How does the Kodály Method work?
Taken from David Vinden’s ‘Introduction to the Kodály concept’ pg 2-3
Very simply, the Kodály Concept could be summed up as the practice and belief in musicianship development through singing. Kodály educators believe that the learning process should start as early as possible through the learning and singing of unaccompanied songs and good art material.
A sequential learning process should be used with the main view that one proceeds from the simple to the complex by logical steps and that regular exposure to music is essential…. (as is any successful learning situation).
Music for everyone is a fundamental belief because music is such an uplifting experience…
"It sheds light on those regions of the soul that cannot be reached by any other means”
Zoltán Kodály.
Musicianship through singing should precede instrumental work and then continue alongside it once it has begun. Singing is fundamental to Kodály because it is the finest means of music making, is inbuilt in mankind, and is the best way of ensuring a connection with the Inner Hearing, that most essential aspect of any musician.
The learning process works as follows:-
1. Students start by learning a bank of selected songs which contain the basic elements which they will need to learn….unconsciously at first.
2. Step by step each musical element is made conscious when it is right to do so, i.e when the preparation work has been done fully at the unconscious stage.
3. The last stage sees the reinforcing of the element by consciously experiencing it in new material.
This cycle of Unconscious…Conscious and Reinforcing is an ongoing growth of music experience.
Why singing?
The singing voice is nature's in-built musical instrument. Kodály educators believe it is the birthright of every child to learn how to express him/herself musically through the singing voice." If, through the reading of music, a child has reached the stage where he is able to sing a small masterpiece in two parts with another child, he has acquired a hundred times as much music than if he had thrashed the piano from sunrise to sunset."
Zoltan Kodály
