Music Lessons The Kodaly Method in the American Classroom (1981)

Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly believed that music could be taught to children as readily as reading The method he developed uses a childs own natural instrument the voice Beginning with simple musical intervals the child progresses from folk tunes and childrens songs to the complex notes and rhythms of composed musicfrom Bye baby bunting to Bach The film is a look at the Kodaly method of music training in public elementary schools in San Jose California and West Hartford Connecticut Ordinary children are shown in the film but they exhibit extraordinary selfconfidence discipline concentration and an eagerness to learn There is no such thing as failure in a Kodaly classroom in fact the children are able to correct their mistakes themselves Moreover the children will bring much of how they learn in their music lessonscounting and problemsolving lefttoright progression following directionsto their study of reading writing and arithmetic