Kodaly...What? Who? and How do you even pronounce that?

First, let me say, I LOVE KODALY (pronounced co-die).  Ok, so I've never actually met the man himself, but his method is pretty great!  In 2012, I finished my master's degree at West Chester University with a concentration in the Kodaly Method.  It was the best thing I have ever done in my teaching career and studying the Kodaly Method has really changed how I think about teaching my students music concepts.

In short, Zoltan Kodaly was a Hungarian musician, composer and educator who strongly believed that the best way to get kids interested in music was to expose them to songs, musical games and dances from their own culture.

The main goals of Kodaly are to instill a love of music in every student and to enable them to become musically literate.  In my music classroom, you will see the Kodaly Method in action in almost every aspect of what we do.  As I prepare my lessons, I focus on three main facets of teaching a new concept: preparing, presenting and practicing.

Preparing:
 I believe that it is important for the students to internalize each musical concept, which might mean feeling, hearing and even performing the new concept before actually knowing what it looks like or what it is called.  Students in my classroom will play games, sing songs and participate in listening activities that contain the new concept in order to prepare them for when I actually label it.


Presenting:
My favorite part about being a teacher is getting to see all of those "light bulb" moments, when a student finally understands a new skill or concept.  Often they are even able to make the connections on their own, sometimes before I label it.  The days I present a new concept are the best days for seeing those "light bulbs" turn on!  After preparing for several weeks to identify a mystery note or rhythm, the students finally understand not only how it sounds, but also what it looks like and what it is called.


Practicing:
After a new concept is presented, we continue using songs, games and dances to help the students maintain their knowledge of the new information they have learned.  Practicing a skill could mean identifying the new concept in a listening activity, performing the new concept or writing it.  The practice stage often links with the prepare stage as the students start to compare known information to unknown concepts.


When you ask the students about what they have learned in music class, you might see them use hand signs or hear them use rhythmic and melodic syllables that sound like nonsense words!  In my classroom we use "ta and ti-ti" rhythm syllables, which help to give a sound to each type of rhythm.  It is almost as the students are learning a new language!

We also use hand signs and melodic syllables to help the students feel and see how high or low pitches are and their relationship to other pitches in music.  We call the syllables "solfa" or "solfege" and the hand signs we use are called the "Curwen Hand Signs."  They may remind you of that iconic song from "The Sound of Music."

For more information on the Kodaly Method, you can visit the Organization of American Kodaly Educators Website.