Just found out there is another program called Let’s Play Music. It is a 3-year program that starts in Kindergarten, and it teaches solfege.
Kodaly (pronounced Koh-dai) teachers teach in a traditional class setting. The method works beautifully alone or combined with Orff instruction. Both use solfege, but Orff uses many barred instruments while Kodaly focuses on singing, particularly folk songs. Suzuki is private instrumental instruction (e.g. piano, violin, etc.) and is strong on ear training. A Kodaly class will include lots of singing and games all while teaching rhythms and solfege.
We have a teacher in town who is a clarinetist. She is Kodaly certified, and teaches a homeschool music class. Her forte is instrumental, though, so she teaches the recorder. I am big on teaching kids to sight-sing, so while we both teach many of the same things, our focus is a little different. My daughter has gone all the way through her program and has moved on to band this year. She has also been taking my class at our co-op to strengthen her ear training, and I’m able to see improvement in her sight-singing. My younger boys are in my class as well, and I may put my youngest in the pre-corder class next year for 1st grade.
This year I have a K/1 class, grades 2/3 class, and grades 4/5 class. The younger class is learning musical opposites and developing a repertoire of folk songs, chants, and games. They will begin learning rhythms and solfa next year. The next two classes know some solfa and rhythms. We use a number of songs and games, play instruments, sight-read, and dictate music. The Charlotte Mason thoughts for language arts (listening, telling, reading, and writing) is how I teach music. It is really neat to see how the philosophies overlap.
