The effects of the Kodaly Method on the primary school students' ability of playing the violin, perceptions of self-efficacy, and attitudes towards playing the violin

The purpose of this research is to determine the effects of the Kodaly method on the primary school students' ability of playing the violin, perceptions of self-efficacy, and attitudes towards playing the violin.Pre- and post-test research design with a control group was used for this research. Thirteen students who had no education in playing any musical instruments, who were physically suitable for playing the violin and also willing, and who had the skills of mono vocal repetition, melody repetition, rhythm repetition and singing were chosen for the research from the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades in İzmir Yöneliş Private Primary School in the academic year of 2007-2008.The experimental group (n=7) were educated with the Kodaly method and also given general music education while the control group (n=6) were only given traditional music education one hour per week during the research, and both groups were also given one hour of violin lesson per week. The same songs and subjects were taught to both groups during the research; the data collection instruments instruments were developed by the researcher, and all the lessons were given by the researcher.The data were collected through the form of observing the students playing the violin, the scale for attitudes towards playing the violin, and the scale for the perceptions of self-efficacy towards playing the violin before and after the experiment, and the interview form was used at the end of the experiment with the students in the experimental group.The results of the research have discerned that the Kodaly method is significantly more effective in comparison with the traditional music education on the musical dimension of the the skill of playing the violin and the tendency dimension of the attitudes towards playing the violin and of the perceptions of self-efficacy towards playing the violin.