코다이 – 아시아 민족음악교육 네트워크
Embedded Files
“Music, a Universal Language around Asia”
Kodaly-Asia Folk Music Education Network
Greeting & Korean Kodaly Society / 인사말 & 한국코다이협회
Greeting / 인사말
Key Note / 기조
Korean Kodaly Society / 한국 코다이 협회
Zoltan Kodaly / 졸탄 코다이
Dean’s Message / 국제 코다이 협회장 인사말
Greeting / 인사말
홈피_인사말.pdfKey Note / 기조
Traditional Music belongs to Everybody
Cho, Hongky(Director of Korean Kodaly Society)
It is the traditional music that bears a nation’s history and people’s voice. That is, traditional music have felt and breathed together with people through rhythm and melody which people have sung and entertained from previous to current. Therefore, traditional music should become not only for professional performers but also for everyone so that they can feel and share it altogether. Thus, it is not the time for museum work to excavate and preserve national traditional music but time for education work to make it known and recognized to become a music that stays within our every day life. That will make traditional music a voice felt as our crying and laughing, our lamentation and shouting for joy.
What should be done to make traditional music for everyone?
Traditional music does not become a traditional music through the performance of the excellent traditional musicians who have been trained by a nation’s political nourishment program of traditional art. Obviously, traditional music has grown highly up to recent time, and composition and musicology have also advanced with the advancement of musical instrument, thus it has secured its position as a performing art. However, how many can say that everyone really entertains traditional music?
We easily think that good performance will bring up prosperity of art. However, art can develop not through performance itself but through social consensus that encourages and makes it grow. Moreover, the music that has been isolated or discontinued for a long period of time needs the self-recognition that it is our music through more systematic education than others. This recognition or awareness is possible through thorough enlightenment and education. Therefore, each country has to well establish education for traditional music, and especially the education in the classroom.
Each Asian country has to share their know-how regarding their own traditional music education and application. In fact, Asian countries have similar Confucian and Buddhist traditions and life patterns so that they share similar music in many cases. In particular, North Asian countries have exchanged their music as well as western music and cultures through the Silk Road. Therefore, their own traditional music should not be regarded as unique but shared together.
Musical Mother Tounge
A musical mother Tounge of a country, the folk song, is a good material to enhance national view, patriotism, and unity of the country. Abstaining from musical education focused on western music and teaching folk songs interestingly and appropriately to the emotion of this age with artistic life in breathed in it can makes folk song a wonderful genre without the barrier between stage and the audience. For this activity, the method to teach the music directly in the field should be shown.
Traditional Music as a National Music
Including Hungary, Eastern European countries opened their eyes to nationalism in the late 19th century. Rather than the border, the nationality that they share the same blood and language stimulated the idea of racial self-determination that a nation should construct and live in a same state, which in turn rapidly increased interest in national music. Among those, Zoltan Kodaly together with his companion Bartok planned to revive Hungarian music which has been almost forgotten and distorted for the invasion of outside power such as Turkey and 100 year of merger between Austria Habsburg Haus and collected Hungarian folk music to systematize and organize. In addition, he wrote and composed music with the materials of folk songs. Since after, Bartok played in America and composed focusing on instrumental music, and Kodaly mainly composed vocal music in Hungary. Their music provided the moment from which Hungarian music became the world-known music. In particular, Kodaly added artistic feature to the folk songs to teach them to children, which led him to compose easy and enjoyable music to everyone. In particular, he studied and developed the method to teach the folk songs, and this inspired the birth of Kodaly method that every country in the world educates with this method.
These have a great amount of implications to Asians. Even though Asians have much more affluent and artistically greater musical inheritance than European countries, development of their traditional music stays behind European countries. The reason for this is because they administer the excavation and preservation of traditional music well, but they lack the method and system to teach them adequately, education, and philosophy.
Traditional Music-“IS’ Education, but “NOT” Educational Music
In recent, many researches have been conducted based on the recognition of the importance of traditional music education, but there can be found any difference in actual educational method between past and current. In order to be played broad and wide, traditional music needs to be recreated as a new music like chorus, Jazz, or fusion music. In addition, philosophy or educational theory should be also established for education. If researches on these issues are not conducted, it cannot be guaranteed that our children would like traditional music several decades later. For this, common musical base in Asia should be searched for and networks to apply the educational method of each country should be constructed. It can prevent traditional music from being commercialized without universal educational base. The education for traditional music should be administered as public education and as school-based education so that a nation’s culture can prosper.
Aesthetic Experience
Music education should be accompanied with aesthetic experience. Watching and listening experiences are important, but participation, that is, experience through performance activity bears the best educational fruits. In particular, music is an art of sound so that it requires sensible and emotional experience rather than understanding and memorizing. Traditional music is something that you learn while you play with, and this is the strongest advantage of traditional music. It can be safely said to possess national classical music only when you experience the beauty of sound by beating the musical instrument, singing, and dancing.
Activities of Kodaly Society
Kodaly Society in each country has been involved in the distribution of music based on the folk song and traditional music and spreading the method to teach children and teenagers how to approach the music easily and enjoyably. This includes making music more lovable to everyone by sublimating music at a higher artistic level as well as recording, preserving, and distributing newly developed traditional music through consistent research, excavation, and creation activities. As a matter of fact, this project has been the top priority of Kodaly Society even in lack of financial support and infra for performance. Now, the results of these activities should be known to public through shared networks by internet, and the education for national music and activities of Kodaly should be maximized.
Throughout this Network
1. Arrange and compose music with each country’s material of transmitted fairy tales and folk songs and distribute them to be taught directly at educational setting in each country.
2. Promote the development of education for traditional music through the web link to read research references from each country and share them.
3. Distribute data and video for adequate use of instructional methods in order to spread useful methods to the educational fields suffering from poverty.
4. Introduce music from various countries and learn them.
5. Hold performance, seminar, event to distribute educational methods for national music.
Hongky Cho(Ph.D)
한나라의 역사와 민족의 소리가 담긴 것이 전통음악이다. 즉 Traditonal Music은 예로부터 지금까지 모든 사람이 노래하고 즐기던 리듬과 가락을 통해 함께 느끼고 숨 쉬던 것이다. 그러므로 전통음악은 전문 연주자들만의 것이 아니라 모든 사람이 함께 느끼고 공유해야 한다. 이제 민족의 전통음악을 발굴하고 잘 보존하는 박물관적인 일을 할 때가 아니라 가르치고 일깨워 생활에 늘 가까이 있는 음악으로 만드는 교육이 필요한 때이다. 그래야만 전통음악이 인간이 나면서부터 숨을 거둘 때까지 내는 우리의 울음이자 웃음이고, 탄식과 환성으로 느껴지는 소리로 될 수 있다.
모든 사람을 위한 전통음악이 되기 위해서는 무엇이 필요한가?
한나라가 정책적으로 전통예술을 잘 키워 뛰어난 연주가들을 대량으로 만들고 이러한 연주자들의 뛰어난 연주를 통해 사람들이 전통음악을 자신의 음악이라고 여기게 되지는 않는다. 분명히 전통음악은 최근까지 대단히 많이 신장되었고 악기의 발전과 아울러, 작곡 및 음악학까지 발전하였으며, 확실한 공연예술의 자리매김 만들었다. 그러나 모든 사람들이 진정으로 전통음악을 즐긴다고 말 할 사람이 얼마나 되는가.
우리는 좋은 공연을 통해서 예술이 번성하리라고 쉽게 생각 한다. 그러나 예술은 행위 자체보다 그것을 가능하게 장려하고 키워주는 사회적 공감대가 형성되어야 발전한다. 더욱이 오랫동안 고립되었거나 단절되어 왔던 음악들은 좀 더 체계적인 교육을 통해 자신의 것으로 인식이 있어야 한다. 이러한 인식은 철저한 교육과 계몽을 통해서 가능하다. 그러므로 각 나라마다 전통음악교육이 잘 구비되어야 하며 특히 교실에서 이루어지는 수업이 잘 이루어져야 한다.
아시아의 각 나라들은 자기나라의 음악들이 가르쳐지고 적용되는 노하우를 서로 나누어야 한다. 사실 아시아는 유교적 불교적인 전통이나 생활 풍습 등이 비슷하며 유사한 음악을 공유하는 경우가 많다. 특히 북방 아시아는 옛날부터 실크로드를 통하여 서구의 음악과 문화 뿐 아니라 음악들을 서로 교류하였다. 그러므로 자신의 전통 음악을 고유한 것으로만 여기지 말고 서로 공유하여야 한다.
음악적 모국어
한나라의 음악적 모국어인 민요는 민족관, 애국심, 단결을 고취할 수 있는 아주 좋은 재료이다. 서양음악이 중심이 된 음악교육을 지양하고, 민요를 이 시대의 정서에 맞게 예술적 생명을 불어 넣어 쉽고 재미있게 가르쳐 준다면, 민요 원래의 멋인 무대와 관객의 벽을 없애고 서로 가까이 공감하는 멋진 장르로 만들 수 있다. 이런 활동을 위해서는 교육현장에서 직접 지도할 수 있도록 곡을 가르치는 방법을 보여 주어야 한다.
민족음악으로서의 전통음악
헝가리를 비롯한 동유럽 국가들은 19세기말 민족주의에 눈뜨기 시작한다. 국경보다는 한 핏줄과 한 언어라는 민족의식에서 민족은 고유하게 한 국가를 이루고 살아야 한다는 민족자결주의가 대두되면서 민족 음악적 관심이 급상승하였다. 그 중에서 헝가리의 Zoltan Kodaly는 오랫동안 터키 등의 외세의 침입과 오스트리아 합스부르크와 100년 이상 합병된 채 살았기 때문에 거의 잊혀져가거나 왜곡되어 버렸던 헝가리음악을 되살리기 위해 100년 음악계획을 세우고 동료인 Bartok과 함께 민요를 수집하여 체계화하고 정리하였다. 그 일에 더해 민요를 소재로 하여 음악을 쓰고 작곡을 하였다. 후에 Bartok은 미국에서 활동하면서 주로 기악작품에 중점을 두어 작곡하였고, Kodaly는 헝가리에서 성악작품을 중점적으로 작곡하였는데 그들의 음악을 통해 헝가리 음악이 세계적 음악이 되는 계기가 되었다. 특히 Kodaly는 수집한 노래들을 어린이들에게 가르치기 위해 민요에 예술성을 가미함으로써 모든 사람들이 쉽게 배우고 좋아하게 만들었다. 특히 이 민요들을 가르치는 방법을 연구하고 체계를 만들어 오늘날의 Kodaly Method이 탄생하였고 전 국가가 이 방법으로 교육하게 하였다.
이러한 점은 현재의 아시아인들에게 시사하는 바가 크다. 유럽에 비해 훨씬 풍부하고 예술적으로 뛰어난 음악적 유산을 가지고 있음에도 전통음악 발전이 뒤떨어져 있다. 그 이유는 음악을 발굴하고 보존하는 작업은 잘 되어가고 있지만 이를 제대로 가르치고 전파할 방법과 체계 그리고 교육과 철학이 부족하기 때문이다.
전통음악 교육은 있는데 교육 음악은 없다
오늘날 전통음악교육의 중요성을 인식하고 많은 연구들이 나오고 있으나 실제의 교육 방법은 예나 지금이나 별 차이가 없다. 널리 전통음악이 연주되기 위해서는 전통음악을 가장 넓게 응용하는 분야는 합창곡이나 재즈음악 퓨전음악처럼 새로운 음악으로 재창조 해줄 필요성도 있다. 또한 교육을 위해 철학이나 교육이론적 체계를 완성하여야한다. 이러한 연구가 되지 못하면 앞으로 몇 십년 후에 우리아이들이 전통음악을 좋아하게 되리라는 보장이 없다. 그러기위해 아시아의 공통된 민족 음악적 기반을 찾아보고 각 나라의 교육방법들을 응용할 수 있는 네트워크를 구성하여야 한다. 그래야만 전통음악이 세계 보편적인 교육의 기초가 없어서 상업 음악화 되어버리는 경향에서 벗어날 수 있다. 전통음악 교육은 기본적으로 공교육으로 진행되어야 하고 학교 교육을 중심으로 하여야 국가 문화가 살 수 있다.
미적 체험
음악교육은 반드시 미적체험이 수반되어야 한다. 보고 듣는 체험도 중요하지만 직접적인 참여 즉, 연주활동을 통한 스스로의 체험이 가장 좋은 교육의 결과를 낳는다. 특히 음악은 소리 예술이므로 이해시키고 암기하는 것보다 감각적이고 정서적인 체험이 요구된다. 전통음악은 놀면서 배우는 것이며 이 점이 전통음악이 가지는 가장 강한 장점이라 할 수 있다. 함께 어울려 놀면서 악기를 두드리고 노래를 부르고 춤을 추면서 직접적인 소리의 아름다움을 체험해야만 국악을 확실히 소유했다고 할 수 있는 것이다.
Kodaly Society의 활동
각국의 Kodaly 협회는 그동안 민요나 전통음악를 바탕으로 된 곡들을 보급하여, 어린이 청소년들에게 쉽고 재미있게 접근할 수 있도록 가르치는 방법을 알리는 일을 추진하여 왔다. 이는 계속적인 연구와 발굴, 그리고 창작 활동을 통하여 새로 개발되는 전통음악의 성과물을 기록․보존․보급함과 아울러 음악을 수준 높은 예술로 승화시켜 모든 이들이 사랑하게 한것이다. 사실 이러한 사업은 재정력이나 연주 활동의 인프라가 부족한 상황에서도 Kodaly협회 사업 중 가장 큰 목표를 두고 실현해 온 사업이다. 이제 이러한 활동을 인터넷을 통한 공동 네트워크를 통해 결과물을 널리 알리고, Kodaly 민족음악 교육의 추진과 활동에 극대화를 이루어야한다.
이 네트워크를 통해
1. 각국 전래 동요와 민요를 소재로 한, 어린이를 위한 쉽고 재미있는 곡을 편․작곡하여 각국의 교육 현장에서 직접 지도할 수 있는 자료가 보급되게 한다.
2. 여러나라의 연구 자료들을 서로 열람하고 공유하는 웝 링크를 통해 전통음악 교육의 발전을 꾀한다
3. 올바른 교수법의 활용을 위한 데이터 자료 및 동영상을 보급하여 각국에서 교수법의 빈곤함에 어려움을 겪는 현장에 유용한 방법들을 알린다.
4. 여러나라의 민족음악을 서로 소개하고 배운다.
5. 민족음악교육 방법의 보급을 위한 연주회 세미나 이벤트 등을 개최한다.
조홍기(Ph.D)
Korean Kodaly Society / 한국 코다이 협회
Founded in 1995, the Korean Kodaly Society has been designated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government as a non-profit, specialized arts corporation.
With the aim of “Music for Everybody” we specialise in arts creation, performance and education, and promote the development of Korean culture and arts through domestic and international performance projects, seminars, symposiums, instructor training and practical workshops.
Over the past 28 years, approximately 3000 instructors have passed through our arts leadership and teacher training programmes; moreover we have contributed to the Korean performing arts scene through a total of nearly 100 performance activities.
Headed by Chairman Lee Young-jo, there are five full-time and 20 part-time employees and members.
* Business field
1. Creation: Folk and contemporary style singing textbooks, choral songs; commissions to compose folk-style and contemporary songs and choral works.
2. Publishing activities: educational textbooks, media arts educational textbooks, publishing and distributing records
3. Arts education: Organizing, supervising, and conducting arts education activities inside and outside schools for more than 20 years
4. Performance activities: 100 times in total, including regular concerts, traveling concerts, and invited concerts
5 Planning Activities: Organized at least 20 times, including international and domestic festivals, competitions, and music festivals
6. Academic Activities: Symposium management, in addition to 10 domestic and international seminars,
7. Arts Therapy: Arts therapy programs for crime victims, shelters, welfare workers, and childcare teachers have been in progress for six years.
8. Leadership training: 15 years training teachers for the Seoul Teachers' Support Office, and 28 years of training 3,000 arts leaders
9. Branch activities: Busan, Ulsan, Daegu
10. Affiliated organizations: Seoul Kodaly Singers, Haegeum Quintet , Modni Arts Education Research Institute
1995년에 설립된 한국코다이학회는 서울시가 비영리 전문 예술 법인으로 지정한 단체입니다.
"모두를 위한 음악"을 목표로 예술 창작, 공연 및 교육을 전문으로 하며 국내외 공연 프로젝트, 세미나, 심포지엄, 강사 양성 및 실습 워크숍 등을 통해 한국 문화예술의 발전을 도모하고 있습니다.
지난 28년간 우리의 예술 리더십과 교사 양성 프로그램을 통해 약 3,000명의 강사들이 활동했으며, 총 100회에 가까운 공연 활동을 통해 한국 공연계에 기여했습니다.
이영조 회장을 중심으로 정규직 5명, 비상근 20명의 직원과 회원이 있습니다.
* 사업분야
1. 창작: 민속 및 현대식 노래 교재, 합창곡; 민속 및 현대식 노래와 합창 작품을 작곡하는 위원회.
2. 출판활동 : 교육교재, 미디어아트 교육교재, 기록물 발간 및 배포
3. 예술교육 : 20년 이상 학교 안팎에서 예술교육 활동을 조직·감독·수행
4. 공연활동 : 정기연주회, 순회연주회, 초청연주회 등 총 100회
5 기획활동 : 국제 및 국내 축제, 경연대회, 음악제 등 20회 이상 개최
6. 학술활동: 심포지엄 운영, 국내외 10개 세미나 외에도,
7. 예술치료 : 범죄피해자, 보호시설, 복지사, 보육교사 등을 대상으로 하는 예술치료 프로그램이 6년째 진행되고 있습니다.
8. 리더십 연수 : 서울시 교원지원청 교원연수 15년, 예술지도자 연수 28년 3,000명
9. 지점활동 : 부산, 울산, 대구
10. 소속기관 : 서울코다이싱어즈, 해금 5중주, 모드니예술교육연구소
Zoltan Kodaly / 졸탄 코다이
1) Important Dates / 코다이 연대기
1882: Zoltán Kodály is born in Kecskemét on 16 December.
1892-1900: Earliest compositions.
1900: Compositional studies at the Liszt Music Academy and academic studies at the Eötvös Kollégium and at Péter Pázmány University (Autumn).
1905: Meets first wife Emma Schlesinger and Béla Bartók. First expedition to collect folk-songs.
1906: Doctoral dissertation: The Strophic Structure of Hungarian Folk-Songs.
Debut of Summer Evening (22 October).
In collaboration with Bartók, his Hungarian Folk-Songs appears (December).
1906-1907: Studies in Berlin and Paris.
1907: Teaches at the Music Academy in Budapest (Autumn).
1910: First composer's evening in Budapest (17 March). Debut of First String Quartet (Zurich, 29 May).
Marriage to Emma Schlesinger (3 August). First folksong-collecting trip to Transylvania (Summer).
1914: Finishes his Duo for Violin and Cello Op. 7.
1915: Solo Sonata for Cello Op. 8.
1916: Completion of the song-cycle Seven Songs (Late Melodies) Op. 6.
1917-1919: Active as a music critic.
1918: Second composer's evening in Budapest (7 May).
1919: Assistant director of the Music Academy (February). Suspended; disciplinary hearings initiated.
1920: Successfully refutes the investigatory commission's accusations.
1921: Teaches once again at the Music Academy (September).
1923: World premiere of Psalmus Hungaricus (19 November).
1925: First performance of choral works for children (2 April).
1926: First foreign performance of Psalmus Hungaricus in Zurich (18 June).
First performance of Háry János at the Budapest Opera House (16 October).
1927: Premiere of the Háry Suite in Barcelona (24 March).
Debut as conductor, leading Psalmus Hungaricus in Amsterdam (20 April).
First trip to England (December).
1929: Children's Choirs - a study in wich he first formulates his pedagogic principles.
1930: His first visit to his birth place (March). Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic perform Summer Evening (3 April). Lecturer at Péter Pázmány University (Autumn). Fritz Busch premieres the orchestral version of Dances of Marosszék in Dresden (28 November). Finishes Mátra Pictures for mixed choir.
1932: Premiere of Spinning Room at the Budapest Opera House (24 April).
Celebratory concerts marking Budapest's 50th birthday (December).
1933: Dances of Galánta first performed in Budapest (23 October).
1934: Member of National Literary and Artistic Committee. Finishes Jesus and the Treaders, with biblical text.
1936: Premiere of his Te Deum in St. Matthew's church (2 September).
1937: Hungarian Folk Music appears - also published in numerous foreign languages.
1939: Mengelberg conducts the Peacock Variations in Amsterdam (23 November).
1941: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra premieres his Concerto (6 February).
1943: Elected associate member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and Sciences (14 May).
1945: Premiere of the Missa Brevis in the cloakroom of the Budapest Opera House, while the city is still under siege (11 February).
1946: Named as president of the Hungarian Artistic Committee (16 January).
1946-1947: First trip to America. Conducts numerous concerts featuring his own works.
1947: Awarded the title of honorary citizen of Kecskemét. First trip to the Soviet Union.
1947-1950: President of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and Sciences.
1950: Forms the ethnomusicological branch of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and Sciences.
1951: Debut performance of the State Folk Ensemble with Kálló Folk-Dances (April). First volume of the Archive of Hungarian Folk Music appears (November).
1954: Emma suffers a broken leg; Kodály moves into the hospital with her (23 August).
1955: Radio performance of Bartók's complete works for piano (1 January).
Premiere of the Hymn of Zrínyi at the Music Academy (18 December).
1955-1956: Leader of festivals to celebrate Bartók.
1956: Leaves Budapest upon the outbreak of the Hungarian Uprising (around 20 October).
1957: Returns to Budapest (8 January). Calls for the amnesty of those condemned for taking part in the Hungarian Uprising of 1956.
1958: After 49 years of marriage to Kodály, Emma dies (22 November).
1959: Marries Sarolta Péczely (18 December).
1960: Visits England. Receives an honorary doctorate from Oxford (April-June).
Supervises the recording of his works (Summer).
Taken to hospital after suffering a heart attack (1 December).
1961: Elected president of the International Folk-Music Committee in Quebec (August).
At the Lucerne Festival, the Symphony is performed in his presence (16 August).
1962: Kodály's 80th birthday. Large-scale celebrations in Budapest and across the world (December).
1964: Gives speech at the dedication ceremony of the new building of the Kecskemét Music Primary School. Elected honorary president during the Budapest conference of the International Society for Musical Education (June-July). His pedagogical methods reach the world at large.
1965: Receives the Herder Prize in Vienna (April). Second trip to the United States (July-August).
1966: Premiere of his last completed work, Laudes Organi, in Atlanta (June).
1967: Dies from a heart attack (6:45 AM, 6 March).
2) The Composer / 작곡가 코다이
Compositions
Zoltán Kodály's earliest compositions date from the 1890s and his last were composed in 1966. During this long and productive life he created hundreds of compositions in a variety of media and genres. His style was profoundly influenced by his collecting and study of Hungarian folk music and by the works of Debussy. Among Kodály's compositions are:
STAGE WORKS,
Op. 15 (1926)Székely Fonó (The Spinning Room) (1924-32)
UNACCOMPANIED CHORAL WORKS
Approximately 147 works:
SOLO INSTRUMENTAL WORKS
Solo Cello Sonata, Op. 8 (1915) [See for a score facsimile.]
Prelude (for organ) (1931) (orig. for choral work Pange lingua)
MASSES
Organ Mass (1942)
Missa brevis (organ version-1942; orchestral version-1948)
Most of Kodály's works are published by Universal Editions, Boosey & Hawkes, and .
3) The educator / 교육자 코다이
The Kodály Concept of Music Education
Method, or principles?
Zoltán Kodály's ideas on music education are usually mentioned under the name Kodály Method. It is more accurate to say Kodály Concept because the composer himself did not work out any complete and detailed methodological process of teaching music. He formulated principles rather than teaching techniques or a step-by-step process or advice for teachers. The adaptation of the principles to the reality was elaborated and developed by his disciples and his followers. The basic principles of the concept were formed, articulated and gradually put into practice after the composer's attention had turned to music pedagogy, especially in the frame of general schooling around 1925.
An educational philosophy
Kodály's ideas on reform are rooted in the problems and opportunities of the historical, social and cultural circumstances of Hungary of that time. Several of his ideas are connected with other theories or methods of music-education. However, Kodály's music educational philosophy can be recognised as his own. it is rooted in Hungarian soil, nevertheless the Kodály Concept can be adapted to other musical-cultural situations.
Music is part of universal human knowledge
While standing up for the rightful place of music education in the school curriculum, Kodály also fought for the appreciation of music among the arts in society. "There is no sound spiritual life without music." "Music is an indispensable part of universal human knowledge." This is why he formulated a slogan: "Let music belong to everyone!" Then "it is only natural that music has to be made part of the school curriculum."
When to start?
Once when Kodály was asked about the right time to start music education, he answered: "Nine months before the birth of the child," moreover "nine months before the birth of the mother. " Within the school-system "music teaching should be started in the kindergarten, so that the child can grasp the fundamentals of music at an early age" since the development of musical hearing can only be successful if started early before the age of six in a playful way.
Not a torture but a joy
The first task for the teacher is to "teach music and singing in school in such a way that is not a torture but a joy for the pupil; instill a thirst for finer music in him, a thirst which will last for lifetime."
Train good teachers first
According to Kodály's concept "teaching in schools will improve if we first train good teachers who develop the student's ear and give a general musical knowledge." For this reason "we also need good music which is available for children and for beginners in ear training". But this "technical" demand is only one important aspect.
Active understanding through singing
In the century of audiovisual technology it has been quite obvious that Kodály emphasized that "only activity can lead someone to a real understanding and appreciation of music. Simply listening to music is not enough." Several times he emphasized that "if one were to attempt to express the essence of this education in one word, it could only be - singing." He explained his opinion with two arguments: First, the human voice is the only "instrument" which is available for everyone. Second, "our age of mechanization leads along a road ending with man himself as a machine; only the spirit of singing can save us from this fate."
Valuable art for children: folksongs as starting point
As Kodály pointed out, "music is intellectual food that cannot be replaced by anything else", therefore it is essential that "only art of intrinsic value is suitable for children!" Where can we find good material which represents the "art of intrinsic value" and, at the same time, is suitable for musical activity based on vocalism? Kodály's answer to this question is that "each nation has a great many songs which are especially suitable for teaching. If we select them well, folk songs will become the most appropriate material thought which we can present and make conscious new musical elements."
Open the soul to all peoples
These thoughts make Kodály's ideas open towards more points: "If we want to understand other nations, we first must understand ourselves. There is no better means for this than folk music. Getting acquainted with the folk songs of other countries is the best way to get acquainted with other peoples. [...] on this foundation can be built a musical culture which is national but which also opens the soul to the great works of all peoples."
Musical literacy
All these factors are not enough to build an up-to-date musical culture: "The way to the understanding of music is available to all: it is musical reading and writing." Through musical literacy "everyone may join in great musical experiences." Of course, all the musical elements should be introduced and practiced. He suggested practicing rhythm "much earlier and much more thoroughly than is customary today."
Relative solmization - fluent sight-reading
Help should be given to the students to establish a conscious ability of musical reading and writing: "with solmization [...] one reaches fluent sight-reading faster. This is, naturally, true for relative solmization only, since here, by singing the name of the tone, we have already defined its function in the tonality."
Part singing: hear and appreciate music
Musical abilities and skills should also be developed by "part singing, which develops the capacity to hear and appreciate music and opens up the masterpieces of world literature even to those who do not play any instrument at all." This is why Kodály composed hundreds of two-part and dozens of three-part singing exercises for all levels of music education.
Creativity
Today, creativity is known as an important factor of pedagogy. Zoltán Kodály, as early as in 1929, wrote in one of his articles: "all healthy children would improvise if they were allowed to" [...], but "they cannot be left to their own resources in forming their concept of music". He also did not forget another field very close to music.
Dance
According to him, "folk dances must be given a place in physical education in the schools." Of course to preserve the complexity of folk tradition does not mean to go "backwards towards an archaic state but forwards from civilization towards culture."
Vocal music first, then instrumental
His pedagogical concept determined a link between the vocal basis and instrumental teaching as well: "He who was taught vocal music first and then instrumental playing, will be more ready to grasp the melos of any kind of music [...] Through singing the student acquires a reading ability which makes it easier for him to get close to the work of great spirits."
Constant practice required
To carry out all these tasks and the whole complexity of the aims of music teaching in the school, a certain number of music lessons should be given in the frame of general education as well. Kodály himself always fought for a minimum of two singing lessons a week both in elementary and high school. But "in the case of a subject requiring constant practice", short everyday meetings with the teacher "would be worth more than two hours a week."
The good musician's features
Kodály's music educational concept is known as a system for general schooling. It is true because he wanted to give real musical culture to everybody and also to educate a demanding audience as large as possible. But we cannot forget that, as a professor of the Academy of Music, he also did a lot for the training of would-be professionals and paid attention to highly gifted music students. In one of his speeches at the Academy of Music in Budapest (1953), he described a many-sided demand for professionals: "The characteristics of a good musician can be summarized as follows:
1. A well-trained ear,
2. A well-trained intelligence,
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 [...] Sol-fa and the science of form and harmony together teach the first two points. To complete this teaching, a musical experience as varied as possible is indispensable; without playing chamber music and singing in choirs, nobody can become a good musician."
4) The researcher / 연구자 코다이
ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
Zoltán Kodály 's interest in Hungarian folk music began with his 1905 Ph.D thesis on the strophic form of Hungarian folk songs based, in part, on the early recordings of Béla Vikár.
Kodály, along with Béla Bartók, began collecting folk music himself and later founded the Institute for Folk Music Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
That institution has collected, transcribed, categorized, and systematized over 100,000 folk songs of the people of Hungary and of surrounding and related countries. The Corpus Musicae Popularis Hungaricae is the resulting published collection of these materials.
For the text of an address entitled "Kodaly, the Musicologist," given
by Dr. Laszlo Vikar at the Twelfth International Kodaly Symposium in Assisi, Italy
in August, 1995, click .
Dean’s Message / 국제 코다이 협회장 인사말
To the participants of the Seminar
"Music, a Universal Language around the Pacific Ocean"
Budapest, June 20, 2008
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I would have liked very much to have had the opportunity of participating in the Seminar. Unfortunately however, at the moment other obligations prevent me from doing so.
But let me send you cordial greetings on behalf of the Board of the International Kodály Society and in my personal name and wish you a very fruitful Seminar. We also like to express our great gratitude to those who have made this Seminar possible.
A number of years ago a very dear friend of mine ―and a great man― Dr. Alexander Ringer, referred to the famous slogan ‘Can the arts save the world?’. He, Dr. Ringer, said: "that is the wrong question. The right one is: Can the world save the arts?" I have told this story already on a number of occasions. But every time I am thinking of it again, I realize how visionary he was.
Indeed, the understanding of ‘art’ and ―since we are dealing with music education in this particular case― the understanding of ‘music’, as it is the case with the understanding of culture, always begins with the individual, with the human being. It is an educational process that requires great dedication and the acquisition of a number of skills. However, the reward for acquiring those skills is access to one of the greatest treasures of mankind and to understanding a universal language, which goes far beyond the limits of race, and philosophical conviction. If mankind would lose affinity with serious music ―not impossible given the world-wide tendencies to overfocus education on material issues and the aggressive commercialization of certain kinds of "musics"― the world would lose one of the cornerstones of the entire humanistic enterprise. That is the reason why your participation in this Seminar and your interest in the vision of Zoltán Kodály is so important.
When you go back to your respective teaching positions, your students will greatly benefit from the influence, the lectures, workshops, musicianship sessions and musical events that you attended. The more you can be inspired, the more you will be able to inspire your students and that inspiration may accompany them in their entire life, not only as a humanistic guide but also as a comforting companion in a world that has many problems and will need great spirits to recover.
The International Kodály Society, an international forum and platform for the exchange of ideas, expertise and know-how, has engaged itself very much in the process of promoting music and music education, not only for the sake of music as such but also for the sake of general education of children and youngsters. The beneficial effects of consequent and good music education have been scientifically proven abundantly and their unique value cannot be denied. Yet, governments all over the world cut back on education in general and music education in particular. To counter that negative tendency we must ‘work together’; we must ‘know of each other’, ‘respect each other’ and ‘pull the same string’. Only in doing so we will have a fair chance to provide the coming generations with a better world.
The International Kodály Society, needs ‘your’ help in that process. Although we very much care for quality in what we do, we cannot neglect the simple importance of ‘quantity’ in view of tackling the negative intentions and ignorance of certain decisionmakers. Therefore, please consider supporting the International Kodály Society and becoming a member. The membership fees are the lowest in the whole professional field and you can find all details at the IKS website www.iks.hu We look forward to hearing from you and to meeting you in the future. And we wish you and your tutors all good luck and success, knowing that you are in excellent company, with your Professors being authorities in their subjects and, perhaps the most important, understanding so well Zoltán Kodály's vision that "Music ought to be an integral part of the universal knowledge of every human being.”
With cordial regards,
Gilbert De Greeve
President
International Kodály Society
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