With MUSIC in MIND
by GILLIAN SKOTTOWE EARL
gillian@earleoiw.plus.com
KODÁLY PRINCIPLES of Music Education applied to Beginners at the Piano
Review by Carola Grindea
Gillian Skottowe Earl’s excellent Piano Method “With Music in Mind” (Books 1 & 2 and Teacher’s Guide) show clearly how the Kodály Principles of developing the inner hearing can be included in the regular piano lessons. The child learns to “look – hear – play” – the best method, and I believe, the only one, to become a musician.
(the late, CAROLA GRINDEA FGSMD)
Foreword by Tamás Vásáry
“…WITH MUSIC IN MIND is an excellent example of the way in which the fixed principles of the Kodály Method can be used with individual flexibility. The proverbial drudgery of scales does little for the development of true musicianship, takes away all pleasure for the beginner and makes progress harder for the advanced. Education cannot give the gift of talent, but it can bring out the best and, as these books show, can make life a great deal more enjoyable introducing the play-element in learning and letting the mind do more than the hands.”
TAMÁS VÁSÁRY
GILLIAN SKOTTOWE EARLstudied piano, singing and viola and followed the G.R.S.M. course at the Royal Academy of Music. For the next sixteen years she was at St. Swithun’s School, Winchester teaching piano and in charge of the singing. The last nine years in the post were concurrent with her appointment as Assistant Organist of Winchester Cathedral where she was an organ pupil of the late Dr. Alwyn Surplice.
She first attended courses of lectures on the KODÁLY CONCEPT in 1969/70 given by Cecilia Vajda, one of Kodály’s pupils. Her on-going study of the KODÁLY CONCEPT has been mainly under leading Hungarian Kodály Educators on British Kodály Academy (BKA) courses as well as on courses in Dublin and at the Kodály Pedagogical Institute in Kecskemét. She holds the BKA Diploma (Advanced Level – accredited by the Liszt Academy, Budapest) and the Certificate of Kodály Music Education. Her books, With Music in Mind – the Kodály Concept Applied to Beginners at the Piano, were developed over several years’ work with her pupils in Cornwall.
A child taught to read and sing music in phrases without first ‘spelling’ the notes on the piano shows he can ‘hear’ the music in his mind. It makes the music make sense and enables the beginner to play musically – any rhythmic distortions having been overcome through singing.
This set of books provides the means for developing inner hearing by teaching reading through singing, from the start, in the highly successful Kodály Way – not through theoretical abstractions but in the way children learn naturally and play
…WITH MUSIC IN MIND
GILLIAN EARL
is
a Fellow of the Incorporated Society of Musicians
a Member of the European Piano Teachers’ Association
an Honorary Life member of the British Kodály Academy
an Honorary Member of the International Kodály Society
| PUPIL’S BOOK 1 | Read, Sing (Solfa/Pentatonic), Play (Black Keys) Simple and Compound Time | price £15.95 |
| TEACHER’S GUIDE | For use with Book 1 – A guide to the Kodály principles and the presentation of the elements of Book 1. Essential reading. | price £19.95 |
| PUPIL’S BOOK 2 |
C and G Clefs – Diatonic – up to two sharps and flats. TEACHER’S NOTES included | price £15.95 |
| PUPIL’S BOOK 1 TOGETHER WITH TEACHER’S GUIDE | a pair | price £30.95 |
| PUPIL’S BOOKS 1 & 2 TOGETHER | both | price £27.45 |
| A SET | (one of each of the three books) | price £43.95 |
CLICK HERE to open a mail order form whch you can print off and send with your remittance.
Copies may also be obtained from the British Kodály Academy online shop.
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See also: British Kodály Academy