Speech at the 40th Anniversary of the Kodály Center at Holy Names UniversityJuly 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.
