Kodaly under the microscope
- 1. Kodály under the microscope When many people think of research, they think of sitting in a library reading lots of books in order to write a paper. Whether or not, you enjoyed this experience, this is only one type of intellectual inquiry. This most familiar type of research is called historical. There are several other types of research methodologies used to answer questions, to describe what is, and to point out problems and prominent ideas (philosophies) within a given discipline. In this article, I report on a couple methodologies researchers have used to study the effectiveness of the Kodály philosophy. After reading many articles and dissertation abstracts, I found several studies that fall into one of three research methodologies. The first is historical research. Historical research is a truthful integrated account of the relationships between persons, events, times, and places. The next is descriptive research. Descriptive research addresses relationships between variables, tests hypotheses, and develops generalizations, principles, or theories that have universal validity. Quasi-experimental is the third type. It is a variation on the quintessential idea of a science experiment where the researcher begins with a sample population that is randomly assigned into two groups. These groups should be essentially the same in the area of concern. The study begins when the researcher exposes one group (experimental/treatment) to a specific agent while the other group (control) is left alone. After a predetermined length of time, the researcher compares the two groups to determine if there is a significant mathematical difference between the groups. If there is, then the researcher can conclude that the “treatment” was effective at bringing about a change. What makes quasi-experimental research different is that it does not use randomization. This is often the case with studies involving public
- 2. schools. In this issue’s column, I focus on the descriptive and quasi-experimental research on the Kodály method. I will now share with you what researchers found when they looked at Kodály under the microscope. Research on the Kodály method began in the 1960s. One study by, three Hungarian researchers, Kokas, Enyedi, and Eiben’s work (1969) suggests a direct correlation between the Kodály method of teaching and the movement, personality, and observation/focus capacities of children. The purpose of this study was to explore the psychological effect of transfer from music learning to academic learning. The researchers noted that trained music students were better at spelling, had increased auditory and visual skills, and possessed a better sense of equilibrium. Further, they explained that the elements of music (repetition, patterns and groupings, and associations of known elements) were shown to contribute to transfer of learning. The sequential process of music teaching addressing different modalities of learning was presented as contributing to generalizations and transfer in non-musical areas. There are many other studies performed by Hungarians, but I only list a couple due to space constraints. In the 1970s, researchers Maria Sági and Iván Vitányi (1971) were pursuing a new approach to research on Hungarian music sociology and psychology. Their work explored cognition and the elements of musical structures and devices that might affect personality. Their data show positive correlations between music and personality formation. Also, during this decade, Zoltán Laczó investigated the effect of musical training on intelligence and musical ability. His findings show a positive correlation between music training and academic performance. In 1975, the Journal of Learning Disabilities published an article by Hurwitz,
- 3. Wolff, Bortnick, and Kokas that explored the nonmusical effects of the Kodály music curriculum in primary grade children. The study compared the performances of two matched groups of primary grade children on tasks of temporal and spatial abilities. One group (10 boys and 10 girls) with no academic difficulty were selected from a first grade group in a middle class suburban school system where the Kodály instruction program had been provided for approximately seven months at the time the comparisons were made. This was the experimental group. Students received Kodály instruction five days a week for approximately forty minutes per session and were taught by an experienced music teacher. The second group (10 boys and 10 girls) were selected from a suburban first grade in another middle class school district with academic standards and student population similar to those from which the experimental sample was drawn. This group was the control and did not receive Kodály instruction. Both groups were tested on their sensory-motor sequencing and verbal perceptual sequencing. Two measures of general verbal intelligence were included: the Comprehension and Vocabulary subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). Results showed that students who received Kodály instruction performed more effectively on reading tests than comparable groups of first graders not receiving Kodály instruction. In the 1981, Laczó used the Seashore Tests of Musical Ability to investigate the development and psychological aspects of improvisation in music. Participants in this project were primary and secondary Hungarian students who improvised melodies based on poetry and a short musical example. Data show that musical creativity was influenced mostly by music education and experience, with a lesser effect of age. Qualitative differences were found to reflect musical skill and thinking. The Kodály method provides
- 4. students with opportunities to efficiently develop musical skills and showed the efficacy of the study of personality development. During the 1970s and 1980s in the US, several doctoral students conducted comparative studies for their dissertations. Palmer (1974) compared the effectiveness of the Richards and Gordon approaches to rhythmic reading among fourth-graders. Stephens (1974) compared the Threshold to Music approach to music reading with a traditional approach, including pre- and post-testing to determine the effectiveness of the approaches. Belmain (1980) examined the effectiveness of three researcher-designed approaches to listening on the music achievement among fifth-graders. Hensley (1981) compared music achievement scores of students taught from the Orff/Kodály-based Memphis City Curriculum Guide to the Exploring Music series. Significant differences in achievement scores were observed on major-minor mode discrimination at the fifth-grade level. Burtenshaw (1983) attempted to measure the non-performance musical learning of upper elementary students taught a Kodály curriculum with a researcher-developed criterion-referenced music test addressing rhythm, pitch, form, and timbre. Results showed positive correlations between musical outcomes and the curriculum. Hudgens (1987) examined four approaches to teaching first-graders to sing on pitch, echo rhythms, and audiate tonal and rhythmic patterns. Hudgens reported that the approach to music teaching resulted in significant differences between the approaches and music achievement. More research was conducted in the 1990s. Fridley (1993) and Hickey (1995) compared curricular issues. Fridley compared two methods for teaching guitar to fifth- and sixth-graders. The first was a traditional note learning sequence and the second was
- 5. the Kodály tonal learning sequence. No significant differences on scores or attitude ratings by group, sex, grade, or years of experience were observed. Hickey compared Gordon’s Music Learning Theory and Kodály methodologies on the intonation accuracy among first-through eighth-graders. Melodic patterns of familiar and unfamiliar music in ascending and descending forms in major and pentatonic tonalities were tested in combinations by gender and by grade level. Data analysis revealed significant differences in the intonation accuracy of various combinations of test patterns with pentatonic patterns showing greater accuracy of intonation than diatonic patterns in all cases. Recently, researchers have been interested in exploring non-musical effects of Kodály instruction. Two ongoing studies were reported at the OAKE 200 National conference in Seattle, WA. Faith Knowles and Martin Gardiner designed the Pawtucket, Maryland Project. Preliminary findings were reported in Nature (1996). Standardized test scores are being compared before and after a traditional musical treatment and a Kodály- based treatment. This study examines non-musical standardized test results of elementary-aged children in a bi-weekly Kodály curriculum that included an additional hour of music per week. The study also includes an examination of aspects of each subject’s social behavior as evaluated by the classroom teacher and researcher. Although many studies examining the effects of Kodály instruction on student music and non-music achievement have been conducted, there is a paucity of peer- reviewed published research. Many of the studies reported here remain doctoral dissertations. I encourage the authors of these studies to submit articles to peer-reviewed journals. While the results from these studies are exciting, caution must be exercised when making generalizations to the entire population. Research never proves anything
- 6. because there is always the possibility for human error. Further studies that replicate these and explore new directions are needed to better understand how the Kodály method affects both music and non-music learning.
- 7. References Belmain, C. (1980). The effectiveness of three listening packets on musical achievement of fifth grade students (Doctoral dissertation, Temple University, 1980) Dissertation Abstracts International, 41/05, 1997. Burtenshaw, L. (1983). The construction and validation of a criterion-referenced test to measure the musical outcomes of the upper elementary schools pupils instructed in the Kodály method in the U.S. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1983) Dissertation Abstracts International, 44/05, 1368. Fridley, M. (1983). A comparison of the effects of two learning sequences on the acquisition of music reading skills for the guitar: Traditional versus Kodály based, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California. Hensley, S. (1981). A student of the musical achievement of elementary students taught by the Memphis city curriculum guide and students taught by the traditional approach (Doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University and Agriculture & Mechanical College, 1981) Dissertation Abstracts International, 42/115, 4757. Hickey, K., (1995). Intonation accuracy in the singing of elementary school children (Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California, 1995) Dissertation Abstracts International, 57/02, 505. Hickey, K. (Summer, 2000). Kodály methodology/pedagogy: State of the research 2000. Kodály Envoy, 17-20, 30. Hudgens, C. (1987). A study of the Kodály approach to music teaching and an investigation of four approaches to the teaching of selected skills in first grade music classes (Doctoral dissertation, University of North Texas, 1987)
- 8. Dissertation Abstracts International, 48/03, 556. Huriwitz, I., Wolff, P. H., Bortnick, B. D., and Kokas, K., (1975). Nonmusical effects of the Kodály music curriculum in primary grade children. Journal of Learning Disabilities 8(3), 45-52. Kokas, K., Enyedi, S., and Eiben, O. (1969). Psychological testing in Hungarian music education. Journal of Research in Music Education 17(1), 125-134. Laczó, Z. (1981). A psychological investigation of improvisation abilities in the lower and higher classes of the elementary school. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 66-67, 39-45. Palmer, M. (1974). The relative effectiveness of the Richards and the Gordon approaches to rhythm reading for fourth grade children (Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1974) Dissertation Abstracts International, 35/12, 7702. Sági, M., and Vitányi, I. (1971). Psycho-sociological experiments with music in Hungary. Studia Musicological 13(1-4), 95-121. Stephens, R. (1974). A comparative study of two instructional methods in music reading at the Grade V and Grade VI level (Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon, 1974) Dissertation Abstracts International, 35/06, 3801.