The Effect Of Kodály Training On Music Teachers’ Sight .

Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal (LICEJ), Volume 6, Issue 3, September 2015The Effect of Kodály Training on Music Teachers’ Sight Singing Skills1Sandra B. Nite, 2Philip Tacka, 2Míchéal Houlahan, 3Patricia Moreno1Aggie STEM, Texas A&M University, USA2Millersville University, USA3Austin Independent School District, USAAbstractMusic teachers need sound musicianship skillsthemselves before they can develop them in theirstudents. However, many music teachers havelimited opportunities to engage in professionaldevelop that maintains and sharpens their skills aftercompleting their college education. Professionaldevelopment is often focused on pedagogy with littleattention to musicianship skills. Music teachers (n 38) in a comprehensive summer graduate Kodálycertificate program that included activities designedto improve musicianship skills were studyparticipants. They completed the following pre- andpost-test tasks: a) sing a known song with solfègesyllables and hand signs, b) sing a known song withrhythm syllables, c) sing a known song with scaledegree numbers, d) sight sing a simple majormelody, and e) sight sing a simple minor melody.Teachers improved their musicianship as illustratedby increased scores on all five of the measures on thepost test, with statistical significance on the increasein four of the five measures. Music teachers needopportunities to engage in programs that improvetheir own skills while honing their teachingstrategies.1. IntroductionOften music teachers do not recognize theimportant role of their own musicianship skills in theeffectiveness of their classroom teaching.Questionnaires designed to investigate professionaldevelopment needs of music teacher indicated theneed for further research in this area, with specialemphasis on needs of specific populations [1; 2; 3].Bowles’ research indicated that teachers wereinterested in the following topics for theirprofessional development: (a) technology (66%), (b)assessment (57%), instrumental/choral literature(53%), (c) standards (45%), (d) creativity (43%), and(e) grant writing (38%). Interestingly, enhancementof their own musicianship was not listed as apriority. Content analysis of the MENC: TheNational Association for Music Education nationalbiennial in-service conferences from 1984-2000revealed that from 1984 to 2000, the number ofperformance-oriented sessions decreased from 59.6%to 17.1% [4]. These findings are puzzling in light ofCopyright 2015, Infonomics Societythe fact that “music teachers do not think of musicmaking and music teaching as two separate aspectsof being music teachers. Instead, in my experience,they describe music-making and teaching as twoessential aspects of their identities that intersect toform and inform the music teacher and positivelyinfluence student learning in a multitude of ways”[5]. Thus, it is of primary importance that teachersdevelop sight-reading skills by learning a songrepertoire that can be used for both the developmentof their own sight reading skills and in their ownclassroom for teaching repertoire and developingstudents’ musicianship skills [6].2. Zoltán Kodály and Music EducationThe Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, onally recognized for creating a new style ofHungarian art music based on the folk music heritageof Hungary [7]. The in-service curriculum for theKodály Certification Program in Texas is based onhis philosophical writings and incorporates principlesof teaching music developed by his colleagues andstudents. His writings on the significance of folkmusic and music education provided the impetus ofdeveloping a new pedagogy for teaching music inschools. A foundation of this pedagogy is musicliteracy. Although he never developed amethodology for teaching music, his philosophicaland pedagogical contributions to the field of musiceducation have become known as the KodályConcept or Kodály Method of music education.Zoltán Kodály was born in Kecskemét, Hungaryon 16 December 1882. As a university student hestudied language and literature and was a member ofthe Eőtvős Collegium. During this time he studiedcomposition at the Ferenc Liszt National Academyof Music in Budapest, Hungary and was awardeddegrees in both composition and teaching in 1904and 1905, respectively. He received a doctorate forhis thesis A Magyar népdal strófaszerkezete [TheStanzaic Structure of Hungarian Folk Song] in 1906.In 1929 Kodály realized that music education shouldbe more systematic or methodical and addressed theneed quality music materials in the curriculum [8].During this time Kodály began to write music that2013

Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal (LICEJ), Volume 6, Issue 3, September 2015was specially composed for school children andmore advanced students. This material is commonlyreferred to as the “Kodály Choral Library” andexamples from this repertoire are routinelyincorporated into musicianship courses in TexasStates. For example in 1941 he wrote Let Us SingCorrectly and provided a guide to achievingacoustically correct vocal intonation. He alsocomposed other two-part music for more advancedstudents that includes Fifteen Two-Part SingingExercises. In 1954 he composed 33 Two-PartSinging Exercises and Tricinia and in 1965 he wrote22 Two Part-Singing Exercises. 77 Two-Part SingingExercises was composed in 1967 and 1968 that werebased on Ainu melodies from Japan. The importanceof early music education and his philosophy of earlychildhood music education is reflected his essay“Zene az ovodában” [Music in the Kindergarten]. In1943 Kodály's 333 Elementary Exercises in SightSinging were published along with four booklets ofPentatonic Music [9]. In a 1945 lecture titled“Hungarian Musical Education,” Kodály examinesthe importance of basing Hungarian musicaleducation on Hungarian folk music. All authenticinternational adaptations of the Kodály Concept useindigenous music of their own culture(s) as the basisfor a music education. Kodály also addressed theefficacy of teaching singing before beginninginstrumental music lessons [10]. In a speech entitled“ Who is a Good Musician” given at the end of the1953-1954 academic year at the Liszt Academy, hesummarized the characteristics of a good musician assomeone that had (1) a well-trained ear, (2) a welltrained intelligence, (3) a well-trained heart and (4) awell-trained hand.Kodály believed that everyone would benefitfrom a music education. “It is the right of everycitizen to be taught the basic elements of music, to behanded the key with which he can enter the lockedworld of music. To open the ear and heart of themillions to serious music is a great thing” (p.77)[10]. Only excellent musicians should teach music inthe classroom. Kodály Certification programsprovide teachers with intensive musicianship trainingas well as music pedagogy to excel in the classroom.“There is a need for better musicians, and only thosewill become good musicians who work at it everyday. The better a musician is the easier it is for himto draw others into the happy, magic circle of music.Thus will he serve the great cause of helping musicto belong to everyone” (p.255) [10].Kodály believed that a music education should bebased on singing and is the most logical startingpoint for a music education:“If one were to attempt to express the essenceof this education in one word, it could onlybe-singing. The most frequent word to beheard on Toscannini’s lips during hisorchestralrehearsalswas“Cantare!”Copyright 2015, Infonomics Societyexpressed in a thousand and one shades ofmeaning” (p.206) [10].“Fortunate indeed is the child who createswith his own voice the first associationlinking it with the picture of the notes. If hestarts singing based on the concepts ofinstrumental techniques, then our endeavorsto make the singing and aural conceptsprimary can hardly succeed. And if he doesnot sing at

Exercises. In 1954 he composed 33 Two-Part Singing Exercises and Tricinia and in 1965 he wrote 22 Two Part-Singing Exercises. 77 Two-Part Singing Exercises was composed in 1967 and 1968 that were based on Ainu melodies from Japan. The im