Wonderful week with Kodaly

I’m so grateful to get a chance to be in this one week seminar in Uitm.  I was in Musicianship Advance class under the energetic and playful Pf. James Cuskelly.  He had separated my brain to think in 2 parts then 3~~ It is such an eye opening way to learn baroque music.  I totally agree and know the meaning of “YOU CAN NOT PLAY ON PIANO until you’ve understand and read the music properly”.  He thought us to sing and shape the music then think it in 2 parts and sing it with friend in 2 parts and even up to 6 parts.  We were also being tested to tap and sing in canon 2 parts and amazingly the music got into my brain so clearly~ 

I love Pf James and Judith Johnson from Brisbane Australia, they are indeed a “walking dictionary”.  They hold so many ideas and inspired me so much.  I truly miss them as my heart sank when they left so quickly after our closing concert.  I was also in Youth Adult Pedagogy class with Pf James , where i was impressed by his idea on playing musical games in an UNchildish way.  So so so so inspiring.  And he again was our women’s choir mentor.  He has made us sung beautifully and gave many positive encouragement which make us sound so wonderfully confident within just 5 days and just few hours of practice.  Now my head is still spinning with all the choir pieces, it’s a magical journey that he brought us through the alien pieces that we’ve never heard before.  Shape. expression, breath, sound, pitch, phrase, story….  Thank you Pf James Cuskelly to show us 100% how music should be practice and performed.

Pf. Gillbert De Greeve from Belgium, the president of International Kodaly Society,  kept reminding us, we must let our children learn music in a proper way and let music become part of our life.  Teach them and make them enjoy folk music classical music not just playing with your fingers without anything  happen inside the brain.  There’s an overwhelming passion I can feel from him.  How much he wanted to change people’s way of thinking about classical music and appreciate it.

I truly think that all music teachers should sit back and think what music really mean to us.  I found the answer in Kodaly Method and it’s my starting point now and again.  Who ever it is in the music industry should learn about Kodaly method, it will bring us further out into a bigger world or even a larger Universe.

(Pf. Jerry Jaccard from USA)