Other Kodály based methods and books

 

There are more methods, or even approaches that have their own methodology, for example DaCapo (71), which are to a greater or lesser extend Kodály based. I have chosen to look at three more approaches:

 

1. The 'DaCapo'-books: the cello-edition and the edition for ‘any’ instrument

2. The piano-method 'With Music In Mind'

3. 'My Solfa Recorder Book'

 

 

The DaCapo Series: 'The Singing Instrumentalist' and 'The Complete Instrumentalist'

 

The DaCapo-method has various books for instrumental playing, amongst them: The Singing Instrumentalist (for eleven different instruments, including the cello), a tutor book for beginners using relative solmisation, and The Complete Instrumentalist (two volumes).

 

The DaCapo Method draws on the methods of Kodály and Dalcroze. Their website gives the following information:

 

 

“DaCapo's use of Kodaly and Dalcroze Eurhythmics

 

The methods of Kodaly and Dalcroze are a natural compliment to one another. Kodaly deals with a cerebral understanding of music, whereas Dalcroze deals with a physical, ‘feeling’ based approach. Kodaly’s method offers a way of naming sounds, giving a simple language to discuss and understand the structure of music. Using Kodaly’s method, new concepts are always approached from a point of understanding.

DaCapo builds from the known into the unknown by building unconscious awareness of each of the elements of music in a logical progression, so that by the time they are made conscious, pupils already have an intuitive understanding of them.

Kodaly’s method also enables the use of simple materials to complex effect. For instance, it is not necessary to be able to play Bach in order to understand or take part in canons, or to be listening to Benjamin Britten in order to recognise and appreciate the effect of moving in parallel motion in two keys at the same time. Using simple material, children can enjoy sophisticated exploration of music from a very early stage, so by the time they come across it in mature music they both recognise it aurally and internally, and understand its construction.

Where DaCapo teaching differs from pure Kodaly is largely in the level of encouragement for musical experimentation and in the use of movement; neither of which are prominent in pure Kodaly. DaCapo’s use of movement is based on the methods of Dalcroze, but adapted. DaCapo uses movement to aid development, concentration, spatial awareness, understanding of the abstract, to support those who are kinaesthetic learners and extend the abilities of those who do not have natural kinaesthetic ability. Usually if a pupil can express an internal feeling for music through movement there is a good chance they will be able to play it expressively.

DaCapo sessions always take place in a circle and do not use the conventional method of directed learning: instead there is a sense of shared exploration and an emphasis on creative contribution from every participant. Rather than using the translated Hungarian folk songs which are typical Kodaly material we have produced our own material which is child-friendly, humorous and written in the English language (so the rhythm and accent of the music fits the words). 

As an organisation DaCapo uses the excellent pedagogical and expressive foundations Kodaly and Dalcroze have to offer, manipulating their methods to suit our own flexible, exploratory style of teaching.” (72)

 

 

 

The first subtitle is: "The Singing Instrumentalist, a tutor for beginners using solmisation" (73). The second subtitle, only at the inner cover, is: "The Singing Cello, a comprehensive approach to the first steps of playing the cello, using relative solmisation".

 

This method book came in my possession very late in the research process. I could not work with the method myself, but because this edition is purely meant for cello, and the author is a cellist herself, it deserves to be looked at.

The book has a clear lay out, simple, with a unity of style. The songs are given a lot of space, child-friendly with big letters, notes, and modestly illustrated with pictures of the song’s content. A special feature is the colouring pages: while colouring the song can be sung and memorised by the child.

The book begins with an introduction, an explanation of the musical elements and an overview of the four main sections.

The introduction promises “entertaining repertoire” and gives the outlines of a perspective on what the cellist will have developed after the completion of this method: “understanding of the function of notation, an ear that can hear tuning and two parts and also be able to enjoy more dissonance as well as pure harmony” (74). No cellistic results are mentioned. The Complete Instrumentalist is recommended as a book that supports this method.

The explanation of the musical elements contains the Kodály-adapted rhythm syllables, the use of a reduced stave (the use of which is already common in the world of Kodály since Ádám), the Kodály solmisation syllables and the way of handling time signatures. The philosophy of the reduced stave and the simplified time signature (75) is “to ensure that the child understands everything on the page, and we can add symbols gradually and logically, building to full notation”. No unnecessary explanation is needed in this way.

As mentioned, there are four main sections. The first section, “Getting started” contains twelve songs. To every song, four pages are dedicated. The first page of each song tells the pupil to:

 

  • learn the song and tap a pulse.
  • sing the song at different pitches.
  • learn the solmisation hand signs and sing the song.
  • sing the song at different pitches using the hand signs.
  • clap and say the rhythms of the song.
  • choose his favourite speed for each song.

 

On the odd pages next to this list is the song text, in big font-size, and a little (full) stave for the teacher’s use at the bottom of the page.

On the third page there is a picture to colour, and the question if the pupil can sing the song from memory. On the fourth page there is an accompaniment to the song, which the pupil can play on his cello. This list of tasks is on each accompaniment’s page:

 

  • Learn the solmisation hand signs and sing the accompaniment.
  • Play the accompaniment on your instrument.
  • Make a duet – play the accompaniment while your teacher plays the song.
  • Write the rhythm of the song under the accompaniment.
  • Play the accompaniment starting on a new ‘do’ and then play this as a duet.

 

Section two is about the introduction of notation. The same twelve songs reappear, but now in stick notation with solmisation syllables. Every song gets two pages in this section. On the first page the song is reinforced by singing it again while tapping the pulse, and singing it again with solmisation handsigns and by clapping and saying the rhythms (see list above). Then cellistic assignments come in, such as “play ‘so’ on your instrument and sing ‘mi’ in your head”, according to the solmisation used in the particular song.

The second page is devoted to the metre and rhythm of the songs, assimilation assignments like inventing a new text on the song’s rhythm, composing a rhythmic piece in the same time signature, balancing rhythms (76).

 

Section three is called “Reading from a Stave”. Now the 12 songs are presented on a two- or three-line stave. Two pages per song; the left page contains the melody with some extra assignments, the right page is an application of the notated song: a duet, a transposition, using an ostinato. Here also some extra tasks are listed like writing the letter names, adding dynamics, sing and play, inventing second parts, experimenting with the song by playing together in different keys, or playing together, but one in double tempo, and writing down missing parts.

 

Section four consist of a few blank pages to create own music or to notate favourite songs

 

Analysis from Kodály perspective

 

Skills and tools

 

Not surprisingly, the skill of singing gets a lot of attention in The Singing Instrumentalist. The first section is devoted to singing, and throughout the book singing keeps appearing in the assignments. Of course, a method book cannot teach a song aurally, so that is left to the teacher to do so in a responsible way. After learning the song, it should be sung at different pitches, and also with handsigns (77). The order of the intervals is so-mi, the traditional 'Kodály-interval', then la-so-mi in different combinations, do-mi-so in different combinations, mi-re-do, do-re-mi-so and vice versa, la-so-mi-re-do. All songs are thus in a pentatonic setting. The accompaniments are not fully pentatonic though. The order of presenting the solmisation is logic from a voice-developmental point of view and very common in Kodály practice. The striking thing in this book are the second voices and bass lines, to be played in the first section: these have to be sung too, but are – of course – not moving so melodically, sometimes only one sound on one rhythmic element, in a key that is too low for a child to sing in. Also the jumps in intervals, do-fa, for instance are no easy to sing with good intonation. Some of the pitches suggested for the melody of the songs are also quite low. I wonder if this would work well in practice.

The pupil is encouraged to sing the song from memory. In later sections the pupil sings also melodic ostinatos, sings and plays alternately, and sings the melody above the second voice/bass line.

Beat and rhythm are experienced at the beginning of the first section, by tapping the beat to a song and clapping and saying the rhythm. The rhythm is not combined with the beat, like in tapping the beat and saying the rhythm. Also in writing no symbol is used for beat, although the heart-shape appears in the simplified time signature. The ‘ta’ and ‘titi’ are connected to quarter and eighth notes from the start, and the rhythm of the text has to be drawn under the accompaniment; ‘ta'- and ‘titi’-symbols are used without noteheads. There is no explicit work on experiencing the metre, but time signature is given in a simplified way (upper numeral + lower heart-shape). In the second section there is some work on the mathematical understanding of rhythm elements, like the 'balancing exercises': the child should use known rhythm patters and put rhythms on the see-saw so that it is balanced. The pupils have to invent a text to a given rhythm, or add own solmisation syllables to a given rhythm. The stick-notated songs have no bar lines, but the spacing suggests the grouping of the beats. The time signature is given. The stave-notated songs have bar lines. The rhythmic compositions give building blocks as well, so it is actually clear where the bar lines would belong.

Melodic inner hearing is trained by singing and solmisation handsigning, but never assessed by a game, a responsorial song, etcetera. Inner hearing of the rhythm is covered by just clapping the rhythm, and singing the song/saying the rhythm 'in your head' or with the 'thinking voice' (78).

Polyphony and harmony are enhanced from the beginning. The first thing the child learns on the cello is to play accompaniments, and sing the melody at the same time. Throughout the book there are bass lines, accompaniments and ostinatos. Canon playing is encouraged, even if it will not work out according to the usual tonal expectations. The same happens with the tempo-experiments, or with bi-tonal performances of the songs, getting used to be aurally aware of a second part sounding while playing the own one. Polyphonic development thus.

 

Phrasing and form are not addressed in this book, but the creative exercises and assignments provide opportunities for teachers to generate attention to those analytical characteristics.

In the DaCapo-method, musical literacy begins with reading rhythmic stick notation. It is left to the teacher how to derive the names and symbols from the experienced rhythms, here they are just given in each song’s ‘index box’. The stick notation is then completed by adding the solmisation-names underneath. In the second section of the book there is extensive practice of this stick notation with solmisation syllables, now with the complete rhythms of the songs. The time signature is given, but no bar lines are included. The third section lets the pupil read from reduced staves. Bar lines are added here. Writing skills are practiced in section four, where the pupil can write his own melodies, or notate favourite songs.

Solmisation and rhythm syllables are used for all songs. The rhythm syllables are linked to the symbols and are used to indicate the values used for a song in the song's ‘index box’. The solmisation is used for utilising transposition and to make notation flexible on the 'clef-less' stave.

 

There is no trace of the use of physical movement. In my view, this is very surprising for a method that claims to combine Dalcroze with Kodály.

 

Principles

 

The method is experience-based in the sense that all songs are learned by singing, focussing on the melodic contour with solmisation handsigns. Feeling beat and rhythm (although not together) is practiced before attempting to play the song’s melody. For the accompaniment of the songs, it is more difficult to prepare, because they are so monotonous from time to time, that, for example, the student just has to remember eight times ‘so’. This is up to the creativity of the teacher.

The choice of repertoire reflects a well-built-up sequence of solmisation elements. I think all songs are composed by the author, because there is no composer or other origin mentioned. Because all songs are in a major pentatonic range or tone set, the diversity must come from the rhythm, the character and the story of the text. For cello-technical reasons I predict some difficulties, especially in the bow technique: the chosen metre and rhythms lead to difficult bow division and string crossing.

By creating an inner image of every song, long before playing it, the elements of that particular song are prepared. Also the symbols, representing that song, are conveyed step by step, and thus the pupil is prepared when he gets to the common five-line stave eventually. The handsigns could be used for preparing the melodic contour on the stave. Also here it depends on the teacher if the order of 1) experiencing, 2) recognising, 3) naming, and 4) symbolising,
is honoured.

 

 

The Complete Instrumentalist One and Two (79)

 

Before I came in the possession of the here before discussed 'The Singing Instrumentalist', I first looked at this book from the DaCapo-series. I was interested in their vision, as I know they are expanding their teaching territory, and were also in The Netherlands training people in Amsterdam. Therefore, I could not leave them out of my survey. But 'The Complete Instrumentalist' is not a real method, and I will not analyse it as deeply as the others.

 

The Complete Instrumentalist one is built up in chapters ordered by solmisation syllables: so-mi; so-la; la-so-mi; so-mi-re; mi-re-do, so-mi-do; so-mi-re-do; so-mi-re (again); mi-re-do-so,; la-so-mi-re-do; mi-re-do-la,-so,; so-mi-re-do-so, and do’-la-so-mi-re-do. Thus, the book is completely pentatonic.

The Complete Instrumentalist two is built up in chapters ordered by the amount of notes: the second book has four chapters, 3-/4- note songs, 5-note songs, 6-note songs and 7-note-songs. The chapters are of different length, the first containing only four songs, the longest containing 26 songs. Each chapter is preceded by a list of activities and assignments to work on with the songs. This list is the same for each chapter:

 

"Ideas for activities for this book (footnote: taken verbatim from book 2)

 

  • Sing and hand sign
  • Clap and identify the solmisation rhythms
  • Play on your instrument
  • Transpose (start on a different note)
  • Invent a second part – many of the pieces are excellent for understanding the beginnings of harmonic progression
  • Play different tempos
  • Explore various dynamics
  • Look at the way the piece is written (same and different passages which create a form) and compose a tune using the same form
  • Transform – start on a different solmisation note
  • Sing or play the piece backwards

 

Canons, pentatonic tunes and partner songs

  • Play in a round with your teacher/friend
  • Sing and play in a ‘self canon’

String players and pianists – sing first and play or play first and sing

Woodwind and brass players – use the correct fingerings on the instrument and sing the solmisation

  • Some of the songs in the book can be played at the same time. These are marked.

 

Notation

  • Add bar lines to the stick notation
  • Write the clef relevant to your instrument
  • Choose a key and add the key signature
  • Sing using letter names
  • Write the music on the stave"

 

From Kodály perspective we can see that all elements are involved, but not taught in this book, because it is a collection of categorised songs, and not a method as such. There is a central role for singing and notating the songs. The list with suggestions covers almost all other fields in Kodály methodology, but it depends on the skill of the pupil and teacher if this becomes a useful book in practice. When acquainted with the Kodály concept, the book can be a nice additional source of repertoire.