The original method that Kodály pioneered was created with children’s development in mind. With the method, young children unconsciously learn the basic musical elements: solfa, rhythm, hand signs, memory development, singing, and more. Because the music education is already rooted in the culture they are immersed in, learning can occur both in the classroom and at home, with family. Early Kodály music education for children has countless benefits.

This method places an emphasis on intuitive, interactive learning. To that end, the techniques used engage the student as much as possible, integrating body movement, singing, and group exercises.

1. Movable “Do” Solfa

Solfa (aka solfège) is a system for relative pitch ear training (i.e. recognising and following the pitch of notes) which assigns a spoken syllable to each note in the scale.

Musicians who haven’t studied solfa often think of it as “the do-re-mi system”, and while this hints at its nature, it actually vastly understates its power and versatility.

The key advantage is that by learning the musical role and distinctive sound of each note in the scale, it becomes easy to identify (and sing) notes simply by recognising where they fit in the musical context.

By using solfège to teach the pitch side of musical listening and performance skills, the Kodály approach ensures that musicians have a natural and instinctive understanding of the notes they hear.

2. Hand Signs for Movable “Do” Solfa

The Kodály Method includes the use of hand signals during singing exercises to provide a visual aid for the solfa syllables. The height that the hand rests at while making each sign is related to the pitch, with “do” at waist level and “la” at eye level. The spatial distance between the hand signs of different pitches corresponds to the size of the interval.

This even further reinforces the power of the solfa system in ear training; the student associates each pitch not only with a memorable syllable, but also with a specific hand motion made at a specific level. The hand signs complement and strengthen solfa learning.

If you want to try it out yourself, the Mobile Musical School has a useful exercise for practicing singing with hand signs!

3. Rhythm

Rhythm is often a neglected area of ear training. Many students simply don’t know how to effectively develop their rhythm skills, or how to connect them to the rest of their music learning.

The Kodály approach provides a clear systematic way to think about and speak rhythms in music which very much complements the solfège system for pitch. Kodály exercises encourage the participants to aurally, visually, and physically engage with the rhythms they’re playing.

Note values are counted out loud with assigned syllables that actually sound like the rhythms they spell out. For example:

Kodály students learn to speak and sing rhythmic patterns using specific syllables, and so develop a framework for understanding rhythm by ear and performing it accurately.

4. Creativity

Although we often think about frameworks as limiting sets of rules, in fact they can provide a structure which gives you confidence to experiment.

This is the case with the solfège and rhythm systems in Kodály teaching: by having clear systematic ways to understand pitch and rhythm, the musician is empowered to be creative and confident in music.

An example would be improvising sung melodies, or changing the rhythm of a song in creative ways. These tasks can seem intimidating to a musician who has been taught in the classical tradition, but with the Kodály approach, musical tasks like these are simple and enjoyable.

5. Collaboration

At its heart, the Kodály approach is a very human and social one, involving plenty of musical collaboration. From the earliest lessons, students are encouraged to perform together and play or sing duets, rounds, and other musical forms which allow both collaboration and creative improvisation.

Examples would be students singing together and taking turns to improvise different melodies while the other sings an accompaniment, or playing clapping games where their rhythms interact and synchronize in fun ways.