Doreen Hall

Doreen Hall

Doreen (Foy) Hall. Educator, violinist, b Warrenpoint, County Down, Ireland, 24 May 1921; LRCM 1954, Artist Diploma (Toronto) 1954, FRCMT 1997. Raised in Listowel, near Kitchener, Ont, she studied violin with her father, W.G. Hall, then with Elie Spivak at the Royal Conservatory of Music (then called the Toronto Conservatory of Music). She taught violin 1942-5 at Alma College in St Thomas, Ont, and was head of the string department 1945-51 at Mount Allison University. During the 1940s she performed in concert and on CBC broadcasts. After further studies 1951-4 at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto (RCMT) and, on Arnold Walter's recommendation, 1954-5 on scholarship with Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman in Salzburg, she began teaching at the RCMT. There she introduced the Orff-Schulwerk approach "Music for Children" to North America. She was also a member 1955-6 of the Hart House Orchestra. In 1956 she joined the University of Toronto, lecturing on elementary music education, and in 1957 she devised the university-based summer course "Music for Children - Carl Orff," subsequently becoming director of Orff studies for this course. In 1962 she taught at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She lectured widely and gave teacher training courses at major universities throughout North America. With Arnold Walter she prepared Music for Children (Mainz 1956-61, 5 vols), the first adaptation in English of the Carl Orff-Gunild Keetman publication. Hall's other works are "Music for Children" Orff-Schulwerk Teachers' Manual (Mainz 1960), Nursery Rhymes and Songs (Mainz 1961), Singing Games and Songs (Mainz 1963), and Canons and Rounds (Waterloo, 1981). In 1965 she was special consultant for a CBC National School Broadcasts' three-part series, "Living through Music," which won an Ohio State Award in 1966 for educational broadcasting. She presented Music for Children at Expo 67 with pupils from St. George's School, Montreal. Also in 1967, she presented a program on the CBC series, "Music of Today - Music in Education." She was heard on CBC radio's "Ideas" and "Arts National" and in 1970 she directed and trained children from the RCMT for the CBC film Music to See, Carl Orff.

In 1974 Hall founded the Orff-Schulwerk Society of Canada (later called "Music for Children - Carl Orff, Canada - Musique pour Enfants") and later became its honorary patron. She edited 1975-8 the biannual newsletter Music for Children/Carl Orff Canada/Musique pour enfants (renamed Ostinato in 1982). In 1986 she retired as professor emeritus from the University of Toronto.

In 1977 she received the Merit Award from the American Orff-Schulwerk Association and in 1989 the Canadian Music Council Medal. In 1990 she was awarded the Pro Merito Medal from the Carl Orff Foundation in Germany, and in 2002 was presented with the Distinguished Service Award from the Music Education Division, University of Toronto. Doreen Hall was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2008, and later that year became the first recipient of the North American Alliance Award of Recognition, presented by the collaborative committee of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association and Carl Orff Canada.

Writings

"Music for Children - our ultimate goal," Music for Children/Carl Orff Canada/Musique pour enfants, Conference Issue, 1976

"Music for Children, Past, Present and Future Symposium, Salzburg Austria, July 1975," Music for Children/Carl Orff Canada/Musique pour enfants, no. 4, Feb 1976

"Ten Years in Retrospect," Ostinato, no. 27, 1984

Filmography

Music for Children (NFB 1958)