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

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.

Alumni News and Contact Info

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

Anne Laskey receives OAKE Outstanding Educator Award

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.

HNU Alums Take Part in 2007 IKS Symposium

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.

Alumna Miriam Factora Receives Doctorate

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.