Carl Orff, the great music educator, said “Music is chosen with strong nationalistic flavor, being related to folk songs and music of the child’s own heritage.” (“The Orff Approach to Music Education” By Gloria Day)
I would rather teach folk songs in my classes and programs than composed music for many reasons:
*Folk songs have stood the test of time
*Folk songs reflect the culture, values and stories from the countries they're from
*They are often really fun and easy to sing!
*They are not copyright protected!
*I tell the students that we can't wear the same clothes or eat the same food that people of our history did, but we can sing the same songs and dance the same dances.
American folk songs include:
Great folk song links:
Check out the indices on the right column to find hundreds of folk songs!
