Anatolian Music Education
Orff Education in Turkey
Best known for his work Carmina Burana, Carl Orff was not only an important musician, but he was also an important educator. Developed by Orff himself, Carl Orff Schulwerk, also known as “Carl Orff Approach”, recommends as an educational method, the use of elements familiar to children in order to give them a basic musical training. For this, the Orff Approach uses improvisation of language, and playing as a group with music. The aim is to benefit from various fields of art in order to bring out the individual’s intrinsic creative powers through rhythm, movement and speaking.
Orff Schulwerk in Turkey – First Approach
Turkey was introduced to Orff-Schulwerk as early as 1938. Paul Hindemith and Dr. Eduard Zuckmayer acquainted Orff-Schulwerk and its instruments with the students of the Gazi Educational Institute.
Composer and pedagogue Muzaffer Arkan knew that the promotion of Orff-Schulwerk would be successful on the basis of Turkish music and culture. In collaboration with Ankara Maarif College (now TED) brought many instruments donated by Carl Orff to Turkey. Sadly, the implementation eventually proved to be ineffective: The Orff Approach needs to be integrated into an existing educational system in order to become permanent.
Early Music Education
Between the ages of 3 and 8, when creativity and emotional intelligence are established, a child’s talents develop rapidly and naturally. As scientific data demonstrates, a child’s power of perception during this time is two and half times greater than an adult’s. Consequently, it is of great importance that music education starts at pre-school age and is handled with great care. Early music education directly affects also, the child’s learning abilities in other fields.
Recently, institutions, departments and programs that train “Pre-School Music Educators” have started forming in Turkey. The implementation of the Orff Method, especially in public pre-schools and elementary schools, will open different opportunities for music, as well as for overall education, by supporting the development of future generations’ aesthetic and artistic education.
More Information about Orff Education.
Güher and Süher Pekinel developed the “Carl Orff Anatolia Music Education”, in order to ensure the implementation of the Orff Approach as part of music lessons in all schools in Turkey. Since September 2010, the system, proceeds to prove itself sustainable with the collaboration of the Orff Schulwerk Turkey-Austria-Germany.
Continuing this commitment, the “Carl Orff Anatolia Music Education”, gained new momentum in 2016, thanks to the financial sponsoring from Finansbank. Based on this idea, the Carl Orff Anatolian Education System initiative gained new momentum with the sponsorship of Finansbank. Within the framework of protocols signed with the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Turkey, in the 2016–2017 academic year, three young music educators—selected from among 150 teachers in Turkey—were granted scholarships and had the opportunity to receive training in Schulwerk at the Orff Institute of Mozarteum University in Salzburg.
Beginning from September 2017, these three young educators are sharing their knowledge and teach the Orff Approach to other new teachers in schools in numerous Anatolian cities and villages within a two-year advanced course, so that local music teachers gain the ability and knowledge to use this new system in their own schools. The aim is to create a domino effect and for the Orff-Schulwerk to reach thousands of children. Güher & Süher Pekinel Anadolu Orff Music Education” has already reached 750.000 children and increases exponentially, each year.
More information on “Carl Orff Anatolia Music Education” and “Orff Schulwerk in Turkey” is available in the special edition of Andante Classical Music Magazine, “Music Education in Turkey and the Orff Approach” published in June 2015.