones now, and they’re pretty bad.

[nafmeadmin]

I have had the best luck with primary line by sonar. They have held up for 10 years and stay in pitch pretty well.

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