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The Christmas Nightmare in the Nursery School by Angela Tilly

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BKA Newsletter, Winter 2003

This is often a ‘thorny’ subject between vocal specialists and teachers with no musical skills. How many of us have had to put our children through the traditional musical nightmare because of parent pressure and listened with clenched teeth to the appreciative comments of those who don’t know any better when we know how well children can perform when given the chance? And how many of us whose teeny songsters have reached fantastic vocal heights during lessons, have been sabotaged at the eleventh hour by well-meaning but ill-advised colleagues at the Christmas concert?

Having spent a weekly session for a term at a Montessori Nursery school carefully building up vocal and musical concepts within a strict pitch range and achieving enchanting singing by 24 tots between the ages of 2½ and 4½ years, imagine my horror when I found that two days before the Christmas concert, the teachers had “tampered” with the pitch – their reason being that they could not sing “that high!” Not being able to rehearse with the pianist beforehand, I had written out the songs for her – all of them simple and with a small range for very young voices. She and I had conversed on the telephone and agreed on a recommended pitch and one line introduction for each song to avoid the need for “Start now” and other disturbing utterances. She informed me ten minutes before the show that she had been asked to put the pitch down as it was too high for the teachers to sing. My objection was that at a major third lower it was then too low for the children to sing. However, she “could not go against the Director” so it would have to stay! (My reply is not repeated here!).

However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the children responded beautifully by bawling their heads off in a raucous rendering of “Bye, bye, baby.” There was no tune whatsoever and the volume was deafening. I decided action was needed and resorted to “Start now!” and other suitable cues at the original pitch for the rest of the performance. The pianist gave up, the piano was silenced and the result was magical. The children sang like angels. Hankies were in abundance with not a dry eye in the audience. A musical disaster was averted and all agreed afterwards that the children cannot cope with a pitch too low or too high and will shout so that they can hear their voices. At a pitch frequency between D and B in the octave below above middle C, most of them can hear and control their voices very well. There is no need to shout. (Shouting belongs to the speaking range). There are few things that sound more beautiful than very little children singing sensitively and in tune, enjoying the experience and knowing that they are performing well.

Another problem that rears its ugly head during the autumn term is that of the type of Christmas entertainment for parents. Most little ones cannot cope with the stage, curtains, numerous scene changes and endless text that they do not understand. From about half term onwards the teachers go into creative Christmas mode, the parents start making costumes and gathering family forces for the big performance, the children switch off completely. After that, panic sets in and all else is forgotten in the nightmare of organising extra rehearsals, last minute music lessons, stage-fright and appeasing stroppy children who ‘do not want to do it.’

Many teachers have asked me, “Is it necessary to put ourselves through all this every year? My answer is a resounding, “No!” I offer the following solution. Careful planning on the part of the organisers is essential to avoid over-rehearsing and starting the Christmas play too early. When it comes to the big day, the end product should be just that – a product made from the material of the curriculum. One week should be sufficient to ‘glue’ it all together. If a Nativity is required, it should be a very simple ‘one-liner’, preferably put together by the children. The rest can be done in song, incidental music and dance.

During the autumn term I teach a variety of songs and musical concepts that can be learned easily. They are based on topical subjects, such as the seasons, animals, special events, but some can be re-cycled at a later date, sometimes with different words appropriate for Christmas. Many children do not realise at first that some of the songs have the same music. There is nothing wrong in that – it is a bonus for those that do. A song that can be mastered quickly often becomes ‘new’ with different actions or movement. Previously learned skills such as walking on the beat, the spiral walk, thread the needle, follow the leader can be repeated with a completely new song. Thus concepts and music are being cross-matched constantly and the children’s skills being exercised throughout without any risk of boredom. Their delight knows no bounds when a new song is learned for Christmas and they find that they can already do the activity required.

I use the piano as enhancement, but only if I have the services of a good pianist. It can be an instrument of beauty that the children like to listen to, but I do not allow it to prop up or hide the singing. If you would like samples of tried and tested favourites and ‘tricks’ that can be used a short cut to the Christmas entertainment, I can supply some on request.

Good teachers will find many more songs and ideas and use them wisely. Please note that sort cuts to music education are not allowed. In the words of Ildikó Herboly: “Things not learned properly in the early stages take their revenge on a musician later.”

Singing: An Emotional Language by Carolyn Spencer

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One teacher’s moving account of the power of song in the classroom,
BKA Newsletter, Winter 2003

As a year one class-room teacher I have recently had a close encounter with the power of singing with small children. A five year old girl in my class who has been deeply saddened and disturbed by events in her young life had broken down one day. I had the feeling that things had simply become overwhelming. The rest of the class went off to lunch and Anna sat on the floor with her head in her hands weeping. I remembered reading in Vivian Gussin Paley’s The boy who would be a helicopter (1990) about a time when she had sung a lullaby to a desperate child. I felt this memory whispering to me to encourage me to meet Anna’s needs. She came and sat on my lap and I sang “Go tell Aunt Sally.” She closed her eyes and for a moment her tense body let go a bit. I repeated the song several times, just as I would with a small baby. Then she uncurled and went off to lunch. I was left wondering if that had been the right response or not.

A few weeks later I decided to teach the lullaby to the rest of the class. At the end of the lesson every one lay down and I invited someone to sing to the class. Anna stood up and putting her head on one side and rocking from one foot to the other she sang “Go tell Aunt Sally,” she had us all captivated and it was very moving. I have no idea if she remembered the feeling from the previous time I had sung it to her, I suspect not consciously.

There is something about these songs and rhymes that have a very special quality. Similar to Fairy stories and dreams they seem to come from the unconscious and speak to the unconscious. As we sing these songs to small children and babies we must surely be furnishing their minds with the emotional language of music, just as fairy tales furnish their minds with the emotional language of stories from the collective unconscious (Bruno Bettleheim, The Uses of Enchantment: 1976.)

In a Quaker meeting recently I had going through my mind the song:

Mr Rabbit Mr Rabbit, your ears are mighty long/ Yes in deed they’re put on wrong/ Every little soul must shine shine shine,/
Every little soul must shine shine shine.

The words and tune of the song seemed to be “speaking to my condition” and rather like a dream it felt like it had a message for me and perhaps the meeting too. In a moment of madness I stood up and found myself singing this song into the silence of the meeting. A bit shocked I then found the meaning of the words speak to me. It seemed to be saying that the bits of us that seem to be “put on wrong” are perhaps the bits that make our little souls “shine shine shine”. A web literate Friend then found the rest of the song on the web and e-mailed it to me: so for Mr Rabbit fans, here it is:

Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit
Traditional

Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit, your tail is mighty white.
Yes, my lord, I’ve been gettin out of sight,
Every little soul’s gonna shine, shine,
Every little soul’s gonna shine, shine.

Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit, your coat is mighty grey.
Yes, my lord, it was made that way
Every little soul’s gonna shine, shine,
Every little soul’s gonna shine, shine.

Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit, your ears are mighty long.
Yes, my lord, they were put on wrong,
Every little soul’s gonna shine, shine,
Every little soul’s gonna shine, shine.

Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit, your ears are mighty thin.
Yes, my lord, they’re a-splittin’ in the wind,
Every little soul’s gonna shine, shine,
Every little soul’s gonna shine, shine.

Mr Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit, I’ll bid you good day.
Yes, my lord, and I’ll be on my way,
Every little soul’s gonna shine, shine,
Every little soul’s gonna shine, shine.

These moments of connection with children or with ourselves seem to be possible with music, and in our over stuffed classroom life I feel that these moments need to be used wherever they can be found.

Are We Pitching It Right? by Mannie Burn

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An in depth study of the importance of pitch and a clear step by step process to implement accurate pitching with children from an early age, by Mannie Burn. (BKA Newsletter, Summer 2002)

What is meant by pitch?

Basically pitch is the higher and lower of music. We hear tunes which get higher and lower in pitch all the time, and part of our emotional response to music comes from the pitch shape of a tune. For example in the Singing Bird folk song when the tune soars high like a bird I feel a pang of tenderness. An instrumental melody, e.g., the cor anglais solo in the slow movement of Dvorak’s New World Symphony may bring about an emotional response especially when the well known theme is then repeated at a higher pitch. Some tunes have been written which are extremely clear examples of melody which perhaps descends and then ascends through a scale e.g. Autumn Leaves in Banana Splits (very useful in KS1).

Why is learning about pitch important?

Along with beat and rhythm pitch is one of the main elements of music that musicians need to be acutely aware of. To sing we need to memorise what sound to sing and then reproduce it, this involves assimilating pitch. All players of string instruments need to be able to play their notes in tune – where they place their fingers is vital to the sound. In order to be able to do this, players need to know exactly which sound needs to come out of the instrument inside their heads before they play. Other instruments such as the piano and guitar allow learners to get away with not doing this.

Perfect pitch?

I think that pitch recognition and discrimination is usually an underdeveloped skill in most adults. However, we are apparently born with a natural ability. Recent research has shown that babies have the equivalent of a photographic memory but for sound, ie perfect pitch. They can apparently retain particular sounds and sound patterns and distinguish them from others. Some adults keep their ability to do this and have learned to label the pitch they hear as a letter name, A, B, B flat, C, F sharp etc. People without perfect pitch may have found out that an orchestra always tunes itself up to A, so when we hear this process we can say “ah, that sound is an A”. People with perfect pitch will know that sound as an ‘A’ and be able to reproduce it to order without the help of an orchestra or instrument. I have noticed a fair amount of mystique around perfect pitch. Many teachers that I have met think that perfect pitch is an indication of musicality. This is not true. Although perfect pitch does mean you have a sensitive ear and a memory which can remember sound which could be helpful, I think being musical is more to do with how you use sound once you know it within.

National Curriculum and QCA

The National Curriculum requires that we teach children about pitch, and it is very open about exactly what to teach. The QCA recognises that understanding of pitch can be developed through introducing a n ever increasing range of pitches, the units get progressively more involved pitch wise. However there is no mechanism in the scheme by which the children really build a solid grounding in pitch. As we know there is a good deal of flexibility in the National Curriculum. The question in my mind is: what experience of pitch do we want to offer our primary school children?

Most of the schools I visit take what I would call a general approach to pitch in their music teaching. Pupils are offered an experience of pitch which is broad ie ‘pitch is the higher and lower of music, tunes get higher and lower, we label sounds with letter names, have a go a writing a tune which gets higher or lower, how does the change in pitch effect the way you feel about the music?, use pitch sensitively to achieve the effect you want…’ Pitch is explored in varying degrees in a general way, which may or may not have a sense of progression.

Teachers using Kodály principles take this general approach and develop it into something more specific. They offer a progressive training which enables pupils to develop a sensitive ear which can discriminate between different pitches, sing them, label them physically with a hand sign, read them from notation, and understand the various ways in which sounds can be combined and used to achieve effects. This kind of training is combined with learning about the other elements of music, and taken as a whole provides children with a deeper more detailed understanding of music than the National Curriculum seems to require. I believe it is possible to cover the National Curriculum syllabus through voice based Kodály training if the voice work is extended to instruments and the children are introduced to all styles and genres of music through their songs and listening experience. Instrumental playing becomes far easier when it is linked to what the children already know from their experience of singing and their analysis of that experience. Kodály training is a holistic musical training for children: one in which the ear, the emotions, the mind and the technique are being attended to at the same time.

Obviously the teacher needs to be skilled enough to help the children, and here we touch on the thorny issue of training, however, I believe the amount of actual musical information needed to equip children with a basic level of understanding in pitch is manageable by the average teacher with some INSET training and a belief that it is worth going to the trouble of developing some skill in this area.

Step by step progression and the introduction of labelling pitches

I tend to think of each step having a sequence of activities and skills to go through. once you see how you can work with the sequence with just two pitches, you can go through the same process but just adding in a new pitch. In this way all the notes of the pentatonic and eventually the whole diatonic scale are introduced. I think the way to make this step by step progression successful is to have the right songs for your children and to do plenty of games and creative work with them. Hunting for songs and looking at them as opportunities for learning has become a big part of my preparation. I only feel happy about using a song when I am sure it fits the bill: it must have interesting words and tune, a stimulating game to play while singing it and offer a clear example of the pitch (or rhythm or other element of music) that I am wanting the children to explore.

When dealing with something as intangible as sound, it is very useful to have a way of labelling the different pitches. Most of the songs we sing use notes from either the major or the minor scale so the labels relate to the degrees/notes of the scale. Kodály teachers use solfa labels, that is ‘do’, ‘re’, ‘mi’, ‘fa’, ‘so’, ‘la’ ‘ti’, ‘do’ (d,r,m,f,s,l,t,d’) for the first to the last note of the major scale (I won’t go into the minor scale now as it complicates matters). It doesn’t matter which starting pitch you use, the scale will always use the same set of note relationships and be recognisable as the major scale. Giving each degree of the scale its own syllable helps us to memorise tunes and sing them in tune. As well as the syllable, a hand sign for each pitch is added to give a physical representation of pitch. Those familiar with the ways that children learn will know that some children will learn more through physical experience, while others will find visual or aural experience easier. Solfa provides all three and can link up marvellously with the musical stave later on.

I have met several people who feel uncomfortable about using solfa. I think this is because they think that it is hard to learn and has a rather old fashioned feel to it. I myself found it a bit troublesome in the first year of my Kodály training mainly because I was going at an adults pace and trying to absorb too much in one go and also I wasn’t very good at practising! Remember that solfa is a tool for labelling what we hear. If we don’t hear it properly it is asking too much of ourselves to label it. Now I have used it for years I find extremely useful: when I hear simple tunes I automatically hear them in solfa in my head and when I look at tunes written out on paper I can hear them. This has given me a lot of confidence, it has helped me sing in tune and as I do not need a piano to help me know what the sound is I can learn songs anywhere. I love to see children finding that they can identify pitches too.

If you want to try teaching pitch incorporating solfa my advice would be to take it slowly and build up your skill alongside the children. You might also want to go on a course. As preparation try to accustom yourself to just the so and mi pitches. You could do this by finding a set of five chime bars which make the pentatonic scale do re mi so and la. Three examples of this would be either C D E G A or D E Fsharp A B or F G A C D. Play around with them, listen and then isolate just so and mi the G down to E, the A down to the F sharp or the C down to the A. Notice how they sound – like the ‘coo-ee’ call or the song ‘Rain rain go away’. Try adding the hand signs for just these two pitches.
I mentioned earlier that having songs that the children enjoy is vital to the success of this step by step approach to pitch development. It is also important that the children know these songs before the work begins so some planning in advance is helpful. In Reception the children can start to build up a bank of songs. Learn the songs just for the fun of the games and to develop their singing voices. Later on when the children come back to these songs to work on their pitch and rhythm, they already know and enjoy them. I have purposely used young children’s songs, as the children are usually ready to start focused work at the end of Reception or in Year 1. Older children still benefit from this work if you can find a way of helping them to sing ‘baby’ songs. I have had Y6 singing Rain Rain because they are interested in developing their ear but in the same lesson they would also be singing When I’m 64 and working on a complicated rhythm round. The point is we all have to start at the beginning. We are learning something similar to a new language through the solfa – a language which is going to let us in to the world of musical sound.

STEP 1: Focused work on ‘so’ and ‘mi’ (s-m) songs

The aim of this step is to help the children distinguish between these two pitches, name and label them and then to use them in creative ways to write their own songs and play them on percussion instruments.

I start this work when the children are singing confidently and reasonably in tune. Sometimes this focused work can actually help children sing in tune, because they really have to listen and they see it visually too through the hand signs and on paper. I must stress that this focused work is most successful when given a very light touch and does not dominate a lesson – I usually do 5 minutes out of a 20 minute lesson. This sort of listening can be very tiring, and the notes ‘s’ and ‘m’ are boring if laboured. Try changing the starting note of the ‘s’ every so often if you feel the need for a change of sound. The ‘m’ is always in relation to the ‘s’ so you can start ‘s’ anywhere. Always move on to a contrasting song, one of your favourites perhaps, when you sense the children have had enough and preferable while they are still enjoying it. A little and often is ideal for pitch development.

  1. 1. Learn the song from memory yourself, e.g. See Saw.
  2. Teach the song and practice until known from memory.
  3. Get physical with the pitch! or play the game. Ask the children what they notice about the pitch and can they show you how it looks through some sort of body movement. Children can work in pairs to show the pitch, standing for the higher note, sitting for the lower one. If the song is a game involving clapping or movement play it first and enjoy it.
  4. Become specific – introduce hand signs. Demonstrate how the pitch can be shown by hand signs and try them out. Be precise with the hand shape – it helps the children to clarify their understanding. For older children you may need to explain the bigger picture about the solfa names and the whole major scale first. I sometimes say that what we are doing is to build up our listening skills so that we can recognise any of these pitches just by ear and that I have found it best to do this gradually, starting with s-m.
  5. Introduce solfa/singing names. I do it in this way:
    • all practice singing song with words and hand signing
    • all practice humming the song with handsigns
    • all practice singing the song to solfa syllables and signing
  6. Play with the above, e.g. teacher signs- children sing and visa versa. Change the starting pitch for ‘s’
  7. Find other ways to show these pitches, e.g. ask “How could we write down these pitches?”

    There’s no need to include the rhythm just yet. I sometimes show my way. Using visual ways of showing the pitch may help some children understand the difference more clearly, e.g. write in circle/footballs/smiley faces above the line for ‘s’ and below the line for ‘m’. This will lead the way for standard notation.

  8. Reinforce these 2 pitches by revisiting other known s-m songs, e.g. Fire Fire and Cherry Pie. Go through the process as in no 5. Write out these songs too.
  9. Reflect on the sound s-m. Talk about these 2 sounds. Ask whether they remind anyone of any other songs or bird sounds. The Cuckoo perhaps or the Mumm-eee/Dadd-eeee/Coo-eee call?
  10. Try starting the other way round, i.e. m-s. Which songs start this way? Postman Pat, The New World Symphony – as used for the Hovis advert.
  11. Improvise using ‘s’ and ‘m’. The teacher signs and the children sing. Children can work in pairs to create their own s-m patterns. Include some examples that start m-s.
  12. Play s-m songs on instruments ie chime bars/xylophones/keyboard. For children who can do this, playing s-m songs on tuned instruments will be easy. A child who can hand sign a song will usually be able to play it on a xylophone or piano once you show them the notes. I let the children play their songs as soon as they can, but wait until a few more pitches have been assimilated before any extensive work on instruments because at this stage using only 2 notes it can be a bit dull on the ear.
  13. Combine singing names with rhythm notation. If children are familiar and competent in using rhythm notation the class can write out the rhythm of known s-m songs and then add the solfa syllable underneath. This is called stick notation.
  14. Experiment with stick notation and be creative. Try introducing a s-m song through stick notation. The class could first clap the rhythm then sing the solfa. Finally add the words. Play on instruments.
  15. Use rhythm flash cards and play games with solfa eg. “When you see a ‘ta’ sing ‘s’, when you see ‘ti ti’ sing ‘m’.

STEP 2: The next stage comes when the children are confident with s-m and m-s. The next pitch to be introduced is la (l). You can use much of the above sequence, but this is how I introduce ‘l’. I sing a well known ‘s’-‘m’ song but change one of the pitches to ‘l’ Can the children tell me whether this new note was higher or lower than ‘s’? If they can I tell them its name and show the hand sign. We all try it. Revisit an old song, ie one the children already know which has s-m and l. It might be Bounce High. If they do not know one then teach the song a few weeks before you plan start the focused work on l.

  • Notation: Once the children can aurally identify the difference between s-m and l and can sing from hand signs and we have done some improvising using different combinations, ie l-m-s , s-l-m, l-s-m, m-l-s, m-s-l, I show them how the hand signs would go on lines and spaces and therefore introduce some notation. I do not rush into this stage but sometimes it does help clarify the differences. I do it like this. Have a huge stave of 5 lines so that you can put your hand on the lines and in the spaces and make the hand signs. Stick with the ‘s’ on (optional) either a line (second line up) or a space (third space up) to start with. No clef is needed. Pupils read from your hand until they are ready to read notes in its place.
  • Sing in 2 parts: Children divide into 2 groups, you hands sign for one group with one hand they hold your last note while the other group sings to your other hand.

STEP 3: Introduce ‘do’. I find Ickle Ockle Blue Bottle is good for this and the children enjoy the game.

STEP 4: Introduce m r d. “One for the Mouse” and “Good News” are good for this, and there are hundreds more. Find your favourites.

Continue with composing, improvising and flash card games as above making links to rhythm work. It is vital to offer a variety of stimulating ways to go over the same pitches and to expect that the process of discrimination will take time to build up.

STEP 5: Introduce songs using only smd and smrd and use the ideas in the sequence.

STEP 6: Teach several lsmrd songs to prepare the way for working with the whole pentatonic scale. eg Engine Engine, Fire in the Mountains, Starlight , Janey You See Nobody Pass Here? After this you may need more training. The British Kodály Academy runs workshops and part time courses throughout the year and an Easter and Summer school. It also has a range of good song books.

See our Online Shop for useful flash cards and books

Music Education in the Early Years by Celia Waterhouse

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First published in EYE Magazine in February 2002

All quality pre-school institutions profess that music is an integral part of their programme. The recent pre-school expansion in Britain has seen a corresponding expansion in demand for a properly structured approach to music education. Where can teachers find a high quality, educationally proven and affordable early years music scheme?

The Kodály Approach

Zoltán Kodály (1882 – 1967) transformed music education in Hungary. The ideas he developed gave rise to a systematic and holistic approach to musical training, from pre-school stage to diploma level, which has become world-renowned. Kodály believed that music is “part of human nature” and that, given the right input, everyone could become musically literate and articulate.

So what is “the right input”? The main characteristic of Kodály work is the use of singing. Kodály believed singing was the best medium for teaching the language of music. Singing actively engages the whole person and develops that essential musicianly attribute, the inner hearing. Kodály teachers train themselves to the highest standards and, acting as a good role model, pass on the ability to sing well, rhythmically and in tune to the children they work with. Nowhere is this more important than at the early years stage.

Kodály believed in starting musical training as early as possible, not only nine months before the birth of a child, but even, as he once said, nine months before the birth of the parent! Early childhood education has always been a top priority for Kodály educators.

It is generally assumed in this country that learning a musical instrument is the best route to musical training. But instrumental study is not widely available until Keystage 1 or 2. The conventional path to learning an instrument in the UK can leave many essential skills underdeveloped. Kodály teachers are first and foremost preoccupied with training the whole musician: playing an instrument musically is the “proof of the pudding”. The pre-school stage, when children are at their most receptive with rapidly developing memory, is the best time to start the ongoing process of musicianship training. A Kodály programme gives all children an equal opportunity to develop foundation skills, using nature’s own built-in musical instrument, the singing voice.

Kodály work focuses on engaging children in enjoyable, practical, carefully structured musical activity relevant to their physical, intellectual and emotional stage of development. This builds up a bank of memorable repertoire, which roots children’s understanding in real experience, and becomes a seedbed for future musical growth. Some early years music programmes focus instead o¬n the written language of music. Colourful and attractive materials have been designed to teach children to recognise and name notes o¬n the stave. Undoubtedly children can learn very complex written symbols, but what does this mean if unrelated to musical experience? To Kodály teachers this seems like “putting the cart before the horse”.

The importance of a good role model

A child learns his mother tongue by listening to and copying the speech sounds surrounding him from before birth. Gradually, through playful interaction with his primary carers, the baby’s interest is first aroused, the attention focused, and the seeds are sown for rapid development of the memory. Through frequent repetition, sounds become associated with meanings, and particular sounds become the means of coherent communication. Adults are an integral part of the process, functioning as an ongoing role model and actively engaging the child in regular exchanges. Adults provide appropriate material for the child to mimic and copy, and convey meaning to the complex sounds being repeated.

The same organic process is true for music, and nature has supplied the means. Every parent knows that some of the earliest vocalised sounds made by young babies are more like singing than speaking. Babies have a special sensitivity to the frequency of the mother’s singing voice, and respond to a spontaneous gentle lullaby and the soothing rocking motion of the mother’s body. These are quite simply the basic musical ingredients of pitch and pulse. Mothers who sing to their children provide a role model for musical development, and material that becomes the child’s musical vocabulary. This process can so naturally be continued through the early years by both parent and early years professional alike.

Sadly, for a good number of adults in modern Britain, spontaneous unaccompanied singing is not a natural and joyous means of self-expression. Some adults are inhibited about singing with their own children beyond the baby phase. Others are insecure in pitch, have never acquired a sense of pulse, and are diffident about the lack of confidence they feel about singing specifically and active music making in general. As we know, children are wonderful mimics, and all this is unwittingly passed on to them, acquired just like the local accent wherever they happen to be born. one of the best investments in music a nursery can make is to ensure that all staff are unselfconscious and enthusiastic about singing, and that they can sing well. In following a Kodály training programme inhibitions about singing are soon lost, and students (be they three or fifty-three) learn to sing confidently in tune, rhythmically and musically, and best of all, with a real sense of enjoyment, the key to all learning.

Recipe for success with young children

Kodály teachers start from the premise that everyone can learn to sing. Most young children have a limited singing range of about a musical sixth (from about Middle D to the B above). Best results are achieved by beginning with songs of limited range, starting from the simple “coo-ee” or “cuckoo” singing pitches (the solfa pitches so and mi) that children – and adults – spontaneously use in calling to each other. The universally known playground chants, Rain, rain, go away, Ring-a-roses, It’s raining, it’s pouring and Mary had a little lamb, are examples of songs which young children can successfully cope with as a first diet. There is no shortage of good repertoire. The teacher also chooses a comfortable starting pitch, ensuring that the song fits within the children’s range.

Songs are taught by rote from the teacher’s unaccompanied singing voice. Children hear only the sounds they need to imitate, uncluttered by the different timbre of a piano or other distracting accompanying instrument, or the insistent drum rhythms of modern backing music. Songs are repetitive, rhythmically simple, and easily memorised. Many repetitions, both on first exposure and on subsequent hearing, ensure accurate internalising of pitches, rhythms and words. Daily singing is the best approach, even if only for 10 minutes. once memorised, songs provide core material with which other music skills are developed.

Variety is achieved by adding accompanying actions performed on the pulse or on cue words, appropriate to the song content. Actions focus and engage the whole attention, and fix the song and its essential mood and components more firmly in the memory by anchoring the experience in different parts of the body. Pulse actions programme in from the word “go” that essential component of music, its steady beat. Cue word actionsare one of the first stages in rhythmic awareness. Numbers, names and animal noises are the most obvious starting point in early years repertoire. Towards age 5, as the child grows in musical experience, he or she learns to clap the rhythm (word pattern) of whole lines of well-known songs and rhymes.

Body actions develop co-ordination: this is where children and teachers can have a lot of fun! It also lays important foundations for a skill which musicians need in abundance, the ability to deal with several things simultaneously. Once a body action is established with any new song, it can be transferred to a percussion instrument. Children take turns to accompany the song with instruments such as claves, finger cymbals or jingle bells.

A well-developed memory is the key to any successful learning, and listening and concentration are essential to this. Kodály teachers make creative use of external stimuli to harness the imagination. The passing seasons, festivals and visits are an obvious source of inspiration for repertoire. Puppets, pictures and favourite storybooks or nursery rhyme books can be woven into music lessons to attract, focus and extend children’s attention.

What is good repertoire?

In considering repertoire appropriate for teaching, Kodály said, “only the best is good enough”. Young children actively experiencing good quality music unconsciously absorb good musical vocabulary. This influences their musical development and choices for the rest of their lives. Kodály believed teachers should look to the indigenous folk repertoire of their native country and traditions, and draw inspiration and material from there. These songs and rhymes have stood the test of time. Their essential elements are building blocks for all musical experience and understanding.
This does not mean that all our most popular Nursery Rhymes are suitable for a structured programme of early years music training through singing: far from it! Many of the best-known British tunes are in fact settings of traditional rhymes with melodies composed for the Victorian nursery. Sing the following aloud, and appreciate the inherent difficulties:

  • Humpty Dumpty
    high at the end
  • Jack and Jill
    impossibly low at the end
  • Ride-a-Cock Horse to Banbury Cross
    wide range, huge melodic leaps, no melodic repetitions
  • Hey Diddle Diddle
    no melodic repetitions, some difficult rhythms
  • Hickory Dickory Dock
    tricky word-setting in second line (one-syllable words on two rising notes), low at the end.
  • I Had a Little Nut-tree
    wide range, awkward melodic shape

Surprisingly, even contemporary early years song repertoire, including that specially compiled or composed, frequently contains similar difficulties, or is set in keys too high to suit the singing range of a typical 4-year-old. Although some young children have amazingly high, agile singing voices, and big vocal ranges, this is not the norm. Most need a diet of carefully selected material, starting from limited range, gradually extending the boundaries as singing skills develop. Kodály teachers look analytically at songs, and are concerned with planning programmes where material is introduced systematically, allowing learning to occur cumulatively. The success following this approach is self-evident.

Kodály programmes at the early years stage make particular use of singing games. These are part of folk tradition, and children learn them as easily and naturally as they learn to speak their mother tongue. Singing games, usually in circle formation, give opportunities for social interactions such as turn taking, choosing partners, or role-play. Games help to develop essential skills such as listening, concentration, memory and co ordination, in an enjoyable and emotionally satisfying way. Children perform musical actions as a group, according to the rules of the game, walking skipping or clapping to the steady beat, taking turns as the leader or soloist. They learn unconsciously and spontaneously through being actively involved in a structured play situation.

And those tricky Nursery Rhymes? Kodály teachers often use them in their original form as rhymes. Awareness of words is one of the earliest stages of rhythmic training. With their straightforward metre and rhythm, rhymes provide valuable material for rhythm work, and later improvisation and composition. The teacher chants with exaggerated intonation and mouth movements, focusing attention o¬n the individual syllables, the rhythm pattern, and the balance of each line. Children unconsciously absorb the natural metre and word pattern, as well as the form and structure of music inherent in the rhyme. This kind of activity undoubtedly aids speech and language development.

Training and resources

The British Kodály Academy runs an annual programme of courses for teachers and interested adults. Early Childhood Methodology is always available at the BKA Summer School and o¬n o¬ne or two weekends through the year, and in addition musicianship training is offered at various levels. These courses, delivered by top experts in the field, are a valuable source of inspiration and teaching repertoire. Students do not have to be musically trained at the outset, and learn by active participation, just as children do.

The beauty of the Kodály approach is that it can be begun immediately: no expensive technology or equipment is required. Teachers can introduce it in a small way within their current situation, and gradually phase it in as they become confident with the aims and develop their own skills, understanding, and teaching repertoire. This is in fact how most Kodály specialists in the UK started out.

And the learning never actually stops! The Kodály process is organic and interactive, so there is always something new to learn at whatever level one is operating. That is what makes it an exciting and creative way of teaching music, as all Kodály enthusiasts will tell you.

Books and Resources for Early Years work

Apple Pie and Custard / Knives and Forks and Spoons (Vera Gray)
Songs and rhymes for all the year round, for playgroup, nursery, home. (Lindsay Music, 01767 316521)

Children’s Songs* / Fishy, Fishy in the Brook* (Helga Dietrich)
Songs / Rhymes for young children

Five and Twenty Rhythmic Games (Dorothy Pilling)
(Piano music for the development of free movement, for use in Nursery and Junior School) Forsyth 1936

Moon Penny (Bill Meek)
Rhymes, songs and play-verse (Ossian Publications, Cork, Ireland 1985)

Music in Pre-School* (Katalin Forrai)

Singing Games and Rhymes For Early Years* / Singing Games and Rhymes for Tiny Tots* (Lucinda Geoghegan)

This Little Puffin (Elizabeth Matterson) Finger plays and nursery games (Puffin Books 1969).

*Compiled and written by Kodály specialists, and available from the BKA from our BKA Shop.

Celia Waterhouse trained as a piano teacher and works both in private practice and as a visiting teacher in Cambridge. She has been independently running musicianship classes for Early Years and Keystage 1 since the late 80s, and has worked as a visiting music teacher at a local Montessori School, and at Day Nurseries in Cambridge and the Newmarket area. Through the mid-90’s she ran her own Summer Music School for children and adults, with musicianship and singing as core elements.

In the early 90s she became interested in the Kodály approach which tied in closely with her own practice. She later began her training with the British Kodály Academy, and attained the Certificate of Kodály Music Education in 1999. Since then she has used a Kodály approach in her piano teaching practice and currently teaches Kodály musicianship at Keystage 1 at St Faith’s School Cambridge. She headed the Editorial Team working on the BKA’s Millennium Songbook, a resource book for class and instrumental teachers working at Keystage 1, 2 and 3. In 2002 she gained the Certificate of Professional Practice (Early Years – Kodály) through the BKA’s new ‘Sound Beginnings’ Course.

Celia served on the BKA committee from 1998 – 2003, and was Chairman from 2000 – 2003.

Who Is A Good Music Teacher? by Betty Power

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An in-depth answer to this frequently question, by Betty Power (BKA Newsletter, Spring 2001)

In 1953, when asked to speak at the end-of-year ceremony at the Liszt Academy of Music, Zoltan Kodály referred to Robert Schumann’s preface to Album for the Young (Jugend Album). In 1848, Schumann had offered a wealth of advice for music students, ranging from the importance of a correctly tuned instrument, to the advantage of learning to conduct early, to taking long walks in the open air, to the practice of a capella singing to develop the inner ear.

Kodály pointed out to the conservatory students that Schumann’s advice was just as relevant then, more than a hundred years later, and that there was still were many improvements needed to meet the high standards of Robert Schumann. Today’s description of “Who Is A Good Musician?” has become the mission statement for Kodály students and teachers today:

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. In 1992, nearly 40 years later in the USA, in another Kodály teachers’ conference address, Dr Jean Sinor drew upon the advice of Schumann and Kodály in sharing her own insights into what makes a good music teacher. The following is a summary of her message, that in this new year it may inspire and summon us all to reflect on where we are now, and where and how we would like to “grow”.

Always keep yourself alive as a musician…

Consider yourself a musician first, beyond anything else. Find time to daily exercise the musician in you, whether it be playing one etude a day, singing a Bach chorale, or attending a concert of new music. This will keep you in touch with 1) the persistent effort and regular discipline required for students to achieve, progress and be motivated in their music studies, and 2) the exhilaration of the musical experience, what we ultimately hope to awaken and nurture in our students.

Get to know the other arts…

If you don’t already, read poetry, visit art museums and galleries, attend modern dance recitals. Carry with you an open mind and a healthy reserve of curiosity. Sinor: “Understanding human nature can be accomplished in a variety of ways…you may find that you hear better when you see differently.”

Learn another language…

The characteristics of a person’s language influences what that person is capable of understanding, and having more than one language gives you more than one perspective on an idea. Sinor: “Learning a different way of expressing yourself gives you another way of thinking.”

Take an interest in the world…

Be aware of world issues and work on understanding their causes and effects. Better to reflect on things which have no immediate effect on you and in which you have no vested interests. The aim here is to practise objective thinking and understanding issues from many different points of view.

Live in harmony with nature…

Kodály was committed to a strict regime of health and fitness. He swam vigorously, was a great hiker and followed a quasi-vegetarian diet. His trips to mountains in the northern part of Hungary were the source of inspiration for both his music and ideas. By experiencing the beauty, the surprises, the awe-inspiring miracles of Nature, we are in touch with our inner child, the world of feeling and senses, the inner world of music.

Stick your neck out for something you believe in…

In American terms, this requires more than just standing up for what you believe in – it involves speaking out, carrying the torch, being an activist for the cultural needs of the population. Work towards influencing the thinking of local, regional and national governments, educational and musical organisations – try to get others to consider an alternative.

Don’t settle for just ‘getting by’…

Be confident and maintain a strong vision of what you wish to accomplish; don’t compromise your ideas for the sake of being realistic. When things don’t work out the way you had hoped, be fair to yourself: “Although that wasn’t quite good enough, we made a few steps in the right direction.”

Lead as profound a life as is possible…

Study the ideas of philosophers, artists, religious leaders. Learn their techniques and create your own understanding of life. The goal is to learn how to perceive what is happening to us and around us, to pay attention and take a lesson from everything that passes by.

Every minute of life is precious…

Jean Sinor points out that Kodály still challenges us to be more than ordinary, to be extra-ordinary in our roles as music teachers and musicians: (Kodály) “Obviously, a perfect musician is an unattainable ideal; even the best can find shortcomings in themselves. But seeing the goal, they can measure the distance and understand what is still to be done to approach it. For such people, Schumann’s last sentence is not depressing, but encouraging: “Es ist des Lernens Kein Ende” (There is no end to learning).“

Singing With Your Baby by Carolyn Spencer

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Research into the benefits of singing with your baby by Carolyn Spencer
(BKA Newsletter, Autumn 2001)

For my final year dissertation at Roehampton I decided to study the effects that singing to babies had on the relationship between parents and their infants. For the project, two mums kindly let me teach them songs and come and observe and video them as they sang to their baby. J’s baby was 6 months old when I first introduced the songs them and G’s baby was just 3 weeks old when she started singing to him. What follows is an observation of the responses that the babies had to being sung to and then how the mothers felt this impacted on their relationship. The mothers also had copies of the songs on a CD I had made.

Freddie first heard the songs by listening to the CD. The songs were very repetitive and usually in rounds so soon J was singing along with the CD. Freddie turned immediately towards the source of the sound. His body became alert and still and all the babbling that he had been doing stopped instantly. He stayed transfixed for the whole CD (15 songs) and the moment it stopped he started to wave his hands and babble as if to say “Again!” We played it again and observed the same response: his body became still and he was totally silent.

As the weeks went on J noticed how he was able to listen to Radio 3 in complete concentration for 20 minutes. She also found that he could bear to be without her as long as the CD was playing, and that he had definite favourites. The CD ended with “My paddle’s Keen and Bright” and they started to notice that he would become agitated when that song began. They then realised that Freddie knew it was the last song on the CD and was upset about it. Freddie’s Dad put the CD on ‘shuffle’ to try to get round this problem but Freddie soon expressed his displeasure, he wanted the songs he knew to be in the order that he knew! This was strange to me because obviously J was singing to him in any order that arose. It seemed that the CD represented an important link with J, reminding Freddie of all the close times he had with her. Perhaps for this reason it needed to be unchanging.

J talked about how singing was becoming such an important part of their day. She described it as being a way of communicating with Freddie, where words would perhaps be too harsh and invasive. Sensing music to be a communication that goes beyond language J also felt that the exchanges that it facilitated strengthened their attachment to each other.

This seemed to tie in with some research that I had been reading (Dissanayake in Wallin et al 2000) where there was a challenge towards the traditional Darwinian view that music arose out of the need to stake sexual and territorial claims, much as other animals use musical sounds. Dissanayake argues that music originates from the mother’s deep seated need to communicate with her infant; to make strong attachments which will reward the enormous investment she makes in keeping the baby alive. This argument convinces in so far that it explains the use of music to express wide ranges of emotion and experiences, not merely territorial drumming or wooing of mates. However it is also to me an absolutely mind blowing assertion: that all the temporal arts and probably language itself emerged from the mother’s primal need to communicate with her infant.

Working with G and her baby, Jack showed me some different aspects surrounding infant directed singing. G sang with a nice voice but rarely did Jack relax his body or make eye contact with her. He generally arched his head back and away and kept his body stiff. Eventually I suggested she sing one of the slower lullabies. The effect was astonishing.

His body relaxed and he made eye contact. I took readings from the video of what speed G needed to sing to make contact with Jack and it was always the same: no quicker than 40 beats per minute. Even with Freddie who was 6 months older the faster songs where no faster than 60-80 beats per minute and the slower ones were between 20-30 beats per minute with a lot of rubato and expressive facial display. It seemed to indicate that the smaller the baby, the slower the song needed to be for the baby to feel contained enough by the music to respond. In this way I felt that music was a powerful way to help G to tune in to Jack’s needs. It was this kind of interaction which builds on relationship and communication and establishes enough good experiences connected to music. This means that when Jack awoke screaming in the middle of the night he could connect the soothing singing with all the previous occasions when he had felt safe and connected to G.

I felt from the months observing G and J with their babies that music was playing an important role in their developing relationships with Jack and Freddie.

The second part of the research involved three separate groups of mothers and babies. I taught them some of the rounds on the CD and watched the babies respond. The mothers then filled out a questionnaire for me. Some mothers were inspired to buy the CD as well.

This part of the research was intended to try to find out whether mothers are singing to their babies or whether it is something that fewer people do in current parenting cultures. In the questionnaires that came back to me nearly all the mothers felt that they had been sung to and nearly all said that they sang to their babies every day. This surprised me and I concluded that apart from the possibility that the mothers were filling in the questionnaires with the view of giving me what they thought I wanted to hear; they may be singing, but few had a canon of songs. Many said that they could not remember the words. Also, singing was being used in a utilitarian sense and not necessarily as a building block for relationship, for example one mother wrote on her questionnaire “Singing kills a tantrum,” and another told me of how the only way her baby would accept being bathed was if she sang to her. As my work with J and G suggests this may mean that music is less powerful and has less meaning than when it is also used for the sake of creating positive interaction. This holds implications for my third research question which was to try to discover if the quality of the mother’s musical experience was important for creating a positive interaction with her baby. The overwhelming favourite song for the mothers in the groups was, “Bless you, Bless you Bonnie Bee.” They sang this in rounds and the still magic that was created in those moments was really special. I concluded from this that the songs had to be slow, of good quality, repetitive and if there is singing in a group then ideally they need to have a harmonic quality to them.

It was the most incredible privilege to be there when the mothers where singing to their babies like that. It make me think of just how reluctant adults can be when you try to teach them a song or ask them to sing in public. I had expected to meet this resistance with the mothers in the group and was amazed by their eagerness to sing. I concluded that at a deep level they knew that music was important for their relationship with their babies and this provided a motivator which was able to over-ride the normal resistance to public singing. This, coupled with my awareness that I was witnessing very intimate and private exchanges between mothers and their babies made it a very rewarding experience.

If you would like to know more about the singing to babies project, or would like a copy of the CD please contact Carolyn on 01483 503035 gundywindy@btinternet.com

Wallin, N, et al (ed.) (2000) The Origins of Music Massachusetts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology