Overview:
Music education, like all academic subjects, has a teaching philosophy founded on a set of principles designed present the discipline with a unified body of pedagogy. The music methods or teaching approaches of Carl Orff, Jaques-Émile Dalcroze, Zoltán Kodály and Edwin Gordon have been researched and practiced for music educators for many decades. Each encourages active participate by the students and are systematic in design.
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- Describe four of the most widely recognized music education approaches,
- Delineate the rationale underlying each approach,
- Identify and describe principles of each methodology,
- Identify methods or steps for implementing each of the approaches, and
- Identify teaching elements that are unique to each approach.
Module Summary
This module focused on the four most widely recognized teaching approaches that began to be incorporated into music education programs in the mid- to late 20th century. Understanding the principles fundamental to the Orff, Dalcroze, Kodály and Gordon approaches provides a basis for designing the eclectic lesson style that many music educators use in the United States.
The contemporary approaches focus on internalizing music skills and concepts, such as pitch and pulse, through activities that stimulate thinking and active participation. Movement, dance, speech, singing, chanting, and performing on instruments are concrete ways in which young students internalize musical syntax. Successive, sequential lessons that emphasize reinforcement of music concepts provides the for students to begin improvisation, composition activities.
