Kodály Center at Holy Names University

Calendar of Events 2009-2010

2010-02-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 6 9:30 am - 3:00 pm (registration at 9:00am)
NCAKE Workshop – Sanna Longden
San Francisco Day School
350 Masonic Ave.
San Francisco, CA
No Child Left on His or Her Behind: World Singing Games and Folk Dances for the Music Classroom
Sanna Longden is an internationally renowned world dance teacher and multicultural movement educator from Evanston, Illinois. Her specialty is to focus on the "folk," emphasizing ethnic movement, music, styling, and cultural background. Sanna's lessons illustrate how dance and movement activities can encourage community, civility, and cooperative teamwork, as well as creativity, concentration, and cultural and curriculum connections. Sanna’s NCAKE workshop will focus on singing games in many languages and on dances performed with recorded music from her CDs.
Admission: Students free with OAKE student membership ($20); non-OAKE members: $70; OAKE members (3 workshop series - $70)
Use a credit card to register now online at http://ncake.oake.org/
or call 510-524-7392 for more information.

Sunday, February 21 3:00pm
Celebrating Robert Schumann’s 200^th Birthday
HNU Music Faculty/Graduate Recital
Regents Theatre, Valley Center for Performing Arts
Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd.
Oakland, CA
Works include piano solos and 4 hands, lieder and other ensemble music.
Pre-concert lecture by Dr. Steven Hofer at 2:00pm.
Admission: $10 General, $5 Seniors/Students, Free for HNU faculty, staff, students and alumni. For more information call: 510-436-1330.

Sunday, February 28 3:00pm
An Afternoon of Chamber Music
HNU Music Faculty Recital
Regents Theatre, Valley Center for Performing Arts
Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd.
Oakland, CA
Jenni Cook, soprano, joins Amy Likar, flute and Miles Graber, piano in chamber music featuring a world premiere by Dr. Steven Hofer.
Admission: $10 General, $5 Seniors/Students, Free for HNU faculty, staff, students and alumni. For more information call: 510-436-1330.

March 18-20
Organization of American Kodály Educators National Conference
Sheraton Dallas Hotel
Dallas, TX
The Arts are Key: Deep in the Heart of Kodály
Early registration deadline: Jan. 23, 2010
To register, or for more information, visit: http://oake.org

Saturday, April 10 7:30pm
HNU Opera Scenes Concert
Regents Theatre, Valley Center for Performing Arts
Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd.
Oakland, CA
An evening of scenes and arias from opera, fully staged and costumed, under the direction of Monroe Kanouse.
Admission: $10 General, $5 Seniors/Students, Free for HNU faculty, staff, students and alumni. For more information call: 510-436-1330.

Sunday, April 18 3:00pm
HNU Orchestra Concert
Regents Theatre, Valley Center for Performing Arts
Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd.
Oakland, CA
Pas de Duo-Stephen Varney and Naomi Sanchez- join the HNU Orchestra in a concert of French music.
Admission: $10 General, $5 Seniors/Students, Free for HNU faculty, staff, students and alumni. For more information call: 510-436-1330.

Saturday, April 24 9:30 am – 1:00 pm (registration at 9:00am)
NCAKE Workshop – Fernando Malvar-Ruiz with The American Boychoir
Cathedral of Christ the Light
2121 Harrison St.
Oakland, CA
Music Literacy in Rehearsal & Warming Up: A Demonstration with the American Boychoir
Mr. Malvar-Ruiz, appointed Music Director of The American Boychoir in July 2004, has toured with the Choir to 39 states and Canada. He attended the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét, Hungary, and received the Sarolta Kodály scholarship by unanimous decision of the faculty. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in music arts from the University of Illinois. This March 18-20, Mr. Malvar-Ruiz will direct the OAKE National Youth Choir in Dallas, TX as well as present a featured concert with The American Boychoir. NCAKE is very excited to present this workshop, co-sponsored by the San Francisco Boys Chorus.
Admission: Students free with OAKE student membership ($20); non-OAKE members: $55; OAKE members (3 workshop series - $70)
Use a credit card to register online at http://ncake.oake.org/
or call 510-524-7392 for more information.

Saturday, May 8 11:45 am & 4:45 pm performances
Children’s Choral Festival
Ragnar Bohlin, Guest Conductor
Regents’ Theatre, Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland
HNU’s Kodály Center and the Northern California Association of Kodály Educators will sponsor the 14th annual Children’s Choral Festival. Community and school choirs from throughout the Bay Area will perform individually and rehearse together under the direction of Mr. Bohlin in two sessions (9:30-12:30; 2:30-5:30).
Admission: Free

2010 Summer Institute – Save the date!

2010-01-22T14:08:00.000-08:00

42nd Kodály Summer Institute - July 12-30
Kodály Certification Levels I, II, III
Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94619

The Kodály Summer Institute offers an introduction to Kodály philosophy, including musicianship training, conducting, curriculum development, pedagogical techniques, and materials for teaching. Course work within the institute can be applied towards Kodály Summer Certification, the Master’s Degree in Music Education, or the Kodály Specialist Certificate. Classes meet daily, Monday-Friday, from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
Faculty: Gemma Arguelles, Judit Hartyányi, Anne Laskey, Hélène Matters, Ildikó Salgado, Fran Smith.

Choral Singing in Middle and High School– July 6-9, 9:00 am to 12:30 pm, Judit Hartyányi, Instructor

Kodály and the Instrumental Classroom - July 6-9, 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm, Stephanie Terpening, Instructor

For more information, visit http://www.hnu.edu/academics/graduatePrograms/musicKodalyMA.html.
You may also email laskey@hnu.edu or call 510-436-1234.

The Music Library at HNU

2010-01-22T13:38:00.000-08:00

Alumni and the public are welcome to visit the music library in the Kennedy Arts Center, room 404. Stop by to view our folk music, choral music, mini-score, and LP collections. Please click here for a more complete list of collections, check-out procedures, contact information, and hours.

NCAKE Workshop: “Bringing Spanish Music into Your Classroom!” Arwen de Castellanos and Lydia Mills

2009-09-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

October 3, 2009, 9:30 am - 1 pm
Cal State East Bay, Hayward, Arts and Education Building, Rm 142
Use Parkling lots H and K

Arwen de Castellanos and Lydia Mills, who are both performers of traditional Latin American music and classroom music teachers, bring a lively workshop with lovely melodies and fun-filled Spanish language games for your classroom. New repertoire for use with the early elements so-mi, la, ta, titi, and rest will be presented, as well as more advanced traditional singing games from regions of Mexico, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Peru for older students. Lydia will also report on her experiences in giving introductory Kodály workshops in Puerto Rico, Peru, and Colombia and on the rapidly growing interest from music teachers from all over Latin America in Kodály’s wonderful approach to teaching music to children.

2009 Summer Institute - Register now!

2009-02-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

41st HNU Kodály Summer Institute - July 6-24
Kodály Certification Levels I, II, III
Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd. Oakland, CA 94619

The Kodály Summer Institute offers an introduction to Kodály philosophy, including musicianship training, conducting, curriculum development, pedagogical techniques, and materials for teaching. Course work within the institute can be applied towards Kodály Summer Certification, the Master’s Degree in Music Education, or the Kodály Specialist Certificate. Classes meet daily, Monday-Friday, from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
Faculty: Gemma Arguelles, Helga Dietrich, Judit Hartyányi, Anne Laskey, Hélène Matters, Ildikó Salgado, Fran Smith.

For more information or to download a registration form, click here and select the link "2009 Summer Institute Brochure".

You may also email laskey@hnu.edu or call 510-436-1234.

Early Childhood Music Workshops Summer 2009

2009-01-27T14:38:00.000-08:00

The Role of Singing Games in Early Childhood Education (MUSCX 208)
Helga Dietrich, Instructor
Saturdays, July 11 & 18 9:30 am – 5:00 pm 1 unit

Nurturing Musical Creativity in Young Children (MUSCX206)
Helga Dietrich, Instructor
Monday-Friday, July 6-10 6:00-8:30 pm 1 unit

Holy Names is delighted to announce the return of Helga Dietrich, internationally recognized as one of the most creative and dynamic figures in the field of early childhood music education. In these sessions, she will present materials for teaching, techniques for developing musical responsiveness and creativity, and goals for music education in early childhood inspired by Zoltán Kodály’s philosophy. Videotapes of work with children will allow participants to observe these techniques in practice.

The workshops will explore the use of age-appropriate and playful musical activities for the development of social, emotion, cognitive and musical skills. Guidelines will be presented for selecting, analyzing and organizing song and game collections, as well as identifying songs for listening. Participants will be challenged to develop their own musical creativity by developing activities based on the ideas presented in the workshop.

For those who are new to the Kodály Center, we also recommend enrolling in a musicianship class offered during the HNU Kodály Summer Institute (July 6-24, M-F, 9:30-10:40am).

2008 Kodály Summer Institute Review by Student Kerry Rehn (Australia)

2008-11-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

Photo: Kerry Rhen (second from left) with Level 3 classmates

The first day of the Summer Institute starts with the dreaded written music placement test, and a sight singing assessment with one of the lecturers. While scary, these tests have a very good reason - to ensure that students are placed in appropriate musicianship/solfege groups for the next three weeks. After that comes morning tea, a very welcome coffee and a chance to meet your classmates - people from around the world and across the USA who gather to study during their summer break. There were musicians and teachers from Poland, Thailand, Phillipines, Australia, Scotland, Canada. Mexico and the USA both near and far. There was a wide range of music pursuits represented, including classroom music specialists, choir singers, choir directors, professional violinists, instrumental teachers. Everyone is there with the purpose of learning as much as possible. Many of the students are doing the course to gain the Holy Names University Kodály Certificate. Several of them are in the process of achieving their Masters in Music Education Kodály Emphasis from Holy Names, and some were "auditing" the course - ie attending but not for accreditation.

Holy Names University has a very strong connection with Hungarian music educators, and features them in the Faculty each year. Mrs. Erzsebet Hegyi is a Hungarian teacher who was actually a student of Zoltán Kodály, and speaks with great warmth of him as a wonderful human being as well as a great icon of music philosophy. This is her 17th residency at the Summer Institute and she holds a special place in the hearts of her students. Ms Judit Hartyanyi taught solfege, conducting and also conducted the Institute choirs throughout the course and at the final concert. Helene Matters, originally from Brisbane and now residing in the US was on staff to teach pedagogy to the second year students. Also on staff were Gemma Arguelles (music specialist from San Francisco) and Anne Laskey (director of the Kodály Centre at Holy Names) Ildiko Salgado and Fran Smith.
Each day of the course includes an intensive programme of conduction, solfege, choir, pedagogy, practicum and folk music. Then the student toils up the hill and starts the homework.

As in all well run and rigorous courses, at the time it seems all too much. It is in retrospect that one can see and feel the benefits of the intensive burst of effort - the ears are sharper, the eye is quicker and the voice - well, more tired, but also hopefully more accurate. Probably the best benefit for me has been a new way of looking at my own teaching practice - am I respecting each song?, am I helping the students think in pattern? Am I presenting the "whole music" to the student, rather than isolating an element and simply using it for (sometimes slightly irrelevant) practice activities.

In summary, the course was very worthwhile. While similar in structure and standard to the UQ Summer Institute, the cultural differences with the American and international students and faculty made the experience even more interesting. I would like to put on record, also, my appreciation to the Townsville Chapter of KMEIA for the financial assistance I received.

MacArthur Metro Article Features COVA Music School and Kodály Program Alumna Kate Offer

2008-11-18T14:26:00.000-08:00

The November issue of the MacArthur Metro features an article about COVA (charter music school) and Kodály program alumna Kate Offer who teaches vocal music at the school.

Please click here to read the full article.

13th Annual HNU/NCAKE Children's Choral Festival

2008-11-05T16:20:00.000-08:00

Holy Names University and the Northern California Association of Kodály Educators are pleased to announce the 13th Annual HNU/NCAKE Children’s Choral Festival for elementary and middle school choirs, to be held on Saturday, May 9, 2009 in the Regents’ Theater at Holy Names.

David Xiques, Assistant Professor of Music at San Francisco State University, will be the guest conductor of the 2009 festival. Mr. Xiques instructs all levels of Ear Training and Musicianship, conducts the University Chorus and teaches private voice lessons at San Francisco State. He is also a faculty member of New York University’s Summer Kodály Certificate Program in New York City. He is the assistant director for the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.

Two sessions will be offered, 9:30-12:30 and 2:00-5:00. Each session will consist of three parts:
1) Choral warm-up and rehearsal of the mass pieces, prepared and memorized, under the direction of Mr. Xiques
2) Rotation of activities including a brief clinic for each choir with Mr. Xiques; listening to other choirs perform; and singing games led by HNU Kodály graduate students
3) Performance finale, with each choir performing their pieces (5-6 minutes: one art song and one a cappella piece), followed by all choirs performing the mass pieces.

The public is welcome to attend the performances at 11:45am and 4:15pm.

For more information, please call (408) 267-2615 (Peggy) or (510) 436-1234 (Anne) or email: pmspool@pacbell.net or laskey@hnu.edu.

Photos from 40th Anniversary

2008-10-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

Photos taken during the 40th Anniversary Celebration can be viewed and ordered at: tinyurl.com/kodaly

40th Anniversary Celebration Program 7/24/08 - 7/26/08

2008-10-02T11:52:00.000-07:00

Panels:

HNU Kodály Center History
Sr. Mary Alice Hein, Erzsébet Hegyi, Toni Locke
Moderator: Anne Laskey

The Meaning of Literacy: Kodály's Philosophy and the Role of Music in Education
Jerry Jaccard, Anne Comiskey and Gail Needleman

Music in Elementary School
Valerie Abad, Leslie Hites, Victoria Schmidt
Moderator: Nancy Linford

Issues in Higher Education
Jerry Jaccard, Rita Klinger, Georgia Newlin
Moderator: Anne Comiskey

Forum on the Future Direction of the Kodály Center at HNU
Sr. Rosemarie Nassif, Georgia Newlin, Judit Hartyányi and Anne Laskey
Moderator: Gilbert de Greeve

Demonstrations:

Early Childhood Demonstration
Helga Dietrich, with students from the Renaissance School

Third Grade Demonstration
Kate Offer, with students from COVA (Conservatory of Vocal and Instrumental Arts)

Sessions:

The Music Educator as a Fieldworker: Discoveries in the Field
Miriam Factora

With the existence of diverse ethno-linguistic groups in many countries and of course in the Philippines, the question could be posed whether the Kodály Concept can truly be successful in schools where students are a product of diverse cultural backgrounds. The lecture, which includes a video-clip presentation, will discuss multiculturalism and how countries wishing to adapt the Kodály Concept have dealt with the issue.

"Hidden Treasures" - A search for Australian folk music to be used in Australian classrooms
Judith Johnson

The initial search resulted in the discovery of a collection of field recordings which had been given to the University of Queensland in the 1950s and promptly forgotten. This paper gives some of the detail of how that collection is being collated and analysed.

The Kodály Concept of Music Education in Practice
Sarolta Platthy
Presentation of the DVD published by the Foundation for the Kecskemét Kodály Institute in 2007. The DVD contains a representative selection of demonstration class videos from kindergarten to secondary school and methodology lessons.

Bringing the Joy of Kodály to Spanish Speakers in the Americas
Lydia Mills and Arwen L. de Castellanos
Lydia and Arwen will discuss the makings of a Latin American Kodály movement. Two facets will be considered: both to make available appropriate children’s songs and games in Spanish for Kodály teachers in the US with Spanish speaking students as well as to help instigate a Kodály movement in Latin America.

Smithsonian Global Sound
Rita Klinger
We will tour a small portion of music of the world's cultures on SGS- Smithsonian Global Sound website. We will examine a lesson template for world music cultures and challenge ourselves to explore the challenges and possibilities presented when attempting to apply Kodaly's pedagogical principles to musics that do not necessarily meet our traditional criteria of materials leading to music literacy.

Zoltán Kodály and Shinichi Suzuki
Caroline Fraser
Zoltán Kodály and Shinichi Suzuki shared a common vision: a better world through music. This presentation will demonstrate, with student performances and activities, how their approaches to music education can be integrated in instrumental teaching.

Hearing in Color: Case Studies of Musicians with Absolute Pitch
Ivy Ward
Individuals with absolute pitch identify pitches by their "chroma," or tonal color. While it is relative pitch that is indispensable to understanding music, a look into the world of those with absolute pitch gives us additional insights into how music is perceived and invites us to reflect on how music is taught.

The melodic world of Kodály’s Psalmus Hungaricus
Erzsébet Hegyi

The composition unites marvelously the 16th century text with Kodály's 20th century Hungarian melodic world. The Rondo-theme appears 6 times with different variations. The Episodes sounding between the Rondo-themes have a certain relationship with the principal melody but still accomodate to the text. Our aim is to become acquainted with the theme and with the Episode-melodies and formal construction of the piece through active singing.

Songs from the Courtyard
Kate Offer, Matthew Walsh, Arwen L. de Castellanos
Graduates from the class of 2008 share folksong arrangements from their class and a selection of arrangements by previous graduates.

SF Classical Voice, Review of 40th Anniversary Celebration

2008-09-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

‘Music for Everyone’ at Holy Names

Robert Commanday writes:

A master project in the teaching of music was celebrated in a big way last Thursday. It was at Holy Names University in the Oakland hills, where the Kodály Center for Music Education has been operating for exactly 40 years. Under the title “Music for Everyone,” a three-day symposium gathered current and past faculty from many countries, student teachers, other music professionals, and admirers. Thursday night honored the Holy Names sponsorship of this institution, beginning with Sister Mary Alice Hein, the director who founded the program in 1969 and was inspired by an encounter at Stanford with the great Hungarian composer, Zoltán Kodály. Striving for universal musical literacy was his lifelong mission. This, the principal Kodály Center in America, was its first.

The gala event, chaired by the Kodály Center director, Anne Laskey, was graced by eloquent addresses: by Sister Rosemarie Nassif, president of Holy Names University; Gilbert de Greeve and Jerry Jaccard, president and vice president, respectively, of the International Kodály Society. De Greeve, a distinguished Belgian pianist, spoke of finding your “spiritual center through the language of music,” that “music makes the mind more sensitive to everything else,” and he stressed “the right of every person to be taught the elements of music” — as a subject, “music is not an option but basic.” Jaccard, associate professor of music at Brigham Young University, and a graduate of the Kodály Center at Holy Names, spoke along these lines in a most convincing fashion. Finally, the Hungarian government through a representative of its Consul General in Los Angeles, presented an award to Sister Mary Alice Hein.

A concert by Chanticleer set off the evening perfectly. Singing a full program — from Josquin to Mahler and Samuel Barber, and including folk song arrangements and other secular pieces — the dozen men, sang as one and beautifully, were never better.

The weekend’s activities concluded the Kodály Center's 2008 Summer Institute for teachers. For more information about the Center and short movies about Kodály’s approach and vision, go here.

Music News 7/29/08 - San Francisco Classical Voice website: sfcv.org

Address by Gilbert De Greeve, IKS President

2008-09-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

Speech at the 40th Anniversary of the Kodály Center at Holy Names University
July 2008

Ladies and gentlemen,

To celebrate 40 years of the Kodály Institute at Holy Names University, what better can we do than let Kodály himself speak to us for a moment?

In 1952, 56 years ago, on the occasion of a Gala Concert in the (Liszt) Academy of Music to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the death of Ludwig van Beethoven, Zoltán Kodály gave the following short opening address. (I am using a part of his text. But because the address was meant for a Hungarian audience I have adapted it for this particular occasion in the USA.)

Ladies and Gentlemen,
If I were to ask, "what have we got to do with Beethoven?" the majority of you present would be scandalized by the question. What, indeed? The same as we have to do with Shakespeare, Goethe, Michelangelo, Steinbeck, Twain and every other great figure. We have been part of this for hundreds of years now. For this reason Beethoven’s music is also the indispensable nourishment for, and an inseparable part of innumerable lives. But there are still more people who today know no more of Beethoven than his name, or not even that much. Those people have every right to ask, "What is Beethoven to me? A good "rapper" is worth more than any classic."

Can you imagine what sort of work-programme is before us if we set ourselves the aim that there should be nobody in the whole world who would ask what he has to do with Beethoven? And this is the aim we must set ourselves if we do not wish Beethoven to remain the property of the privileged, of the minority, if we do not want the millions to be further excluded from his life-giving, elevating, joyous influence.

Professional education in music itself is still not sufficiently inspired by the idea that music making is not an end in itself but that it must stand at the service of the whole people. If we consider now whether Beethoven’s personality is suitable for raising an echo in broad ranges of people, perhaps there is no other composer whose whole life-work is such a powerful expression of protest against tyranny, or of world freedom, and of the desire for brotherhood.

But there is one point we must not forget. The spiritual content of a musical work can be understood only through the language of music. Anyone who thinks he understands it when he has read the title and the programme is deceiving himself. It is not enough merely to place Beethoven before the masses. It is also necessary to teach them how to approach him. It is the right of every citizen to be taught the basic elements of music, to be handed the key with which he can enter the locked world of music. To open the ear and heart of the millions to serious music is a great thing. And we who have been striving for this for a long time now beg for everyone’s help so that we may achieve the great goal as soon as possible.

Till so far, ladies and gentlemen, Kodály’s words. And what wise words of a man who believed so strongly in the power of music as a force that could make a difference between living in a harsh, violent and fanatic world or living in a world full of beauty, friendship and mutual respect.

However, Zoltán Kodály was not only a good speaker and writer but also a ‘doer’. In his many writings and speeches he outlined his musical and music educational vision so clearly that it has been possible to adapt it all over the world to what is now named the Kodály concept or Kodály philosophy.

In 1965, on one of his visits to North America, more precisely in a debate at the Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, one of the participants asked: Dr. Kodály, would you tell us something about the special singing schools in Hungary? Zoltán Kodály answered: Do you call "singing schools" those schools in which the children have daily singing lessons? The participant said "yes". Kodály continued: but they are entirely average schools. They must teach every subject that the ordinary schools have. Music in those schools is a plus. They are obliged to be on an equal level with the other primary schools. But they have this curious experience that they achieve better results in almost every subject — so that our psychologists are beginning to study what may be the reason for that. I have said we want more psychologists. We can tell them what is happening. Daily music making stirs up the mind and makes it sensitive to everything else. And that is the best argument for such schools. We cannot multiply them quickly enough; it is first a question of building good teachers. And from the State’s point of view it is a question of money. Because we feel that music belongs to general education as well as mathematics and everything else we know that if music has the time that it deserves in general education, everything else will be better.

Ladies and gentlemen, the first question is the building of good teachers, as Kodály said. This Institute, Holy Names University, was one of the first in the USA to understand that extremely important mission. The fact that we are gathered here today, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Kodály program, has directly to do with the courage and vision of the former leaders of Holy Names College. There was Sister Irene Woodward, who was the President of the College when everything began and later Sister Lois MacGillivray who succeeded Sister Woodward. And there were the generous grants of the Ford Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

And, of course, in particular it has to do with Sister Mary Alice Hein, who gave so much of her life to this Institute. Sister Mary Alice is one of the people who you can never replace because they are unique. But you can succeed them, as for a short time Rita Klinger, Ed Bolkovac and Judy Johnson did and currently Anne Laskey is doing this in such a way that the legacy goes on in the same inspired and great human style. But how good and competent all these people may be, they could and can only do their work because of the support they receive from the University. At present, highly appreciated support of the Kodály Center comes from President Sister Rosemary Nassif and Dean Lizbeth Martin.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a very hard truth that all our competence and idealism is worthless if we cannot pass it on. We must pass it on to those who will need it most: teachers, so that they can teach children in the best way. This will ensure that these children can develop into great human beings, indeed, human beings that later can make a difference between living in a harsh, violent and fanatic world or living in a world full of beauty, friendship and mutual respect.

There is a great responsibility, in particular for this Institute which has become famous worldwide as one of the most important centers in the dissemination of Zoltán Kodály’s vision. By the way it was also the "conception-venue" of the International Kodály Society.
As I have mentioned above, Kodály spoke about the question of money. And money, nowadays, is a big issue, as we all know. Therefore let me quote him once more with one of his famous sentences: not the emptiness of the purse but the emptiness of the spirit is the problem. Sometimes politicians (of course wrongly) have interpreted this statement of Kodály as: "future generations can be educated without money"... That is certainly not what he meant. It should rather be understood as a "hint" that politicians and decision-makers have to place their "options" in an order of importance, and that "music" should be one of the top priorities. Not because we are a bunch of chauvinists trying to push our own product, but because the positive influences of good music education on the cognitive development and social conduct of children have been proven scientifically, over and over again.

But let it be clear that "option" should not be read as "optional". A few years ago a Hungarian Cabinet Minister for Education told me that music education is as important as before but that, as a "democratic" move towards the school and the parents, it is now "optional". This is a contradiction in terms. Something that becomes "optional" cannot be "as important as before". To make something optional simply means that it has no longer a ‘basic’ value in the general education. No government or parent with self-respect would make ‘physical education’ optional because it would create a weak or even ill society, not to speak about mathematics or language, of course.

However, in today’s society the focus is on the material and the vocational and usually on short-term aims. There is nothing wrong with teaching a young child how to use a computer. But it becomes wrong if that is a replacement for a number of basic skills, of which music has proven to be a very important one, as important as for instance mathematics. I have seen youngsters that can handle perfectly well a complex computer. But to add 15 to 20 they need a calculator. Is that healthy? Would not it be much better to develop the full potential of the child in ‘all’ directions? The interesting synthesis behind this is that it is ‘general education’ that needs revision. And if that would be done properly and logically, music education would ‘automatically’ be given its important place in the curriculum.

Quo vadis? Where do we go with mankind in this so challenging 21st century? If I knew it, I would tell you. But we do not know of course. However, of one thing I am absolutely sure. We must go on proclaiming the importance of what we are doing and count on the invaluable help of Institutes, such as Holy Names University; Institutes, which understand the role of music as one of the crucial cornerstones of the whole humanistic enterprise.

Also nowadays, anno 2008, in a rather chaotic world situation, at a time when millions are suffering and common sense is often replaced by all kinds of fanaticism, we can be inspired by the words of Zoltán Kodály. (I quote) If we want to live a better life, we must learn something new every day until late old age. Those who cease to learn when finishing school will fail at the exam of life, no matter how well they did at school. Mankind will live the happier when it has learnt to live with music more worthily. Whoever works to promote this end, in one way or another, has not lived in vain.

Keynote Address by Jerry L. Jaccard EdD

2008-09-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

To View, To Envision, To Have Vision: The Holy Names Essence

Keynote Address On the Occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the
Holy Names University Kodály Center for Music Education

by Jerry L. Jaccard EdD, Class of 1976

Sister Rose Marie, Dean Beth Martin, Honorary Consul Voisin, President De Greeve

Dear Colleagues and Guests:

Standing as it does as a beacon on a hill, Holy Names University is home to the Holy Names Kodály Center for Music Education, one of the most unique and influential collegiate music education entities in North America. It all began with a vision, the one that brought the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary to Oakland 140 years ago. While they were establishing the Lake Merritt campus, we can imagine how the Sisters might have often looked up to the hills where the present campus is now situated. The opening lines of the one hundred and twenty-first Psalm come easily to mind: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” The Oakland hills offered a change of perspective, an outward-looking one to match the upward-looking one the Sisters already possessed. And even when on this present hillside campus one still looks and climbs upward to the Chapel, from where the outlook literally and figuratively provides even wider perspectives.

The theme chosen to shape our 40th anniversary celebration is Music for Everyone: Envisioning a Musical Culture. Central to this theme are the words “envision” and its root, “vision.” These two words bring us immediately back to the visionary origins of this university. “Envision” is defined as “to picture in one’s mind, especially a future happening” (Webster 1981). Following on, the word “vision” requires farsightedness, the ability to perceive a bigger picture, to understand one’s place in it, to act well one’s part in making it come to pass, and its possible and potential consequences. Sister Mary Alice Hein, a consummate musician and pedagogue in her own right, envisioned what could be here at Holy Names and went to work engaging others in a work that has ultimately touched tens of thousands of lives. Her bringing to this campus the first ever International Kodály Symposium in 1973, a truly historic gathering of much of the best music teaching talent in the world, provided lasting impetus to the fledgling program. Some of those in attendance returned to teach or to study in the Holy Names Kodály Program. Some of us are present at this very moment.

We live in a secular society that is seemingly without vision, a shortsighted lot bent on self-destruction through seeking the paths of least resistance, including rampant materialism based on unprecedented greed and self-interested. Yet our vision runs uphill against those odds, looking ever upward and outward. What we see is best expressed in Zoltán Kodály’s watch-phrase of “Music for Everyone.” Whereas the political-commercial world is mostly deaf to the pure voices and blind to the singular innocence of the world’s children, we have staked our future on the power of childhood. We believe the hope of civilization rests on how our young ones are educated, and we believe that every child is naturally musical, a self-evident truth with the potential to change the course of nations. Zoltán Kodály clearly understood this possibility:

Not only from the point of view of individual education but from that of the nation, the work of the kindergarten is indispensable. Not even the most careful education in the family can supply what the kindergarten offers: adjustment to the human community . . . In music, too, the work of the kindergarten is irreplaceable . . . even the most careful and wealthy parents, however good the teaching they supply for their children, are unable to provide them with a collective education, which, at the initial stages of music, is a tremendous help. Most children have no opportunity to make use of their natural sense of music in time (Kodály in Herboly-Koscár, 2002, p. 19).

We hold firmly to this vision because we know that life is never one-sided, that the pursuit of a career and financial security can only be truly self-actualizing when balanced with the expression of more spiritual, less tangible values. Albert Einstein, the quintessential scientist, underscored this point when he said: “If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music” (Einstein in Viereck, 1929, npn). It is well known, of course, that Einstein was an accomplished violinist. He also underscored the essential balance between art and science, music and life: “After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity and form. The greatest scientists are artists as well” (Henderson, 2006, 33:257). Thus, however small our collective voice in this unsettled world, we are nevertheless called upon to nurture the divine spark of human musicality through Kodály’s banner statement of “Music for Everyone.”

Our world is but a speck in a well-ordered universe, and our diminutive music education voice seems even smaller. Yet, our tiny endeavor is one of the earth’s oldest, most natural links to the Universe. It is not for nothing that the Ancients believed—and science is rediscovering—how inextricably melody, rhythm, and form is woven into the fabric of the Cosmos. At first we knowingly winked when we read how the Greek philosophers and their medieval successors believed in the Harmony of the Spheres. That is until NASA’s two Voyager spacecraft recorded hours and hours of rather pleasant sound emissions from the solar wind, the planetary magnetospheres, and a variety of other natural sound sources within the audible frequency range, all found in our own solar system. The Ancients knew, Kodály knew, Einstein knew—we know—what László Dobszay here summarizes:

Good music reflects and, at the same time, expresses the order of the universe and the harmony of the human body and soul. The proportions of the universe, the beauty of the cosmos arranged in accordance with weight, number and measure...all become a tangible experience in music. Music reflects order and therefore creates order in man (1992, p. 83).

Scientists have also looked inward to the microcosm of the human mind and body resulting in studies documenting such things as the special role of music in cognitive development, the effects of musical vibration at the cellular level, and the many musical functions of the brain. Scientists and musicians alike recognize the numerous manifestations of symmetry, asymmetry, chiasmus, and the Golden Mean everywhere present in Nature and music. Even the latest discoveries about Chaos Theory or the behavior of subatomic particles reveal processes that are astonishingly similar to principles of musical organization. Our voice may be small and our message largely unheeded, but we do indeed have something of significance to say!

Yet, throughout its visionary leadership, the Holy Names Kodály Program has always kept in sharp focus the most important discovery of all about music: all children are natural musicians who deserve the finest possible education in order to cultivate their inborn musicality. Who can ever forget that extraordinary moment at the 2004 National Conference of the Organization of American Kodály Educators when the conductor of one of the Oakland high school choirs asked his singers how many had come up from elementary schools with music teachers from Holy Names? Most of the nearly one hundred singers raised their hands, and then they began to sing. The blend, the intonation, the artistry, the sheer musicality of their singing was simply electrifying! It was but one example of the remarkable ongoing legacy of the Holy Names Kodály initiative.

But what makes the Holy Names Kodály Program so successful? First and foremost, it is its focus on quality childhood education through humanely rigorous teacher education with strong musical underpinnings. Its unwavering commitment to children and their music teachers has transcended the paralyzing politics of the music education establishment and the murky motives of the trivialized and commercialized children’s music industry. In its 40-year existence and to the lasting benefit of us all, the program has steered remarkably clear of the stiflingly provincial isolation of American school music.

Other attributes of the Holy Names Kodály Program are its constancy, its stability, its holistic balance of practical and theoretical, and the fact that its directors and faculty have always been of the highest musical and pedagogical preparation. After Sister Mary Alice came more visionary directors: Rita Klinger, Ed Bolkovac, Judy Johnson, and Anne Laskey. They continued to bring master teachers to Holy Names, whose names are listed in our anniversary booklet—many of them are with us here today and deserve our deepest admiration. Sister Mary Alice, Eleanor “Toni” Locke, and Lois Choksy—and yet other faculty and students—are widely published. Anne Laskey and Gail Needleman have turned Toni Locke’s original treasury of folksong into a branch archive of the Library of Congress. Its online accessibility continually extends the benevolent reach and influence of the Holy Names Kodály Program. The unique mixture of Hungarian musicianship teaching with American and international pedagogical research and practice has made a particular difference not only in North America, but also throughout the Pacific Rim and elsewhere. Who would have guessed that Holy Names alumna Dr. Miriam Factora would one day traipse through Philippine rain forests collecting songs from headhunters and live to tell about it! We are all blessed and inspired indeed.

Congratulations and gratitude to all administrators, faculty, students, and supporters who have had anything to do with the Holy Names Kodály Program for the past 40 years. What an outstanding foundation we have constructed together upon which we hope many more will build over the next 40 years and beyond! May all past, present, and future members of this sacred community of teachers and learners find renewed vision in Mikhail Lermontov’s poem, The Angel’s Song (in Vickery, 2001, pp. 101–102 and Rachmaninoff, 1895, npn, ed. Jaccard):

An angel flew through the midnight sky
and a soothing song he sang.
And the moon, stars and clustering clouds
listened to that sacred song.

He sang of the bliss of innocent souls
in paradisiacal gardens,
Of Almighty God he sang
and his praise was unfeigned.

In his arms he carried a young soul
to the world of grief and tears,
With that young soul his song remained—
wordless, yet vibrant and alive.

And long on the earth did that young soul languish,
with wondrous longing brimming over,
And that song of heaven was never outranked
by the weary songs of the earth.

As the visionaries we are called to be, in whose care are found many such young souls and into whose hands the future is entrusted, let us ever “Glance backward, look heavenward, reach outward, and press forward” (Monson, 2007, npn).

40th Anniversary Celebration Review - Anne Laskey

2008-09-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

40th Anniversary Celebration – July 24-27, 2008
Holy Names University Kodály Center

The Kodály Center’s 40th Anniversary Celebration, “Music for Everyone: Envisioning a Musical Culture,” attracted over 50 returning faculty and alumni who joined this summer’s participants in the final days of the 2008 Kodály Summer Institute. The list of returning faculty was impressive: Erzsébet Hegyi, Toni Locke, Sarolta Platthy, Ivy Rawlins Ward, Rita Klinger, Judy Johnson, Anne Comiskey, Judit Hartyányi, Helga Dietrich, Gail Needleman and Caroline Frazer. The program began with Sr. Mary Alice Hein, founder of the program, joining Erzsébet Hegyi and Toni Locke to recall discoveries and challenges of the early years of the Kodály Center. Several other panels followed--on music in the schools, issues in higher education, the meaning of literacy, and the future of the Kodaly Center. Alumni who participated in the program include International Kodály Society Vice President Jerry Jaccard, OAKE President Georgia Newlin, Miriam Factora, Lydia Mills, Kate Offer, Matt Walsh, and Arwen de Castellanos. HHU President Rosemarie Nassif and International Kodály Society President Gilbert De Greeve also participated in several of the sessions and events.

The Opening Ceremony provided a powerful testament to the significance of this unique program. Sr. Rosemarie gave a tribute that noted the importance of the Kodály Center in the history and mission of the university. In his speech, Gilbert De Greeve spoke of the importance of music developing sensitivity, and the right of every person to a good music education. Dr. Jerry Jaccard ’76 presented the keynote address “To View, To Envision, To Have Vision: The Holy Names Essence.” He said “Whereas the political-commercial world is mostly deaf to the pure voices and blind to the singular innocence of the world’s children, we have staked our future on the power of childhood. We believe the hope of civilization rests on how our young ones are educated, and we believe that every child is naturally musical, a self-evident truth with the potential to change the course of nations.” Sr. Mary Alice Hein accepted an award from the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture to the HNU Kodály Center presented by Eva Voisin, Honorary Consul of Hungary. The highlight of the evening was a performance by Chanticleer, the preeminent men’s vocal ensemble which is now celebrating its 30th anniversary. I agree wholeheartedly with Robert Commanday’s SFCV report of the Opening Ceremonies (sfcv.org) that this was one of Chanticleer’s best performances.

Returning faculty and alums were recognized at the anniversary banquet, as well as the past presidents of NCAKE. 2008 marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of NCAKE, and the gathering of these leaders of our organization was a reminder of the wonderful association over the years between the Kodály Center and NCAKE. The evening ended with a brilliant performance by Cascada de Flores, featuring recent graduate Arwen de Castellanos.

The celebration concluded with the Kodály Summer Institute Choral Concert directed by Judit Hartyányi, from the Liszt Academy in Budapest. It was a joyous evening of music making that included five different ensembles plus the choral conducting class led by various student conductors. Several of Kodály’s compositions were performed: Straw Guy, Ave Maria (1898), Epigrams #6 and #7, Norwegian Girls, Psalm 114 and three Hungarian folksongs. Other composers included Hungarians Lajos Bárdos, and György Ligeti, Americans Charles Ives and Kirke Mechem, as well as Johannes Brahms, Giovanni da Nola, Mátyás Seiber, Gilbert De Greeve and K. Vasiliauskaité. NCAKE hosted the reception that followed the concert.

The outing to Angel Island on July 27 gave everyone a chance to relax together on a beautiful day in San Francisco Bay. It was such a success that we are considering making this a regular feature of the summer course!

To read the addresses given by De Greeve and Jaccard, or the report by Commanday, please see other 40th anniversary postings.

Photos taken during the 40th Anniversary Celebration can be viewed and ordered at: tinyurl.com/kodaly

Calendar of Events 2008-2009

2008-08-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 27 9:30 am – 3:00 pm
NCAKE Workshop – Pamela Wood
Ellen Driscoll Playhouse, Havens Elementary School
325 Highland Ave., Piedmont
Shake It To The Eas’! Reflecting Upon the African-American Experience through the Prism of Song
Participants will have opportunities to learn and practice singing games and other African-American folk literature, sight-sing choral music written or arranged by African-Americnas, and consider the art song repertoire of African-American composers through the following modules: A Cycle of Circle Games, Honoring Our History, Four Folk Song Types, and A Vocal Master Class. Particular attention will be given to traditional performance practice. So come prepared to “put your hands on your hips and let your backbone slip!”
Admission: Students free with OAKE student membership ($20); non-OAKE members - $70; OAKE members (3 workshop series - $70)
For more information, visit NCAKE’s website at http://ncake.oake.org/ or call 510-836-5435.

Saturday, December 6 7:30 pm
A Renaissance Christmas
Regents’ Theatre, Holy Names University
Celebrate the holidays with a concert featuring the HNU music department, including the HNU Chamber Singers, Orchestra, and Preparatory Music Department. A reception will follow the concert.
Admission: $10 general, $5 students/seniors
For more information, email: laskey@hnu.edu or call 510-436-1234.

Saturday, January 31 9:30 am - 3:00 pm
NCAKE Workshop – Jerry Jaccard
California Room, Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland
Rejoice in the Rhythm of the Seasons! Seasonal Celebrations for Classrooms and Concerts
Underlying most authentic singing games and adult folksongs is the ebb and flow of rural rituals and ceremonies. These are closely tied to the rhythm of life as expressed in seasonal celebrations determined by the predictable planting and harvest calendar, by local community traditions, and by less predictable personal life events. These, and much more, are the context and substance of what Zoltán Kodály intended to convey by a thorough education through and into folksong. In this workshop, we will explore a wide variety of customs, celebrations and rituals and how they may be used in our school music programs.
Admission: Students free with OAKE student membership ($20); non-OAKE members: $70; OAKE members (3 workshop series - $70)
For more information, visit NCAKE’s website at http://ncake.oake.org/ or call 510-836-5435.

March 12-14
Organization of American Kodály Educators National Conference
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
Washington, D.C.
Kodály in the Capital - A Musical Legacy
Early registration deadline: Jan. 20, 2009
To register, or for more information, visit http://oake.org/

Saturday, April 4 9:30 am – 1:00 pm
NCAKE Workshop – Kit Eakle
Reed Elementary School
1199 Tiburon Blvd., Tiburon
Music Listening in the Elementary Classroom
This workshop will include a survey of children’s literature connecting compositions suitable for elementary school students, ways to implement a school-wide listening program, activities for focusing children’s listening, and a survey of currently available music listening programs including the presenters own book Listen to the Music: A Classroom Listening Guide. Attendees will take part in “ears-on” listening activities involving examples of music of the highest quality.
Admission: Students free with OAKE student membership ($20); non-OAKE members: $55; OAKE members (3 workshop series - $70)
For more information, visit NCAKE’s website at http://ncake.oake.org/ or call 510-836-5435.

Saturday, May 2 7:30 pm
HNU Chamber Singers
McLean Chapel, Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland
The HNU Chamber Singers, composed of graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, and members of the community, will perform under the direction of Ildikó Salgado.
Admission: $10 general, $5 students/seniors
For more information, email: laskey@hnu.edu or call 510-436-1234.

Saturday, May 9 11:45 am & 4:15 pm performances
Children’s Choral Festival
Regents’ Theatre, Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland
HNU’s Kodály Center and the Northern California Association of Kodály Educators will sponsor the 13th annual Children’s Choral Festival. Community and school choirs from throughout the Bay Area will perform individually and rehearse together under the direction of David J. Xiques in two sessions (9:30-12:30; 2:00-5:00).
Admission: Free

August 10-17
19th International Kodály Symposium
Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music
Katowice, Poland
On Values of Music
For more information, visit the IKS website at http://www.iks.hu/

Alumni News and Contact Info

2008-08-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

We're updating our alumni contact database! Please stay in touch with us by sending your current mailing address and email so we can keep you posted about news and upcoming events.

Please also send us any noteworthy announcements and photos to share with visitors to this site. Alumni news and updated contact info may be sent to: laskey@hnu.edu

12th Annual Children's Choral Festival

2008-05-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

On Satuday, May 3, HNU and Northern California Association of Kodaly Educators hosted the 12th Annual Children's Choral Festival with Ildikó Salgado as the guest conductor. The event was held in the Regents' Theatre of the Valley Center for Performing Arts at HNU.

Participating choirs included: Children's Choir of Chico, Half Note Hounds of Phillips Brooks School, Vivace Youth Chorus Intermediate, Vivace Youth Chorus Concert Choir, Peninsula Girls' Chorus Allegra, San Francisco Boys Chorus Apprentice Chorus, Voci Pure, Piedmont Girls' Intermediate Choir, Piedmont Girls' Choir Advanced, St. Mary's Cathedral Choir of Boys and Girls, Cantabella Children's Chorus.

The festival began with all choirs rehearsing the mass pieces together under the direction of Ildikó Salgado, after which Ildikó worked with each choir. During the concert portion of the festival the choirs performed for each other and concluded with the mass pieces: Snail from Knick Knacks by Miklos Kocsar and Cuckoo! from Friday Afternoons by Benjamin Britten.

Tides Foundation Grant - Technology Upgrade

2008-05-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

The HNU Music Library has completed a technology upgrade funded by a grant from the Tides Foundation. Here are photos of before and after the purchase.

The new equipment includes 2 PC's with 17 inch monitors and keyboards and 1 Macbook laptop with external hard drive and will provide: 1) up-to-date computer access for music students, 2) the ability to transfer archival VHS recordings to DVD and 3) a new host computer for the database and Sibelius files for the American Folk Song Collection website.

Anne Laskey receives OAKE Outstanding Educator Award

2008-04-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Anne J. Laskey received the 2008 Outstanding Educator Award from the Organization of American Kodály Educators at the OAKE National Conference held in Denver, CO, March 27-29, 2008. The award is given to an OAKE member who has demonstrated years of superior music teaching in which the Kodály philosophy has been used extensively and has produced students who exhibit outstanding music skills. Ms. Laskey is director of the Kodály Center for Music Education at Holy Names University.

Program for 40th Anniversary Celebration (tentative)

2008-03-31T16:13:00.000-07:00

"Music For Everyone: Envisioning a Musical Culture"

40th Anniversary Opening Ceremony
Keynote: Dr. Jerry Jaccard

Choral performance by: Chanticleer

Alumni choir rehearsals/performance
Judit Hartyányi

The Music Educator as a Fieldworker: Discoveries in the Field
Miriam Factora
With the existence of diverse ethno-linguistic groups in many countries and of course in the Philippines, the question could be posed whether the Kodály Concept can truly be successful in schools where students are a product of diverse cultural backgrounds. The lecture, which includes a video-clip presentation, will discuss multiculturalism and how countries wishing to adapt the Kodály Concept have dealt with the issue.

The melodic world of Kodály’s Psalmus Hungaricus
Erzsébet Hegyi
The composition unites marvelously the 16th century text with Kodály's 20th century Hungarian melodic world. The Rondo-theme appears 6 times with different variations. The Episodes sounding between the Rondo-themes have a certain relationship with the principal melody but still accomodate to the text. Our aim is to become acquainted with the theme and with the Episode-melodies and formal construction of the piece through active singing.

"Hidden Treasures" - A search for Australian folk music to be used in Australian classrooms
Judith Johnson
The initial search resulted in the discovery of a collection of field recordings which had been given to the University of Queensland in the 1950s and promptly forgotten. This paper gives some of the detail of how that collection is being collated and analysed.

The Kodály Concept of Music Education in Practice
Sarolta Platthy
Presentation of the DVD published by the Foundation for the Kecskemét Kodály Institute in 2007. The DVD contains a representative selection of demonstration class videos from kindergarten to secondary school and methodology lessons.

Hearing in Color: Case Studies of Musicians with Absolute Pitch
Ivy Ward
Individuals with absolute pitch identify pitches by their "chroma," or tonal color. While it is relative pitch that is indispensable to understanding music, a look into the world of those with absolute pitch gives us additional insights into how music is perceived and invites us to reflect on how music is taught.

Pre-school demonstration (ages 4-5)
Helga Dietrich will work with children who are students of HNU alum Jeff Luna-Sparks in his music studio in Albany, CA.

3rd grade demonstration with Oakland’s new charter school—The Conservatory of Vocal and Instrumental Arts (COVA)
Kate Offer

Assessment
Rita Klinger

Panels:

Dialogue: Gail Needleman, Jerry Jaccard

Looking back: Sr. Mary Alice Hein, Erzsébet Hegyi, Pierre Perron
Moderator: Anne Laskey

Music in the Schools: Victoria Schmidt, Valerie Abad, Jutka Kadas

Moderator: Nancy Linford

Higher Education: Rita Klinger, David Xiques, Georgia Newlin
Moderator: Anne Comiskey

General forum--priorities, direction for future:

HNU President Rosemarie Nassif, OAKE President Georgia Newlin, Judit Hartyányi, Anne Laskey
Moderator: Gilbert de Greeve

HNU Alums Take Part in 2007 IKS Symposium

2008-01-14T15:27:00.000-08:00

HNU’s Kodaly Center was well-represented at the 18th International Kodaly Symposium held in Columbus, Ohio in August of 2007. Dr. Jerry Jaccard (HNU ’78, and vice president of the International Kodaly Society) gave the opening keynote entitled “The Kodaly Un-Method of Musical Education.” Dr. Miriam Factora (HNU ’84) presented a keynote address: “The Music Educator as a Fieldworker: Discoveries in the Field.” Both also offered sessions during the symposium, along with HNU alums Anne Comiskey, Hsiao-Shien Cheng, Judith Johnson and Yu-Chuan Yao. Judit Hartyányi, visiting Hungarian faculty at Holy Names and also a vice president of the IKS, introduced the IKS’s newest publication, Music: A Universal Language—Songs of Nations with Gilbert de Greeve, president of the IKS. Other alums in attendance included Joy Nelson, Hélène Matters, Gemma Arguelles, Merlyn Katechis, Jeanette Tietze, Danelle Johnson, Gail Homan, Kathy Rausch, Anna Mlynek-Kalman, Maria Isaak, Rita Lu and Georgia Newlin and Anne Laskey.

Tides Foundation Grant

2008-01-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

The HNU Kodaly Center received a recent grant in November, 2007 of $4,000 from the Tides Foundation in San Francisco to provide a technology upgrade for its music library. This generous and unexpected grant will be used to purchase two new computer stations for student use and for maintenance of the American Folk Song Collection website (http://kodaly.hnu.edu). It will also provide funding towards a video station for students to view teaching videos, as well as equipment to transfer videotapes to DVD format.

40th Kodaly Center Anniversary Celebration - July 24-27, 2008

2008-01-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

Music For Everyone: Envisioning a Musical Culture
We will celebrate 40 years of professional training for music teachers during our 2008 HNU Kodály Summer Institute, scheduled for July 7-26. The summer faculty will include Gemma Arguelles, Judit Hartyányi, Erzsébet Hegyi, Anne Laskey, Helene Matters, Ildikó Salgado and Fran Smith. Those who attend this year’s Institute will receive complimentary registration for this historic 3-day celebration. The Center was founded in 1969 by Sr. Mary Alice Hein, whose encounter with Zoltán Kodály in 1966 inspired a lifelong devotion to bringing his vision of music education to the United States.

The celebration will start with a 3 day symposium from July 24-26, and end with an outing to Angel Island on July 27. Daily concerts and demonstrations will showcase the accomplishments of Holy Names alumni and those who share Kodály’s vision of ‘music for everyone’. Current and past faculty will present sessions and panels that reflect their contributions to the Kodály movement in the U.S. and abroad. Returning American faculty will include Edward Bolkovac, Rita Klinger, and Ivy Rawlins and David Xiques. Hungarians Judit Hartyányi and Erzsébet Hegyi, who will teach in the 2008 institute, will be joined by Sarolta Platthy, Helga Dietrich and László Matos who will return to help celebrate this anniversary. Judith Johnson and Anne Comiskey, from Australia, will also participate. In addition to recognizing the achievements of our faculty and alums, we will address “The Role of Music in Education” as we look forward to the next 40 years.

Because of the international importance of Holy Names as a center for Kodály studies, Gilbert de Greeve, president of the International Kodaly Society, will also be present. In 1973 Holy Names was the site for the first Kodály International Symposium, directed by Sr. Mary Alice and Erzsébet Szőnyi, then Director of Music Education at the Liszt Academy in Budapest. The symposium led to the founding of the International Kodály Society, in 1975. At the most recent IKS symposium, held in Columbus, OH in August, Holy Names alumni presented two of the keynote addresses and numerous sessions, and contributed a large group of delegates.

We invite all alums and friends of the Kodály Center, as well as those new to Holy Names, to attend this exciting celebration of one of the most influential Kodály training centers in the United States. Check back soon for a more detailed program of events. For more information please call 510-436-1234 or email laskey@hnu.edu.

Alumna Miriam Factora Receives Doctorate

2007-12-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Miriam Factora, class of '84, who received her PhD in Music from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Title of Dissertation: A Model of a Sequential Music Teaching Utilising Philippine Vocal Materials

The study responds positively to the Philippine’s Department of Education’s indigenization and localization program which aims to revive local and indigenous materials for classroom use as a way to heighten cultural awareness. It is a pioneering research written in the Philippines for the purpose of designing a pedagogical structure to present rhythmic and melodic concepts to young learners nationwide. It lays out the foundation towards a national approach to music education specifically at the elementary level.

To arrive at a plausible teaching sequence to be used in the context of Philippine culture, the following steps were undertaken: a.) Collection of materials in different areas of the Philippines; b.) Translation of these materials into English to get the message of the song; c.) Transcription of the materials into notation using a computer notational software; d.) Analysis of the materials; e.) Translation of selected materials into Filipino, the national language; f.) Systematization of these materials and g.) Sequencing of rhythmic and melodic elements to teach music literacy as derived from the systematized materials.

Two hundred of the Philippine’s folk or traditional children’s songs, spoken rhymes and/or musical games were selected for this study out of a total sample size of 1,500 that were mostly collected by the researcher in 15 regions of the Philippines from 44 ethno-linguistic groups.