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Summer School Reviews

Methodology at Summer School
by Celia Waterhouse (from BKA Summer 2002 Newsletter)

All students following Methodology Teaching options at this year's Summer School started the week with an Introductory Lecture given by Sarolta Platthy, Assistant Professor at the Kodály Pedagogical Institute of Music in Kecskemét.
Sarolta began by singing what is probably the best-known of all Hungarian folksongs to the Hungarians themselves - The Peacock. She then played part of a recording of the Peacock Variations by Kodály, as an illustration of how Kodály took folksong as the cornerstone both of his educational philosophy and his art as a composer.

Sarolta summarised the main elements of Kodály's method for the Elementary School as Solfa, Handsigns and Listening to Compositions. Solfa syllables originated in eleventh century Italy. The first known appearance is in Guido d'Arezzo's Plainsong, "Ut Queant Laxis", a simple and beautiful piece composed to teach monks the solfa syllables of the major hexachord to help with sight reading. In the C17th "ut" was changed to "do", "sol" became "so", and "si" was added as the seventh syllable (later changed to "ti"). In the early C19th solfa was used together with handsigns by Sarah Glover of Norwich, to teach music to children in her school.

Sarolta briefly explained how Kodály developed his ideas on music education. on a visit to England he observed John Curwen using solfa and handsigns (learned from Sarah Glover) for choral training, at a time when choral traditions in this country were very strong. In France he saw Chevé's practice of singing exercises with numbers to indicate degrees of the scale, his use of rhythm names ("Ta" and "Taté"), and the "flying note" for learning stave notes. In Germany he observed Agnes Hundoegger making use of pentatonic patterns (from children's songs and folk music) and modes for music education purposes. In Switzerland, Emile Jacques-Dalcroze was developing his refined system of learning about music through movement. Kodály learned from all these gifted music educators and brought their ideas into his own philosophy of music education. The first book of Teaching Methodology was written under Kodály's guidance by Jenó Adám, a student of Kodály.

Kodály believed that the development of all musical skills - singing, rhythm, melody, reading then writing, listening to music, and improvisation - should be based first on hearing experiences which are later made conscious to the listener. Improvisation, the last stage, shows the ability to use a freshly-learned element in creative independent activity.

Kodály's goal in the first four years of elementary music education in Hungary (age 6 - 10) was to "teach so the student can see what he hears and hear what he sees." Kodály wanted to make the learning creative at every level, and to build a system where children meet success rather than failure. Gradual and logical steps to learning were essential to ensure the student achieved "safe knowledge". In Hungary children at this age have three music lessons a week!

Kodály felt that the training of teachers was of the utmost importance. Like Schumann he believed that a music student needs a "well-trained ear, well-trained heart, well-trained intelligence and well-trained hand", all kept in constant equilibrium. But Kodály felt equally that a good teacher needs these attributes in balance too. Bardós, a pupil of Kodály who himself became a Professor of Music, came up with a different model for excellence in teaching . Imagine an equilateral triangle with Teacher, Subject and Pupil at each of the three points. The Teacher must love the Subject and the Pupil. Then the Pupil will love the Subject -and also the Teacher!

Sarolta went on to explain how Kodály's ideas have shaped the way music is taught in the elementary school. The idea of balance is very important in structuring lessons. In class, teachers move quickly from one activity to another, making sure that concentration is interspersed with play and relaxation. They also achieve balance by including a mixture of well-known material and new material, planning in lots of reinforcement of the new. In the first year of music, when children are less able to do individual singing, the class will work best as a group, but this will gradually change up to the age of 10, when there will be a 50/50 mixture of group work and individual singing.
Children learn a different musical style every year, and teachers aim to integrate instrumentalists into music lessons through setting up opportunities to make chamber music. This can be an effective way of giving relevant examples of different musical styles, and builds the experience of listening to live music regularly into music lessons. The idea that music should be an every-day food for the children is deeply ingrained, and above all the children sing almost every day.

Sarolta ended by showing a video of children engaged in a variety of activities in a Hungarian music class. It is astonishing to see Primary age children singing, understanding and enjoying Gregorian Chant when many children in our own Primary Schools are still learning to sing!

Sarolta's talk was a useful way to start the week's Methodology sessions, and gave a clear indication of what is necessary to be a good music teacher: careful planning is essential at every stage to ensure steady progress, instill love of the subject, and achieve success.