This study was conducted to observe the impact of Orff-Schulwerk pedagogy-supported movement and dance activities on students’ musical skills. The study group consisted of 15 preschool students aged 5-6 years. Data were collected through the “Observation Form for the Effects of Orff-Schulwerk Pedagogy-Supported Movement/Dance Activities on Musical Skills of Preschool Students”, developed by the researcher. An Educational Programme was designed by the researcher for the data collection process. The musical concepts targeted for student acquisition in this program included: the ability to perceive pitch differences (high/low sounds), the ability to understand the concept of duration in music (musical memory), the ability to understand the concept of tempo in music (fast/slow), the ability to understand the concept of form in music (identifying a musical phrase), developing rhythmic skills (ability to move rhythmically), the ability to perceive nuance differences (piano/forte), and the ability to perform rhythmic and melodic improvisation in accordance with a given theme. A single-group pre-test/post-test design was employed. The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test was used to determine the difference between pre-test and post-test results. An 8-week experimental design was employed, featuring a 6-week educational intervention during which movement and dance-integrated Orff-Schulwerk activities were conducted with 15 students in the sample. The results of the study indicated that Orff-Schulwerk pedagogy-supported movement and dance activities did not lead to a statistically significant improvement in the ability to perceive nuance differences and performing narrative thematic rhythmic improvisation. However, a statistically significant development was identified in the ability to perceive pitch differences, the ability to understand the concepts of duration, tempo, and form, the development of rhythmic skills, and the ability to perform general rhythmic and melodic improvisation.
Tatar et al. (Mon,) studied this question.