This lesson uses children’s book All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold, as a starting point for an Orff pentatonic composition lesson. Students use Keetman’s Rhythmic Building Bricks to identify the rhythm of the word Welcome in several languages, then compose an eight-beat melody to accompany this song.
by Michelle Brinkman
Lesson Blueprints
All Are Welcome Orff Blueprint
This lesson is also available as a Blueprint accompanying projectable visuals, downloadable card decks, and a student worksheet.
National Core Arts Standards #1 – Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Objectives
Create a rhythm using text and Elemental Building Bricks.
Compose an eight-beat pentatonic melodic pattern.
Materials
Book: All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
Welcome Cards & PowerPoint (optional)
Worksheet (optional)
History
Carl Orff and his associate, Gunild Keetman, developed the Orff-Schulwerk approach to teaching music in Germany during the 1920s. It is an active music-making approach in which children learn musical behavior by creating, listening, analyzing, and performing through speech, singing, movement, body percussion, and instruments. The Orff approach teaches musical skills and concepts through a four-stage learning process: imitation, exploration, literacy, and improvisation.
Lesson Overview
This Orff pentatonic composition lesson featuring All Are Welcome, a children’s book by Alexandra Penfold, uses Keetman’s Rhythmic Building Bricks to identify the rhythm of the word “welcome” in different languages to compose an eight-beat melody in C pentatonic.
Add the chant All Are Welcome Here every time this phrase appears in the book.
Helpful Hint: Adding snaps on the rests prevents students from rushing.
Discuss the meaning of “All Are Welcome Here.”
Layer in the body percussion.
Perform piece.
Speech
Body percussion only (whisper words/audiate)
Speech and body percussion
Lesson 2: Barred Instruments
Review the chant with body percussion.
Teach the song using echo imitation.
Inspired from Rhythmische Übung by Gunild Keetman #17
Text and melody by Michelle Brinkman
All Are Welcome Here. All Are Welcome Here. All Are Welcome Here at School! All Are Welcome Here. All Are Welcome Here. All Are Welcome Here at School!
Set up barred instruments in C pentatonic (remove F & B bars)
Teach melody by rote.
Label as A section.
Lesson 3: Rhythmic Building Blocks
Create a list of different ways to say “welcome.”
Display rhythmic building bricks.
Sort “welcomes” to fit the Keetman’s Rhythmic Building Bricks.
Create an eight-beat rhythmic pattern using four rhythmic building brinks using elemental forms.
Provide an example pattern.
Students create their patterns using an Elemental Form.
Elemental music is pattern-based music built on natural speech and body rhythms, familiar melodic patterns, and simple forms that can be learned, created, understood, and performed without extensive technical or theoretical musical training. – Definition by Nick Wild
Elemental Forms – Each letter is replaced with one of the “Welcomes.”
AAAB
ABAB
ABBA
ABAC
Students notate their compositions on their worksheets. – Optional
Lesson 4: Student Composition
At barred instruments, students perform their rhythms on C.
Students repeat playing their phrase any two notes of their choosing, beginning and ending on C.
Continue adding a note until students can improvise using all of the notes in the pentatonic scale. (beginning and ending on C)
Discuss the idea of what makes a melody sound best with students.
Use notes that repeat.
Choose notes that move by skip or step.
Perform as a Rondo, using Rhythmische Übung by Gunild Keetman #17 inspired melody section and student improvisations for contrasting sections.
Extension
The song Hello, Hello by Dan Zanes works in conjunction with this book beautifully.
The lesson sketch Say Hello by Michelle Brinkman also works well with this lesson.
Compose a different ostinato pattern to accompany the A section.
Students create a dance to accompany the A section.
References
Keetman, G. (1970). In Rhythmische Übung (p. 6). essay, B. Schott’s Söhne. #17
Penfold, A., & Kaufman, S. (2020). All Are Welcome. Scholastic Inc.
titusXpullo. (2011, July 24). Hello. YouTube. Retrieved February 8, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zLqp7C5Uqg
Michelle Brinkman has 23 years of experience teaching PreK-8 general music and is currently the K-5 music specialist at Nora Elementary School in Indianapolis, Indiana. Besides her teaching responsibilities, she also directs a choir, Orff ensemble, and folk-dance club at her school. Michelle…