(1882 1967)
Zoltan Kodly (1882 1967) a Hungarian composer and
educator which came up with Kodly method inspired by his philosophies
Born in 1882, December 16 in Kecskemet, Hungary
Raised in villages in Hungary
As a boy, he started to composed during his high school
Later, he furthered his study in Franzs Liszt Academy and University of Hungary and later on received his PhD in linguistic (both in German and Hungary)
Who
The Kodly concept encompasses 2 key elements.
- It is a philosophical approach to teaching music
- It is a unique course of sequential musical
instruction (Bacon, 1993).
What
During his period of life, most of the people in
Hungary especially the rich had always emphasized on German language as well as Austrian and German songs.
The poor will still hold on to their culture.
Realizing this, Kodly and his good friend Bela Bartok did some researches on the origin of Hungarian music in the early 1900s.
Kodly began his career as an ethnomusicologist and
began to collect Hungarian folk tunes with Bela Bartk
He maintained a lifelong interest in this field, publishing many collections of music and scholarly studies, and these activities had an equally important influence on his own compositional style.
They managed to publish one collection.
Also, Kodly composed 20 music books for school students
It starts with simple material for preschool children and later on slowly moved to four-part works of difficulties.
Kodly uses a lot of Hungarian traditional music idiom in songs he composes. Example Dances of Marossek and Dances of Galanta.
The period between 1923 and 1939 was the most
creative stage in Kodlys life.
He composed his most famous pieces during these years, such as Psalmus Hungaricus (for chorus and orchestra, a very important piece that marked a turning-point in his career internationally), Hry Jnos Suite, Summer Evening, Peacock Variations, and Concerto for Orchestra.
In addition to compose, he wrote several articles on
ethnomusicology, and Hungarian music and culture
Moreover, of particular interests are his writings on the importance of folk music and his analyses of Bartks music; the latter became the basis of aesthetics in Bartks music
Kodlys intense interest in folk music appeared
around the year of 1904.
His early works are much related to Brahms music because of the dominant culture approach to it in Hungary
Hungarian folk music and the music of Debussy made a great effect on Kodly after the year of 1904.
Although his music was a synthesis of those
elements, the prominent part of his music was folk tunes.
Kodly created a new, unique and homogeneous compositional style with the blend of monodic folk tunes and Western art music.
He later named his music as real Hungarian art music.
Monody has two meanings:
1) it is sometimes used as a synonym for monophony, a single solo line, in opposition to homophony and polyphony; and
2) in music history, it is a solo vocal style distinguished by having a single melodic line and instrumental accompaniment
Kodly was the International Folk Music Council and
International Society for Music Education president.
After the World War II, he continued to write educational works and supervised his collected and published folk material until his death.
He died in Budapest in 1967
Kodaly Method
Music for everyone
Children must learn to read music when they learn to read
It was after 1925 that Kodly gave particular
attention to musical training for young musicians
The first step of Kodlys interest on music education was teacher training.
Kodly method is used at all Hungarian public schools. Example of the curriculum~
This method is based on
listening
singing
creating
Through listening, the method also emphasizes ear
training.
Since every instrument imitates a singing tone, the child first has to hear how the tone should be formed on his instrument.
The child will be a better performer if he can sing the structural material of the pieces he plays
(Daniel, 1968:20-24)
According to Kodly, singing is the best way to learn
music because human voice is the most natural instrument and singing is the most natural musical activity.
Because this method is also applied in schools in other countries, every country uses its own folk material.
However, folk music was not to be the only material of the method (Choksy, 1974)
Thus, every student learn how to read and write
music in his mother tongue because Kodly believed that the acculturation had to begin with the establishment of ones own national cultural roots as the basis for further cultural development. (Madden, 1983: 19)
Literacy is another important part of the method because
Kodly believed that the only way to achieve high musical culture was through literacy.
He used the term musical mother tongue, which was referred to folk song.
According to James Madden by music literacy, Kodly meant the ability to read, write, and comprehend music.
A person should be able to understand music one has heard with as much clarity as though one were looking at a score; if necessary -and if time permits- one should be able to reproduce such a score. (Madden, 1983: 20)
Four objectives of Kodly musical training
To develop to the fullest extent possible the innate musicality present in all children
To 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
To make the childrens musical heritage - the folk
songs of their language and culture- known to them
To make available to children the great art music of the world, so that through performing, listening, studying, and analyzing masterworks they will come to love and appreciation of music based on knowledge about music.
Tools of the method
There are 3 tools used in Kodly method
Movable-do system
Rhythm
Hand signs
Movable do system originated from Guido
dArezzo
A music theorist from Italy during Medieval period
Guido dArezzo is famous with Guidonian Hand where it was used as a mnemonic devise to help in learning sight-singing for singers during that era.
The syllabus for teaching movable-do used by Kodly was developed by Sarah Glover and later refined by John Curwen in 19th century when he went to England and observed choral training there.
Movable -do
Movable-do means that the do is not fix. It moves
according to the key of the song
Example:
Twinkle twinkle in the key of C , G , Bb
As mentioned before, Kodly believes that voice is
the natural instrument of a human and he stressed on singing a lot.
During his interaction with children, Kodly realized that children cannot sing notes which are in semitone in tune
Since Kodly himslef do not encouraged inaccurate intonation, he used PENTATONIC SCALES in his teaching because there are no semitones in the scales and it is rooted in Hungarian folk song
The singing method of Kodly are basically similar
to Orff where it starts of with
sol
mi la
do
re
Pitch syllable will be added according to the level
Fa & ti
fi & si & ta
With the added pitch syllable as years passes by, one can be able to sing in modes and accurately
Kodly chose a syllable system similar to that French
solfege
These syllables are not names but expression of duration
It is represented through stick rhythm notation
Rhythm
Rhythm names
Hand Signs
Credited to John Curwen
Incorporated by Hungarian teachers
To show and visualize in space how high-low relationship of notes are being sung
The child performing hand signs uses only 1 hand ; the hand which he/she writes
Notes above are shown using ( ) to indicate the high and low pitch
example of high do ----------------do
fa ----------------- fa
example of low do ---------------- do,
so ------------------ so,
In writing we only using the first letter
do d
re r
When combining stem notation + solfege + lyrics
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