Triangular dialogues in the Orff-Schulwerk approach: aesthetic experience and critical perspective in music education

Resumen

This paper, grounded in a bibliographic review, aims to highlight the methodological and philosophical dialogues between the Triangular Approach, systematized by Brazilian art educator Ana Mae Barbosa, and Orff-Schulwerk, understood here as the central pedagogical and musical framework of reflection. Drawing on key concepts, we argue that the Triangular Approach’s vertices – artistic making, historical contextualization, and the critical reading of the world through art – resonate with the ideas of Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman. These ideas gain further depth when situated within an active, critical, and culturally grounded perspective of music education. In this sense, we contend that both approaches find fertile ground in aesthetic- musical experiences that extend beyond the act of teaching and learning, opening space for deeper inquiry into what is taught, why it is taught, and how such knowledge connects with learners’ sensory, critical, and cultural dimensions.