Incorporating Singing Activities Into Recorder Instruction
By Erin Rosa

“To teach a child an instrument without first giving him preparatory training and without developing singing, reading, and dictating to the highest level along with the playing is to build upon sand.” - Zoltán Kodály

Most music educators and researchers will agree that instrumental instruction is enhanced by the integration of singing. According to Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer, music educator, and ethnomusicologist, the proper foundation for instrumental playing includes developing the ability to hear the music in one’s head by reading it before listening to it and thus, playing it. Believing that a musician should rely on his or her “inner” ear, rather than on his or her “outer” ear to know what the music sounds like, he maintained that the most effective way to develop this skill of inner hearing is to first develop the singing voice. The voice is the most natural instrument that all children possess, and singing enables one to internalize the music more so than exclusively playing instruments.

West Music strives to be your partner in music education and we know that it's harder than ever to secure funding for classroom projects and resources. We want to help you with resources we've found that might prove helpful in your search for a more engaging, energizing classroom. We hope this helps and are always willing to talk with you about what solutions might exist for your classroom.

By David Gadberry, MM
Graduate Teaching Assistant, The University of Kansas

Like many other general music educators, I felt frustrated and lost during my first year of teaching. I knew there were an infinite number of resources available to me, but I didn’t know where to begin. I did know that I was about to run out of songs and activities by the third month of school, which terrified me. I knew I should be teaching musical concepts, but I was confused as to how to find materials that were both good pedagogically and aesthetically, for the students and me. I knew that I wanted resources that contained substance and that could also teach the concepts I knew were crucial to the musical development of my students.

Pondering my study of Kodály and Orff during my undergraduate coursework and taking the first levels of each, I realized that I should continue in my exploration of these two. During my further study, I learned pedagogical techniques that helped me be a success. Additionally, I was exposed to a vast library of pedagogical and musical resources that became the core of my musical materials. I was finally teaching songs that I loved, and I felt that I was always finding new ways to use this material pedagogically.

By Jeff Garard of Animusic

Animusic's DVDs provide a fresh and exciting way to illustrate musical concepts and to inspire students about artistic creativity. The first DVD has 7 unique music animations and the second one has 8. Each animation lasts about 4 or 5 minutes, so you can show one then discuss, or fill a whole class by showing several.

Words don't really do justice, you simply have to watch Animusic:

by Dick Bozung

Developed through the auspices of the South Carolina Arts Commission and tested in several South Carolina elementary schools, this method has enabled music teachers with no prior guitar playing experience to teach groups of Kindergarteners through 6th graders to easily play the guitar. (The method applies to all middle and high school students, as well.) Children, of course, love it, as do their parents, who have been amazed by performances of large elementary school guitar "orchestras".