The Kodaly Context

I first read this book when I was a young teacher and have read it several times since. I had checked it out from my local university library, and tried to buy a copy of it, only to find it is out of print. Books like these need to be reprinted and should be required reading for elementary music teachers. Today, almost anything goes in the music classroom. Songs are sung about the 100th day of school, naming the planets of the solar system, or "character counts". Music teachers are asked to use songs to teach safety, math facts, consonants and vowels. All the artistry is being sucked out of the curriculum. Luckily, there are still teachers who want to teach music (not math and reading) and who want to teach children the culturally-rich, artistic folk music of our country and other countries around the world. They want to teach children to be able to read music, understand music, perform music, and create their own music. They want children to experience music that doesn't have a "Broadway"-style soundtrack or dopey cartoon characters altering the words of it to make it politically correct or saccharinely sweet. The book focuses on several topics of interest to music teachers: early childhood music, using movement in the music class, teaching the older beginner, working with the elementary school chorus, and developing a Kodaly curriculum. It also contains a song collection with many of the materials used throughout the book. There is much common-sense to be found in its pages. Although one can still find plenty of information in the author's updated "Kodaly Method I and II", this book is still worth reading and keeping on hand. I wish the author the best in her well-deserved retirement. She has made more than a significant contribution to the music education world!

The author discusses how to apply the Hungarian curriculum to the United States. She goes over the many questions involved in sequencing the curriculum, teaching notation, planning each lesson, and helping the students to appreciate good music. I got somewhat lost in her chapter on directing a choir. I have always had trouble understanding instructions given by voice teachers and choir directors. (Voice teachers have told me to "imagine yourself wearing a mask." "Imagine the sound spinning out of the top of your head." What the heck does THAT mean!) I take issue with Choksy's blanket rejection of popular music. It seems inconsistent. Kodaly said that the children's own folk music is familiar to the children, and therefore should be the starting point of the children's music education. Should not the children's own popular music be incorporated for the same reason? Choksy might be speaking more from her own musical tastes than from her training and experience. I discuss this question in my review of 0139491732. Last I heard, Choksy had retired from music education and gone into the bed-and-breakfast business. I hope the bed-and-breakfast business gained as much as the music education profession lost.