Kodály Christmas 2
Sleeping a in Stable I’d like to tell you a sad story about my composition, Sleeping a in Stable… with a happy ending! I wrote Sleeping
Doremi Connect
with Helen Russell
For music and piano teachers who are inspired by the Kodály Approach
🗝️ KODÁLY TREASURE CHEST, FREE
If you’re a music or piano teacher wanting to use the Kodály approach in your teaching, then my Kodály Treasure Chest is just what you need.
There’s no need to trawl my website looking for hidden treasure! I’ve put all of my best free teaching mini-courses and resources in one place, and I’ll send directions straight to your inbox!
You know you want to teach in a Kodály-inspired way but...
- You feel despondent! You've invested in books & training, yet still don’t have any actual lesson plans
- You know WHAT you want but you don’t have the time or brain capacity to figure out how, when and why
- You’re emotionally exhausted by students struggling to learn notation
- You value aural skills but feel bad when you can’t integrate them successfully
- You feel anxious and alone, wishing you had someone to bounce ideas off
- You feel like an imposter, so lack the confidence to defend your approach
Introducing Doremi Membership with Helen Russell
- Teach engaging, effective and stress-free piano and music lessons using the Kodály Approach, without becoming overwhelmed by planning
- Painlessly grow your students’ skills, understanding and confidence in a way that feels good to you
- Feel welcomed by our community of like-minded teachers and Kodály experts
- Feel supported with personal advice and coaching
- Develop your own musicianship to improve your skills and confidence
- Regain your energy and enthusiasm for teaching
- Advocate for yourself, and your approach, to parents and school leaders
Hi, I'm Helen!
I founded Doremi Connect to help teachers like you feel supported and confident integrating the Kodály approach into their teaching.
Many teachers are totally convinced by the benefits of the Kodály Approach. However, despite completing training and buying books, they still aren’t using it fully in their teaching.
I’m not surprised. It took me over a decade to fully integrate it into my piano and music teaching so that I was satisfied my students were getting all the benefits. A decade of studying with the best Kodály practitioners, innovating, trialling and refining my lesson plans with hundreds of students just like yours.
I created Doremi Connect so I can pass on all of that expertise to you. It’s time to start feeling supported and empowered. Find out more about me here.
DOREMI PIANO BOOKS
Explore the Doremi Piano books series taking you from the very first lesson all the way to Western Art Music and exam work. Including books that are suitable for teachers and students without a Kodály background.
ARTICLES & PODCASTS
Winter Elves… are out tonight!
I LOVE Goblins are Around Tonight which appears in David Vinden’s Songs for Singing and Musicianship. I changed the lyrics to make them cute and
Winter, Holiday and Christmas Repertoire
The most frustrating thing about Christmas songs is being suddenly asked to teach repertoire with concepts our students haven’t learnt yet; Jingle Bells with dotted rhythms anyone? And if they have a version that has changed the dotted rhythm, we have more problems because they know the sound of the dotted rhythm version! Just before Christmas is not the time to learn new concepts just because it happens to be in a Christmas song.
I’m Bound Away: A Shanty Great for Tam-ti
As well as being a beautiful sea shanty, it’s excellent for teaching the dotted crotchet and quaver rhythm: tam-ti. Below I’ll give you ideas for
Lavender’s Blue
We’re going to explore an English folk song and use it to help our students discover new elements.
Rocky Mountain: Perfect for Pentatonic
We’ll be using Rocky Mountain to:
• Practice the rhythms ta, titi and ta rest
• Practice do, mi, so and la
• Discover a new note! Re
Step Back Baby: Teaching ti-tika and tika-ti
My last few blog posts have been about more complicated rhythms and how we can guide our students to discover them using a Kodály inspired approach. The most important element of the Kodály approach is singing, using our voice. It really comes into it’s own with the rhythm that appears in the sone Step Back Baby.
Microsteps to Syncopa: as easy as uno, dos, tres, cuatro…
Microsteps to Syncopa: as easy as uno, dos, tres, cuatro…
Going beyond tika-tika: which rhythms to teach next?
I decided to write my next blog about which complex rhythms you could introduce after tika-tika. Of course, alongside preparing and presenting the next rhythm, our students need to practice tika-tika.