Robert Rohr

Robert Nikolaus Rohr (born August 4, 1922 in Vršac , Kingdom of Yugoslavia ; † January 10, 2008 in Munich ) was a Danube Swabian musicologist, musician, educator and writer.

Life

Rohr grew up in Vršac. He attended the "Private German Teacher Training Institute" in Vrbas and in 1941 passed his first teaching examination. During the Second World War he served from May 1942 in the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" and later in the 11th Infantry Division . On April 29, 1945 he was seriously injured in the Battle of Berlin . After the war, he was able to work as a primary school teacher in the Upper Palatinate from 1948 . In 1952 he moved to Munich, where he worked as a teacher and soon also as the rector of special schools. In 1963 he married Margarete Weilinger, who came from Weißkirchen and also worked as a teacher at a special school. Both worked in school until 1984. In addition to his school commitment, Robert Rohr was an enthusiastic musician and led the band “ Original Donauschwaben ” with the “Danube Duo” for over 20 years . The group released several records with brass music songs, for which Robert Rohr wrote the lyrics. He also dealt intensively with cultural and musicological topics. From 1960 he studied the music and culture of the Danube Swabians and published books on the subject. Robert Rohr's cultural and musical interest has given rise to musicological works about the Danube Swabians. His method of learning to read and write remains a valuable tool for parents and educators to this day. Robert Rohr died on January 10, 2008 in Munich.

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Rohr developed a playful approach to learning to read and write. Children with reading and writing difficulties should also be able to read and write this way. His method is based on playful learning and combines auditory and visual impressions with gestures. Since every child learns differently, different senses are addressed. This makes it easier for all types of learners to discover and memorize letters and sounds. Robert Rohr's strength was to bring the learning material closer to children who found it difficult to convert spoken language into writing and vice versa. Even weak students (e.g. with reading and writing difficulties , formerly called dyslexia ) are introduced to reading and writing. The sounds are connected with various sensory associations: In addition to hearing and seeing, hand movements are also part of the learning method. This increases the learning effect and the sounds and letters are better remembered. Robert Rohr's method is astonishing, especially for his time, in which educational approaches such as learning through play and combining different sensory impressions were not commonplace. His ideas and suggestions can still be used by educators and parents to this day.

In his book Lega and Steni - A Learning System to Avoid or Correct Reading and Spelling Difficulties (Dyslexia) Robert Rohr tells the story of the siblings Lega and Steni, who try to overcome their reading and writing problems together. Robert Rohr's learning method is based on hearing, seeing, speaking and showing (hand signals or vocal gestures). For example, the hand movement for the letter M is a circular hand movement over the stomach, combined with a humming "mm" sound. Most of the book consists of practical exercises on the individual sounds and letters. Each letter is explained with an illustration, a little story, the sound and the hand movement. After each new letter, exercises follow that consolidate what has been learned. Robert Rohr observed an increase in the ability to concentrate, stamina and willingness to learn in his students, whom he taught to read and write using his method. The book first appeared in 1979 and was reprinted in 2010 by Rottenbücher Verlag.

Publications (selection)

Robert Rohr published poems, books, essays and records with his band over the course of his life.

• Our sounding legacy , contributions to music history. From the beginning until 1918, Passavia Verlag Passau 1988.
• The boys' chapels of the Danube Swabians , Munich 1998
• Bavaria and its Danube Swabians. Musical-cultural points of contact and similarities . Donauschwäbische Kulturstiftung, Munich 1991. ISBN 3-926276-15-0
• Our sounding legacy Volume II - From the musical life of the Danube Swabians from 1918 to the present . Chemnitzer Verlag, Zwickau 1994. ISBN 3-926276-20-7
• Late Harvest (Poems), 1996
• Brass music of the Danube Swabians in historical recordings . Donauschwäbische Kulturstiftung, Munich 1999. ISBN 3-926276-38-X
• Late harvest (poems and stories), 2002
• The Danube Swabia and Baden Württemberg: musical-cultural points of contact and similarities , 2004
• "Our songs" (CD), 2004
• Contemplative hours (poems), 2005

Web links

• “Lega and Steni” published by Rottenbücher .
• Robert Rohr biography .
• Danube Swabia in Upper Austria - Robert Rohr .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Stephan-Heinrich Pollmann: Music researcher Robert Rohr died. In: Banater Post of February 5, 2008.