Various Approaches to Aural Skills in Education

Highlighting the Differences Between Dalcroze, Kodaly, and Orff

Jul 23, 2009

The predominant European styles for teaching developmental music and aural skills in elementary schools are Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Zoltan Kodaly, and Carl Orff.

Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Zoltan Kodaly, and Carl Orff are well-known for their different pedagogical methods in elementary schools. Even though each of these three composers highlight aural skills within their approaches, they interpret and emphasize aural skills differently.

Aural Skills

Aural skills in music typically describes the singing and listening abilities that musicians learn throughout their career.

In regards to singing, these are the practiced and rehearsed skills necessary to sing a note, and and songs, in tune. The term also refers to the skill known as “sight-singing." This is the ability to sing (with minimal to no practice) the notes and words on a score, and to sing these pitches in tune.

In regards to listening, ‘aural skills’ also refers to the abilities of students to recognize pitches, chords, and transitions within the music they listen to. Musicians can begin learning aural skills as early as elementary school, while some musicians do not learn aural skills until they are in college.

Zoltan Kodaly

Of the three composers, Zoltan Kodaly seems to place the focal point of his pedagogy on aural skills because his ultimate goal was to create professional singers. Kodaly believed that through “vocal music the ear could best be trained to distinguish intervals and to keep the young musician in tune” (Landis 50). Students were to learn pitches through singing and listening.

In addition to solely singing and listening, Kodaly incorporated Corwen hand signals. These are the hand signs for each note in the “do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do” (s scale. Using these hand signals, students could also put a visual/mechanical to their aural/auditory learning. The pedagogy begins with the introduction of small intervals (do-re) and moving to the more difficult steps (do-la) through a very rigorous and lined out order.

Emile Jaques-Dalcroze

Aural skills rank high in the Dalcroze approach, being of almost equal importance as creative musical expression. Daily solfege exercises are also an important regiment to the Dalcroze approach. Dalcroze and Kodaly’s solfege exercises incorporate “sing[ing] intervals and songs with syllables, and improvis[ing] vocally" (Landis). Students are expected to learn how to listen and notate the notes heard, sing and tune; all elements of aural skills are studied within this approach.

Carl Orff

Carl Orff places the least importance on aural skills because it's not a vocal approach. Orff uses the voice solely for rhythmic purpose because students find it natural. As an alternative to singing, students chant in order to gain an understanding of rhythm and there is only relatively simple singing. Singing is approached in the same manner of starting with simple note progressions, but he does not progress to same levels of difficulty.

Each of these three pedagogies have various strategies to accomplish the same goal of teaching developmental music for elementary school children. Kodaly and Dalcroze stress aural skills in their approaches while Orff does not.

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