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Page 1: The Kodaly Concept

The Kodály Concepts

Karen MariE231

Dr. StrandFebruary 17, 2012

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Zoltán Kodály was a champion of music education at the turn of the previous

century. From his modest musical upbringing in various Hungarian towns, he would go

on to become a renowned composer, zealous critic of music education, and passionate

preserver of Hungarian and Eastern European folk music.

On December 16, 1882, Kodály was born in the Hungarian town of Kecskemét.

His father held a job with a train company, which resulted in the family often moving

from town to town down the rail lines towards Vienna. However, when Kodály was

around 12 years old, the family settled in a somewhat long-term manner in the town of

Györ, an ancient and rather large city, which is known for a strong musical tradition and

affinity for the arts that dates back to pre-roman times. Although he never pursued it

professionally, Kodály’s father was an avid amateur musician. He took advantage of the

town’s musical population to perform string quartets and organize other small ensembles

in his home with a variety of local musicians. This early and constant exposure to quality

music shaped Kodály’s musical identity just as much as the folk songs he heard as he

traveled with his father to towns all around Hungary (Legány 333-338).

When he was old enough, Kodály’s parents sent him to the University of

Budapest, where he majored in Hungarian and German studies, per their wishes that he

become a scholar and professor of those subjects. Kodály took to university life

exceptionally well, and was considered a model student. In addition to his studies at the

University, Kodály was enrolled simultaneously as a composition student at the attached

Academy of Music. He was a member of the university orchestra, as well as several

chamber ensembles and choirs, which he enjoyed immensely. Kodály relished in the

social components of music – he valued playing with others more than training for a solo

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career as a performer. As a result of this love of musical camaraderie , he composed a

few large works for the university orchestra, as well as some more intimate choral works

to sing with his friends and colleagues (Legány 339-341). Kodály started out composing

sacred works in compliance with what was popular at the time (two Ave Marias are

among his early compositions), but quickly turned to secular compositions based on the

folk music of his youth. His works from this period are greatly varied (Legány 341-343).

In 1905, Kodály started his lifelong work collecting and preserving Hungarian

and Eastern European folk songs and traditional music. Along with his good friend, Béla

Bartók, Kodály traveled extensively through small towns and villages, recording the

folksongs he encountered on phonograph cylinders. Kodály believed strongly in the

strength and worldwide appeal of Hungarian musical traditions, and sought to preserve

them in their original and unaltered forms. Because of his interest in these types of

music, he became one of the prominant scholars regarding the history of Hungarian

music from the first century all the way to the 20th (Kodály Tempo 28-32). The music he

encountered tremendously shaped his middle and later compositions, and, eventually, his

theories and practices regarding music education. Kodály’s compositions favored choral

pieces and instrumental works based on the folk tunes he had collected, such as the

celebrated Variations on a Hungarian Folksong. He traveled extensively throughout

Europe and North America to conduct his own pieces (Legány 335-336).

Later in his career, Kodály turned his primary focus to improving the state of

music education in his native Hungary, and the implications of his concepts have

continued to influence music education all over the world. He enjoyed widespread

recognition as one of the most important musical pedagogues of his day, and was

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appointed to professorships and given honorary degrees from many major musical

institutions. (Legány 336-337).

The Kodály Method is the result of Kodály’s concepts regarding music

education. Kodály did not actually develop the method himself – rather, his students and

followers have devised the method based on his teachings.

According to Kodály scholar Biljana Bojovic, the Kodály method can be broken

down into six principles, which will be examined in this paper:

“I Principle – music for allII Principle – musical literacy for all

III Principle – singingIV Principle – starting musicianship at a very young age

V Principle – using music of the mother tongueVI Principle – using music of high artistic value”

(Bojovic)

Kodály educators believe strongly that music is something in which all people,

regardless of circumstance, deserve an education. Kodály is quoted as saying that

“Music is not a toy for a very few selected people… music is spiritual food for

everyone” (Howard 27). Because of this philosophy, Kodály educators take steps to be

as inclusive as possible for students. They utilize the voice as their main instrument in

teaching music, because everyone possesses one naturally, making it the ideal instrument

to reach the multitudes. There is no need to have expensive instruments and equipment

in order to learn music, because the voice is free and accessible to all people. Followers

of the Kodály concepts also focus on singing because they believe that “what we

produce by ourselves is better learned; and there is a stronger feeling of success and

accomplishment” associated with singing as opposed to instrumental performance, and

that “learning through singing should precede instrumental training” ("Organization of

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American Kodály Educators"). In other words, singing is a vehicle to better

internalization and personalize the understanding of musical concepts, which can then be

applied to both vocal and instrumental music. Additionally, because “there is a stronger

feeling of success and accomplishment” associated with singing, students are more

likely to continue further in their musical education, which in turn causes them to

become more literate in music ("Organization of American Kodály Educators").

Musical literacy is another important pillar of the Kodály method. Kodály

believed that people should be able to “read music in the same way that an educated

adult will read a book:  in silence, but imagining the sound” (More). Kodály imagined a

society where a person could pick up a score and “read” a piece of music in his/her/their

head for their own enjoyment. To this end, Kodály educators put a strong emphasis on

the use of Solfege for the purpose of becoming proficient at sight singing and audiation.

They use movable do solfege, meaning that the tonic note of any key is assigned the do

syllable. This method of using solfege causes students to better internalize pitches within

a key as related to one another, as opposed to individual notes. The Kodály Solfege

Hand Sign System (alternatively the Curwen-Glover system) is a system of hand

symbols designed to help students visually and kinesthetically understand how pitches

relate to each other. When using the hand sign system, teachers use the following hand

shapes to represent pitches in a diatonic scale:

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As the pitch ascends, so does the height of the hand in space (Howard 28). By training in

this system, students are able to visually, kinesthetically, and aurally differentiate

between the pitches in the scale. This translates to them being able to hear the

differences and recognize the relationships between pitches more accurately both

internally and externally, which leads to better sight singing, audiation, and musical

literacy.

Kodály education starts at a very young age. Teachers start by building on the

musical skills children develop naturally – the ability to hear and sing silly songs,

playground tunes, etc. From there, they employ a method of “Preparation, Presentation,

Practice” – that is, the foundations of skills or concepts are introduced within the

confines of concepts already being practiced, then they are presented as a separate skill,

and finally the skill is put into performance practice. For example, a class may be

working on the concept of pulse, but the teacher could be preparing them to be able to

identify strong and weak beats by having them stomp and clap on alternate pulses. Once

the students can do this, the teacher will “put a name to” the concept of strong and week

beats formally, and then practice the “new” skill in a piece of music (Boshkoff 31). This

method of sequential instruction helps students succeed by building on information they

are already confident with. As the student ages, more and more complex layers can be

added in a spiral style curriculum or other type of scaffolding method ("The Kodály

Concept").

In keeping with the concepts of building on familiar information, Kodály

educators utilize folksongs from student’s own cultures to teach musical concepts.

Kodály believed that students who sang songs in their “mother tongue” would more

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easily learn and be able to integrate the musical concepts they were studying into their

everyday lives, because they already performed such songs at home and with their peers

and families. Kodály educators also use folk songs because they have the ability to teach

all of the basic musical concepts. The songs have the added benefit of being “the

classical music of the people, and, as such, is a perfect bridge leading to and working

hand-in-hand with-art music” ("Organization of American Kodály Educators"). This

means that folk songs provide a ready highway to learning more advanced music

because art music of any country is directly or indirectly the result of the folk music of

said culture.

Using those high level compositions in education is another cornerstone of

Kodály education. After being frustrated in his search for high quality music to use in his

pedagogy, Kodály composed several quality pieces himself. Regardless of their origin,

Kodály educators strive to use the highest quality of music available to them. Kodály

believed that "the pure soul of the child must be considered sacred; what we implant

there must stand every test, and if we plant anything bad, we poison his soul for life"

("Organization of American Kodály Educators"). This philosophy demands that students

be provided with the music of the greats, so that they can develop a quality musical

palate, and can avoid being “poisoned” by inferior music. If a student can appreciate and

understand complex art music, they will be more inclined to continue their relationship

with music throughout their life because they will get more enjoyment out of the study.

The combination of these principles is what makes Kodály education so effective

in multiple disciplines. Although the majority of the early education is confined to

singing and vocal repertoire, the foundation of musical skills that is established is easily

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applied to instrumental education. Instrumental teachers can incorporate Kodály’s

concepts regarding musical literacy and availability, the quality of music, the age at

which musical education should begin, and the use of folk music into their curriculum

with almost no adaptation, because they are purely philosophical or musical

considerations. Concepts regarding the voice and solfege require a little more creativity

to appropriately integrate into an instrumental classroom. For example, when tuning

instruments, students can be told to sing the tuning note before attempting to produce the

same pitch with their instrument. Additionally, instrumental students can still solfege

and hand sign the music they are performing before they play it. This would accomplish

the same goal of improving audiation and sight-reading that it does for vocal students.

Using solfege as another way to identify notated pitches helps instrumentalists develop

good interval relation skills just as it helps singers. While it is a little different and

requires a little more thought, the application of Kodály education is an invaluable tool

in instrumental education (Howard 27-33).

The Kodály method of music education is a flexible set of concepts regarding

teaching children and others music in a way that will benefit them in life regardless of

whether or not they choose to pursue music beyond school. The belief that music is a

necessary part of a complete person drives an educational philosophy that tries to reach

as many students as possible, and keep them engaged for as long as possible. The

methods involved are all gears in this larger ideal: that music is the right of all people,

because it “is spiritual food for everyone” (Howard 27).

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This lesson plan, by Ruth Boshkoff, includes practice of rhythmic concepts and

preparation of the note re. It clearly illustrates the “Preparation, Presentation,

Practice” method of sequencing outlined by the Kodály Method.

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Hypothetical lesson plan #2

In this lesson, I would prepare dominant triads, present first inversion triads, and practice

solfege use to identify relationships between notes.

Using the song La Cucaracha, I would first have students sing the melody based on the

hand signs I present, then give them the notated music to see. After they had successfully

sung the melody, I would make them aware that using only do me and sol like they have

been doing for quite some time now, they made a new kind of triad when they sing the

first five notes – a first inversion triad. I would then explain what a first inversion triad

is. Also included in this piece is a dominant triad, which will be expanded on in the next

lesson. In this lesson, the students have practiced using solfege to sing intervals.

Hypothetical lesson plan #3

In this lesson, I would expand on the concept of dominant triads that had been prepared

in the previous lesson. I would have the students sing the song on solfege again, and ask

them to identify what notes were different between the notes in the first line and the

notes in the third line. They will say the first line has sol, do, and me, and the third has

sol, ti, and re. I would then explain that they had been singing a dominant triad, which is

the five chord in music. The students will have practiced first inversion triads and using

solfege to sing intervals.

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Works Cited

Legány, Dezső. Kodály’s World of Music in His Childhood and Early Youth. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó , 1980. 333-343. Print.

Kodály, Zoltán . "Folk Music and Art Music in Hungary." Tempo. 36 (1962): 28-36. Print.

"Organization of American Organization of American Kodály Educators Educators:Organization of American Kodály Educators:Kodály Philosophy." Organization of American Kodály Educators. OAKE, 2010. Web. 13 Feb 2012. <http://www.oake.org/aboutus/kodalyphilosophy.asp&xgt;.

Bojovic, Biljana . The Kodály Method: Its Modern Validity. MA thesis. Butler University, 2010. Web.

Howard, Priscilla. "Kodály Strategies for Instrumental Teachers." Music Educators Journal. 82.5 (1996): 27-33. Print.

More, Connie. "Kodaly Quotes." Kodaly Society of Canada. Kodaly Society of Canada, n.d. Web. 15 Feb 2012. <http://kodalysocietyofcanada.ca/quotes.html>.

"The Kodaly Concept." . Music Education Institute of Australia, n.d. Web. 15 Feb 2012. <http://www.kodaly.org.au/the-kodaly-concept.html>.

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References

"Teachers: Kodály 101." Classics for Kids. Cincinnati Classical Public Radio, Inc.,

2012. Web. 17 Feb 2012.

This is a great, very basic overview of the Kodály concepts. There isn’t much

information beyond the bare essentials, but it is a good jumping off point for learning

more.

Young, Percy. "Kodály as Educationist." Tempo. 63 (1962): 37-49. Print.

This is an article that gives a little more background information about Kodály

and his personal views on music education.

Winters, Geoffrey. "The Kodály Concept of Music Education." Tempo. 92 (1970): 15-

19. Print.

This is an article that is a little more involved in the nitty gritty of the Kodály

concepts. It assumes the reader has a base level of knowledge of Kodály’s concepts, and

expands on a few important points.

"The American Folk Song Collection at Holy Names University." Holy Names

University, 2011. Web. 13 Feb 2012. <http://kodaly.hnu.edu/>.

This resource has a lot of interesting videos and articles both about Kodály

himself and the Kodály concepts. It’s a good place to get a general education about the

man and his work.

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"Home Page Music You Can Read Kodaly Orff Solfeggio Elementary Music

Curriculum." Music Notes, Inc, 2012. Web. 16 Feb 2012.

<http://musicnotes.net/Index_2003.html>.

This is a huge database of folk songs and their notation, all for free. It is a great

resource for finding new repertoire, whether the teacher takes the music directly from

the site or just uses it for ideas.

International Kodály Society. International Kodály Society, 2010. Web. 13 Feb 2012.

<http://www.iks.hu/>.

This is the homepage of the International Kodály Society. They have

biographical information, newsletters, links, etc. Additionally, they sponsor workshops

on becoming a better Kodály educator that teachers can attend.

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