EDUCATE THROUGH OUR OWN NATION’S SONGS

Published in “Gyermekünk” (Our Children) in November 1977.

Zoltán Kodály’s music education programme is only one part of his oeuvre. The skill development in schools is only a small portion of this part, and yet, this portion is the most known. On one hand, because of the education of children is a personal matter for everyone, even for those who are not involved in music; and on the other hand, because of the Kodály-method, which was introduced nationally and became world famous few years later, was related to the music education in kindergartens and primary schools.

But why did the Kodály-method spread across the country, and also became world-famous?

In Hungary, our goal was to increase the knowledge of musical literacy and interest within the population, and there was a great demand for this. However, this goal can only count on the support of a small community.

During our masterclasses abroad, we always distinguish the Kodály-method from the Kodály-concept: the method is the practice of developing musical skills, that includes the gradual developing of inner hearing, independent musical reading and writing, singing in tune and the ensemble singing. The concept, on the other hand, provides the principals chosen to shape the whole personality: it includes the need for everyday singing, just like the love of folksong, folklore, tradition, good music, valuable literature, poetry; so, the role of the arts in shaping taste and way of life; in a broader manner the care of mother tongue, shaping of taste, independent judgement and the need for self-improvement and inner discipline through continuous learning. 

The Kodály-method became world-famous precisely because of its complexity, and therefore, it was also implemented in foreign cultures and other school systems. The problems of transposition affected those who taught abroad, or dealt with foreign visitors, pupils in Hungary, but the edification is treasured for all the parents and teachers, because it put the things we knew from inside into a new perspective, and highlighted beauties that we haven’t noticed yet.

Kodály’s idea was for children to grow up on their own culture’s songs, for their taste, sense of form, expressiveness to be “polished” on them, for their inner harmony to be nourished by them, for their sense of belonging together to be strengthen. Therefore, it is obvious to use folk songs for teaching musical elements, since it makes it extremely easy to learn basic musical elements if they connected to an already known motif. But the use of folk songs carries danger as well. The chosen songs to teach musical reading and writing could lose their freshness, flavour, possibly their tempo or rhythm due to the excessive and dry analysis of their motives and musical intervals. Even though the curriculum sets the educational goal to explain the content of the song, thus wishing to validate the requirement of emotional education, the song must still affect via its own beauty, expressive unity of its form and content, since that’s why it’s music.

But how can we ensure no to lose the values of the most beautiful folksongs in learning? In fact, most of the music scores printed for pedagogical studies do not contain the ornaments, only the melody skeletons. Simply because, it is difficult to sing the ornaments from scores.

I met a young mother, Zoltánné Szőcs, recently, who, along with her three children sings song and ballads with difficult ornaments. It is magical how the pre-schoolers and even the younger ones inherited the style of folk songs from their mother, even their playful improvisations are built on that. I was amazed to see that the little ones preferred the grievous, even tragic songs from latest collection from Transylvania to the more age-suitable school songs. This experience prompted me to try to guide the interest of my own students to this direction. I’ve also found that the children can handle a lot more than we thought before, and they really love the heavy, the exciting songs, the richness of emotions and tragedy that the adult songs reveal to them. Presumably not only the text, but also the rich musical world of the songs attracts the children, thus they learn many songs that us, adults, found too difficult, after hearing them. 

But how many teachers or parents know and sing ornamented old-styled folksongs? And how can teachers organise to listen to the songs in a playful way in warm surroundings in a kindergarten or school room? We should find the opportunities before the love for folksongs and singing of upper grade students continues to decline.

Another question in learning music is that how school discipline is now and how it should be in the future. Foreign teachers who visit us cannot believe how well behaved the children are in our demonstration lessons, and they claim that such method requires this behaviour cannot be introduced in other school systems. Without doubt, the Kodály-method initially was applied within the framework of traditional class organisation (seating plan, hand-raising, marking, one-man-control). This setting made the teacher’s life easier but also set some barriers.
The atmosphere, humour and dynamic of the lessons and rehearsals almost inclusively depended on the teacher, there were few opportunities for the children to initiate individually. This, however, didn’t come from the Kodály-method, but from the traditional school methods, so the next generation can easily prove how the pedagogy of music education can change within the framework of a fundamentally new concept. And when it comes to discipline, it is essential for developing musical skills in every school system, since we can listen and develop inner hearing only in silence and with paying close attention. Focusing in silence is also essential in those moments when the teacher tells, passes information to his students.

You need silence and discipline to observe, prepare, correct, tune, adjust harmonies, sounds, and even when the children listen to each other. These minutes with full attention, however, can be taken over again and again by more relaxed activities containing movements, tailored to the children’s personalities and inner needs. This is a discipline as well, sometimes even more intense than listening directed to one person. The timing and allocation of these minutes of silence and full attention, as well as the tools and possibilities of discipline can, of course, vary. I think, the real question is more to do with what tools are worth and effective to use for discipline, or rather to educate children to self-discipline for the joy of working together, harmonious sound and creating together.