One of the hardest things to teach my pupils has always been sight singing. Many teachers avoid the issue completely and hope that somehow their students will miraculously work out HOW to sight read by osmosis, or a process of lucky guess work. As someone who ‘learned’ this way I know it to be deeply unsatisfactory, and I was left after years of lessons with a deep seated insecurity about my ability to sight sing, especially when under pressure in audition or examination situations. Given that the suggestion to practice sight singing in lessons is often greeted by as much enthusiasm by teacher as pupil, it is hardly surprising that this tendency to hope for the best rather than work out a practical method to help is the norm for most vocal teachers I have met.
There are lots of ‘methods’ out there which claim to make sight singing fun, relevant and easy, and I have tried many out over the past ten years. Whilst many offer insights into ways which might help certain students, or deal with specific difficulties with useful tips, most are difficult to grasp, and leave students almost as confused as the ‘keep-your-fingers-crossed-and-pray’ approach. Not one of them could be honestly described as ‘fun’!
My favourite example of this which I encountered in my early searches encouraged students to memorise a well known melody or song which started with each possible musical interval you may come across in a song (e.g.. a major 3rd would be known by ‘While Shepherds watched their flocks by night’, or a perfect 5th by ‘twinkle, twinkle, little star’). The idea was that when presented with an unfamiliar tune, one could access each interval by thinking of the relevant song, and humming the first two notes. Fine, for the first two notes of the unfamiliar piece (ok, C to G, that’s a perfect 5th… ‘twinkle, twinkle’…. but then you have to think of the next interval, and the next, and this is taking into NO account any rhythm, or tempo marking, or allowing you to keep a sense of ‘home key’. Go on, I urge you to try this with a random piece of music you have to hand….bet you don’t get further than about 3 notes in, before collapsing in a heap and requiring a cup of tea!)
In my search for a better solution to this perennial problem, spurred on by a frustration that my own pupils usually gained brilliant marks in pieces and aural tests in examinations, and yet were frequently let down by a disappointing sight singing mark, I rather rashly volunteered to start a ‘sight singing club’ at school. This idea was met by enthusiasm by all the other singing staff, and many of my other colleagues, who felt that this could help instrumentalists cope better with the sight singing sections of the aural tests in examinations, as well as develop a better ‘inner ear’ and overall musicianship. Fantastic. Now all I had to do was find a way of teaching sight singing to groups of students of different ages and abilities…
As with all such problems in life, my first response was to read some books on the subject. I took home all the dusty sight singing method books from school, read some stuff on the internet and browsed the shelves of Blackwells Music shop for inspiration. It was here that I found a book written on the Kodály method, and whilst a somewhat weighty tome, I had heard good things about the system from other musicians, and was interested to know more about its application.
Kodály was a Hungarian composer, who fed up with his fellow musicians’ inability to cope with basic sight singing and sight reading tasks developed a pedagogy to improve musicianship, the inner ear, and sight reading stemming from the root of his Nation’s Folk heritage. After years of research and thought, Kodály approached his government who allowed him to operate his new system in one school as a trial. Alongside language, science and maths, music was given equal precedence in the timetable. Results in all subjects improved dramatically, and the standard of musicianship was markedly better. Kodály was allowed to implement his system in more Hungarian schools, and again both academic and musical results improved hugely across the board (see, Mr. Gove – another reason why musical education is SO vital!) With such a record of success, Kodály managed to get the Hungarian government to implement his system of musical education across the whole country. Whilst not every Hungarian would consider themselves a musician, nearly every citizen today can sight sing a melody presented to them.
I decided that this might be the solution to the problem (how amazing if every student of mine could sight sing any melody they were given!), and instantly set about reading more, teaching myself some basics, and acquiring some teaching aids for use with the sight singing club and my pupils in lessons.
The system is based on the solfege scale, which allows recognition of the separate intervals which form a scale (and is thus transferable into any key). It takes a little while to establish, but once firmly fixed in the brain gives the singer ‘memory hooks’ to be able to work out the intervals in a piece without constantly referring to any other interval than the tonic. As a teaching tool it relies on kinesthetic learning, as well as aural and visual cues, and is therefore accessible to most students.
It’s true that in Hungary (and in fact across the world where this system is now implemented) most pupils start to ‘study’ almost from birth, and therefore each interval can be introduced slowly and fully embedded over a period of months before adding the next idea. I don’t usually have that luxury, and my students are generally of an age where repeating one interval for longer than about 2 minutes leaves them bored and frustrated.
The sight singing club has grown from a very small membership to a much bigger group in recent months. Some come for just a few weeks in preparation for the examination, and in these cases, instilling Kodály’s sol-fa technique often takes too long. However, the basic principles can be applied by anyone, and nearly always make a significant difference to the pupils’ ability to read rhythm fluently, and pitch intervals with more accuracy. Some girls have found it so useful that they have started coming to the club ‘for fun’ so that they can improve their confidence over a longer period of time, and it is these girls that will feel the greatest benefit.
It is so exciting to see a student who is unable to read basic rhythms, and tackle a simple scale-based exercise after a minute of prior study transform into someone able to read dotted rhythms and pitch intervals of up to a fifth with no preparation time in the space of a few minutes. Often this initial transformation occurs within one or two lessons or sessions in the sight singing club! Whilst the system needs perseverance to become completely useful at all levels of sight singing (and this commitment is not often forthcoming in younger students) it is lovely to see so many of the girls approach sight singing tests with a higher degree of confidence in their ability to make a reasonable attempt at the task ahead, and a smile on their face!
I don’t claim that any system is a substitute for practice (or perfect pitch!), but it seems to me that Kodály certainly seemed to know something about teaching. I will continue to learn more about the method, and am seriously considering investing on going on one of the Kodály Academy’s intensive training courses. In the meantime I look forward to seeing many more girls in the sight singing club over the coming months.
The British Kodály Acadamy (www.britishkodalyacademy.org) has more information if you want to read more about Kodály or the method!