Season Two 2
Episode 52
Three Things I'd Like to thank Kodály for
This past summer I finished my third level of Kodály training and have found that a few things really stand out as difference makers as a result of implementing what I've learned. They are likely things that have made teaching better for many people, but it bears repeating because the differences are worth doing.
Zoltan Kodály believed in several key parts of music education:
1 - Music should be taught from an early age
2 - We should learn music from our culture and heritage
3 - Music should be sequenced and enjoyable
4 - We should use our voices to sing because it's the most accessible instrument (we all have one!)
Kodály dedicated his life towards bringing the best music education to students in Hungary. Over time his ideas took root and schools throughout Hungary began implementing his ideas. What we now have as the Kodály approach began with Kodály himself, but has been altered as others have added ideas and methods to it with the goal of building a great music education for students using Curwen hand sings, movable do, folk songs, and solfege. Singing is a given as well!
I'm going to look at three macro areas of the approach that use all of the elements I just shared - hand signs, movable do, folk songs, and solfege - and how they have changed my teaching in the music classroom.
The three areas are: lesson sequencing, transitions, and making master copies.
LESSON SEQUENCING
Anyone who has taken Kodály training comes away with a deeper understanding of multiple ways to sequence lessons. There's the idea of how to move from one concept to another sequentially over many lessons, how to create concept plans around one concept area over a longer period (such as teaching quarter notes or high do) through the prepare-present-practice sections, and how to do make long range plans over an extended time such as a month or year. At some point I hope to cover each of these in a podcast episode.
The area I want to focus on that has made the difference for me is the daily lesson plan. Sequencing instruction from the opening song through the closing activity. Allowing activities to have various amounts of concentration so that the entire class isn't at the same pace the entire time. Students need to have times of intense concentration and times of more relaxed concentration. And lots of time to process material!
For every class there are five larger sections of learning:
Opening activity
Moderate concentration
High concentration
Moderate concentration
Closing activity
For the opening activity I enjoy beginning with movement, singing, or body percussion. It's great to start with something that is familiar so that students can jump right into class. The start of class activity is often very short - maybe only a few minutes at most.
Then comes the first moderate concentration section. This area is for preparing something that is familiar to students or using the time to teach something new to students.
The middle section of the lesson is the highest concentration. This is when you want to present a new concept to students, assess a concept, or even prepare/practice a concept. It depends where you are in the lesson with students and what phase of teaching you're at with musical concepts. Most of the time I save this portion for the preparing and presenting of information.
The next moderate concentration section is where I do a lot of practicing of musical concepts with students. Extending what has been made conscious to them and adding instruments, movement, recorders, etc...
The final activity is one that I often struggle to save time for because I get so wrapped up in the doing of the practicing that we then say goodbye and have a great remainder of the day! The last part of the lesson is a closing activity: reviewing with students what they've learned, listening to a musical piece, or reflecting on class.
What I love about this sequence is that there's purpose behind each step, there's different levels of engagement - all of them important, but students are not in test mode for the entire class - and it's kind of like a story plot line.
Exposition (start of class)
Rising Action (knowledge continues to build)
Climax (presentation moment of new material or around mid-class period in the high concentration section)
Falling Action (things are practiced)
Resolution (closing activity)
Every part is important and leads to the next, which is where my second favorite area comes in: transitions.
TRANSITIONS
I've found it fairly easy to figure out what I want to teach. There's so much repertoire out there that I absolutely love and plenty to choose from to teach specific concepts, but how to move from one song to the next used to baffle me. I always felt like "let's sing this song...here's another song...let's move now...and here's another piece to play." While each main section of the lesson revolved around a certain musical concept, there was nothing tying it all together to make it move seamlessly. This is something I'm still perfecting, but each year it's easier for me to find common threads to make it all work.
Transitions are as important as the main pieces you teach. They make everything flow smoothly and there's a purpose between the movement from one piece to the next. It keeps learning from becoming choppy.
There are many ways to transition from one piece to the next. In fact, that should probably be its own episode! Here are two ideas to start!
1) Rhythms
Find rhythms that are similar between two songs. For example, if your students are singing Apple Tree and Engine Engine Number Nine, these pieces share the rhythm:
Titi titi titi ta
Apple Tree: Will your apples fall on me?
Engine Engine: Engine Engine Number 9
To transition from one to the next, you might speak the text of the first song (Will your apple fall on me) and students would echo you. Then switch to speaking the rhythm syllables (titi titi titi ta). Again students echo. Then change to speaking the first line of Engine Engine (engine engine number nine). The continue to go on with this new piece!
If rhythms are similar, you can make a plan for how to gradually change the rhythm to become a part of the next piece. Again, let's use the song Apple tree, but pair it with Naughty Kitty Cat. This could be an optional sequence for a transition:
* Apple Tree Apple Tree (students echo)
* Titi ta titi ta
*Titi titi titi ta
*Titi titi ta ta
*Titi titi ta (rest)
*Naughty Kitty Cat
It takes time to figure out the links from one piece to another, but it's so worth it because there's learning continuing to happen even between the music! Keeps students engaged and participating and focused.
Pieces that don't have a rhythmic element that's the same or similar may have a melodic element that's similar.
2) Melody
In the same way, you can transition using singing, solfege, and hand signs. Let's take the songs Apple Tree and Engine, Engine again. They have this melody in common:
ss-ll-ss-m
(Will your apple fall on me)
(Engine Engine number nine)
In fact, it's the same phrase that is performed rhythmically as well. This tells me that it's a great pair because it can be used to teach multiple skills - both melodic and rhythmic. That's an easy one to transition with because you can sing the text of the first song, sing the melodic solfege, and immediately move to the text of the next song with the same melody.
If melodies are similar or very different, make a plan to gradually shift the melody to tie into the next song. I'll stick with Apple Tree and Naughty Kitty Cat.
Apple Tree
Singing "Apple Tree, Apple Tree"
* ss ll ss m
* ss ll s m
* ss ll s (rest)
* Naughty Kitty Cat (rest)
And off you go!
When you're planning lessons this week, start with one grade level and add one transition between pieces. Start small. The more you do it, the easier it gets and the more effective it is in the classroom. Choosing song material that works together is also a great strategy for helping with consistent flow from one piece to the next. This is why the last thing I want to thank Kodály for is master copies.
MASTER COPIES
Before finishing my Kodály levels, I didn't understand why there was any need at all to make master copies of song material. If songs were in print already, why take time to retype them, write out solfege, and write information about each piece? Why create large binders with songs? Why put together an online database? It seemed like a waste of time to me. Until I did it.
The reason you make what is called master copies of each song that you teach in your classroom is because by the time you've finished writing it out, the song belongs to you. You know everything about that song - you understand the context behind the song, the melody, the text, what musical elements are used throughout the songs and whether it's a song worth teaching students.
When you create a master copy of a song, the information about it is yours! Because you wrote it and explained the game directions, the additional verses, and the notation of the song the way that you teach it. Folk songs have variants and it's great to have all of your musical pieces written down exactly the way that you do it. Then when you reference it you know how you do the game! You don't have to remember exactly how you've done it before because it's all there. You know whether you sing a song with a high do or stay on la. You know if you change a rhythm differently than the original that was printed in another resource.
My master copy index has become THE place I look when choosing repertoire for students because it is full of all the songs I know and love. As I learn new songs and conferences, I create new master copies of material I want to use. Then it's easy to access and use! I keep my index in a google drive folder with each piece as a google doc. Then I have a google sheet outlining the song names and color coding whether I have completed a master copy. This way I know what I still need to create and then I start there.
If you want to start compiling pieces for a music song index, I recommend listing all of the songs that you have taught in each grade. Then choose a place to start! There's no right or wrong way for this. I simply started alphabetically and kept a running list of which songs I had created a master copy for. You could also do it by grade level or by concept. The best way to start is just to start!
Here is what to include in each master copy:
* Music notation with text under the rhythm and solfege (if it's a song)
This could be hand-written or with software. I use Finale for the music portion and save it as a graphic that I could copy into a google doc.
* The original source: where you learned the song or what resource you have that contains the piece
* Game directions, movement, play party dances: things that you do in class with the song
* Additional verses (lyrics)
* Anecdotal/Incidental information: things like where you first heard it, what concepts you teach within the song, history of the piece
The point is to make it concise, but usable. It's for you!
RECAP
1) Lesson sequencing: consider how you plan the structure of each class as students participate in the 'macro' areas
2) Transitions: consider how you move from one piece to the next using rhythmic or melodic transitions to keep the music learning going even when it's between parts
3) Master Copies: putting together a song collection of materials that you teach in class and really digging into the pieces you use while giving all of the information surrounding the piece
Happy lesson planning friends!
Episode 52
Three Things I'd Like to thank Kodály for
This past summer I finished my third level of Kodály training and have found that a few things really stand out as difference makers as a result of implementing what I've learned. They are likely things that have made teaching better for many people, but it bears repeating because the differences are worth doing.
Zoltan Kodály believed in several key parts of music education:
1 - Music should be taught from an early age
2 - We should learn music from our culture and heritage
3 - Music should be sequenced and enjoyable
4 - We should use our voices to sing because it's the most accessible instrument (we all have one!)Kodály dedicated his life towards bringing the best music education to students in Hungary. Over time his ideas took root and schools throughout Hungary began implementing his ideas. What we now have as the Kodály approach began with Kodály himself, but has been altered as others have added ideas and methods to it with the goal of building a great music education for students using Curwen hand sings, movable do, folk songs, and solfege. Singing is a given as well!
I'm going to look at three macro areas of the approach that use all of the elements I just shared - hand signs, movable do, folk songs, and solfege - and how they have changed my teaching in the music classroom.
The three areas are: lesson sequencing, transitions, and making master copies.
LESSON SEQUENCING
Anyone who has taken Kodály training comes away with a deeper understanding of multiple ways to sequence lessons. There's the idea of how to move from one concept to another sequentially over many lessons, how to create concept plans around one concept area over a longer period (such as teaching quarter notes or high do) through the prepare-present-practice sections, and how to do make long range plans over an extended time such as a month or year. At some point I hope to cover each of these in a podcast episode.
The area I want to focus on that has made the difference for me is the daily lesson plan. Sequencing instruction from the opening song through the closing activity. Allowing activities to have various amounts of concentration so that the entire class isn't at the same pace the entire time. Students need to have times of intense concentration and times of more relaxed concentration. And lots of time to process material!
For every class there are five larger sections of learning:
Opening activity
Moderate concentration
High concentration
Moderate concentration
Closing activity
For the opening activity I enjoy beginning with movement, singing, or body percussion. It's great to start with something that is familiar so that students can jump right into class. The start of class activity is often very short - maybe only a few minutes at most.
Then comes the first moderate concentration section. This area is for preparing something that is familiar to students or using the time to teach something new to students.
The middle section of the lesson is the highest concentration. This is when you want to present a new concept to students, assess a concept, or even prepare/practice a concept. It depends where you are in the lesson with students and what phase of teaching you're at with musical concepts. Most of the time I save this portion for the preparing and presenting of information.
The next moderate concentration section is where I do a lot of practicing of musical concepts with students. Extending what has been made conscious to them and adding instruments, movement, recorders, etc...
The final activity is one that I often struggle to save time for because I get so wrapped up in the doing of the practicing that we then say goodbye and have a great remainder of the day! The last part of the lesson is a closing activity: reviewing with students what they've learned, listening to a musical piece, or reflecting on class.
What I love about this sequence is that there's purpose behind each step, there's different levels of engagement - all of them important, but students are not in test mode for the entire class - and it's kind of like a story plot line.
Exposition (start of class)
Rising Action (knowledge continues to build)
Climax (presentation moment of new material or around mid-class period in the high concentration section)
Falling Action (things are practiced)
Resolution (closing activity)
Every part is important and leads to the next, which is where my second favorite area comes in: transitions.
TRANSITIONS
I've found it fairly easy to figure out what I want to teach. There's so much repertoire out there that I absolutely love and plenty to choose from to teach specific concepts, but how to move from one song to the next used to baffle me. I always felt like "let's sing this song...here's another song...let's move now...and here's another piece to play." While each main section of the lesson revolved around a certain musical concept, there was nothing tying it all together to make it move seamlessly. This is something I'm still perfecting, but each year it's easier for me to find common threads to make it all work.
Transitions are as important as the main pieces you teach. They make everything flow smoothly and there's a purpose between the movement from one piece to the next. It keeps learning from becoming choppy.
There are many ways to transition from one piece to the next. In fact, that should probably be its own episode! Here are two ideas to start!
1) Rhythms
Find rhythms that are similar between two songs. For example, if your students are singing Apple Tree and Engine Engine Number Nine, these pieces share the rhythm:
Titi titi titi ta
Apple Tree: Will your apples fall on me?
Engine Engine: Engine Engine Number 9
To transition from one to the next, you might speak the text of the first song (Will your apple fall on me) and students would echo you. Then switch to speaking the rhythm syllables (titi titi titi ta). Again students echo. Then change to speaking the first line of Engine Engine (engine engine number nine). The continue to go on with this new piece!
If rhythms are similar, you can make a plan for how to gradually change the rhythm to become a part of the next piece. Again, let's use the song Apple tree, but pair it with Naughty Kitty Cat. This could be an optional sequence for a transition:
* Apple Tree Apple Tree (students echo)
* Titi ta titi ta
*Titi titi titi ta
*Titi titi ta ta
*Titi titi ta (rest)
*Naughty Kitty Cat
It takes time to figure out the links from one piece to another, but it's so worth it because there's learning continuing to happen even between the music! Keeps students engaged and participating and focused.
Pieces that don't have a rhythmic element that's the same or similar may have a melodic element that's similar.
2) Melody
In the same way, you can transition using singing, solfege, and hand signs. Let's take the songs Apple Tree and Engine, Engine again. They have this melody in common:
ss-ll-ss-m
(Will your apple fall on me)
(Engine Engine number nine)
In fact, it's the same phrase that is performed rhythmically as well. This tells me that it's a great pair because it can be used to teach multiple skills - both melodic and rhythmic. That's an easy one to transition with because you can sing the text of the first song, sing the melodic solfege, and immediately move to the text of the next song with the same melody.
If melodies are similar or very different, make a plan to gradually shift the melody to tie into the next song. I'll stick with Apple Tree and Naughty Kitty Cat.
Apple Tree
Singing "Apple Tree, Apple Tree"
* ss ll ss m
* ss ll s m
* ss ll s (rest)
* Naughty Kitty Cat (rest)
And off you go!
When you're planning lessons this week, start with one grade level and add one transition between pieces. Start small. The more you do it, the easier it gets and the more effective it is in the classroom. Choosing song material that works together is also a great strategy for helping with consistent flow from one piece to the next. This is why the last thing I want to thank Kodály for is master copies.
MASTER COPIES
Before finishing my Kodály levels, I didn't understand why there was any need at all to make master copies of song material. If songs were in print already, why take time to retype them, write out solfege, and write information about each piece? Why create large binders with songs? Why put together an online database? It seemed like a waste of time to me. Until I did it.
The reason you make what is called master copies of each song that you teach in your classroom is because by the time you've finished writing it out, the song belongs to you. You know everything about that song - you understand the context behind the song, the melody, the text, what musical elements are used throughout the songs and whether it's a song worth teaching students.
When you create a master copy of a song, the information about it is yours! Because you wrote it and explained the game directions, the additional verses, and the notation of the song the way that you teach it. Folk songs have variants and it's great to have all of your musical pieces written down exactly the way that you do it. Then when you reference it you know how you do the game! You don't have to remember exactly how you've done it before because it's all there. You know whether you sing a song with a high do or stay on la. You know if you change a rhythm differently than the original that was printed in another resource.
My master copy index has become THE place I look when choosing repertoire for students because it is full of all the songs I know and love. As I learn new songs and conferences, I create new master copies of material I want to use. Then it's easy to access and use! I keep my index in a google drive folder with each piece as a google doc. Then I have a google sheet outlining the song names and color coding whether I have completed a master copy. This way I know what I still need to create and then I start there.
If you want to start compiling pieces for a music song index, I recommend listing all of the songs that you have taught in each grade. Then choose a place to start! There's no right or wrong way for this. I simply started alphabetically and kept a running list of which songs I had created a master copy for. You could also do it by grade level or by concept. The best way to start is just to start!
Here is what to include in each master copy:
* Music notation with text under the rhythm and solfege (if it's a song)
This could be hand-written or with software. I use Finale for the music portion and save it as a graphic that I could copy into a google doc.
* The original source: where you learned the song or what resource you have that contains the piece
* Game directions, movement, play party dances: things that you do in class with the song
* Additional verses (lyrics)
* Anecdotal/Incidental information: things like where you first heard it, what concepts you teach within the song, history of the piece
The point is to make it concise, but usable. It's for you!
RECAP
1) Lesson sequencing: consider how you plan the structure of each class as students participate in the 'macro' areas
2) Transitions: consider how you move from one piece to the next using rhythmic or melodic transitions to keep the music learning going even when it's between parts
3) Master Copies: putting together a song collection of materials that you teach in class and really digging into the pieces you use while giving all of the information surrounding the piece
Happy lesson planning friends!
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