Kodaly

Zoltan Kodaly developed the Kodaly principle of teaching music in 1940 in Hungary. His main focus was using Hungarian Folk Songs to teach students to be as literate in music are they are in language. He believed that music education is the most effective when music is presented to young children. However, he also believed that only music of the highest artistic value, both folk and composed, should be used in teaching. The core principle of Kodaly is that music should be the heart of the curriculum, a core subject, an used as a basis for education.

Teaching using Kodaly in the music classroom means using Curwen's Tonic Sol-Fa and movable Do solfege, hand signs to aid in solfege memory, and rhythmic syllables. When teaching with Kodaly criterion of sequencing depends on child development and frequency of occurrence int he musical material. During lessons teachers should only speak to offer guidance, support, or instruction.

Pros:

• Singing is the basis for most instruction
• Use of both folk and art music are used.
• Use of solfege, hand signs, and rhythmic syllables.
• Focuses on child development.
• Very sequential

Cons:

• Sequence seems very ambiguous

Orff

Carl Orff created the Orff-Schulwerk principle in 1920 during his time at the Guntherschule in Munich. He developed this principle based on integrating performing arts with speech and drama. Orff often referred to it as a process rather than a product oriented methodology. He preferred the teacher to act as a facilitator rather than a director.

Elemental music making includes exploration, imitation, improvisation, and creation. Exploration allows the children to discover the possibilities available in sound and movement. Imitation develops basic skills in rhythmic speech and body percussion, while during improvisation students can take those skills to make up new patterns and combinations. Creation takes improvisation one step further by combining material from any or all of the phases into original small forms.

Teaching Process of Orff

1. Rhythm/Meter
2. Melody
3. Accompaniment
4. Form
5. Instruments
6. Expression
7. Create/Improvise

Pros:

• Basic expansion into material from any style or period
• The basic vocabulary of musical skills will provide a foundation upon which more specialized training can build
• Students coming into band/orchestra/choir with an Orff background can more easily adapt to a new mode of making music.
• Well suited for classroom with topics related to current studies and interests
• Teaches creativity and teamwork.

Cons:

• Can easily be oriented toward performance of set pieces

Gordon

Music Learning Theory was developed by Edwin Gordon in the 1970. His purpose for music learning theory was to give sequential theory organized to teach children music similarly to how they learn a language. Gordon believed that all students are innately musical. He wanted to call upon that by using a sequence of learning music that explains what students need to know at a particular level of learning in order to proceed to a more advanced level.

A child's musical aptitude stabilizes at age 9. Before that point, according to Gordon, students must be taught by discriminatory learning. Discriminatory learning includes, Aural/Oral, Verbal Association, Partial Synthesis, Symbolic Association, Reading/Writing, and Composite Synthesis. At the same time they are learning interference learning to help them further understand Generalization, Creativity/Improvisation, Theoretical Understanding, Acculturation, Assimilation, and Imitation. All students are taught the same skills, but some catch on more quickly and can be individualized to prevent bordem.

Gordon Teaching Process

1. Audiation
2. Whole-part-whole
3. Tonalities
4. Rhythm and meter
5. Learning songs by rote
6. Movement

Pros:

• Learning music through immersion
• Researched learning sequences
• Wide variety of tonality
• Beat syllable system
• Keeps students interested
• Fast pace of class

Cons:

• Teaching seems patternized and could become laborious if always learning songs by rote.

Dalcroze

Emile Jaques-Dalcroze developed Dalcroze Eurhythmics in 1905 to cater to the students that were not being taught how to listen or hear music properly. Eurhythmics means to train the body to feel the muscular sensations of time and energy as they are manifest in space. This gives students total absorption of mind, body, and emotions in the experience of actualizing musical sound. Dalcroze believed that in the study of music should continually be cultivating a memory band or aural, visual, and kinesthetic images which could be recalled at any time for reading, writing, performing, or creating music.

Ear training and solfege are critical aspects of the Dalcroze approach. Students have to develop the inner ear to hear and listen accurately before they can be successful in movement. Dalcroze gives students the opportunity to respond freely to music by stepping, singing, gesturing, or suing the whole body. This gives way for students to be asked to move in a specific way when a signal or command is given, move in a specific way as they respond to the music, respond in an uninterrupted cannon or echo, and perform a cannon of movement. Props such as balls, scarves, balloons, bamboo rods or sticks can be used to give students a more concrete physical and tactile sensation.

Pros:

• Virtually all aspects of music an be explored through eurhythmics

Cons:

• Music time and extensive participation are rqured to appreciate these possibilities fully.

World Music Pedagogy

Patricia Shehan Campbell synthesized the long standing tradition of World Music Pedagogy in 1960, because the growth of cultural diversity within school age population prompted music educators to diversify the content of music education. World Music Pedagogy became extremely important for getting children to know and value the diverse communities in which they live while also giving them a multi-cultural consciousness. WMP also seeks to provide students with understandings of music as a culturally differentiated human expression. Music is treated as an aural art, a channel of creative practice, and a means of personal and communal human expression. Teachers are also encouraged to bring in Culture Bearers to teach the students that authenticity of the culture they are learning.

World music pedagogy Teaching Process

1. Active listening: initial listening experience. Who performs the music, when, where, why, and how the sound is being created.
2. Engaged listening: Actively involved in music making while the music is playing
3. Enactive listening: Aural learning of a song. Continuous and concentrated listening. Direct students to listening, then match what they hear.
4. Creating world music: composing, improvising, and song writing. Measure of musical understanding. Extend the music beyond what's already there. Making music in the style of what they are learning. Applying compositional techniques from the style and form in new ways.
5. Integrating WMP: Critical connection of music to culture. Understanding how the music is meaningful to the people who make it. Ensuring that an interdisciplinary presence is evident.

Pros:

• Learning music of other cultures is extremely important for children to have experiences with
• Giving students of different cultures the chance to perform the music of their culture can give them a sense of belonging and pride
• Learning music of different cultures gives students an outlet of creativity that they don't get in only learning westernized music.

Cons:

• Disrespect of a culture through errors in the musical selections

Comparisons and Contrasts

Comparisons:

• All methodologies fully encourage improvisation of some kind. Students should be given the opportunity to improvise and use the skills they have learned in their lessons to explore and create musically
• All methodologies have a tactic for singing. Kodaly, Gordon, and Dalcroze all use solfege syllables to begin learning melodies. Orff and WMP use imitation, listening, and rote learning.
• Each methodology has a specific sequence that helps students learn the goal of that intended lesson. Sequences are laid out so the teacher will know exactly how to do a Gordon lesson or a Kodaly lesson without the stress of being unprepared.
• All methodologies give measure able and observable outcomes. Teachers will be able to assess based on all aspects of music (melody, rhythm, harmony, form, etc.)
• All methodologies consist of: Instruction by teacher (facilitator), learning by students, and learning outcomes (assessment of student learning)

contrasts:

• Not all aspects of music can be taught with just one methodology. Some are better for teaching concepts than others
• Only Dalcroze really encourages full body movement as a way to teach beat and rhythm while also teaching creativity and confidence.
• Some teachers prefer to use the Kodaly counting syllables opposed to the Gordon syllables.
• World Music Pedagogy is the only methodology that clearly formalizes a way to teach music outside of westernized music, with the exception of folk music used in Kodaly.
• Students have a better chance of truly learning a song with true understanding is through teaching it by rote with Orff.

What would I teach?

I personally would teach a hybrid combination of World Music Pedagogy and Orff. I believe that the two go hand in hand when it comes to sequence of the teaching process and what you can accomplish musically with your students. WMP encompasses such a large spectrum of music and cultures, and it's in my philosophy of teaching music that all musicians should be immersed in the music of different cultures to the fullest extent. Orff can accompany that with the process of teaching by rote. Orff and WMP also give students opportunities to improvise and create their own melodies, rhythms, harmonies, and anything else that can show their musical skills. With those two main methodologies, I would also teach from Dalcroze when I want to get my students moving, expressing the intent of the music with their bodies, and allowing them an outlet to use music as a means of self expression through movement.