Kodály In The Klassroom – 15th and 16th October 2016

Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire

A practical weekend workshop on the application of the Kodály principles to classroom music teaching (Early Childhood and Primary – easily adapted for instrumental use)

Tutor: Len Tyler

Location: Unit 8, West Gate, Gibb Street, Long Eaton, NG10 1EE (Near Nottingham)

Who is this workshop for?
Anyone interested in classroom music teaching (preschool and primary). There is no need to be a music reader. This workshop is also suitable for instrumental teachers who want learn the Kodaly principles. Very useful for “whole class” teaching.

What will the day feature?
• Use of the basic Kodaly principles.
• Lots of songs, routines, and handouts.
• Examples of easy to produce resources.
• Loads of practical ideas (all tried and tested)

Comments from previous delegates
• Everything was marvelous and extremely useful
• All very exciting as my first experience of music teacher training. Loved the practical exercises
• Having done pre-school music for the last 10 years, and being a professional musician there were surprisingly quite a few things that I hadn’t thought about
• So many great ideas. It was all useful to me
• Len was excellent in how he explained the course. Good to listen to and very precise. I enjoyed it immensely.
• I found Len very inspiring and helpful.

Cost
£100 (including £25 per day per person discount under the “bring a friend” scheme – otherwise £150)
Single day attendance by arrangement (£80/£55)

Kodaly in the Klassroom Long Eaton October 2016 Application Form

For more details
Phone: 01276 504666
Email: enquiries@lentylermusicschool.co.uk
Website: www.lentylermusicschool.co.uk

BKA Supported Courses are set up independently by highly skilled and experienced BKA members under the auspices of the BKA. The course fee includes a BKA registration fee which the student can redeem as a voucher for the same amount if attending another regular BKA-run course within one calendar year (i.e. within the next twelve months). Alternatively, the amount of the fee can be redeemed against one or more year’s membership of the BKA starting from the 1 July 2016.

Kodály In The Klassroom – 14th and 15th May 2016

Luton, Bedfordshire

A practical weekend workshop on the application of the Kodály principles to classroom music teaching (Early Childhood and KS1 – easily adapted for KS2)

Tutor: Len Tyler

Location: Tennyson Road Primary School, Tennyson Road, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1 3RS

Who is this workshop for?
Anyone interested in classroom music teaching (preschool and primary). There is no need to be a music reader. This workshop is also suitable for instrumental teachers who want learn the Kodaly principles. Very useful for “whole class” teaching.

What will the course feature?
• Use of the basic Kodaly principles.
• Lots of songs, routines, and handouts.
• Examples of easy to produce resources.
• Loads of practical ideas (all tried and tested)

Comments from previous delegates
• Everything was marvelous and extremely useful
• All very exciting as my first experience of music teacher training. Loved the practical exercises
• Having done pre-school music for the last 10 years, and being a professional musician there were surprisingly quite a few things that I hadn’t thought about
• So many great ideas. It was all useful to me
• Len was excellent in how he explained the course. Good to listen to and very precise. I enjoyed it immensely.
• I found Len very inspiring and helpful.

Cost
£100 (including £25 per day per person discount under the “bring a friend” scheme – otherwise £150)
Single day attendance by arrangement (£80/£55)

Kodaly in the Klassroom Luton May 2016 Application Form

For more details
Phone: 01276 504666
Email: enquiries@lentylermusicschool.co.uk
Website: www.lentylermusicschool.co.uk

BKA Supported Courses are set up independently by highly skilled and experienced BKA members under the auspices of the BKA. The course fee includes a BKA registration fee which the student can redeem as a voucher for the same amount if attending another regular BKA-run course within one calendar year (i.e. within the next twelve months). Alternatively, the amount of the fee can be redeemed against one or more year’s membership of the BKA starting from the 1 July 2016.

Northern Kodály Choir

Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

Improve your musicianship and practise singing beautiful music in solfa under the leadership of Nicky Woods.
The choir meet on the first Sunday of each month from 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. in the Richard Steinitz Building, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH

Dates for 2019/2020

2019:
October 6th
November 3rd
December 1st

2020:
January 5th
February 2nd
March 1st
April 5th
May 3rd

Fees: £10 per session (free to all University Students)

For more information and to book your place please contact Ben benviola86@gmail.com

Nicky Woods

 

Nicky graduated from Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music and trained as a teacher at the University of Reading. She worked as a teacher and cellist in Manchester before joining the music department of The Queen’s School, Chester, then taught in Rome for a short time, at St. George’s English School and, as Director of Music, at The Junior English School.

Nicky returned to England to work as a cello teacher and free-lance player in North Yorkshire and, inspired by an introduction to the philosophy and approach of Zoltán Kodály, decided to train as a Kodály teacher, attending courses in the UK and Hungary and gaining a Certificate of Kodály Music Education.

She currently runs singing-based workshops, courses and musicianship sessions for all ages and is a tutor, Trustee and Summer School Administrator for The British Kodály Academy. She enjoys directing a community choir in Ripon and the Northern Kodály Choir, which meets on the first Sunday afternoon of each month – and still finds time to teach and play the cello!

Angela Fogg

Angela FoggAngela is a pianist and teacher of piano and Kodály. She has run the Sing-a-Song Kodály classes at E.T.N.A. in London since 1989 and has subsequently taught many of the children the piano. She also teaches Kodály to the Junior School at Sacred Heart, Teddington and for the Colourstrings Music School based at Roehampton University. Angela directs the choir at Sacred Heart School, Colourstrings and St Stephen’s School in Twickenham. She is also on the Education Committee for the British Kodaly Academy and has taught for the BKA at the last three Easter courses.

Angela has taught piano privately since a teenager and until recently at St. David’s School Ashford and performs regularly at local events and with the Prima Donna Party Quartet. An article by her on Kodály for young children was published in the Spring edition of Piano Journal 2008. She is also a regular contributor to the Piano Journal as assistant editor and reviewer of new piano music publications. (B.A.Hons LRSM DipABRSM CKME FRSA)

Sam Lee

Sam LeeSam will be providing the evening entertainment on Tuesday 29th March at the Kodály Spring Course 2016 with his concert – Folk Songs of the Traveller Community.

Mercury Prize nominated Folk singer, song collector, promoter (of BBC award winning Nest Collective) radio host, TV personality, teacher and animateur, Sam this June released his debut album “Ground Of Its Own’ comprised of songs learned 1st hand from the Gypsy Traveler community. The recording is a new musical manifesto, reflecting Sam’s unique artistic journey. Winner of the 2011 Arts Foundation Award, he is fast becoming accepted as a new pioneer, defining the sound, sight and texture of folksong today. Likewise his band ‘Sam Lee & Friends’ perform unconventional and contemporary interpretations challenging all preconceptions of what ‘traditional folk’ should sound like.

Sam Lee Nominated for Folk Awards
Breaking News – We are thrilled to congratulate Sam on his two nominations at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Read more about Sam’s nominations for Best Folk Singer and Best Traditional Track here.

Susan Hollingworth

Susan Hollingworth

Repertoire for Children’s and Youth choirs is Sue’s afternoon workshop at the Kodály Summer School 2017. Sue will lead a practical session, singing repertoire suitable for children and youth choirs of all abilities, trying various performance ideas and discussing levels of difficulty.

Sue is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied voice, Sue divides her time between her work as a Choral Director and Music Educator. In 1990 she was awarded a Churchill fellowship for her work with choirs. In 2010, she was awarded “Choir Master of the Year” by the Gramophone Magazine. This is a community music award, given to those who have made the greatest impact in their singing communities.

She is Creative Director of the Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior Choir. This open access choir won the overall title of BBC3 Choir of the Year in 2008. The choir was been awarded an IMove Grant by the Arts Council to stage a community opera for 1500 people as part of the Cultural Olympiad in 2012. This was called Cycle Song and received rave reviews. The choir took part in the BBC Proms in September 2009 singing Messiah. In 2000 they travelled to Sydney to take part in the Olympic Torch Processions; they sang at the opening night celebrations of the Millennium Dome and at the first Holocaust Memorial Service at Westminster. The Choir was chosen to make a BBC programme called “Take a Bow” and was the subject of a documentary on Radio 4.

Sue is Musical Director of the Sine Nomine International Touring Choir. All members of this choir are themselves choral directors. The choir has been the guest choir at Presteigne Festival, performed at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester and international festivals in Italy and Edinburgh.

In 2010, BBC Radio 3 invited Sue to lead performances of the Hallelujah Chorus in Glasgow and London with participants who are new to singing and who were encouraged to join a choir. For the BBC, she also conducted an afternoon Family Prom at the Albert Hall. She has worked for the National Youth Choirs of Scotland and Great Britain and is a guest conductor for Leeds Lieder.

Sue’s Music Education work has included creating Melody Monkey’s Marvellous Music Box with Cathy Dew, being an Advocate for Sing Up, working for the Voices Foundation and giving regular workshops for Making Music, 20,000 Voices and Sing for Pleasure. She has adjudicated for BBC3 Choir of the Year and for the Coleraine, Elgin and Don Valley festivals.

Shan and Martin Graebe

Martin and Shan GraebeShan and Martin will be leading the following sessions at the Kodály Spring Course 2016: The Voices of the People: An Expedition in Search of English Folk Song; Pleasant and Delightful: English Folk Songs to learn and sing; Concert of English Folk Song.

Shan began to sing folk songs as a schoolgirl and, in her professional life as a speech and language therapist, developed ways of using song to involve children with special needs in group activities. Her particular interest in children’s songs has led, in 2014, to her compiling (and illustrating) a collection of traditional songs from Britain and America – ‘Rosy Apples’ – for adults to sing with children.

Martin also started to sing folk songs as a teenager and continued to sing with groups and as a solo artist. He became particularly interested in traditional English song and has written a number of songs based on traditional ideas and forms. While living in Devon, he began to study the life and work of Sabine Baring-Gould, the leading collector of song in Devon and Cornwall, and other collectors who he met and influenced. His studies have led to him being regarded as the leading authority on Baring-Gould’s collection. He has delivered a number of public lectures on Baring-Gould’s work as a song collector and has had several articles published. He has also been involved in a number of projects designed to make Baring-Gould’s work better known and more widely available. He has also studied and written about the use of folk music in the composition of English composers such as Holst and Vaughan Williams.

Shan and Martin sing together in unaccompanied harmony. The blend of their voices and their approach to the material has won them international recognition and they now perform regularly at festivals and venues in England and around the world. Their repertoire is based mainly on the traditional songs of Southern England with a strong emphasis on the Baring-Gould collection, but they also sing a number of more modern songs, including some of those that Martin has written. Shan is also well known for the workshops that she leads on aspects of voice use and care.

Inspiration from Hungary by Liz Alexander

from the BKA Newsletter, Summer 2004

With the help and encouragement of Mary Place, I finally realised an eight year dream in February of this year, when I travelled to Hungary to spend a week observing Kodály inspired music classes in two schools and a Kindergarten. Having watched videos of Helga Dietrich and Eva Vendrei teaching on courses organised by the BKA, I was excited about the prospect of observing how teachers in Hungary were continuing to develop Kodály’s philosophy in the 21st Century.

Helga Dietrich had organised a morning in a Music Kindergarten and a morning in a Music Primary School in Budapest for me. There are about 20 Music Primary Schools in Budapest – there used to be nearer 40. There are also fewer Secondary Music Schools than there used to be. Some Kindergartens, (like the one I visited), also use Kodály teaching as part of their philosophy, but not all children attending a Music Primary School will necessarily have had Kodály experience in their Kindergartens. Children start school at the age of 6/7 years old, (our Year 2), and attend Kindergarten from 3 years old.

Helga had arranged for us to spend an hour in the Kindergarten at the beginning of the day, before the music class took place at 9 o’clock. We arrived at about 8 o’clock, but some children had been there since 7 o’clock. At this time of the day, the classes are organised so that there are mixed ages in each one. A family atmosphere exists, and talking to Helga, an important part of the Kindergarten programme, set up in 1972, is to develop children’s’ social skills and cultural awareness in these early years.

The children are allowed to choose from a range of activities, many of which reminded me of my own early years experiences: making a collage using rice and dried pulses of a snowdrop, (in flower at this time of the year); spinning using a traditional loom; working a puppet show; organising a kitchen; playing with large wooden bricks. The focus was on traditional activities; developing an awareness of nature; encouraging children to explore individually and in pairs with help if they needed it from their teacher. Everyday the children explore different activities through a set of 6 subjects: maths, singing, gymnastics, literature, and drawing/craft and environmental knowledge.

However, the children are not taught formally to read and write – they wait until they attend school. There is so much to explore and develop, and I couldn’t help reflect on the stress and pressure which children in the UK are continually being subjected to and at what cost to their personal development?

At 8.30, the teacher directed a gymnastics class, since the children have to do some kind of obligatory exercise every day. This included activities such as walking over bean bags and through trays of small pebbles; picking up the bags with the feet and carrying them to a central point; drawing circles with the feet; drawing with the feet – fascinating!

After breakfast, in which all the children are encouraged to help serve, (including 3 year olds carrying mugs of steaming hot chocolate and baskets of warm bread), the 5/6 year olds filed off to their music class with a specialist teacher. They have two classes a week, with the specialist teacher. Their kindergarten teacher also sings with them every day.

The class was almost an hour long, and yet the children remained focused and participated enthusiastically throughout the lesson. The main objectives of the lesson were to:

  • Reinforce conscious understanding of the crotchet rest.
  • Develop experience and understanding of form: 4 phrase song structures consisting rhythmically of ta, titi and ta rest units.
  • Practise interval relationships between pitches within do pentachordal and diatonic major scales.
    To achieve this, the lesson would be planned to incorporate movement as well as “thinking” work.
  • The children began the lesson by sitting in a circle and sang a greeting song based on s-l-s-m phrases.

A rhythmic clapping game followed. This was extended to include repeating the rhythms using the feet whilst keeping the pulse with the hands. Claves and two-toned woodblocks were then incorporated into the same activity. The teacher then clapped a known song, which the children were asked to recognise. They played the rhythm of the song on their instruments whilst singing. The song consisted of four phrases which included a crotchet rest at the end of the 1st, 2nd and 4th phrase.

The children were asked to show the rest by touching their heads, tummies or shoulders.

  • Next, the teacher introduced some puppets to help create and build a story through, which the next song developed. She introduced individual A5 size note cards with either a ta, ti-ti or ta rest on the front. The children were encouraged to build the rhythm of the song using the cards. She asked the children what the meaning of the rest was: “a silence” they replied. The completed song was sung with the rhythm tapped, clapped, stamped and sung to rhythm syllables.
  • A circle game followed which the children knew well. It involved 3 children playing a role in the game and singing short phrases. The song was based on a minor hexachord, and at the end of the game, the children were asked to order six large chime bars from lowest to highest, thus making the hexachord. The teacher then played a new song on the bars, which the children were asked to identify. Children then sang individual pitches of the song, accompanied by the chime bars played by the teacher.
  • A new set of puppets create a song based on la, so and mi. The teacher brought out a wooden tree, which she placed in front of the children. The tree stood on an A frame, about a metre high, and the song involved placing three bears on three of the tree’s branches to represent the three pitches. The children sang the song as the teacher pointed to the bears. She then changed their position to three new branches, therefore changing the pitch of the song, and the children sang again.

This activity was developed, as the teacher brought out eight birds, which she proceeded to place, first on five branches, to represent a do pentatonic scale, and then completed the branches to make a do diatonic major scale.

The children were encouraged to practise their understanding of interval relationships as the teacher pointed to the birds. The children sang in sol-fa with both hands, hand signing the relevant sol-fa. (The possibilities for developing interval work using the tree and puppets are endless. My partner Bill has made me an MDF version of an English Oak tree, complete with felt birds, which I have glued onto wooded clothes pegs. I am so excited about such a simple, but effective tool.)

The final activity of the lesson was a listening game. The children listened to a Tyrolean folk dance and moved round the room in any way they liked. As soon as they heard a specific rhythm, which the teacher clapped at the start of the game, they were required to freeze. The rhythms were based on ta and ti-ti units.

In discussion with Helga after the lesson had ended, she talked about the connections, which the teacher was developing in the children between brain activity “thinking”, and movement. She talked about how we had observed that the learning took place through oral, visual and kinaesthetic means, and that the teacher was developing a certain way of thinking in the children, which involved both the vertical and horizontal experience and understanding of musical concepts.

The following day I spent the morning at one of the Budapest Music Primary Schools, observing Zsuzsanna Molnár. The school ranges from First to Eighth Grade, and Zsuzsanna teaches the first four grades. A second music specialist teaches the fifth to eighth grades. Although the school is state run, parents apply for children to attend. The teacher carries out a simple assessment: it is important to have a clear voice; a simple rhythm is clapped and the children are required to clap it back; a simple s-l-s-m phrase is sung, and the children sing it back; the children are encouraged to sing a folksong if they know any from their Kindergarten; and the teacher also discusses parental attitudes to the value they place on music.

I observed a 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade class. Each class had on average 26 pupils. In the First Grade, (our Year 2), pupils have a lesson on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 45 minutes. The class teacher sits in on lessons, taking notes to back up what has been taught. From the 2nd grade, children have lessons every day for 45 minutes, and again, the class teacher sits in on the lesson. A choir takes place twice a week, from the 2nd to the 4th Grade.

Lessons take place in the pupils’ own classroom. Zsuzsanna carries round a roll-up blackboard, keyboard and glockenspiel, plus any teaching aids. However, there are 15 minutes between each lesson, and this gives the teacher some reflection time on the previous lesson, as well as subsequent lesson preparation time. (This would be so useful!)

Second Grade: known – do and la pentatonic and pentachords; syn-co-pa rhythmic element.

Recorder work:

  • Class started with circle game in the hallway – folksong – identified folk dance movements.
  • In class: interval work – all pupils have a set of interval cards: m2 M2 m3 M3 P4 P5 P8. Teacher sings 2 notes, and pupils hold card representing the interval they think it is.
  • Sing song with syn-co-pa. Identify song and rhythm. Sing song – clap rhythm and walk pulse. Draw syn-cho-pa on the board. (perfect notation – obviously very important to be neat and precise in notation). Sing several songs with rhythmic element. Includes Kodály Bicinium.
  • Text books: identify tonality of song as being “lah pentachord”. Pupils perform on recorder. Write notes on stave. Mi=A
  • Rhythmic dictation – includes syn-co-pa and quaver rest.

Third Grade: interval work; Ionian, Aeolian, Dorian, Phrygian modes known.

Recorder work:

  • Vocal warm-up: do hexachord – drmf drmfs d lsmfrd; do scale: drmfsltlsmfrd; d d’ s m r d; interval work: dr dm df ds slsfmrd – move up a semitone.
  • Interval work using cards.
  • Teacher sings “do” – then notes above or below. Pupils have eyes closed and hand sign note they think she has sung. Repeat starting on “so”. Teacher plays recorder – repeats activity.
  • Hand signs known song; identify; play on recorder; work out tone set of song, and write notes on board. = C to D’. Sing from board – F, G and B can be sharps and flats.
  • New song – Aeolian. identify -sing – play
  • 2-part song – sing in pairs
  • Sing walk pulse and clap rhythmic ostinato round the room.
  • Game – folksong

Because the pupils have music so regularly, I observed a huge development in skills between each year group, especially between the First and Second Grade. In the Music Kindergarten, I observed: ta ti-ti and “sh” as conscious rhythmic elements, plus sol-fa d – d’. At the school, Zsuzsanna starts with pre-conscious work, but can move more quickly since some pupils have conscious experience of rhythm names, (ta, ti-ti and “sh”) and sol-fa.

In the First Grade lesson, I observed lots of rhythm work including the minim (ta-a), and pitch work involved developing experience of l-s-m on a 5-line stave.

Rhythm activities:

Teacher taps 4 beat rhythm on tambour using tas and ti-tis: pupils are encouraged to make the rhythm using their bodies, (one person would be a “ta”, two people would form an arch to make a “ti-ti”), at the front of the class. One pupil would be in charge of organising their fellow classmates.

  • “Chinese whispers” with rhythms – teacher plus 6 pupils. The teacher taps a rhythm on the shoulders on one pupil. This pupil taps the rhythm they think they have felt, on the shoulders of the person in front of them, and so on. The last pupil claps the rhythm they think they have felt. The rest of class can see what is happening, and can judge the effectiveness of their fellow pupils’ ability to transfer the rhythm they think they have felt, correctly.
  • Each pupil had a set of single rhythm cards, and was encouraged to make clapped rhythms by the teacher.
  • Identify songs with given rhythmic phrase by the teacher.

Pitch work: use of felt boards with 5 black lines and felt note heads.

  • Place “so” on the board and make “mi” in correct place below, in a space or on a line.
  • Teacher plays a 4- note phrase on a glockenspiel and the pupils make it on their boards. They hold them up for checking.
  • Add in “la”. Teacher’s demonstration board has different colours for la, so and mi.
  • Identify a song with opening phrase that they have made. Stand to sing and hand sign. Find song in text books. Colour “la”, “so” and “mi” in different colours. Sight read a new song and colour in the notes. Sing the song to sol-fa and hand signs; sing to rhythm names; sing to words.

In the work of all the Hungarian teachers I observed, both in Budapest and Kecskemét, I was struck with the beauty and craft of their lessons. Teachers gently guided the children through each activity, and even though the lessons were in Hungarian, it was possible to see what skills and elements were being developed in each part of the lesson. Each activity dovetailed into the next with the preparation for subsequent work being completed in previous activities. There was always a sense of purpose throughout the lessons. Every child was involved and focused. The lessons were intensive, but all the children participated fully and enjoyed what they were doing, because they were fulfilled and more significantly, they were achieving.

The lessons were to me, perfect models of what I am trying to emulate in my own teaching. I don’t think I ever will reach such perfection, because it is not in my blood in the same way as the Hungarian teachers, who have grown up being educated this way. However, a gifted teacher such as Cyrilla Rowsell is an example of how a British teacher is able to achieve this. For anyone who has been in one of Cyrilla’s classes, you will appreciate her calm, systematic approach. She makes it look deceptively easy, but this is the true craftsmanship of a Kodály teacher. It is knowing what you are trying to achieve and being able to deliver a lesson in such a way, that all your pupils know exactly what they are learning at each stage of the lesson. Interest and concentration is maintained at each stage of the lesson through a multi-sensory approach, and pupils learn through individual, paired and group work.

For me, the more I learn and discover about this philosophy of music education, through courses, my own research and through the experience of actually teaching, the more I want to know and find out for myself. It is a journey, which I am enjoying immensely, and will hopefully, take a lifetime to fulfil.

Early Years Music Workshop – 27th February 2016

FULLY BOOKED! Contact Zoe to be added to the waiting list.

Oldham, Greater Manchester

Tutor: Zoe Greenhalgh – Early Childhood Music Specialist (Kodály)

Early Years Music Workshop
A practical one day workshop packed with ideas & resources to increase your confidence & knowledge of music making & singing with babies & young children from 0-5 years of age.

Date: Saturday 27th February 2016, 09.30 – 15.30

Fees: £55 (including lunch)

Location: Oldham Music Centre, The Lyceum Building, Union Street, Oldham. OL1 1QG

Who is it for?
Anyone who works, or intends to work with this age group & wants to develop their skills ~ no musical expertise necessary.

What will you gain from the day?
· detailed handouts full of information, ideas & resources
· increased confidence through a better understanding of how to use singing games & rhymes to support musical & holistic development with links to the EYFS framework.
· the development of knowledge, skills & understanding on:-
~ selecting quality songs & rhymes
~ planning, structure & delivery of music sessions
~ using songs & rhymes appropriately for different age groups including babies
· a fun day with lots of practical learning

To book your place please contact: zoe@turtonmusic.co.uk 01204 852090 / 07773 185926

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