Orff Music Therapy: An Overview

This article provides a brief introduction to Orff Music Therapy, an approach to music therapy developed in Germany by Gertrud Orff at the Kinderzentrum München in Munich, Germany. It has been used as a therapy with children with developmental delays and disabilities for over thirty years at the Kinderzentrum München. In the meantime, as a result of training courses, it is also used in numerous other institutions for children and youth with developmental disabilities in Germany. The development of music therapy within the clinical setting of social pediatrics and the use of elements of Orff-Schulwerk are two factors which have had a strong influence upon the philosophy, principles and practice of this form of music therapy. A brief discussion of the historical background, the theoretical foundations and the principles and practice Orff Music Therapy will provide the reader with an overview of Orff Music Therapy. Two clinical examples will illustrate this work.