Kodly Philosophy

The Spirit of Singing "Our age of mechanization leads along a road ending with
man himself as a machine: only the spirit of singing can save us from this fate."
Kodly realized that most young people lacked any understanding of music. He
called it a state worse than illiteracy. As he spent more and more time on the
emotional and aesthetic education of school-children, Kodly created a series of
choruses for children.
"Teach music and singing at school in such a way that it is not a torture but a joy
for the pupil, Kodly said. Instill a thirst for finer music in him, a thirst which
will last for a lifetime."From the 1930s onwards, Kodly devoted his full
attention to composing for the chorus movement, developing hundreds of singing
exercises, and expounding his views in essays, articles and lectures.While many
today refer to his body of educational work as The Kodly Method, this is a
term Kodly himself rejected because he and his followers incorporated the ideas
of numerous forerunners. From England came the Curwen hand signs, to lend a
visual and physical sense to the relationship between notes.
The solfa tradition goes back to the system of Guido d Arezzo in 11th century
Italy.Rhythm syllables, a system for expressing rhythmic duration, were
adapted from the work of Emile Chev in 19th century Paris. Movement, such
as stepping the beat and performing rhythmic games, was based on the
eurythmics of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze in Switzerland.
All of these techniques, Kodly believed, can help teachers throughout the world
to introduce children to the musical literacy found in their own folk songs.
It is the development of instinctive perception and training, and not
sophisticated lectures, that brings people nearer to music.
In 1966, during a tour of the United States, Zoltn Kodly delivered a lecture at
Stanford University attended by Sister Mary Alice Hein, a professor of music at
Holy Names University in Oakland, California.
Kodlys radically democratic vision of universal music literacy greatly
impressed Sister Mary Alice. Soon, she and her colleagues began searching out
and annotating American folk songs, developing a resource to enrich the lesson
plans of music teachers studying at Holy Names University. In 1985, the Holy
Names University Folk Song Collection, which includes songs from major and

minor regional and ethnic groups from throughout the United States, was
designated an official archive of the Library of Congress. It is now available
online for music teachers throughout the country who carry forward Zoltn
Kodly spirit of singing.