Category Archives: All
Choral Musicianship – 26th September 2015
Leeds, Yorkshire
Tutor: Nicky Woods
A day for Youth Choirs and Singing Leaders. Suitable for Secondary age singers and leaders of all types of choirs.
Fun and engaging activities to develop musical skills and awareness, including:-
- inner hearing
- tuning
- memory work
- musical literacy
- expression
- phrasing
Venue: Wheeler Hall, Leeds Cathedral, Cathedral House, Great George Street, LEEDS LS2 8BE
Please note – there is no on-site parking. There are a number of municipal car parks in the area
Date: Saturday 26th September 2015 10:00am – 3:30pm
Fees: (Includes drinks & biscuits in breaks. Lunch not provided.)
£30 – Adult leaders, teachers & observers
£25 – ABCD & BKA Adult members
£8 – Under 18s
For group tickets please email Susan Hollingworth at susan.hollingworth@tesco.net
To apply please download and print this application form and send to Sue Hollingworth
ABCD BKA Choral Musicianship Workshop 2015 Flyer and Application Form
Nicky Woods 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 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 young people of all ages and for adults and is a tutor for the British Kodály Academy and an Advisory Teacher and Course Leader for The Voices Foundation. She enjoys directing a community choir in Ripon and serves as a trustee of the BKA and on the Yorkshire regional committee of ABCD – and still finds time to teach and play the cello!
Kodály Summer School – August 2015
Summer is coming and with it brings the 33rd International Kodály Summer School. If this is your first BKA Residential then you are entitled to an £80 discount. Discounts are also available for full time students and BKA members who attended the last Summer or Spring Residential.
If you want to spread the cost of the course then do get in touch about setting up a payment plan. Any questions about the course should be directed to the course administrator Judy Hildesley on judyhildesley@btinternet.com.
Book now to reserve your place or take a look at the wonderful range of activities available this year.
BKA Musicianship Levels
Click for details of the BKA Musicianship Levels and Conducting Curriculum
Musical Listening – James Cuskelly
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
3.00 – 4.15 pm or 4.45 – 6.00 pm
James Cuskelly
James Cuskelly‘s Musical Listening workshops are being run on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons as optional classes on the Kodály Summer School. Students beginning this course on Monday will be expected to attend all three sessions and the Friday afternoon session will be Singing Games with Lucinda Geoghegan. Each workshop will be offered twice: first in Session Two with a repetition of the material in Session Three each day.
Monday
In this session participants will look at a range of activities based around listening to the Afro-American spiritual “Sinner, please doan let this harvest pass”. Essential characteristics of the genre will be explored through a range of song materials and singing games. The ongoing sequential development of aural musicianship skills will be embedded in the overall outline and guided listening segments will be incorporated. The activities in this session would be suitable for upper primary or lower secondary students.
Tuesday
Listening activities within the Kodály approach are usually centred on a piece of Art Music, taken from the historical academy. In this session participants will look at a range of activities based around listening to the music taken from the 1993 movie, “Schindler’s List”. In the modern world, many composers consider film score writing as both a practical means of earning a living as well as a platform to push compositional boundaries. The ongoing sequential development of aural musicianship skills will be embedded in the overall outline and guided listening segments will be incorporated. The activities in this session would be suitable for secondary students.
Thursday
While this session is a follow on from the ideas canvassed in the Session 2, this is also a stand-alone session and all are welcome to attend. This session will focus on the second movement of the Gorecki “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” and will consider the musical materials in the historical context as well as exploring the specific compositional devices relevant to the piece. The ongoing sequential development of aural musicianship skills will be embedded in the overall outline and guided listening segments will be incorporated. The activities in this session would be suitable for more advanced secondary students.
Holger Aston
Holger is a pianist and cellist, having completed his musical studies at the Guildhall School of Music. In 2010 he spent a year in Kecskemet, Hungary where he completed a Master’s in Kodaly Pedagogy, graduating with Distinction. Holger teaches piano at Notting Hill and Ealing High School, musicianship and choir at Colourstrings Music School, and delivers a wide-range of music courses to adults at the Mary Ward Centre, Holborn.
Summer School Session Three Options
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 4.45 – 6.00 pm
In Session Three students may choose one of the following three options:
- Ethnic Jewish Songs and Dance with Esther Hargittai
- Repertoire & Pedagogy with Susan Brumfield
- Musical Listening with James Cuskelly & Singing Games with Lucinda Geoghegan
Ethnic Jewish Songs and Dance
Esther Hargittai
A new course drawing on Esther’s research into folk material from the Middle East will provide new repertoire and opportunities for movement through dances linked to the musical material. This workshop is designed to provide teachers and other group leaders with interesting and challenging additions to their music curriculum/repertoire. A variety of children’s songs, folk songs, and songs for Jewish holidays will be introduced and learnt and will include activities to improve your group’s musical skills. The songs will provide new material for multicultural activities; for enhancing religious studies or simply for enjoying something new and different!
All the musical activities and games are structured according to the Kodály philosophy. Each song will be studied in depth with an analysis of its tone set, tonality and phrasing and will provide suitable material for practicing singing in solfa. Where songs are associated with original and simple dances, the dances will also be taught. All the material will be presented with ideas for teaching or reinforcing musical elements as well as ideas for activities, games and/or dances. The ideas will be presented on three levels (beginners, intermediate, advanced) – to appeal to a wide range of ages and abilities from 5 year olds to adults, from primary to secondary students.
Repertoire & Pedagogy
Susan Brumfield
Four consecutive classes will be offered twice: first in Session Two with a repetition of the material in Session Three each day to enable those wishing to do conducting to also include Susan’s class in their programme. Susan’s sessions will draw from her series, First We Sing! Participants will explore songs and games from songbooks one and two, and discover ways to incorporate them into a Kodály literacy sequence, as well as delve deeply into their use in developing other musical skills. Susan will also demonstrate activities for practice in all skill areas, drawing from the First, We Sing Activity Card pack. Materials in the series will be available for purchase.
Musical Listening
James Cuskelly (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday)
Three consecutive classes will be offered twice: first in Session Two with a repetition of the material in Session Three each day to enable those wishing to do conducting to include James’s classes in their programme. Details tbc.
Singing Games
Lucinda Geoghegan (Friday)
This will be a “hands on” session during which participants will experience a range of Singing Games suitable for the Primary classroom and beyond. A variety of different games will be explored including clapping games, ball games, passing games and more. This class is a repeat of the session in Session Two.
Summer School Session Two Options
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 3.00 – 4.15 pm
In Session Two students may choose one of the following three options:
- Conducting 1 – 4
- Repertoire & Pedagogy with Susan Brumfield
- Musical Listening with James Cuskelly & Singing Games with Lucinda Geoghegan
Conducting 1 – 4
Esther Hargittai, Árpád Tóth, David Vinden, László Nemes
Conducting classes are offered at four levels as required and will be taught over four days. Students beginning this course on Monday will be expected to attend all four sessions. Details of each level are provided here.
Repertoire & Pedagogy
Susan Brumfield
Four consecutive classes will be offered twice: first in Session Two with a repetition of the material in Session Three each day to enable those wishing to do conducting to also include Susan’s class in their programme. Susan’s sessions will draw from her series, First We Sing! Participants will explore songs and games from songbooks one and two, and discover ways to incorporate them into a Kodály literacy sequence, as well as delve deeply into their use in developing other musical skills. Susan will also demonstrate activities for practice in all skill areas, drawing from the First, We Sing Activity Card pack. Materials in the series will be available for purchase.
Musical Listening
James Cuskelly (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday)
Three consecutive classes will be offered twice: first in Session Two with a repetition of the material in Session Three each day to enable those wishing to do conducting to include James’s classes in their programme.
Singing Games
Lucinda Geoghegan (Friday)
This will be a “hands on” session during which participants will experience a range of Singing Games suitable for the Primary classroom and beyond. A variety of different games will be explored including clapping games, ball games, passing games and more. This class will be repeated in Session Three.
Summer School Session One Options
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 1.30 – 2.45 pm
In Session One students may choose one of the following six options:
- Methodologies 1 – 4 for Teachers and Practitioners
- Methodology 5 for More Experienced Practitioners
- Choral Music Workshop
Methodology 1 – 4 for Teachers and Practitioners
Students attending these sessions as part of the Kodály Certificate programme will have an additional session on Saturday morning from 10.30 – 12.00 pm.
Methodology 1 for Early Years Teachers and Practitioners
Lucinda Geoghegan (Monday); Zoe Greenhalgh (Tuesday, Thursday & Friday)
The Early Years Methodology course will present musical materials and explore age-appropriate and playful musical activities to enhance early childhood development in many ways: social, emotional, cognitive, physical – and musical responsiveness and skills. During the week participants will have the chance to work with the basic principles and objectives of music education for the young child, learning about the general sequence of musical interest and development in young children. Participants will learn and play rhymes, children songs and games for babies, toddlers, and preschool children from 3-7 years of age.
Methodology 2 for Primary Years Teachers and Practitioners
Sally Leeming
This course is for those teachers with either no experience of teaching in a Kodály way or those with a small amount of experience.
- Reception and Key Stage 1 will be covered in the first three sessions. Students will learn how to introduce the concepts of pulse, rhythm, pitch and tempo, firstly through unconscious experience. Ways of making this experience conscious and ways to practise and reinforce concepts once that stage has been reached will be included and lead to the introduction of solfa, handsigns, rhythm names and notation.
- Key Stage 2 work will be demonstrated in the second half of the week. This will cover the development of musical literacy and how new rhythm and pitch elements can be taught and reinforced. Once the musical literacy stage has been reached more ways of teaching a song are possible and some of these will be demonstrated. Ways to start teaching older (Y5 and Y6) beginners will also be discussed.
Methodology 3 for Secondary Teachers and Practitioners
James Cuskelly and Alan Murdock
This course will cover Issues of teaching older beginners: Motivation; Materials; Managing the changing voices; Methodology as well as reviewing, teaching and/or developing:
- The use of the voice to teach musicianship
- Pulse/metre
- Rhythm
- Pitch (pentatonic scales/intervals; diatonic scales/intervals; modes ancient and modern)
- Inner hearing/memory
- Simple harmony (I IV V VI)
- Two-part + hearing + co-ordination work
- Form and design in music
- Improvisation/creative work
- Listening skill development; oral and written analysis
- Musical reading and writing
- Music of other cultures and styles (Bali, India, Africa, serial, minimalist)
- Specific requirements for GCSE music
Methodology 4 for Instrumental Teachers and Practitioners
Sally Leeming (Monday); Holger Aston (Tuesday, Thursday & Friday)
Those electing this series will be expected to attend the Primary Methodology session on Monday with Sally Leeming before working with Holger Aston, who will provide an instrumental focus for the rest of the week. These three will be practical sessions which will explore how to choose and support teaching material developing solfa and letter names concurrently as well as general musicianship skills, including composition and improvisation. These sessions are useful for both individual and group teaching and will employ standard Kodály tools as well as iPad/computer applications.
Choral Music Workshop
In these sessions with Árpad Tóth, students will look at a variety of materials in a themed programme over the four days. The choral music of Kodály and other Hungarian composers will be included in this survey. Participants will listen to examples of music from the different periods and will have opportunities to sing a selection of samples appropriate to the group.
Sally Leeming
Sally is a singer and musicianship teacher living in Bingley, West Yorkshire. For many years she was a class teacher and KS2 Maths Co-ordinator.
Whilst teaching in the middle school she set up a project, working with a group of children from the local special school, and their teacher – Judith Brindle. The project involved singing and playing musical games together and was Sally’s first ‘proper’ introduction to the Kodály Concept of Music Education.
One of the aims of the project was to encourage Sally to incorporate her singing skills into the classroom. After the birth of her son, Sally attended courses run by Judith and The Voices Foundation. After hearing about the wonderful summer school from circa 1990 onwards, Sally finally made it to Leicester in 2003 and has attended the majority of summer schools since then, becoming a BKA tutor in 2014.
For the last few years Sally has worked on projects, incorporating Kodály musicianship, for the Northern Orchestral Enterprise Ltd (NOEL) in Halifax and the Sing Up Outreach Project for Bradford Cathedral and, in 2017 Sally presented a series of workshops at the Bradford Music Education Conference.
Sally teaches privately as well as singing as a soloist and in a variety of choirs. Since 2011 she has taught Kodály Musicianship in a state primary school in Queensbury, Bradford, West Yorkshire.
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