This year at Florida’s statewide conference, the All State Orff Ensemble performed a story called The Stonecutter. I loved the folk tale and went looking for a written version to teach it in my own classroom as an orff lesson. I found this really cool series written by an author/illustrator Gerald McDermott. He has The Stonecutter and also a bunch of other folktales from around the globe, and the illustrations are GREAT! They are done in the style of whatever country the folktale is from. He even has a page where he talks about what medium he used to create the pictures, which I thought my art teacher might be able to tie in to and art project.
I’m am planning to build up my collection over time and have an awesome collection of folk tales to use from year to year!
The Story
In the Stonecutter, there is a stonecutter who sees a merchant, and then desires to become the merchant. Suddenly, poof! he is the merchant, but then he keeps seeing someone or something that he thinks is better. Each time, he turns into that thing and then of course, something different comes along that he thinks is more powerful. In the end, he is a mountain, and then feels something chipping away at him, and lo and behold, it is a stonecutter. So everything comes around full circle.
The Song
I created a song to go along with the story. The kids play/sing it each time that the stonecutter sees a new thing that he wants to be. The song is in E pentatonic, so it may feel a little weird to your kids at first, but I did this on purpose to stretch kids into new modes. I usually play it for them on recorder first and THEN sing the words. If you have time, you should totally do a movement activity with beforehand with no words to get it in their ear and then add words the next week. Maybe something working on Laban movement and then at the end of the song, toss a ball and have the kids sing the resting tone.
The Orff Parts
After the kids know the song to The Stonecutter, here are some of the orff instrument parts I’ve added for the lesson:
BASS XYLOPHONE
ALTO XYLOPHONE
You can add or edit the parts as you see fit for your own group. These are targeted toward the specific group of students I have and the time frame we are working with.
The Play
Finally, you can pick kids to act out the scenes using props from your classroom. Some kids will stay on instruments and singing parts.
