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Kodály Summer School – Options

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The afternoon options will provide an opportunity to choose from a variety of courses which will be on offer at different times during the week.

Delegates will be requested to make their choice of afternoon options in advance and will receive a form from the Administrator upon application to the course or shortly thereafter. Our expectation is that once a course of study has begun the student will stay with their choice for the rest of the week. All sessions will be dependent on numbers, and the BKA reserves the right to cancel a course if the numbers are insufficient. There will be a free afternoon midweek on Wednesday, the 12th of August. Students are encouraged to bring their musical instruments to facilitate informal music making in the preparation times, on the free afternoon and evening or in lieu of options which may not be of interest. Practice facilities will be available in the evening but limited during the day to the preparation period.

Individual Tuition and Coaching will be offered throughout the afternoon. (NB Individual lessons are not covered in the course fee; students opting for five lessons may have a lesson timetabled on the free afternoon.)

NB. There will be no afternoon sessions on the free afternoon, Wednesday the 12th of August

Session One
13:30 – 14:45

In Session One students may choose one of the following six options:

1. Methodology 1 for Teachers and Practitioners in Early Childhood
2. Methodology 2 for Teachers and Practitioners in Primary Teaching
3. Methodology 3 for Teachers and Practitioners in Secondary Teaching
4. Methodology 4 for Teachers and Practitioners in Instrumental Teaching
5. Choral Music Workshop

More details

Session Two
15:00 – 16:15

In Session Two students may choose one of the following three options:

1. Conducting at 4 levels
2. Susan Brumfield – Repertoire & Pedagogy (repeated in session three)
3. James Cuskelly Musical Listening & Lucinda Geoghegan Singing Games (repeated in session three)

More details

Session Three
16:45 – 18:00

In Session Three students may choose one of the following three options:

1. Esther Hargittai: Jewish Music & Dance
2. Susan Brumfield – Repertoire & Pedagogy (repeat of session two)
3. James Cuskelly Musical Listening & Lucinda Geoghegan Singing Games (repeat of session two)

More details

Cyrilla Rowsell

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cyrilla_rowsellCyrilla gained a Bachelor of Education degree and then was a class teacher in First and Primary Schools for eleven years. During this time she became increasingly interested in the Kodály approach to music education, and subsequently attended many courses including Summer Schools in Britain and Hungary.

She obtained the British Kodály Academy’s Advanced Musicianship Diploma with Distinction in 1991. Since then Cyrilla has taught the Elementary and Intermediate Level year courses for the BKA and has taught solfège, methodology and conducting on BKA Summer Schools. She teaches in primary schools and on the String Training Programme at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Cyrilla has run courses around the country for organisations including the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, The Dalcroze Society, The National Youth Choir of Scotland, ESTA, the Shrewsbury Opera Project and for various schools and LEAs, including a year-long project in Barnsley and helping to plan a pre-instrumental musicianship course for children on the Isle of Man. She was the first advisory teacher for the Voices Foundation.

Cyrilla is currently writing the ‘Jolly Music’ scheme of books for primary age children with David Vinden.

Cyrilla has run a large junior age choir who won the Bromley Music Festival in 2000 with a high distinction mark of 96. The most experienced members of the choir performed both at the Royal Festival Hall in the Music for Youth Choral Day and at the Royal Albert Hall as part of a 500-strong Bromley choir at the 2002 Schools’ Prom. They performed many times at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, supporting the Band of the White Russian Army and the Croydon Philharmonic Choir.

Dr László Norbert Nemes

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Dr-Laszlo-Norbert-Nemes

Dr. habil. László Norbert Nemes is currently professor at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest and director of the International Kodály Institute of the Liszt Academy. His main areas of expertise are the theory and the practice of the Kodály Concept, musicianship training according to the Kodály Concept, choral conducting and choral music education. His most recent publications include a chapter on choral music education according to the Kodály concept in the Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy published by Oxford University Press in 2017. Besides teaching at the Liszt Academy he maintains an active career as a choral conductor. Since September 2014 he has been artistic director of the New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir, the artist-in-residence choral ensemble of the Liszt Academy. In 2018 he founded the National Youth Choir of Hungary. For twelve years he worked as the associate conductor of the Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir. László Nemes has conducted, taught, held workshops, master classes and seminars all across Europe, in Australia, Brazil, Canada, the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Japan, the Korean Republic, Malaysia, The Philippines, Republic of China/Taiwan, Singapore and the United States of America several times. He is guest professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. In recognition of his artistic activities he received the Bartók-Pásztory Award in 2005. In March 2017 he was decorated with the Golden Cross of the Hungarian Cross of Merit. He is vice president of the International Kodály Society, honorary member of the British Kodály Academy and patron of music education at National Youth Choir of Scotland.

Esther Hargittai

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Esther-HargittaiEsther was born in Hungary and emigrated to Israel at the age of 16. She has been immersed in music since the tender age of six, going through primary and secondary schools specializing in music and in 1995 graduating in Choir Conducting and Music Education at the prestigious Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Since graduating she has taught music and conducted choirs through all age groups: children through to adults. Esther set up one of the best known and most successful children’s choirs in Israel, the Efroni Choir, which she managed and conducted from1996 to 2005. The Efroni Choir had numerous performances in a variety of settings, from state ceremonies to children’s TV programmes and special concerts, as well as representing Israel abroad in the USA and France. Esther was also a major partner in conceiving and writing a Kodály Method teaching manual for music teachers in Israel, which was published by the Jerusalem Music Centre. Esther moved to the UK with her husband and family in 2006. Since then she has been engaged as a tutor on many BKA courses. She runs conducting and musicianship courses for choir trainers and class teachers from her home in Kent and has given successful conducting workshops elsewhere in the UK.

Lucinda Geoghegan

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Lucinda-Geoghegan_2014

Lucinda graduated in music from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, completed a postgraduate teaching qualification at Moray House College of Education and trained with the Kodály Institute of Britain where she gained an Advanced Diploma in musicianship with Distinction. She worked as a secondary music teacher in Edinburgh before deciding to specialise in Primary and Early Years Music Education. She was also a member of staff with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus for 16 years and was Director of the NYCoS West Lothian Choir for 8 years.

She is currently a theory and musicianship lecturer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland working in both the Senior and Junior departments and is a regular tutor for the British Kodály Academy.

Lucinda is Education Director for the National Youth Choir of Scotland and her work increasingly includes Staff Development training across Britain presenting workshops on Kodály musicianship and methodology. Lucinda has been invited as a guest lecturer on the summer and yearly courses at the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét, Hungary and has delivered workshops in Ireland, Germany, Holland and Singapore.

Publications written by Lucinda for NYCoS include – Singing Games and Rhymes for Tiny Tots, Singing Games and Rhymes for Early Years, Singing Games and Rhymes for Middle Years and with Christopher Bell she wrote the musicianship programme Go for Bronze, Go for Silver and Go for Gold.

Future publications include Singing Games and Rhymes in Mother Tongue and Singing Games and Rhymes for ages 9 to 99 co-written with Dr László Nemes, Director of the Zoltán Kodály Pedagogical Institute of Music at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music and NYCoS Patron of Education.

Kodály Summer School – Core Activities

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All attendees on the Summer School course attend the following core activities at the start of each full day.

Choir
08:45 – 09:45

Choral singing is central to the Kodály approach, and all students including the Certificate Course candidates are expected to take part. The choral sessions will take place daily under the direction of Árpád Toth who will conduct an SATB Choir and David Vinden who will conduct an SSAA Choir. Every choral session will include warm-up techniques and will provide a memorable choral experience.

Musicianship with Relative Solfa
10:00 – 11:00 and 11:30 – 12:15

There will be one and three-quarter hours of tuition daily for all Summer School participants. The aim of this core subject is to develop musical literacy, encompassing essential attributes of musicianship such as fluent reading/singing with good intonation, inner hearing, aural perception, polyphonic and harmonic hearing, leading to an understanding of Form and an appreciation of Style. This is achieved through the application of Relative Solfa, which is one of the main ‘tools’ of the Kodály Concept, while making music. All levels will be catered for from complete beginners to the musically advanced.

Those with no musical training will be taught in a Foundation Group by a British tutor. There will be a minimum of four additional levels. A Musical Information Form will be sent out on receipt of application to all students and every effort will be made to ensure that students are placed in the level which is most suitable for their stage of development. Movement from one level to the next will be on evidence of mastery of the skills in the preceding level. The course will be tutored by experienced British and Hungarian tutors.

Steve Roud at the BKA Spring Course

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Steve RoudWhile we’re all thinking about the end of term tomorrow, I wonder what renowned folklorist, and creator of the Roud Folk Song Index, Steve Roud is doing.

He might be preparing for his sessions at the BKA Spring Course over Easter. After all, Steve is running three fascinating sessions over the four day course.

A Brief History of English Folk Song
Since the Second World War, the notion of what constitutes a ‘folk song’ has undergone so many changes that the term is now so elastic as to prove almost useless. But up to a hundred years ago, folk song was the most important part of the unofficial everyday musical culture of the people and was all around us. With the help of field recordings of amateur singers made over the years, we will explore some of the fascinating songs and singing styles that ordinary people used for entertainment in pubs and homes, at work and at play, before ‘pop music’ took over the world.

British Children’s Games: Past and Present
Contrary to what many adults think, children do still play, and many of their games are still ‘traditional’ in that they are passed on from child to child and down the generations. But children have always taken some of their play materials from wherever suits them, and nowadays the traditional games are mixed in with brand-new items based on the latest TV programme or learnt from YouTube. We will look at the changing state of play from Victorian times to the present day, and identify some of the main changes and continuities in that period.

The Full English and other Online Folk Song Resources
The Full English project at the English Folk Dance & Song Society made available online nearly all the major manuscript collections compiled by the Victorian and Edwardian folk song pioneers, and offers access to thousands of songs, dance and tunes from the English tradition. Used in conjunction with websites which offer sound recordings and the Roud Folk Song Indexes, researchers – whether beginners, enthusiasts or experts – have a wealth of material at their fingertips from the comfort of their own homes. We will explore these wonderful resources and learn some of the skills necessary to find our way around them.

If you want to come along for the full four days, or perhaps just a single day then book now at http://www.britishkodalyacademy.org/short_courses.htm

The course runs from 7th to 10th April in Telford at University of Wolverhampton, Telford Innovation Campus, Shropshire TF2 9NN

I hope to see you there!

Teaching musicianship through singing, movement and dance – 23rd – 25th July 2015

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Englefield Green, Egham.

A three-day course for teachers of children aged 2 to 8

Course tutors:
Nikhil Dally MACantab, CertAdvStudiesGSMD
Maureen Murphy ARAD, LISTD

Dates: Thurs. 23rd July – Sat. 25th July, 2015
Location: The Jurgens Centre, Harvest Road, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey TW20 0QR

“A fabulous, well-structured and inspiring weekend… Imagination / story-telling / creativity from both tutors – both inspirational in their respective fields.
– Elaine McCartney, Kodály Cert. music teacher, Durham

Stepping Notes is a holistic, integrated, multi-sensory approach to music education, based upon the philosophies of Kodály, Jaques-Dalcroze and Géza Szilvay. The hallmarks of the Stepping Notes approach are:
(1) Movement and singing as the prime conduits for musical learning.
(2) Developing the inner ear.
(3) Feeling and understanding the inner life of music.
(4) Maintaining natural body flexibility and sensitivity.
(5) The judicious and sensitive use of high-quality musical instruments.
(6) The world of the imagination; this is where young children live.

“Prepared meticulously and delivered with expertise and joy. All material was very relevant and sequenced imaginatively… Inspirational, exceedingly useful & most enjoyable.”
– Sue Hamilton, pre-school music teacher, Surrey

This course is designed to help those who teach children aged 2 to 8 to develop their students’ musicianship through the voice and the body. We will concentrate on the following areas:
(1) using singing, movement and dance to help children to feel and understand:
pulse and rhythm, metre and phrasing, melody and harmony;
(2) teaching musical literacy using singing and movement;
(3) choosing and using children’s instruments in such a way as to preserve and enhance
their co-ordination and sense of rhythm.
Please come willing to remove your shoes and socks and work barefoot, on the floor, to sing, to play, to move and to dance (no previous dance experience required!)

Course fee: £180.00 if application received by 9th May, 2015;
£ 195.00 if application received by 13th June, 2015;
£ 210.00 thereafter;
(N.B. £90.00 non-refundable deposit required upon booking)

“Outstanding… Everything was covered in more depth than the one-day course, so I left feeling far more knowledgeable.”
– Charlotte Bettle, early-years music teacher, Southampton

The course tutors:

Nikhil Dally received first-class honours in music from Cambridge University, and studied composition at the Guildhall School of Music. Nikhil founded the Stepping Notes Music School in 2000. He designed the Stepping Notes curriculum himself and teaches all classes, for children aged 2 to 8. The school now has about 100 students on its roll, and recently won the award for Best Local Activity with What’s On 4 Little Ones. Nikhil is increasingly in demand to lead workshops for teachers on the Stepping Notes approach. Recent engagements include a series of workshops at the Colourstrings International Summer School and the British Kodály Academy Summer School, a workshop for the Dalcroze Society Professional Development Day, a training session for teachers at the Len Tyler Music School, four INSET courses for Bracknell Forest primary school teachers, and a course for the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Singapore. Stepping Notes teachers’ courses are regularly over-subscribed.

Maureen Murphy is a holder of the Advanced Teachers Certificate of the Royal Academy of Dancing. She is also a Licentiate of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing in Ballet, and an Associate in the National Dance branch. Maureen founded the Lester School of Dance in 1969 and has been its Principal ever since. She has taught dance at Broomfield House School since 1990. She has also taught at the London College of Dance and Drama, Kew Montessori School, and Ashton House School. She has studied Pilates body conditioning, Playford dance, Dalcroze eurhythmics, Alexander technique and Topf technique, and integrated these into her ballet teaching to produce a Holistic Approach to the Teaching of Dance. Maureen developed a Body Awareness programme for children which has been demonstrated several times at the Royal Academy of Dance, and her Music and Movement programme for children was demonstrated at the Dalcroze summer school in 1993.

Nikhil and Maureen have worked together since 1991. He has been one of her main musical collaborators. She, in turn, has inspired him to develop his methods of teaching music through movement. This is their sixth course together.

“Totally inspiring… Enjoyed having the stimulus of two course leaders – both excellent in their field… I can’t wait to incorporate some of these ideas into my practice.”
– Anne Porter, early-years music teacher, Gateshead

For further information, please contact:
Nikhil Dally
Winches Cottage, Church Road, Shepperton, Middx. TW17 9JT
E-mail: nikhil@dally.org.uk
Tel. 01932 241196
Website: www.dally.org.uk/steppingnotes