Rachel Cox (BMus, LMusAGM) is a music educator and PhD candidate from the Newcastle region in NSW. Rachel holds a Bachelor of Music in Instrumental and Vocal Teaching, and is currently completing a PhD in Music Education at the University of Sydney. Under the supervision of Professor Emeritus Kathryn Marsh and Dr. Jadey O’Regan, Rachel’s master’s research project is investigating the use of popular music in Kodály-inspired teaching for children in Kindergarten and Year 1. Rachel has been practicing as a private voice and piano teacher since 2014 and currently runs a private teaching studio, as well as teaching as a specialist music teacher for K-2 students at Nillo Infants School. In addition to teaching, Rachel maintains an active performance career as a contemporary vocalist and DJ.
Day 4: Thursday
| Time | Title |
|---|---|
| Session 2: 11.00 | Research: Popular Music In Kodály-Inspired Teaching for Kindergarten & Year 1 Students |
| Kodály’s beliefs that music for education should come from the ‘musical mother-tongue’ of the children being taught, and that teachers should use ‘music of the highest quality’ in the classroom have left the place of popular music in the Kodály classroom in question. While many Kodály teachers consider that popular music does not meet Kodály’s standard of ‘quality’, it inarguably is a large part of the musical mother tongue of today’s children. Furthermore, parallels between the sound-before-sight model of the Kodály philosophy and informal learning processes used by popular musicians mean that popular music pedagogy and Kodály pedagogy are in many ways mutually compatible. This paper presentation will discuss the preliminary results of an ethnographic dual case study investigating how children in Kindergarten and Year 1 respond to Kodály-inspired teaching when popular music is the primary source of musical material, when compared to a traditional Kodály approach using folk and children’s songs. | |