Bar Basics and Beyond:
Getting Started with Orff Instruments
Welcome to your guided introduction to barred percussion instruments in the elementary music classroom! In this hands-on, joyful lesson kit, David Row walks you through foundational Orff Schulwerk practices that blend creativity, storytelling, and musical skill-building.
Across twelve engaging videos, you’ll explore everything from choosing and setting up the instruments to introducing melody, harmony, and improvisation through songs, poems, and picture books. You'll learn how to teach steady beat, drones, and bordun patterns using imaginative movement and body percussion, plus how to rotate students through mallets, recorders, and instruments with purpose and ease.
Whether you're a new teacher or just new to Orff instruments, this course offers practical strategies, playful activities, and clear explanations to help you build a confident, musical, student-centered classroom. Along the way, you’ll also get tools for connecting with the larger Orff community and growing your practice beyond the basics.
Twelve Engaging Videos
Join David Row in his classroom for a step-by-step series on teaching your students to use Orff instruments. Get practical strategies and creative activities you can use right away.
Homework & Downloads
Printable resources and reflection prompts help you take what you’ve learned from the lesson kit and put it into action. Perfect for immediate use or saving for future inspiration.
Four Hours of P.D.
Earn a 4-hour certificate of completion while learning at your own pace. This lesson kit is designed to be as effective as it is enjoyable—professional growth that feels like play.
David Row loves teaching music to kids! A Nebraska native and Midwesterner at heart, David now lives and teaches in the Kansas City metro area for the DeSoto Unified School District. He holds a Master’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory, Orff Schulwerk certification, and has extensive experience with critical thinking in the arts. David is an active clinician and has presented workshops at national, state, and local conventions across the United States and Canada. He is an AOSA-approved Orff Schulwerk teacher educator and teaches Level I and Level II Pedagogy each summer in Orlando and St. Louis. On his blog, Make Moments Matter, and through his podcast David shares ideas about classroom content, management, lesson plans, critical thinking, and more. Catch up with David every week on his “Musical Mondays” LIVE videos on Facebook.
Lesson Kit
$79
USD
- Professional growth that feels like play!
- Learn at your own pace
- Twelve engaging videos
- Printable resources
- Homework prompts for deeper reflection
- 4 hour certificate of completionÂ
