Music education by means of Kodaly method

ABSTRACT Zoltân Kodâly who was born on December 16, 1882 in Kesckemet died on March 6, 1967 in Budapest. Kodâly, Hungarian composer, etno-musicolog and music educator, was one of the creators of "New Hungarian Art Music" which based on public sources. He established a comprehensive and high level music education in Hungary. Kodâly comes from a musician family. Right after he graduated from "Archie Psicopal Grammar" in Nagyzombat, he moved to Budapest. He attended two departments at the same time and graduated from the department of Composition and Education of Budapest Musical Academy and Hungarian and German languages & Literature departments. He won a scholarship to study in Berlin and Paris for six months. During his stay in these cities, he got familiar with Debussy's music. The center of his studies is the education of youth. His struggle towards this purpose gave its outcomes as "Music Education Methods", which spreads from kindergarten to university students. The instruments and systems used in this system does not belong to Kodâly; just objectives and philosophy belongs to him. The uniqueness of the method is originated from its unifying characteristic. Kodaly's method has combined many different methods which proposed previously in its own structure. Because the content, program and its applications contain all musical elements and are consistent with child development and its applicability to all levels from beginners to advance levels, Kodaly's technique has been considered as most advanced technique in general music education. His technique is used in many developed countries such as United States of America, Japan, Australia and Germany but Hungary. It is possible to solve problems of music education and to develop the role of music in education by training music teachers with high quality music program and by working self-sacrifyingly. If we consider the common denominators and cultural structure of Hungarian and Turkish society, we propose that Kodaly's method can be applied in our country. VII