WCDS music teacher earns certificate
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on September 25, 2005 2:03 AM
Rebecca Fordham, music teacher at Wayne Country Day School, recently spent three weeks at the University of Memphis studying Orff Schulwerk under the only surviving student of composer Carl Orff.
Ms. Fordham received a $2,800 scholarship from the Gunild Keetman Assistance Fund to attend the course. The Orff Schulwerk approach to music education is based on things children already enjoy doing, like clapping, dancing, and keeping a beat.
At the end of two weeks, she earned a certification in Orff Schulwerk; the third week, she continued in a select master class.
In addition to the Orff method, Ms. Fordham teaches Kindermusik to children as old as 7. she was recently inducted into the Delta Lambda chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an honorary teachers' society. In November, she will attend her first national Orff conference in Birmingham, Ala. Next year, she plans to take courses toward her master's degree in Orff Schulwerk at the Univ ersity of Memphis and hopes to apprentice for a nationally-renowned Orff specialist.