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Carl Orff

     While Carl Orff is a very seminal composer of the 20th century, his greatest success and influence has been in the field of Music Education. The Orff approach, not unlike the Suzuki method, begins with the idea that music should be learned by a child the same way a language is learned. Suzuki calls this the "mother tongue approach". A child learns to speak simply by listening and then imitating and then, later in life, the child learns to interpret symbols as a written form of that language. So, then, a child should learn music in the same way.

    At an early age, a child is exposed to music and learns to sing and play percussion instruments, then, later in the child's musical development, he learns to interpret the symbols on a score as music. The music a child learns during this time of his life is very simple melodies that involve a lot of moving. Orff believed that rhythm was the most important part of music. This is because rhythm is what movement, speech, and music all have in common. Rhythm is what ties these all together to make what Orff called elemental music. Orff uses this approach because it is believed that children must feel and move to music before they are asked to conceptualize about it.

     Speech is one of the key elements in the Orff approach not only because speech is an inherently rhythmic action, but because Orff was the only one of the major educational philosophers (Dalcroze, Kodaly, and Suzuki) to use speech in this way.

    Orff's thought was that a transition from speech to rhythmic activities and then to song was the most natural for a child. So, the student moves from speech to body rhythms such as clapping or tapping, and then finally leads to the playing of an instrument. Orff's philosophy continues on in this way even after a child has developed a skill for an instrument. For example, concepts such as meter, accent, and anacrusis are introduced in speech patterns, reinforced in other activities, and then studied in a musical context. A specific example of this is the teaching of the concept of a canon. A simple yet varied chant or other form of rhythmic speech is taught to the class. The students then use the idea of a "round" to explore how each entrance by each different part is achieved. Finally, the teacher notates the rhythmic pattern and shows how each part of the pattern works with the other parts.

    The end goal of the Orff method is to develop a child's musical creativity. Where traditional Music Education dictates that a child must learn to read music right away in order to be a self-guided and independent musician, the Orff method focuses on the creative and expressive side of music. The instruments that are commonly associated with the Orff method distinguish it from other methods. Orff uses xylophones and various metalophones that use removable bars. This allows an educator to change bars for different modes or to remove unnecessary bars to keep from confusing young students.

     In conclusion, the Carl Orff has been a very influential person
in the field of Music Education. He has demonstrated to us that the way to teach music to children is to let then go back to the basics, or elements, of speech, movement, and singing. He has reminded us how much we really expect children to learn music differently in the traditional method than it is natural for them to learn.

Zoltan Kodaly

Child-developmental approach:
The Kodály Method uses a child-developmental approach to sequence, introducing skills in accordance with the capabilities of the child. New concepts are introduced beginning with what is easiest for the child and progressing to the more difficult. Children are first introduced to musical concepts through experiences such as listening, singing, or movement. It is only after the child becomes familiar with a concept that he or she learns how to notate it. Concepts are constantly reviewed and reinforced through games, movement, songs, and exercises.

Rhythm syllables:
The Kodály Method incorporates rhythm syllables similar to those created by nineteenth-century French theoretician Emile-Joseph Chêvé. In this system, note values are assigned specific syllables that express their durations. For example, quarter notes are expressed by the syllable ta while eighth note pairs are expressed using the syllables ti-ti. Larger note values are expressed by extending ta to become ta-a or "ta-o" (half note), ta-a-a or "ta-o-o" (dotted half note), and ta-a-a-a or "ta-o-o-o" (whole note). These syllables are then used when sight-reading or otherwise performing rhythms.

Rhythm and movement:
The Kodály Method also includes the use of rhythmic movement, a technique inspired by the work of Swiss music educator Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. Kodály was familiar with Dalcroze's techniques and agreed that movement is an important tool for the internalization of rhythm. To reinforce new rhythmic concepts, the Kodály Method uses a variety of rhythmic movements, such as walking, running, marching, and clapping. These may be performed while listening to music or singing. Some singing exercises call for the teacher to invent appropriate rhythmic movements to accompany the songs.

Rhythm sequence and notation:
Rhythmic concepts are introduced in a child-developmentally appropriate manner. The first rhythmic values taught are quarter notes and eighth notes, which are familiar to children as the rhythms of their own walking and running. Rhythms are first experienced by listening, speaking in rhythm syllables, singing, and performing various kinds of rhythmic movement. Only after students internalize these rhythms is notation introduced. The Kodály Method uses a simplified method of rhythmic notation, writing note heads only when necessary, such as for half notes and whole notes.

Movable-do solfege:
The Kodály Method uses a system of movable-do solfege syllables, in which, during sight-singing, scale degrees are sung using corresponding syllable names (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, and ti). The syllables show function within the key and the relationships between pitches, not absolute pitch. Kodály was first exposed to this technique while visiting England, where a movable-do system created by Sarah Glover and augmented by John Curwen was being used nationwide as a part of choral training. Kodály found movable-do solfege to be helpful in developing a sense of tonal function, thus improving students' sight-singing abilities. Kodály felt that movable-do solfege should precede acquaintance with the staff, and developed a type of shorthand using solfege initials with simplified rhythmic notation.

Melodic sequence and pentatony:
Scale degrees are introduced in accordance with child-developmental patterns. The first Kodály exercise books were based on the diatonic scale, but educators soon found that children struggled to sing half steps in tune and to navigate within such a wide range. It is thus that the pentatonic scale came to be used as a sort of stepping-stone. Revised Kodály exercises begin with the minor third (so-mi) and then, one at a time, add la, do, and re. Only after children become comfortable with these pitches are fa and ti introduced, a much simpler feat when taught in relation to the already established pentatonic scale.

Hand signs:
Hand signs, also borrowed from the teachings of Curwen, are performed during singing exercises to provide a visual aid. This technique assigns to each scale degree a hand sign that shows its particular tonal function. For example, do, mi, and so are stable in appearance, whereas fa and ti point in the direction of mi and do, respectively. Likewise, the hand sign for re suggests motion to do, and that of la to so. Kodály added to Curwen's hand signs upward/downward movement, allowing children to actually see the height or depth of the pitch. The signs are made in front of the body, with do falling about at waist level and la at eye level. Their distance in space corresponds with the size of the interval they represent. The hand signs were featured in the 1977 film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Materials:
Kodály Method materials are drawn strictly from two sources: "authentic" folk music and "good-quality" composed music. Folk music was thought to be an ideal vehicle for early musical training because of its short forms, pentatonic style, and simple language. Of the classical repertoire, elementary students sing works of major composers of the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic music eras, while secondary-level students sing music from the twentieth century as well.

Kodály collected, composed, and arranged a large number of works for pedagogical use. Along with Béla Bartók and other associates, Kodály collected and published six volumes of Hungarian folk music, including over one thousand children's songs. Much of this literature was used in Kodály Method songbooks and textbooks. High quality music was needed in short and simple forms in order to bridge the gap between folk music and classical works. For this purpose, Kodály composed thousands of songs and sight-singing exercises, making up sixteen educational publications, six of which contain multiple volumes of over one hundred exercises each. Kodály's complete pedagogical works are published collectively by Boosey & Hawkes as The Kodály Choral Method.

Results:
Studies have shown that the Kodály Method improves intonation, rhythm skills, music literacy, and the ability to sing in increasingly complex parts. Outside of music, it has been shown to improve perceptual functioning, concept formation, motor skills, and performance in other academic