October 16th - Michael Chandler

Back to the Basics: Using Volume One of "Music for Children"

Participants in this workshop will experience elemental music making in the elementary classroom using the basic processes of Orff Schulwerk including imitation, exploration, labeling, and improvisation. We will explore this sequence by using and combining the Orff Schulwerk media: speech, singing, moving, body percussion, and instrument playing. We'll also take a tour of Volume One of Orff and Keetman's Music for Children and experience "real world" applications to using the various sections found within this primary source material. If you have a copy of Keetman's Elemenataria, please bring it as a companion to your Volume One. Examine how you can use material not found in Volume One in the same way as material found in Volume One, and don't forget to bring your soprano recorder! Finally, we will explore how to put together all the material we've used into a final performance that students could share - a performance that doesn't put good teaching on hold in order to prepare.

Michael Chandler lives in Dallas and is the K-5 music specialist at Valley Ridge Elementary in Lewisville, Texas, where he also directs the Valley Ridge Singers and the Valley Ridge Schulwerk Ensemble. In addition to the University of Central Arkansas, Michael teaches Level One in the Orff Schulwerk certification courses at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 2005 and 2007, his students performed as featured elementary ensembles at the TMEA Clinic/Convention in San Antonio. He has served as president of the North Texas Chapter of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA) and as a Regional Representative on the AOSA National Board of Trustees. Michael presents workshops and sessions at the local, state, and national level including sessions at both AOSA and TMEA. He is an accompanist for the Children's Chorus of Greater Dallas and is an active accompanist for solo/ensemble contests and choral festivals.