Gunild Keetman

Keetman’s works are written for the characteristic “Orff instruments.” This includes the glockenspiel, xylophone, metallophone, recorder, and body percussion. The Music for Children volumes are designed to layer all of these instruments, one step at a time, eventually creating a polyphonic ensemble piece to be performed. These compositions usually consist of basic beat or note patterns, allowing the children flexibility to choose pitches and compositional patterns. Keetman strongly believe that play is essential to learning, and therefore gave students the opportunity to create anew within the wide boundary of her compositions. She also wrote works for the recorder, as this is another key instrument in the Orff Schulwerk approach. It was one of her most beloved instruments to play personally, and she did so throughout her years at the Güntherschule. She later applied what she learned there to compose works for Orff Schulwerk.

In 1945, when Keetman was 41, the Güntherschule was destroyed in an Allied air raid. Keetman and the other members of the school were lost. For years, this establishment had been all they had known, and it was now gone. Keetman stated, “We had our recorders with us; we could not do anything but make music together. In that moment, we played out our entire misery and sadness. I believe that when we finally stopped playing, we had played ourselves a little courage.” It was a result of this event, however, that Keetman turned her writing focus to a significantly younger audience. She began a struggle for educational reform, as she took the ideas and methods of the Güntherschule and applied them to music and movement education for younger children. Administrators were not keen on educational reform during this time, so Keetman had the idea of broadcasting her methods by the radio, and later, television. After successfully broadcasting over radio, television, and records, the approach was becoming a success. In 1950, Keetman and Orff wrote the five Music for Children volumes, enabling the approach to reach an international audience. It was also during this decade that Keetman turned her focus to training teachers at the Orff Schulwerk headquarters in Salzburg. The work had become the essence of her life; she lived and breathed it every moment. She would continue to teach others to teach in this way until her death in 1990.