“The
characteristics of a good musician can be summarized as follows:
1.
A Well-Trained
Ear,
2.
A Well-Trained
Mind,
3.
A Well-Trained
Heart,
4.
A Well-Trained
Hand.
All
four must develop together, in constant equilibrium. As soon as one lags
behind or rushes ahead, there is something wrong”
Zoltan Kodály
This year
Through the Kodály
approach, the ear is trained to hear both pitch and rhythm;
the mind is trained to examine, explore, and analyze music
presented and to cause cooperation between the ear and the voice
reproducing pitch tunefully; the heart is trained to recognize
beauty using the finest music available; the hand is trained to
physically represent pitch and rhythm, causing the student to further
internalize and externally represent the specific musical information.
Referring to
the Pythagorean idea of “ethos” in music, Kodaly states:
"Good music certainly has a
general character-forming influence as it radiates responsibility and
moral solemnity. Bad music lacks in all these. Its destructive effect can
go as far as to undermine the faith and standards in moral law."
Folksongs and the finest
art music have proven to be the most potent and effective for learning
the grammar, logic, and rhetoric of music and musicianship. This method
lends itself exceptionally well to the learning music of the Orthodox
traditions.
do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti…The
beginning language of the Kodály method
uses the relative solfège system, derived from John Curwen’s tonic
solfa and rhythm solfa. Solfège
assists the child in identifying the aural distance between individual
notes and length of rhythmic symbols.
With this training, the children will progress into the use of the
Byzantine “solfege” (ni, pa, vou, ga…) quite easily. We look
forward to the use of this system in the upper grades.
In the beginning stages of music learning (Pre-K), students learn
50-100 songs and games well, without solfège labels. They are encouraged
to respond to music physically and make music physical through the songs
and games. These same songs
and games provide a basis for all music education throughout the
elementary music experience. In
Kindergarten, the students begin to label known songs using the syllables
of the solfège system. As
the children grow, more solfège syllables are added, as are newer, more
sophisticated songs for learning. In
Grade 2, absolute pitch names and American rhythm labels are introduced,
smoothing the transition into the singing, reading, and understanding
Western notation. In
subsequent grades, the students increase their musical grammar, learning
to apply their musical understanding using Orff Instruments (xylophones
and metallophones), the piano and Baroque recorder.
At Agia Sophia, we are proud to offer such an exceptional method
for music education. Of
course, our goal is not only to educate the mind, but the body and soul
as well. This course in music education strives to do just that through
the Kodály method, which engages the ear, the mind, the heart and the
hand.
‘Music
should belong to everyone…music is a spiritual food for which there is
no substitute…there is no complete spiritual life without music…there
are regions of the human soul which can be illuminated only through
music.’
--Zoltan
Kodály
