September 23, 2008

SF Classical Voice, Review of 40th Anniversary Celebration

‘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

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.

September 9, 2008

Keynote Address by Jerry L. Jaccard EdD

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

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