I've been dying to post this for a while but couldn't before my students got their official results - so now I can do it and I just want to say a HUGE 'Well Done' to all the people who took their Kodaly Elementary Exam at the beginning of December.

There were two passes, five merits and five distinctions so I am one Very Proud Teacher

The exam took place over two evenings and was in ten sections altogether. I won't bore you with the details, but the exam included dictation (pentatonic/diatonic melody lines, identifying the pentatonic scale heard, intervals, triads, rhythm), sight-singing, sing-and-plays, singing two-part pieces with a partner, singing canons one to a part (including from memory), transforming a melody from major to minor/vice versa, a pentatonic composition, lots of work with pentatonic scales but also some with diatonic major/all minors...erm, I think that's it!

Forum members Willard got a merit and Hammerklavier and Bagpuss got distinctions.

I have to say this as I am SUCH a Proud Big Sis - Bagpuss got the highest mark by a long way and only dropped 11 marks out of a possible 620...she worked so hard for the exam and it really paid off (There was a moderator so charges of nepotism won't stick! )

Anyway, I'm proud and pleased for them all - such a lovely, lovely group of people and four of them in particular travel for 3 hours to do the course one evening a week.

Quite a few of them are going to carry on to Intermediate Level next term

Thanks for indulging me but I couldn't help posting about it, I AM SO CHUFFED!!!!

Big congrarulations to Cyrilla and all her hard-working students!!! : )

Wow, congratulations!

Oh wow!

Wow - I'm so pleased for you and your students Cyrilla.
A very big well done to all. Great way to end the term!

Congratulations Cyrilla and all her students on those great results! You can celebrate now Cyrilla with a pint of sherry!

Congratulations Cyrilla and her students!

Car Expert

YAY Cyrilla - well done you and all your students!!!!

Wish I could have been there - I know some of your students travel 3 hours, but from where I live to where you live aint no joke - a 5 hour round trip minimum.

Perhaps one day someone'll teach it down here...

Violinia

Well done, Cyrilla! Give yourself (if physically possible) a pat on the back for me and a pat for Hk and BP as well!

What a wonderful result. Many congratulations to you and to your students.

Oh shuxxx, sisssss...........!

We've all had tremendous fun learning with C - her patience and enthusiasm kept us all going even when we floundered and wondered what on earth we were doing there! I'm chuffed cos I've done stuff I didn't know I could do and have woken up part of my brain that has been dormant since 1983.

Personal thanx from me to ALL group members - what a fantastic bunch of people. In particular to HammerKlavier and Sarah for making some of the 3 part stuff REALLY special. HK - I would NOT have got through that evening without you....

Am trying not to turn this into a BAFTA award acceptance speech so will scuttle off and drink vast quantities of wine

Baggy x

Big well done, you deserve at least one bottle.

LOVE the smileys, Boo!

Is that a pint of sherry I see before me....????

Firstly, well done to Cyrilla for all her hard work - C, you deserve those fab results.

Bag - I am so proud of you, C told me on the phone and I was so proud of you, you star!

"elementary, my dear Cyrilla" - NOT!

No doubt the Kodaly "quite tricky" Exam is now only a hop, skip and a pentatonic jump away!

Well done to all you stars!

Well Done Cyrilla + students!

Now I can have my say........BAGPUSS please note that I was absolutely right to suggest to you that you were much better than me on the night and now that I have discovered the mark that you really got, my view is completely vindicated! Well done for being top-dog or perhaps that should be top-cat!!

Thank you Cyrilla for getting us all there and to David Vinden for coming all that way to listen to us.

Thank you so much to everyone who has posted messages of goodwill and congratulations - they are greatly appreciated.

YAY! Well done to all the students, they must be very talented, and also well done to you, you must be a very good teacher!

Congratulations to talented students and teachers! Those were amazing results!

Well done everyone. teacher and students .

The test doesn't sound too elemetary as Zoda said , how long had everyone been learning before taking it?

I agree that perhaps 'Elementary' is a bit of a misnomer!

We (The British Kodaly Academy) are in the process at the moment of developing a new exam syllabus. The part-time year courses started approximately 20 years ago and have, since then, been structured on three levels - Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Normally each course lasts a year and consists of 11 x 3-hour sessions per term (the final session of the first two terms being an informal assessment and the Summer Term one being the final exam). In other words, 99 hours of study.

For various reasons, I can't do a 3-hour session at the moment. These 'three hour' sessions are actually, in practice, about 2hr 30/40mins of study with a break for coffee etc. My sessions have therefore been only two hours long but without a break. This is why this course actually took the students four terms to complete rather than three (most of them started it in Sept 04 but four or five joined at some point along the way).

We are now trying to break these courses down into smaller, more manageable chunks so that people, if they so wish, can take an exam after a shorter period of time.

We have just drafted a new exam syllabus for Levels 1-4, which covers the present Elementary course. Next we are going to work on a Foundation Stage syllabus (for either very young children or adults with no previous musical experience). Then we shall do Levels 5-8, which will cover the present Intermediate course. Finally we shall do a diploma syllabus, commensurate with the current Advanced Level course.

This should mean that children and adults in a variety of settings (school/private) will be able to show their level of achievement with an exam (IF THEY WANT TO - I am the first to abhor exams for their own sake and am more than happy for children and adults to study without taking exams) even if they can't commit to the amount of considerable time/effort currently required to achieve one of the existing three levels.

Phew! Hope that explains it a bit!

No - what the students had to do was FAR from 'elementary' - only in relation to the higher levels was it elementary!

The students were such a mixed bunch - five with music degrees, one professional violinist, three with perfect pitch, four with nothing beyond 'O' Level, one a lawyer with nothing beyond Grade 4 piano MANY moons ago, one a mum-of-four, etc etc etc...but they were all a complete delight to work with and they all learned so much and, I think, felt a huge sense of achievement. Oh - and we had such FUN along the way!!!

Oh congratulations to you and your students Cyrilla. One vat of celebratory sherry on its way to you!



Amber
x

OOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo a VAT of sherry, is it, now?????

HUZZAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers Amber!



*wanders off wondering how many pints there are to the vat* (perhaps I shouldn't try mental arithmetic at the moment, though...)

Enough pints to the vat, Cyrilla. I'll get the glasses

No - what the students had to do was FAR from 'elementary' - only in relation to the higher levels was it elementary!

You're dead right there! It is a hugely difficult undertaking and I have to say that entering into this course of study was like opening up a can of worms. It absolutely challenged me or rather my musicianship which was pretty lacking in comparison to what I thought it was. What a journey though. It reaches out to all areas of music and I really felt that I identified many things that I had previously missed. Not only has it developed me musically but also, it has developed me as a teacher far more and makes for a far more rounded approach to the whole area of music education in whatever way.

There is something really fantastic about finding a way that makes previous struggles disappear and it has made me realise for myself at least that there is a way of understanding things clearly although another year of hard work lies ahead for the intermediate course.

I should thank my fellow course collegues........as Cyrilla I am sure will agree, some amazing sounds were created on many occasions and I don't think the sound of good unaccompanied singing voices can be beaten.

Thanks, katyjay - I'll open the vat. Are you joining us, Hammerklavier??

Just try and keep me away......perhaps I'll bring some port if that's ok and I fancy some cheese. Will Cockburns do???

Does it contain alcohol Hammerklavier? That was a rhetorical question by the way.....

I'm sure there's a very rude and very funny reply to that, Hk, but I don't want to be banned so I'll keep it to myself

Port and cheese sounds good - a nice Stilton???

mmmmmmmm.......lovely. Actually if it's ok with Cyrilla, I think I'll just go and make myself a nice sandwich!!

Hammerklavier, can you not feed yourself without asking the boss's permission?

Yes I can, but let's just say that my remark about the sandwich will cause much merriment and mirth in South Croydon!

No he can't!!!! *fierce boss voice* He is my SLAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh gosh, I forgot to bow........I've just done it.... three times. Would you like a sandwich oh master??

Er - well, someone who has recently joined my group gets her sandwiches out in the middle of the lesson and seems totally oblivious to the fact that this is a rather strange thing to do - hence the mirth and merriment (we're always wondering what is going to be in next week's sarnie )

Master??? I am female you know. Should be mistress - second thoughts, perhaps not, people will TALK!

Perhaps she's hungry?

I suggest that "BOSS" will suffice for all social purposes.

We also wonder what else is in the trolley!

Trolley?

Ah, yes, then she gets up and rummages around in her shopping trolley in the middle of all the pentatonic scales *bless*

BOSS sounds good to me, katyjay!

CHEERS!!!!

Cyrilla, you have pointed out to her that she's in a lesson and not in Tesco's?

Um....it's a tad difficult. She is very sweet but takes 'vague' to new heights...quite often I have given something as homework - the following week I ask her to perform it at the piano - she fluffs around for a while then says, 'um, I suppose it would have been better if I'd practised it, wouldn't it?'

how far are you from Tesco's? Has she actually made a mistake?

Not as good as what Bagpuss can do.....she can do a sing and play whilst sitting rather nonchalantly at the piano, one leg over the other whilst reading a newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee.......no wonder she came top of the group!

Errr how can she do the play bit if she's manipulating a newspaper and cuppa?

She's multi-talented!

Actually, thinking about it, katyjay, perhaps she DOES think she's in Tesco's. Might explain a lot!



Ah, well, Baggy IS the sing-and-play Queen of the group, isn't she, Hk??? You're right, the nonchalance is really something else (quite infuriating, really - I was never as good as that!)

Sounds like an absolute riot at your place, Cyrilla.

Ah well, I've got a singing lesson in the morning, so I'd better go get some sleep. Goodnight all!

Goodnight, katyjay. Don't want to be accused of spoiling your singing lesson by keeping you up too late with the sherry!

I've just found the mistletoe thread on the Forums Cafe but I've no-one to kiss so I guess I'll just go to bed too *muffled sob*

Now that's some impressive multitasking.