The Kodály Method

Warm-Up Song: Hello! - What is your name?
~ Objectives: listening skills; singing; echoing & matching pitches; hearing high and low pitches; introduction to pitches sol, mi, and la

After seating students on the floor in a circle as they come into the classroom, welcome them with a "get to know your name" type song. I don't use anything fancy, but simply sing "Hello" to the children on the pitches sol and mi (any key would be fine). Have them echo you back. This helps the students to be focused on listening, matching pitches, and singing right from the start. I may do this a few times to make sure I have their attention.

I sing "My name is Mrs. Johnson" using the pitches sol - mi - la. If you are scratching your head at me, try one of these. If you play an instrument, play the following notes: sol = G, mi = E, and la = A. Or, think of when you were a kid and someone sang that teasing "Na na na na naaa naaa". Those are the pitches I'm talking about - ones that kids automatically seem to be able to sing well in youth. I use solfege hand signs representing Do, Re, Mi, and such as I sing, also, to help them discriminate the different pitches. It makes the activity aural, visual, and physical. See below to see and hear the solfege hand signs in use.

Teacher
My name is Mrs. John - - son!
Sol- Sol Sol Mi- La- Sol-- Mi--

Students (echo back with same timing and pitches)
Her name is Mrs. Johnson.

Teacher (to one student or an adult helper)
What is your name?
Sol- Mi La Sol- Mi-

One Person
My name is ___________.

Students
Her (His) name is ___________.

Go around the class until all have had a chance if you have time. If you do not have the time for all of them, have some use it as a warn-up in the next lesson as a review.

Pitch Activity:
~ Objectives: hearing and identifying high and low pitches; listening skills; body movement to pitches

I do not make a big deal of the solfege hand signs at first, but just let them know that it will help them to hear hear and sing different pitches. The simplest definition of pitch is the high and low sounds that something makes. If you have a piano available, have one student play some notes from the top right side of it. Have students identify them as high pitches. Choose another student to play some notes from the left side of the piano and identify them as low pitches. Do the same with the middle of the piano keyboard.

Play some examples (simple songs or just notes) on the piano for them to identify. Have them stand up if they hear high, sit down for low, and stand with bent knees for middle. To prepare the students for reading music in the future, draw a staff on the board with a few notes. Discuss how notes written higher on the staff represent higher pitches and notes written lower on the staff represent lower pitches. I don't get into the nitty gritty of clef or actual note names yet. This is just a tiny seed to plant in their minds for later growth.

Info & Challenges Coming ...

Info & Challenges Coming ...