Wendy and Janet have attended many professional development courses in Orff Schulwerk over the years and have trained to a high level in this methodology. They have presented workshops for teachers at Orff Conferences held in NZ and Australia.

 Orff Schulwerk (school work) is a philosophy of holistic music education originated with Carl Orff in Germany and is widely accepted throughout the western world and Asia.  Activities develop the whole musical self through fun sessions, which include singing, speech patterns, moving and playing.  We begin with simple songs, chants and poems and develop them into complex pieces incorporating playing instruments in many parts, each part relatively simple.  These experiences enhance instrumental learning and are a satisfying way to make group music.

We use the doh, ray, mi system of singing scales developed in the 19^th Century in England by John Curwen. His system uses hand signs to show a pitch in a visual form. This helps children to focus on a single note at a time and “see” as well as hear the pitch in relation to another note.  These hand signs were adapted after the second world war in Hungary, by Zoltan Kodaly.