Zoltán Kodály

In the Kodály Method children are first introduced to musical concepts through playful, natural experience. He emphasized the use of the folk song in all early music education, stating that they are the ‘mother tongue’ for teaching music.   Melodic patterning, the repetition of certain notes in a row, trains both the ear and the eye to read the patterns on the staff.  Adding solfeg handsigns and syllables further enhanced the learning experience. He used both folk music and songs that are based on the pentatonic scale to help teach the art of singing in tune.

Émile Jaques-Dalcroze

The Dalcroze method, taught in his Eurhythmics schools, is another approach music educators use to foster music appreciation, ear-training and improvisation while improving musical skills. In this method, the body is the main instrument.  Students learn rhythm and structure by listening to music and expressing what they hear through spontaneous bodily movement. (I.e. walking to quarter notes, skipping to dotted notes.)

Carl Orff

In the Carl Orff approach, children are taught concepts through improvisation, composition and a natural sense of play.  He taught using folk music and music composed by the children themselves.  All musical concepts were taught through singing, chanting, dance, movement, drama and the playing of percussion instruments. He believed the order of instruments should be: 1. Body Percussion  2. Voice  3. Simple Percussion Instruments  4. Barred Instruments

(For example, our tone bell set is an Orff instrument!)