Jolly Music Handbook and Jolly Music Big Book: Level 1
Teaching music skills to children through singing
By Cyrilla Rowsell and David Vinden.
Published by Jolly Learning Ltd, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-84414-143-2 (Handbook),
978-1-84414-144-9 (Big Book)
Reviewed by Christine Wrigley (Summer 2009)
The Music Handbook (Level 1) is the second in the Jolly Music series, and is designed to be used with children aged five-plus to eight-plus, building on the material in the first Jolly Music Handbook (Beginners).
Like the Beginners Music Handbook, the Level 1 Handbook contains 30 tried and tested lesson plans based on Kodály principles, which "bring the best music teaching within the reach of every teacher and child." All the musical material used in the lessons appears in a resources section at the end of the book, together with associated actions, games and teaching activities. There are templates for puppets and rhythm activities, and 7 CDs with clearly-sung teaching and performance tracks for the less-experienced teacher.
The Level 1 Big Book contains the complete repertoire in a large format for use in the classroom. Each rhyme or song includes pulse indications, represented by red hearts, and appealing illustrations to remind the children of the actions or games. Words and notation are cleverly set-out as a reminder for the teacher, on the side of the page that faces away from the children.
The depth and clarity of the overall Jolly Music concept is impressive (this book is the second in a projected series of seven, covering all the Primary years), resulting from lifetimes of dedicated, reflective Kodály practice by both authors.
The Level 1 Music Handbook begins with an introduction which provides a clear rationale for the following lesson plans and choice of musical material. The tools used to facilitate the teaching/learning process are accessibly explained, and there is helpful, easy-to-understand background information about the philosophy behind the Kodály approach.
The lesson plans themselves are well-structured, with meticulous attention to detail. Song and rhyme material is imaginatively linked, gradually enabling children to make the appropriate rhythmic and melodic connections which are so crucial to musical literacy. The four steps in the learning process, as advocated by Kodály, are clearly reflected in the way that each new skill and concept is thoroughly prepared before being made conscious, then reinforced in many imaginative ways and finally used in new musical situations.
The variety of teaching activities and games support multi-sensory learning and make the lessons fun, at the same time as being underpinned by unfailingly secure pedagogical processes.
The resources section will be particularly useful to experienced teachers who may wish to choose materials and activities to devise their own lesson plans. It also provides a progression of activities for each song and rhyme, showing just how much can be made from the material. Who would have thought that a simple 4-bar s m song such as See Saw could be used in 38 bullet-pointed ways, under 9 different headings?
I would highly recommend this book to all Primary music teachers.
This book can be ordered through BKA book service.