Following on from my last post, in this article I summarise the book chapter The Kodály Method in Lois Choksy’s book Teaching Music in the Twenty-First Century. This research has been prompted by my PhD studies and any feedback and suggestions are welcome. Please feel free to comment in space below.
Zoltan Kodály (1882-1967), an Hungarian composer and teacher, designed a comprehensive system of music education in 1940s and 1950s. Despite his system being called the ‘Kodály Method,’ it is more accurately a combination of other approaches to music education. Solfa originated in Italy; tonic solfa came from England; rhythm syllables are based on those created by Emile-Joseph Chevé; solfa techniques are taken from Dalcroze and; hand-signing was adapted from John Cowes’s approach. The Kodály Method is unique in that it is a combination of these individual approaches (Choksy 2001 p. 81)
Kodály developed an extremely comprehensive philosophy and set of objectives in his method. His philosophy includes six areas (further details of which can be found on page 82 of Choksy’s article)
These six philosophies are then followed by a set of four principal objectives of the Kodály Method. The Method aims to:
The implementation of the philosophy and subsequent achievement of the objectives are laid out in a very clear approach that Kodály bases on the child’s development, that is, based on the abilities of a child at different stages of growth. Through his research, Kodály discovered how children learn pitch and in a deeper sense intervals. As such in the early stages of the Method, the melodic training is centred around (but not limited to) three-note songs (la-so-mi), tetratonic songs (so-mi-re-do), and pentatonic songs (la-so-mi-re-do). The reason for these choices was prompted from the folk songs that children sung, such as ‘Ring Around the Rosy,’ and ‘Bye, Baby Bunting.’ Most of these songs were based on major seconds, minor thirds and perfect fourths. As the children’s voices mature, other notes and intervals are added to the melodic training. It is important to note that while the above pitch combinations are used in the earliest stages of the Method, other combinations such as fa-mi and ti-do (the minor second) should be attempted so as to prevent difficulty in the later stages of music education.
Choksy outlines the 3 main tools employed by in Kodály practice. The first of the tools is tonic solfa. This is a system of solfa where the tonic of all major scales is do and all minor scales start on la, regardless of the key. The major scale then becomes the source of all other aspects of music theory. Tonic solfa is particularly useful in developing relative pitch and generating more understanding of pitch and in turn harmonic function. Tonic solfa is further enhanced by the second tool, hand signs.
Zoltan Kodály (1882-1967), an Hungarian composer and teacher, designed a comprehensive system of music education in 1940s and 1950s. Despite his system being called the ‘Kodály Method,’ it is more accurately a combination of other approaches to music education. Solfa originated in Italy; tonic solfa came from England; rhythm syllables are based on those created by Emile-Joseph Chevé; solfa techniques are taken from Dalcroze and; hand-signing was adapted from John Cowes’s approach. The Kodály Method is unique in that it is a combination of these individual approaches (Choksy 2001 p. 81)
Kodály developed an extremely comprehensive philosophy and set of objectives in his method. His philosophy includes six areas (further details of which can be found on page 82 of Choksy’s article)
- All people capable of linguistic literacy are capable of musical literacy.
- Singing is the best foundation for musicianship.
- Music education to be most effective must begin with the very young child.
- The folk songs of a child’s own linguistic heritage constitute a musical ‘mother tongue’ and should therefore be the vehicle for all early instruction.
- Only music of the highest artistic value, both folk and composed, should be used in teaching.
- Music should be at the heart of the curriculum, a core subject, used as a basis for education.
These six philosophies are then followed by a set of four principal objectives of the Kodály Method. The Method aims to:
- develop to the fullest extent possible the innate musicality present in all children.
- make the language of music known to children; to help them become musically literate in the fullest sense of the word—able to read, write, and create with the vocabulary of music.
- make the children’s musical heritage—the folk songs of their language and culture—known to them.
- make available to children the great art music of the world, so that through performing, listening, studying, and analysing masterworks they will come to a love and appreciation of music based on knowledge about music. (Choksy 2001 p. 83)
The implementation of the philosophy and subsequent achievement of the objectives are laid out in a very clear approach that Kodály bases on the child’s development, that is, based on the abilities of a child at different stages of growth. Through his research, Kodály discovered how children learn pitch and in a deeper sense intervals. As such in the early stages of the Method, the melodic training is centred around (but not limited to) three-note songs (la-so-mi), tetratonic songs (so-mi-re-do), and pentatonic songs (la-so-mi-re-do). The reason for these choices was prompted from the folk songs that children sung, such as ‘Ring Around the Rosy,’ and ‘Bye, Baby Bunting.’ Most of these songs were based on major seconds, minor thirds and perfect fourths. As the children’s voices mature, other notes and intervals are added to the melodic training. It is important to note that while the above pitch combinations are used in the earliest stages of the Method, other combinations such as fa-mi and ti-do (the minor second) should be attempted so as to prevent difficulty in the later stages of music education.
Choksy outlines the 3 main tools employed by in Kodály practice. The first of the tools is tonic solfa. This is a system of solfa where the tonic of all major scales is do and all minor scales start on la, regardless of the key. The major scale then becomes the source of all other aspects of music theory. Tonic solfa is particularly useful in developing relative pitch and generating more understanding of pitch and in turn harmonic function. Tonic solfa is further enhanced by the second tool, hand signs.
The hand signs employed by the Kodály Method were originally developed by John Curren in England in 1870. The hand signs (pictured to the right) are a way to reinforce the function of pitch as relative to other pitches within the scale. It has been recognised that singing in tonic solfa and using hand signs makes “tonal memory both more quickly accomplished and more secure” (Choksy 2001 p. 85).
The third tool is the rhythm duration syllables (RDS), otherwise known as time names (see diagram to the left). Similar to tonic solfa, RDS help to train rhythmic function by giving names to each rhythmic unit to show its relative duration. The syllables are adapted from those invented by Emile-Jacques Chevé in the 1800s. Later on in the Method pitch names (e.g. A, B, D-sharp, G-flat) and note values (e.g. crotchet, minim) are introduced.
Once establishing the tools, Choksy goes on to detail the sequence for learning starting with beat and rhythm, melody, form, harmony, expressive elements, inner hearing and finally musical memory. I will not go into great detail on the sequence here as it goes beyond the scope of the summary, however, information can be found pages 88 to 100.
In conclusion, the Kodály Method is a very practical one in the sense that students are regularly creating and interpreting music. The Method develops a secure sense of pitch and rhythm through singing and hand signs. The highly sequential approach ensures that each musical element is fully understood and matched to the development of the child. And it is expected that the Kodály Method will produce a “universal musical literacy” (Choksy 2001 p. 101).
Reference
Choksy, L. (2001). The Kodály Method. Teaching Music in the Twenty-First Century. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice Hall: 81-102.