Book Description
The Kodaly Choral Method is a comprehensive series of progressive songs and sigh-singing exercises designed to promote a thorough understanding of interval and tonality. By incorporative a wide range of Hungarian folk music and poetry, Kodaly has produced a stimulating addition to the repertoire of school and amateur choirs. This collection of 333 reading exercises is the revised English Edition, taken from the 1966 Hungarian Edition. ... Read more

Book Description
Designed to provide sample month-by-month and yearlyplans for each grade level from one to six, this step-by-step guide features a collectionof more than 200 songs—many of which are new to the ThirdEdition—organized precisely in the sequence of the Kodaly Method. KEYTOPICS:It presents a highly sequential music program in which singing, moving,listening, musical reading and writing, improvising and composing are the means throughwhich children develop skills and acquire knowledge about melody, harmony, rhythm,form, tempo, timbre, and dynamics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Kodaly Method I: Comprehensive Music Education (3rd Edition)
a very helpful book especially for inexperience music teacher like me, loads of ideas which stimulate and also help me to create other new ideas.

Key book for the elementary music educator
This book provides a solid foundation for teaching with Kodály method in the United States.As well as curriculum ideas for Kindergarten through grade 6, there are many songs for classroom use.

I think that if you will be teaching Kindergarten you should also own Music in Preschool by K. Forrai.This book gives only passing notice to the Kindergarten year, in my opinion

The Definitive book on the Kodaly Method
I read the first edition of Choksy's "Kodaly Method" after my first year of teaching, and thought, "why didn't they teach me this in college?". The next year, I bought the second edition when it came out, and used it as a guide for teaching for many years. It had become so tattered and worn, but I still referred back to it. I broke down and bought the third edition last summer, while doing my level 2 Kodaly certification. I wasn't sure I wanted to pay that much for the book, but it has been worth it.
For anyone starting out in teaching music, you need this book. It gives grade by grade guidance of what to teach, how to teach it, and suggested materials to use. You might not set up your curriculum exactly as stated in the book, but you will definitely find useful teaching examples for the main concepts at each grade level.
The song anthology in the back has been expanded and is more complete than ever before. There is quite a bit of pedagogical information for each song, that is included in this edition.
My only question is "Why don't American colleges and universities use this method as the basis for preparing its teachers?". It is definitely the most thorough and sound foundation to build upon at the undergraduate level; then procede into Orff-Schulwerk training at the graduate level. Both of these approaches have been so integrated into American music teaching, they deserve more intensive study in teacher preparation than the casual mention or superficial discussion that they seem to currently receive. ... Read more

Book Description
KEYBENEFIT: This book is aimed at Advanced Methods in Music Educationcourses, which address the organization of a curricular framework for upperelementary and secondary school students.Designed to guideolder beginners through the transition from folk songs as the basic vehicle ofinstruction to art music as the core of the music curriculum, this step-by-stepguide features 19 lessons organized precisely in the sequence of the KodalyMethod. Its interactive, outcome-based approach exposes students to the greatmusic of the world, letting them experience its dynamics in a firsthand,meaningful way. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Kids can do more than you think they can.
In this book, Choksy recounts classroom activities which she has presented in upper elementary elementary school.She dispenses with the usual Surprise Symphony and Persian Market and, instead, performs tasks which are usually confined to the conservatory.Rondos, fugues, sonata movements--you name it, she taught it to upper elementary children.

I have just two questions, though:

Question number one: Can Choksy really assure us that any classroom music teacher can get similar results?My high school orchestra teacher taught a music appreciation class which the school counsellors recommended as an easy class for dumb students.He couldn't get them to recognize the themes in rondos and sonata movements.Was he really incapable of getting better results?Or should he have read this book?

Question number two:On pages 5-6, Choksy tells an interesting story: At the beginning of the year, the sixth-graders came into class carrying an armload of pop records.Her predecessor had given up trying to control those big and tough kids, and was finally reduced to bribing them with a daily fun session as a reward for good behavior.

She repaired the damage by establishing herself as a mean ugly witch.From this point forward, there will be no more pop records.She will make all the decisions and that's that.

This brings up the age-old question of whether learning should be content-centered, student-centered, or an optimum balance of the two.At any time, young people are listening to music which could demonstrate any number of technical terms.Minor modality?Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is a masterpiece, but "Sealed With a Kiss" by Bryan Hyland is kinda nice, too.Ritornello?Monteverdi is great, but the Beatle song "Michelle" isn't so bad either.For a lesson on harmony, compare Schubert's Serenade with "Heart and Soul" and see if you don't find a similarity.

Last I heard Choksy had retired from teaching music and set up a bed-and-breakfast business.I hope that the loss for the music teaching profession has been offset by the gain for the bed-and-breakfast business. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

This Book Needs To Be Brought Back Into Print
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!

required reading
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. ... Read more

Book Description
A biography of Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly which discusses his life and works, including concert performances. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Zoltan Kodaly, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thomson Gale. The length of the entry is 335 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author