Response to "Orff Music Therapy"

By Rasheda S. Jones, undergraduate music therapy student, Georgia College and State University. Email: *email

I have been interested in Orff Music Therapy since I was a freshman Music Therapy major in college, and I would readily recommend this article to all of the freshmen at my school. The descriptions of the history of Orff and the basic theoretical foundations of Orff were quite detailed and informative. The points that piqued my interest the most was how the different methods of Orff Music Therapy were used in the two clinical examples: "Petra" and "Mark."

The clinical example about Mark really helped to reinforce the importance of parents participating in a session with their child who has a developmental disability. I did not know that parental involvement was a crucial element of Orff Music Therapy with this population. Voigt points out that Mark's parents primarily interacted with him to maintain his bodily care. I'm curious to know how many other parents maintain this level of interaction with their children with severe disabilities. Mark's progress, no matter how small, was a success. In this clinical example, it became obvious to me that the more progress that Mark made, the more his parents became comfortable interacting with him musically.

The clinical example with Petra, a non-verbal girl, was one of my favorites because it shows how any object can be integrated into Orff Music Therapy. What really impacted me was the session using the marble and the flutes. I don't think that the activity would have been as successful or responsive with Petra had the Music Therapist not established an great rapport with the girl. It is obvious to me that she felt as if she could communicate in any and all ways with the therapist, given the success of the bead activity during her first block of music therapy. I observed that many students don't understand Orff Music Therapy completely, and limit themselves to large tone blocks, xylophones, and glockenspiels. The role of Orff in my practicum clinicals has morphed over the years from xylophones and mallets to finger puppets, shakers, and even toy animals.

Voigt quotes Hellbrugge: "...medicine alone could not meet the needs of the children whose developmental problems were very complex". I firmly agree with that quote, and I wish that this insight could be transfered to children with other disabilities such as ADHD, EBD, and other mental problems. Many children and adults receive their medication without any therapy to help them cope with their condition.

Hellbrugge presented what I believe is a complete list of professionals who should be involved therapy and recovery. He writes that pediatricians, psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, Montessori-therapists, educators, social workers, and pediatric nurses are important to diagnosis and treatment. I feel that the entire spectrum of professionals was covered in his description, and I found it hard to think of a profession or discipline which was ignored. I even learned a new word-- Montessori, which I will research at a later date.