There are so many amazing contributors to the field of early childhood music and movement. Each one has a significant amount of experience and research behind it, and all are incredibly valuable. Interestingly, all of the top philosophies share the same foundation: a child-centered approach, developing an inner-ear and the ability to audiate (or hear music in your head without any auditory input), and fostering a love of music-making and the arts in general.

The Kids’ MusicRound and Classroom Jamboree curricula are created with these foundational beliefs in mind. We stand firmly behind the benefits of a research-based, child-centered approach that integrates the key benefits of all the major researchers and philosophers.

You may be familiar with Orff instruments, such as glockenspiels and xylophones, but there is so much more to this philosophy. 

Carl Orff was a German composer and music educator, and the idea of an integrated approach to music education originated with him. Orff incorporates music, movement, drama, and speech into musical activities, allowing for easy cross-curricular integration.

Zoltan Kodaly believed that the voice is the essential first instrument, as almost everyone has one. His work uses folk music and singing as foundational, and he created the solfege system that many music educators use to teach the basics of sight singing. A key element of this philosophy is that the music we use in the classroom must be of absolute top quality.

Across the field of education, we use research-based techniques to support student learning. Music is exactly the same. Children deserve the best we can offer them, which is why Kids’ MusicRound is based on the research of those who have proven their methods are successful. Each pedagogical approach has benefits, and our curriculum development team is careful to incorporate the best of each.

Sources:

Azevedo, Kailen. (2020). “Implementing the Orff Pedagogy for Teaching Music at the Elementary School Level.” Capstone Projects and Master’s Theses. 842. https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/caps_thes_all/842   

Yue, Yuanyang. (2018). “The Effect of an Orff-Based Curriculum on Social Emotional Compentence of Migrant Children in a Suburban Kindergarten in Shanghi.” University of the Pacific, Dissertation. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/3531  

Johnston, Maggie. (2022). “The Kodaly Method: Valid or MIssing the Mark for Developing a Musiking Musician?” University of Denver. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1133&context=musicology_student

Hughes, Meegan. (2024). “Kodaly, Orff, and Dalcroze: A Who’s Who and What’s What.” NAfME. https://nafme.org/blog/kodaly-orff-and-dalcroze-a-whos-who-and-whats-what/

Ryman, Jeffrey Alan. (2019). “Learning new tricks: Teacher self-improvement in Kodaly Solfege study and its relation to student growth.” James Madison University. Masters Theses. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1617&context=master201019 

Goopy, Jason. (2013). “Extra-musical effects and benefits of programs founded on the Kodaly philosophy.” Brisbane Boys’ College and University of Queensland. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1061821.pdf

Dalcroze Society of America. (2026). https://dalcrozeusa.org/about-dalcroze/what-is-dalcroze/

Juntunen, Marja-Leena and Sutela, Katja. (2023). “The effectiveness of music-movement integration for vulnerable groups: a systematic literature review.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10513045/

The Gordon Institute for Music Learning. (2026). https://giml.org/mlt/about/ 

Valerio, Wendy. The alliance for active music making. https://www.allianceamm.org/resources/gordon/