Interview with Kodaly’s widow: Strong hopes for Kodaly method revival in Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – Sarolta Kodaly, the widow of Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967), trusts that the Kodaly method of music education will get a fresh impetus in Hungary.

“I always hoped that there would be a chance to bring back the world in which my husband’s concept of music education was realised in over 100 Hungarian schools,” she told MTI.

The composer’s second wife, who rarely gives interviews, spoke to MTI on the 40th anniversary of the founding of the International Kodaly Society, of which she is honorary president, and the Kodaly Pedagogical Institute in Kecskemet, in central Hungary.

The essence of the method is to get children to sing every day from kindergarten on. At Kodaly’s initiative, several music primary schools where music was taught daily were opened from the 1950s.

“Although singing on a daily basis had beneficial effects on pupils’ performance in other subjects, the number of such schools has unfortunately dwindled. Even if Kodaly’s personal presence is painfully missing, we know exactly what Kodaly would say we should do,” Sarolta Kodaly said. “In Hungary the method seems to be a little on the wane. However, I am optimistic about the recent ministerial initiative to reintroduce singing in Hungarian schools on a daily basis,” she added.

The method eventually spilled outside of Hungary’s borders, with initially the United States and Japan showing the keenest interest, she said. Later on, Kodaly’s approach to music education also gained ground in France and Britain. Then Greece set up a very successful conservatory applying the method, and there are very interesting developments in China, too, she said.