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What is the American Kodály Institute?
What is the American Kodaly Institute?
The American Kodály Institute, founded in 2000 by Amy Branum Huggins, is a
teacher training organization that offers a four-summer master's degree program
for music educators, leading to Kodály certification and an advanced degree. AKI
was formed in response to requests from music educators in Maryland and
surrounding states for a Kodály certification program located in a geographic area
convenient to them, and to provide a pool of music educators to fill the growing
demand for Kodály trained master teachers. AKI's highly successful program
attracts graduate students from across the United States and will soon open its
doors to international students. Originally established as a division of the
Children's Chorus of Maryland, then as an independent non-profit corporation, AKI
is now a division of the Education Department of Loyola College in Maryland.

Exceeding all requirements for OAKE-endorsed Kodály certification programs,
AKI's program emphasizes materials, methods, and sequencing appropriate for
American students in American schools. It is unique among Kodály certification
programs in its comprehensive approach, which includes training in vocal
development and pedagogy, movement, application of current research into how
children learn music, and accompaniment skills on folk instruments. The core
faculty members are nationally and internationally known, certified Kodály
specialists with extensive experience teaching children and training music
educators. AKI's program has the support of the Maryland State Superintendent of
Schools and the music supervisors of the public school systems in the state of
Maryland.
The American Kodaly Institute
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What is AKI's mission?
Kodaly Training___Kodaly Teacher Training
The mission the American Kodály Institute is to:

___· Meet the continuing educational needs of music educators by providing a __
_-___comprehensive, graduate level teacher-training program that specializes in
_____Kodály-inspired music education and incorporates the findings of current
_____research in the field of Music Learning Theory.

___· Apply the educational principles of twentieth century Hungarian pedagogue
_____Zoltán Kodály in a way that is relevant to American students in the American
_____schools of the twenty-first century.

___· Develop master music educators for the twenty-first century equipped with the
--_---knowledge, skills, and tools to work toward Kodály's vision of universal music
_____literacy.

__________________________________________________________________________

What is the Kodály approach to music education?

_____________________Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967), a Hungarian composer,
_____________________ethnomusicologist and educator, inspired this approach to
_____________________music education. Deeply concerned about the quality of the
_____________________musical training available to children and teachers in
_____________________Hungary in the 1920’s, he encouraged his colleagues and
_____________________students to travel throughout Europe in search of the best
_____________________models for teaching music. Their findings formed the basis
_____________________for a comprehensive, child-developmental approach to
music education that integrates the most effective and successful ideas, techniques
and tools for music instruction. Based on singing, it develops in students the ability
to listen with understanding, perform with artistry, read, write, improvise and
compose music. This approach is now known internationally as Kodály Music
Education.

The cornerstones of the Kodály philosophy are as follows:

___· That music literacy is the right of every human being.
___· That singing should be the foundation of music education.
___· That music education must begin with the very young.
___· That the folk songs of a child’s own culture constitute his musical mother-
_____tongue and should be the vehicle for early instruction.
___· That only music of genuine artistic value (both folk and composed) should be
_____used in teaching.
___· That the sequencing of music instruction should be based on child-
_____developmental principles.
___· That only the most skilled, well trained artist-teacher-scholars are worthy of
_____teaching children.

Some of the tools used in implementing the Kodály philosophy include:

___· Movable-do solfa (borrowed from England)
___· Solfa hand signs (adapted from those of John Spencer Curwen of England)
___· Rhythm syllables (adapted from those of Emile-Joseph Cheve of France)
___· Eurhythmic activities (adapted from those of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze of
_____Switzerland)
___· Emphasis on pentatonic music for young children (Both Carl Orff of Germany
_____and Rudolf Steiner of Austria came to the same conclusion about this
_____developmentally appropriate practice.)

The findings of the latest research in Music Learning Theory confirm the validity of
the Kodály sequence, tools and techniques, and also point to the importance of
some additions and refinements. (The American Kodály Institute has pioneered
curriculum design that implements these additions and refinements, resulting in
even more remarkable success in the classroom than that achieved using an
ordinary Kodály program.)

Throughout the world, the Kodály approach to music education is cultivating in
students a life-long enjoyment of music and the ability to work with music
knowledgeably and comfortably as a language shared by all people.

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Kodály Quotes
Kodaly
"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."

“Music is a manifestation of the human spirit, similar to language. Its greatest
practitioners have conveyed to mankind things not possible to say in any other
language. If we do not want these things to remain dead treasures, we must do our
utmost to make the greatest possible number of people understand their idiom.”

When asked at what age music education should begin, Kodály replied, “Nine
months before the birth of the mother.”

“It is much more important who is the music teacher in Kisvárda than who is the
director of the opera house in Budapest…for a poor director fails once, but a poor
teacher keeps on failing for thirty years, killing the love of music in thirty batches of
children.”

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How to Choose a Kodály Certification Program

1. Does the program follow OAKE (Organization of American Kodály Educators)
___guidelines?

___Students at Levels I, II and III should be receiving training in Solfa, Methodology,
___Materials, Conducting, Choir, and Special Studies such as folk instruments, folk dance,
___and voice development.

2. Who are the instructors?

___Instructors should be experts in their fields. In addition to their expertise for teaching
___adults, they should have extensive experience teaching children from culturally and
___economically diverse backgrounds in a variety of settings and situations.

3. Is the program up-to-date?

___Cutting-edge teacher training includes study of Music Learning Theory and applications
___of current research into how children learn music.

4. Is the program relevant to my teaching situation?

___In addition to training in personal musicianship and vocal development, students should
___receive hands-on, practical training in the curriculum, sequencing, lesson design
___techniques, strategies, materials, and teaching styles that get results with today's
___American students. Teaching materials and the sequence of pedagogical elements
___should be drawn from the rich and diverse heritage of American folk song.


			Developing master music educators for the twenty-first century.