Lauren McDougle from the Organization of American Kodály Educators held a workshop on musical accompaniments Saturday, Sept. 6 for music education and education majors. The organization promotes an approach to music education developed by Zoltán Kodály, whose philosophy is that music and singing can be joyful for the pupil. The workshop included Elizabethtown College and Millersville University students and focused on the educational uses of guitars and recorders in classrooms.
McDougle explained that the guitar is an ideal teaching tool because of its excellent zone of proximity. The mobility of a teacher can help control the classroom, as opposed to being behind a piano. Guitars are also more affordable than $200 pianos. The piano’s complexity makes it difficult for kids to sing along as well. The “harmonic function” creates too dense a texture for children to sing along. Therefore, a guitar chord is appropriate for children. In terms of matching vocal quality, children can match their voices to another child’s voice, making children’s choirs in sing-along albums more feasible. A female’s voice works second best, and a male can either use falsetto or his plain voice. Another perk of the guitar is that most songs use the same chords. Children love the idea of a guitar and the way it sounds. A teacher who does not have a background in guitar can still use one in the classroom as long as they know the chords D, A7 and G.
In addition to guitars, recorders are also great instruments to utilize in the classroom. They are cost-effective instruments that all students can use for music assignments. Learning about this reinforces a student’s ability to read music and has other literacy applications. Playing the recorder supports an interest in the band and orchestra curriculum as well as the student’s ability to perform with a group and solo. It can develop fine motor skills and reading skills. These benefits are ideally effective in the fourth or fifth grade, because a child may not have the physical ability to learn an instrument until then. McDougle suggested pushing for more challenging musical meters to be taught, such as triple meter rather than double meter.
Children are all individually predisposed musically due to neural fiber elasticity. The Gordon Music Learning Theory says that all children have a certain amount of musical skills, and musical aptitude is measurable. It serves as a stage-specific model of how students should learn music and how music should be taught. Essentially, children have limited musical ability until about age nine, which is when their grasp of muscle control and finger dexterity sharpens. This is when most schools allow students to learn an instrument.
The instrument of choice to develop these skills is the recorder. First, the basics are taught, such as holding the recorder, playing rudimental notes, mimicking the sounds of the teacher and cleaning the instrument. Children also need to be taught how to practice. They do not know how long to practice or how to work on tough sections.
Teaching holiday songs also has its perks because of its folk music origins, which helps tie in the world in a historical context. However, this has to be implemented carefully so that a teacher does not anger the community. When teaching music of a religious context, it is important to remind students that they are rooted in their cultural heritage.
