MUSIC EDUCATION, NETWORKING, AND THE KODALY CONCEPT IN THE PHILIPPINES

필리핀의 음악교육과 네트워크, 그리고 코다이개념

Rose Marie V. Banta, Ph.D

University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music Manila, Philippines

ABSTRACT

필리핀 음악은 식민통치 이전부터 내려온 고유의 방식과 유럽 영향을 받은 종교음악과 세속음악의 선율, 대중적 작풍, 근대 순수음악 등 외래 방식의 혼합으로 구성되어 있다. 이후 미국의 지배 하에서 음악교육은 공립학교에서 이루어졌다. 독립 후, 음악은 민족주의와 국가의 의무 과정으로 편입되었다. 대부분의 음악 교사들은 주립 대학을 제외한 사립 대학교나 종교 대학, 혹은 학교에서 훈련을 받았다.

1980년대 초반기에는, 헝가리의 합창단과 그들의 지휘자들이 연주를 위해 필리핀을 방문하였는데 이들은 5년간 정부 지원의 여름 세미나와 연수회 등의 학과 과정을 하면서 헝가리 인이나 헝가리계 미국인 전문가들을 통해 솔페이지, 이론, 합창지휘를 교육하였다. 이 행사의 주최자들은 필리핀 코다이 협회(Kodaly Society of the Philippines – 이하 KSP)를 조직하여 정부의 지원이 종료되었을 때 여름 학과 과정을 계승하려 했다.

현재 KSP는 매년 여름에 10일간의 집중적인 세미나를 제공한다. 3번의 여름 과정을 수료한 참가자들은 코다이 철학에 의한 음악교육증명서를 획득할 수 있다. 이 과정은 마닐라 대학에서 최고의 과정으로 통합될 예정이다. 또한 KSP는 임시적으로 주말 세미나를 제공하고 필리핀 민속음악의 편곡을 위촉받기도 한다.

많은 필리핀 민요들은 “tim-ri,” 리듬을 사용하는데 코다이의 기본 리듬교육 체계에서 나타나는 “ta” 에서 “triola,” 까지의 시퀀스 대신에 필리핀에서는 “tim-ri,” 가 “ta-a.” 다음에 곧바로 등장한다. 이것은 여린박의 업비트(anacrusis)가 빈번히 나타나는 특징에 더해 필리핀에서 코다이 교육의 특별한 형태이다.

I. INTRODUCTION

“We are all citizens of the same small globe. We have the responsibilities of this citizenship thrust upon us, willy-nilly, and one of the first of these is to try to understand each other before it is too late. My studies in world music have brought extraordinary enrichment into my life. I have been able to visit other parts of the world as a participant rather than a tourist. An increased understanding of the arts has broadened my appreciation of everything in my world.”

- David McAllister, Wesleyan University

Interest in the music of other cultures has developed with increasing globalization. Music educators have found it important to employ a multicultural approach in their teaching. Different parts of the world have been classified into groupings, like Asia and the Pacific, Africa and the Americas, and Europe and the Middle East (Sakata 1983).

This paper deals with “Music Education, Networking, and the Kodaly Concept in the Philippines.” Since my country is part of the group “Asia and the Pacific,” I will start with a brief history of Philippine music and the beginnings of the Kodaly concept in our country, followed by the Kodaly concept’s present status and networking, and finally its future directions in the Philippines.

II. PHILIPPINE MUSIC AND THE INTRODUCTION OF THE KODALY CONCEPT

Philippine music is an amalgam of native and foreign styles: a precolonial aboriginal heritage, European-influenced sacred and secular streams, modern popular idiom, and contemporary serious music. It encompasses all the instruments and configurations of these roots. Folk songs -- one of the two basic materials used in the Kodaly concept (the other being art music) -- are very much a part of this tradition and reflect the unique characteristics of the country (CCP 1994).

The historical main thrusts of Philippine music consist of the following:

a. Ethnic tradition -- encompasses the indigenous influences from the north, the Islamic tradition from the south, and Southeast Asian strains from the lowland Christian areas.

b. Spanish colonial tradition -- encompasses 300 years of Spanish hegemony, during which most Filipinos became Christians, and is characterized by the genesis of European-based music.

c. American colonial and contemporary tradition -- refers to the Western classical and semiclassical music taught at music schools and by other music organizations, and includes the later trends of popular music, the return to indigenous roots, and the innovative uses of these traditions by contemporary Filipino composers (CCP 1994).

During the American dominion in the Philippines, music literacy was promoted through the inclusion of music in the public school curriculum. The Progressive Music Series syllabus aimed at developing skills in sight singing and both solo and choral singing, as well as growth of both the cognitive and affective faculties. After Independence (1946) came in-service teacher training, the formation of the Philippine Society for Music Education (PSME), and the Music Law of 1966 -- all aimed at integrating music, culture, and nationalism.

In-service teacher training refers to the training program offered by the Bureau of Public Schools, in consortium with professional music schools, for promising elementary school music teachers to further hone their musical pedagogy and skills (CCP 1994). The creation of the PSME in 1961, with well-known composer, ethnomusicologist, educator, and subsequently National Artist Dr. Lucrecia R. Kasilag as president, contributed further to entrenching better quality music instruction in the schools. The Music Law of 1966 (Republic Act No. 4723) made music a compulsory subject at both the elementary and secondary levels (Atabug 1996). Music schools at the tertiary level have been primarily private, run by religious communities, with the exception of the University of the Philippines (UP), the state university (CCP 1994).

In 1979, the choirmaster of the world famous UP (subsequently Philippine) Madrigal Singers, Andrea O. Veneracion, now National Artist for Music, was a judge at an international choral competition in Europe. She was especially impressed with the Hungarian choir, and invited them to the Philippines. Mrs. Veneracion wanted the Philippines to have more world class choirs, and to foster more choirs in the country. A seminar-workshop in the Kodaly method was held in January 1980 at the UP College of Music, conducted by a specialist from the United States (US), Hungarian-born Arpad Darazs, followed by an organized summer workshop in 1981 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) headed by Dr. Kasilag. The conductor Gyorgy Gulyas from Hungary was invited to give the summer workshop. The Philippine government was supportive of the arts through the patronage of First Lady Imelda R. Marcos. And Dr. Kasilag was also progressive in her music and arts plans for the CCP. So the timing was ripe for the introduction of the Kodaly concept in the country.

The CCP organized a full 5 years of summer Kodaly seminar-workshops with Dr. Kasilag and Mrs. Veneracion as advisers. Consisting of 2 weeks of training each year, the program was under the auspices of the CCP and was run by a Kodaly organizing committee consisting of music educators, choral conductors, and singers. I was one of the members. Kodaly specialists were invited from Hungary for the first 2 years, namely Gyorgy Gulyas, his wife Eva, and an interpreter. This was followed in the next 3 years by Arpad Darazs. The subjects offered were solfege, methods, and choral conducting.

At the end of the fifth summer Kodaly seminar-workshop in 1985, four officers were elected from among the participants to become the founding members of the Kodaly Society of the Philippines (KSP): Mercedes A. Isleta, president; myself, vice president; Carolyn K. Cheng, secretary; and Luwalhati D. Santillan, treasurer. Three were music educators and one a pianist. All came from Metro Manila and taught at Catholic schools. Since in 1985 there was no more government subsidy for importing Kodaly specialists due to the termination of Mrs. Marcos’ music programs, the officers of the KSP became the lecturers. They also recruited local experts and Filipino graduates of US Kodaly institutes (especially Holy Names College) like Miriam B. Factora, who was selected as KSP consultant in 1986.

The KSP in the late 1980s and 1990s could not invite foreign specialists because of lack of funds, so Ms. Factora handled summer classes for the next 2 years before she left to teach in Japan. She also started training the officers to take over the instruction. Classes at this time were mostly on Kodaly techniques, with no real sequencing or lesson planning because there were no authentic Philippine materials from all over the country.

The following are the highlights of Zoltan Kodaly’s approach that were used in Philippine schools in teaching the Kodaly method (Herrold 1991):

a. Musical experiences begin in early childhood.

b. The sequencing of materials is based on the stages of child development.

c. The main vehicle for musical expression is singing.

d. Part singing is stressed, beginning in the early grades.

e. Reading and writing activities are the offshoot of the rote learning of songs and are within the capabilities of everyone.

f. The movable “do,” Curwen hand signs, durational syllables, and stem notation assist in the teaching of melodic concepts.

g. Each lesson considers expressive qualities.

h. Elementary school children can improvise and compose simple music.

Since many of the Kodaly specialists who came to Manila were from the US and had thus been exposed to the current musical trends there, they also brought a combined Kodaly and Orff approach as was used in an earlier book by Dr. Factora, “Creative Music Teaching at the Elementary Level.” Factora justifies the combination by saying that the two methods make students more creative and cause them to experience an enjoyable, active, and interactive approach to music (Factora 1989). Also, most of the ideas she presents are more Kodaly than Orff based.

According to Denise Bacon (1978), a Kodaly specialist, what distinguishes the Kodaly concept from the Orff approach is the difference in outlook. Kodaly always looked at his curriculum as a method following a particular system, whereas Orff did not think of his approach as a method and was not aiming at any structure. Creativity and spontaneity were most important for Orff.

Summarizing, Lois Chosky (1986) states that the Kodaly method involves singing as the basis for music instruction, the use of both folk and art music, tonic solfa, hand signs, and rhythm duration syllables. The Kodaly method is child developmental and highly sequential. A primary goal of the Kodaly method is to produce universal musical literacy.

III. PRESENT STATUS OF THE KODALY CONCEPT

Kodaly said, “a child cannot be a citizen of the world unless he/she is first a citizen of a particular country,” so he and Bela Bartok researched the Hungarian folk song as the best means for teaching the “musical mother tongue” of the nation to its people (Zemke 1997). Kodaly emphasized the collection of folk songs as the most authentic music of the culture, and the use of the pentatonic scale, which is one of the scale foundations of the world’s folk music (Herrold 1991). The research method of Kodaly and Bartok, then, was based on the Hungarian language and the authentic verse and folk music of that nation.

Thus, when adapted for use in other countries, the Kodaly concept employs the language and authentic folk songs of each particular nation as its foundation (Nye and Nye 1994). An initial attempt at providing materials for the KSP was done in 1994 by Factora when she published her first two companion books, “Creative Music Teaching at the Elementary Level” and “Musical Folk Games of Manila.” The first book was an outcome of her elementary teaching experience at the Osaka International School in Japan, where she used both the Kodaly and Orff approaches. The second was predominantly Philippine games and verses she had collected and used in the classroom. But it was only after her third work, “Philippine Children’s Songs, Spoken Rhymes and Games for Teaching, Books I and II,” based on her Kodaly doctoral dissertation, that the summer classes had more sequence and lesson planning based on her newly researched Philippine materials.

Turning now to the present status of the Kodaly concept in the Philippines, a big obstacle to its acceptance and spread has been the limiting nationalistic belief of some local music educators that foreign methods should not predominate on the educational scene. Within this limitation, people have been and are being reached by the Kodaly method, primarily through the KSP’s yearly summer seminars since 1985 (and before that through the CCP summer Kodaly programs in the early 1980s), occasional provincial outreach programs by Carol Cheng and Daisy Marasigan, and visits by Filipino-American Kodaly specialists like Miriam Factora and Gemma Arguelles. But participation is generally small, with better attendance at the beginning level of the summer seminars and tapering off at the second and third levels. This is probably due to the costs, the limited Kodaly use required by the schools, the need for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) go signal concerning the “charge to local funds” or “on official time” clauses, and the musicianship skills level of the teachers. It is around 5,000 pesos ($125) per participant for 10 days (2 consecutive weeks). There is now less support from the DepEd. Both public and private school music teachers tend to enroll in the first level, but it is mainly the private school teachers from the conservatories and music schools who move to the upper levels, as they see them as a vehicle for professional and personal growth.

During the American colonial period, music became a compulsory subject in the curriculum in order to promote musical literacy and uplift musical taste. Article 74 of the Philippine Commission, the first law concerning public schools, required that teachers be formally trained. American education truly affected Philippine music education, viewing music as an integral part of liberal education. While Filipino musicians provided additional materials, and several Filipino folk songs and compositions were included, the textbooks and songs utilized were mostly American (Rivadelo 1987).

Both the public and private school systems originally came from churches and monasteries that were created during the Spanish times to teach the natives religious music (Jimenez 2008). After the Americans came (1898), religious groups still ran exemplary schools in urban areas and centers of population. These schools are now the current private schools, together with sectarian colleges and universities and private academies (CCP 1994). Currently 70% of Philippine students are enrolled in public and 30% in private schools.

In the Philippines, the educational system, patterned after that of the United States, includes primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Primary education consists of 7 years in the private schools and 6 years in the public schools. The secondary level is 4 years for both systems, and the tertiary is also 4 years for both. Very few public schools have a preschool level, whereas 1-2 years are required in the private ones.

In the 1960s, after the Music Law was passed, music was taught twice a week for 30 minutes or three times a week for 20 minutes in both public and private elementary schools. Elementary music classes were taught as a separate subject from grades 1 through 6. In the secondary schools of both systems, music teaching was originally given 1 hour per week, but it became 40 minutes for public schools and 1 hour for private schools. Now in the public schools, after the Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) was promulgated in 2002, separate elementary music teaching occurs only in grades 4-6, and music is integrated with other subjects in grades 1-3. Throughout elementary and secondary schools, the number of subjects has been reduced to five, namely Science, Mathematics, Filipino (national language), English, and Makabayan (literally meaning “for the country” or “patriotic”). In Makabayan, five subjects are lumped together: Music, Art, Physical Education, Health, and Home Economics (Banta 2003).

Private schools may or may not follow the BEC in accordance with the decision of their school administrators. But the high school music curriculum of both public and private schools follows the multicultural approach to music, i.e., the teaching of both non-Western and Western music. Thus, it is Musical Elements for the first year, Philippine Music for the second year, Asian Music for the third year, and World and Western Music for the fourth year (Mantaring 2008).

In the public schools it is generally the tools of the Kodaly concept that are incorporated in the elementary music teaching when they are teaching songs: tonic solfa, hand signs, and the rhythm duration syllables. In high school, the Kodaly tools might also be used when teaching first year Music Elements, and when handling choirs, where good concepts and performance of pitch, rhythm, and intonation are incorporated.

Likewise, in the majority of private schools, Kodaly concept tools are used in teaching songs. Three elementary schools in Metro Manila employ the pure Kodaly method: the elementary departments of Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, Immaculate Conception Academy in San Juan City, and St. Paul’s University in Pasig City. These programs were organized independently by graduates and officers of the summer Kodaly seminars who are affiliated with those schools. Not only are Kodaly tools used, but the Kodaly objectives are followed (making children more musically literate through reading and writing, and using folk and art music), and a child-developmental approach is used, together with folk song analysis. But because of time constraints, the Kodaly teaching levels go only up to grade 3 instead of grade 6 (Cheng 2008).

In the early years after the Kodaly concept was brought to the Philippines in 1980, the materials used were mostly from Hungary and the US. It was only in 1989 that Factora wrote her Kodaly-specific books. Nevertheless, it was not pure Kodaly, since she incorporated Orff in her teaching, too.

In 1992, Mercedes A. Isleta, a former president of the KSP, started writing a series of four music books for the elementary level, basing most of the pedagogy on the Kodaly concept. These were entitled “Musical Wonders” and covered grades 3-6. Again, it is not pure Kodaly, since other pedagogues are utilized; it is a more eclectic approach, with the Kodaly concept predominating (Isleta 1992).

In 1997, Gervacio Jose E. Brondial, a Filipino-American music educator, wrote “A Filipino Song Collection” based on the Kodaly concept and utilizing folk song analysis format and the Kodaly Concept Sequence Chart. This contains 97 songs consisting of many Filipino folk songs, plus adaptations and translations of American, Spanish, and European songs. Still, the use of pure Philippine materials was lacking (Brondial 1997).

In 2003 and 2004, Miriam Factora published the results of her doctoral dissertation (which covered 3 years of research in the northern, central, and southern hinterlands of the country), “Philippine Children’s Songs, Spoken Rhymes and Games for Teaching: Books I and II.” Finally, the needed materials are available for both Philippine elementary classrooms and the KSP summer seminars for teachers. Now Filipinos can access the authentic Kodaly concept of education with the needed sequences, lesson plans, techniques, and materials (Factora 2008).

Thus, the elementary level of Philippine schools can now access the Kodaly concept of education through Kodaly-inspired books by Filipino authors in addition to using just the standard Kodaly tools. But Factora’s book, “Philippine Children’s Songs...,” has the most authentic application of Kodaly’s concept of education. She also found that, unlike the regular Kodaly rhythm teaching sequence from “ta” to “tri-ple-ti,” Filipinos use “tim-ri” ahead of the other rhythms. So “tim-ri” is introduced right after the half note “ta-a,” as in “ta, rest, ti-ti, ta-a, tim-ri.” However, it is simply introduced as uneven rhythm in contrast with the first four even rhythms. The durational values are not completely presented and explained until the children have undergone the traditional rhythmic sequence from “ta” to “ti-ri-ti.” An additional finding of Factora was the frequent presence of anacrusis in many Filipino songs, probably due to the inflection of Philippine languages.

Recently, many less-known Philippine choral groups have made waves in national and international competitions at different levels. This success may be attributed to the natural musicality of Filipinos; the current exposure to different foreign methods, especially Kodaly, which emphasizes singing and music literacy; and the corresponding training undergone by their conductors through the National Music Competitions for Young Artists, the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music Orchestra’s summer outreach programs, the Philippine Madrigal Singers’ outreach programs, and the KSP seminars.

IV. NETWORKING

Miriam Factora was the KSP consultant and adviser and summer lecturer in 1986 while still a masteral student at Holy Names College in the US. In the summer of 1987, she was the recipient of an International Kodaly Society (IKS) scholarship grant to study at Kecskemet in Hungary, and thus established the initial contact between the IKS and the KSP, leading to the recognition of the KSP as the designated IKS chapter in the Philippines.

In 1993, I was awarded by the Hungarian Embassy in Manila a 3-week observation and study tour to Budapest and Kecskemet to observe the Kodaly concept of education at the different levels of teaching.

In 1994, the IKS invited the KSP to make a bid for the 13th IKS Symposium, which the KSP accepted. The bid was worked on primarily by Mercedes Isleta (KSP president) and Carol Cheng (KSP treasurer). The KSP designated me as its official delegate to the 12th IKS Symposium in Assisi, Italy, in 1995 and to learn the status of the bid. The Philippines had won the bid, but the acceptance letter from then-IKS president Jean Sinor had never been received by the KSP, having been lost in the mail. I had the honor of addressing the 12th Symposium participants and inviting them to the next symposium in Manila.

After 12 years of existence, the KSP hosted the 13th International Kodaly Symposium from August 17 to 23, 1997, entitled “East Meets West.” There were about 200 participants from the East (Philippines, Japan, Republic of Korea, other Asian countries, and Australia) and 40 from the West (US and Europe). Jean Sinor, Edward Bolkovac, Katalin Forrai, Mihaly Itzes, and Marta Vandulek were among the IKS Board members and Kodaly specialists who attended the event.

V. FUTURE DIRECTIONS

A primary goal of Zoltan Kodaly was universal music literacy through singing, a sequential curriculum, and the use of authentic folk materials and art music. The mission-vision statement of the KSP also follows this goal closely. The KSP will continue to train teachers, some from the public schools and more from the private ones. This is because the BEC and Makabayan curricula in the public schools devote less time to more subjects, and limit pure music teaching to grades 3-6, while more conducive music curricula exist in the private schools. There is hope, though, that the use of authentic Philippine vocal materials can tie up with the nationalistic thrust of the DepEd to make Filipino children more aware of preserving their culture through the use of more authentic Philippine materials.

Thus, there will be more use of Filipino folk songs from the northern and southern parts of the country, and not only from the lowlands. Filipino children will then become acquainted with their own “musical mother tongue” and appreciate their folk songs, contributing to the much sought-after national identity.

As mentioned earlier, steps are being taken to integrate certification of teaching music with Kodaly emphasis in masteral level programs. This will give greater importance and credibility to the Kodaly concept, with concomitant output of more Kodaly theses and dissertations like ones written earlier by Drs. Helen Tejero and Monica Quilantang.

It is hoped, too, that music educators will not only teach, but will become aware of the need to interact better with ethnomusicologists and do some field work, since they know best the music literature that will suit the children. As Factora (2005) has said of cultural diversity:

“Kodaly’s discovery of the value of authentic folk song in the historical development of national musical culture led him to focus on literature-based musical education as a national priority. His indomitable vision of perpetuating culture through music education coupled to his educational innovations for addressing issues on literate musicianship and overall musical development has led other countries to pursue Kodaly’s vision in their own countries.”

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