10/13/10 - 3 Points of Interest on Kodaly and Dalcroze

1. "In terms of rhythm, moving rhythms are more child-related than sustained ones" (pg. 10, Choksy). I think this would be common sense to most people. Even as Chosky talks about, children are used to seeing things move and they are used to walking, running, hearing their heart beat, and doing lots of things with movement. Children have a lot of energy, and they learn a lot about their outside world through touching, feeling, and experiencing what it is like to run on an incline, or roll down a hill. It is only natural that children would connect so easily to music by means of rhythm and movement. Thus I agree with Choksy that music educators need to put a lot of different moving rhythms in their lesson plans.

2. "None of the pedagogical tools or processes associated with the Kodaly method were invented by Kodaly and his colleagues" (pg. 16). This comes as a huge surprise to me. I knew that solfege dated to around the middle ages or before, but I had no idea that none of the pedagogical tools or processes came from Kodaly or his group of intellectuals. If this is the case, can Kodaly really put his name on everything that he is known for? It seems to me that he is more of a philosopher than an inventor. I understand the Kodaly philosophy and its implications for students in the classroom, but I don't understand how names get attached to tools and processes that did not originate with the so called "founder" himself.

3. "The work of Dalcroze has been recognized not only by musicians, but also by dancers, actors, therapists, and educators around the world" (pg. 46, Mead). This makes perfect sense to me. So much of Dalcroze and Eurythmics stems from the world of movement, and movement is the essential element in dance and one of the major essential elements in acting. I can understand how therapists can use the methodologies of Dalcroze too. I used to participate in "Bio-Feedback" where you can literally train your body (particularly the muscles) to relax and perform in a certain way. You can literally teach your body how to loosen up, and this decreases your anxiety. After awhile, you can guess the levels of stress you are putting on yourself, and teach your body how to counteract stress with thoughts of relaxation. But the neat thing is that your body can learn to do this automatically. It is important for educators everywhere to be aware of Dalcroze, and the teachings he promoted. They can have a great effect in many professions.