Colourkeys Piano Teacher's Course entries close end November 2016!

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Open Day Pretoria -18th April

Our colleague Millie-Marie Pienaar is hosting an Open Day in Pretoria for music educators interested in Colourstrings.

Please join as and we would like to ask each of you to bring a friend.

Dear Music Educators

An invitation to: Passionate piano, violin, recorder and early years’ music education teachers who are interested in enhancing their music programme.

An opportunity:

· to be introduced to Colourstrings – a world leading approach in music education.  (See attachment with more information.)

· to meet music colleagues including teachers using the Colourstrings approach

· to see Colourstrings Kindergarten and Edumusic exhibitions

(Colour strings is not a franchise; it enhances your programme. It is not exclusive.  Currently the demand for music teachers using this approach is exceeding the supply.)

Venue: Hatfield Christian School staff room (Map below)
Date:  Saturday, 18 April 2015
Time:  10:00-11:30
Programme:
10:00 – Refreshments/ Exhibitions/ Meeting colleagues
10:30 – Colourstrings approach presentation
11:15 – Informal question time for all interested

R.S.V.P. Millie-Marié Pienaar at mpienaar AT hatfieldcs.co.za

Queries: Zelda Martin on zeldamartin AT gmail.com or 0836954721

Colourstrings Winter School - June/July 2015

  Colourstrings   ​    

               Winter 

                        School

Colourstrings South Africa is pleased to announce that the Colourstrings Winter School will be held from the June to the July at Crawford College, Lonehill, Sandton. We will once again be hosting the leading international and local Colourstrings educators. Please note that the violin courses are earlier in the month from the 6th to 15th June.

We will be offering the following courses:

Colourstrings Music Kindergarten

5-day course for teachers and musicians, 29 June – 3 July 2015

Colourstrings is a child-centred approach to musicianship, conceived and developed in Finland by Géza Szilvay. It is based on the principles of Kodály who saw music as a birth-right and recognised the voice as the fundamental tool for experiencing and expressing music. Through singing, children from birth to 5 years enjoy music, develop aural skills and become musically literate. Their training in the Colourstrings Kindergarten means young beginners are musicians before they start an instrument. 

This course covers the Colourstrings teaching principles and methodology, the Singing Rascals song books, child psychology, lesson planning, repertoire for babies through to 5 years, dance and movement ideas, principles of Kodály and the philosophy of Colourstrings. The course also includes daily Kodály tuition. 

Tutors: Karen Mackenzie, an internationally acclaimed Colourstrings lecturer and practitioner based in the UK and South Africa’s leading Colourstrings educator, Zelda Martin.

Cost: R3150 per person. Deposit of R1200 secures your booking, balance Payable end of May.

Venue: Crawford College Lonehill, Lonehill Boulevard

To apply contact:   Zelda Martin at 083 695 4721 or zelmartin@gmail.com 

Visit Colourstrings SA at:   colourstringssa.blogspot.com/ http://www.facebook.com/Colourstringssa

Visit Colourstrings UK at: karendimarcomusic2@gmail.com

www.colourstrings.co.uk

There are only 30 spaces available, so pay your R1000 deposit to ensure your place on this course

Colourstrings Violin Teacher’s Training Course

5-day course in Johannesburg 11th – 15th June 

Colourstrings SA presents an exciting course covering the Colourstrings, violin and cello teaching methodology. This course includes instruction on using the A, B and C Violin Colourstrings books with students; lesson planning from beginner to advanced violin student; teaching violin classes individually and in groups; introducing principles of Kodály and the philosophy of Colourstrings, including daily Kodály tuition.

Tutor: Yvonne Frye – Geza Szilvay’s (founder of Colourstrings) head tutor and right hand woman; a world-leading Colourstrings tutor from the internationally acclaimed Helsinki Colourstrings Music School. 

Who should attend: All violin or cello students and teachers

Cost: R3250.00 per person. R1000 deposit secures your booking; balance due by the end of May.  

Venue: Crawford College Lonehill, Lonehill Blvd, Lonehill (Between Pretoria and Johannesburg) 

To apply for this course contact: Zelda Martin at 083 695 4721 or zelmartin@gmail.co.za

There are only 20 spaces available, so pay your R1000 deposit to ensure your place on this course

Colourstrings Violin Teacher’s Follow Up Training Course

3-day course for Violin teachers, 6th – 8th June

Colourstrings SA presents an exciting course covering the second level Colourstrings, violin teaching methodology. This course includes more in depth instruction on the Violin Colourstrings books; additional lesson planning from beginner to advanced violin student; teaching violin classes individually and in groups; introducing principles of Kodály and the philosophy of Colourstrings, including daily Kodály tuition as well as additional ensemble training and  work.

Tutor: Yvonne Frye – Geza Szilvay’s (founder of Colourstrings) head tutor and right hand woman; a world-leading Colourstrings tutor from the internationally acclaimed Helsinki Colourstrings Music School. 

Who should attend: Any violin teacher who has completed the first course

Cost: R1900.00 per person. R1000 deposit secures your booking; balance due by the end of May.  

Venue: Crawford College Lonehill, Lonehill Blvd, Lonehill (Between Pretoria and Johannesburg) 

To apply for this course contact: Zelda Martin at 083 695 4721 or zelmartin@gmail.co.za

Colourkeys Piano Teacher’s Course

5-day course in Johannesburg, 29 June – 3 July 2015

Colourstrings SA presents an exciting course covering the Colourkeys, piano teaching methodology. This course includes instruction on using the ABC Colourkeys book with students; lesson planning from beginner to advanced piano student; teaching piano group classes using an “eight hands on one piano” method; introducing principles of Kodály and the philosophy of Colourstrings, including daily Kodály tuition.

Tutor: Aija-Riikka Rannanmäki, a world-leading Colourkeys tutor from the internationally acclaimed Helsinki Colourstrings Music School. 

Who should attend: All piano teachers and students

Cost: R3250.00 per person. R1000 deposit secures your booking; balance due by the end of May.  

Venue: Crawford College, Lonehill; Lonehill Boulevard (Between Pretoria and Johannesburg)

To apply for this course contact: Zelda Martin on 083 695 4721 or   zelmartin@gmail.co.za

There are only 20 spaces available, so pay your R1000 deposit to secure your place on this course.

Colourstrings Kindergarten Group in Lonehill

We are happy to announce that following a number of requests we have been able to start a group in the Northern suburbs of Johannesbug for individual students.

The group is up and running and only has a limited number of places so please encourage those who are interested to join as soon as possible.

The group has been started by Helen Rigby and Zelda Martin and the details are as follows:

Where: Crawford Lonehill Pre-primary, 17 Lonehill Boulevard, Lonehill, Sandton.

When: 3 to 5 years old (Grade 000 and Grade 00) Tuesdays from 12:45 to 13:30
            5 to 6 years old (Grade 0) Thursdays from 13:15 to 14:00

Fees: R950 per term (4 terms a year - an average of ten lessons per term)

Contact: Helen Rigby (082-490-1568) or helenrigby04ATgmail.com
Zelda Martin (083 695 4721) or zelmartinATgmail.com

Colourstrings Violin Teacher's Training Course

5-day course in Johannesburg

4-8 April 2014

Colourstrings SA presents an exciting course covering the Colourstrings, violin teaching methodology. This course includes instruction on using the A, B and C Violin Colourstrings books with students; lesson planning from beginner to advanced violin student; teaching violin classes; introducing principles of Kodály and the philosophy of Colourstrings, including daily Kodály tuition.

Tutor:             Yvonne Frye – Geza Szilvay’s (founder of Colourstrings), head tutor and right hand woman; a world-leading Colourstrings tutor from the internationally acclaimed Helsinki Colourstrings Music School.

Who should attend:            All violin students and teachers

Cost:          R3250.00 per person. R1000 deposit secures your booking, balance due by the end of March.  Contact Zelda for account details.

Venue:       Crawford College Lonehill, Lonehill Blvd, Lonehill (Right between Pretoria and Johannesburg)

To apply for this course contact: Zelda Martin at 083 695 4721 or zelmartin@gmail.co.za

There are only 20 spaces available, so pay your R1000 deposit to ensure your place on this course

Colourkeys Piano Teacher's course

A course covering the Colourkeys teaching methodology. Instruction on using the ABC Colourkeys book with students. Lesson planning for students from beginner to advanced. How to teach small group classes using an “eight hands on one piano” method.
Principles of Kodály and the philosophy of Colourstrings.  The course also includes daily Kodály tuition.

Tutor: Aija-Riikka Rannanmaki, a world-leading Colourkeys tutor from the internationally acclaimed Helsinki Colourstrings Music School.

Who should attend:  Piano teachers

Only 20 spaces available.

Cost: R3400.00 per person. R1000 deposit secures your booking, balance 15th December.

Venue: Music Dept., Southdowns College, John Voster Drive ext. Southdowns, Irene.
Dates:  6 -10 January 2014

Early Bird Special R2800 (if booked and deposit paid by 15th November 2013)

To apply for this course contact:
Zelda Martin at 083 695 4721 or zelmartin@gmail.co.za

Teacher Training: The Kindergarten Foundation Course Follow up and Certification Course

Participants will consolidate the knowledge gained in the Foundation course, as well as acquire additional theoretical and practical training that will prepare them for assessment and certification as Colourstrings Associate Music Kindergarten teachers

The assessment will take place on the Sunday (12^th January) and successful candidates will receive the Associate Music Kindergarten teacher’s Certificate issued by the Szilvay foundation. You will be emailed all requirements for the course and assessment once your deposit has been paid.

Participants must have completed the Colourstrings foundation course.

Cost R2500.00 per person.Deposit of R1000.00 secures your booking, balance by 15^th December.

Venue: Music Dept., Southdowns College, John Voster Drive ext. Southdowns, Irene. 

Dates: 3, 4 and 5 as well as 11 and 12^th January 2014.

Early Bird Special: R2000 if booked and deposit paid by 15^th November 2013

Tutor: Karen Mackenzie, an internationally acclaimed Colourstrings lecturer and

practitioner based in the UK.

To apply for this course contact:

Zelda Martin at 083 695 4721 or zelmartin AT gmail DOT com

or for further details on course content contact:

Colourstrings UK: Phone & Fax: +44 (0) 1622 815578

Teacher Training: Colourstrings Kindergarten Course

A 5-day course covering the Colourstrings Singing Rascals song books, child psychology, lesson planning,repertoire for babies through to 5 years, dance and movement ideas, principles of Kodály and the philosophy of Colourstrings. The course also includes daily Kodály tuition.
Tutor: Karen Mackenzie, an internationally acclaimed Colourstrings lecturer and practitioner based in the UK.

Who should attend: Instrumental and voice teachers interested in the Colourstrings methodology; Music students interested in teaching music; Foundation phase teachers (Grade R, Grade 0, 00, 000) responsible for implementing the musical component of the NCS; Montessori 3-6 directresses; parents interested in the musical development of their children, academics and researchers working in the field of musical education.

Only 30 spaces available.

Cost: R3400.00 per person. R1000 deposit secures your booking, balance 15^th December.

Venue: Music Dept., Southdowns College, John Voster Drive ext. Southdowns, Irene. 
Dates: 6-10th January 2014

Early Bird Special R2800 (if booked and deposit paid by 15^th November 2013)

To apply for this course contact:

Zelda Martin at 083 695 4721 or zelmartin AT gmail DOT com

or for further details on course content contact:

Colourstrings UK: Phone & Fax: +44 (0) 1622 815578

E-mail: karen AT mussicalterms DOT org -Website: www.colourstrings.co.uk

Pre-preparatory school looking for Colourstring's trained teacher

With the growth in interest in Colourstrings we are getting a number of schools approaching us requesting our assistance in finding suitably qualified Colourstring's teachers to introduce a Colourstring's programme into their schools.

We will be posting these employment opportunities here to allow our Colourstring's community to benefit from them.

Position: Pre-preparatory Colourstring's teacher

A well-known pre-preparatory school is looking for a qualified Colourstring's teacher to teach the Colourstring's Kindergarten programme in the school. The position is a part-time one requiring about 3 hours per day.

Location: Kyalami
Start Date: January 2014

CV can be sent to zelmartin AT gmail DOT com or she can be reached on 083-695-4721

A truly fascinating video on the power of the pentatonic scale. American musician Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the ability of any audience to sing the pentatonic scale without any training.

We will be having our next Colourstrings follow-up this Saturday 13 April; 

12:00 - 12:30: a meeting for teachers who would like a little extra work and explanation on tonic solfa, 12:30 -14:00 Colourstrings session (La pentatonic) and 

14:00 - 14:30 Colourstrings theory worksheets for those interested. 

Rose will be presenting her workshop for her masters at 9.30 on Colourstrings recorder.

Thanks to everyone who attended our Colourstrings Kindergarten course this January. We’d especially like to thank Zelda Martin and our tutor, Karen Mackenzie, for making the course possible. We hope that everyone has enjoyed these first few weeks back at school.

Our first get-together will be held at the University of Pretoria, Saturday 16^th of February from 10:30 to 12:00. These get-togethers are extremely important to the development of all those who wish to become Colourstrings accredited teachers, as they allow us to share our experiences and ideas, and, most importantly, to develop our musicianship.

There will also be a half-hour session on introducing theory lessons to instrumental students, presented by Zelda Martin at 12:00.

This will be aimed towards instrumental teachers, but all are welcome to attend.

Thanks once again to all our attendees, we look forward to seeing everyone at our first get-together.

Colourstrings Music Kindergarten Level 1 Certification Course

Dates:  4, 5 and 6 as well as 12 and 13^th January.

Tutor: Karen Mackenzie, an internationally acclaimed Colourstrings lecturer and

practitioner based in the UK.

Participants will be consolidating the knowledge gained in the Foundation course as well as acquiring additional theoretical and practical training that will prepare them for assessment and certification as Colourstrings Associate Music Kindergarten teachers

The assessment will take place on the Sunday (13^th January) and successful candidates will receive the Associate Music Kindergarten teacher’s Certificate issued by the Szilvay foundation.

You will be emailed all requirements for the course and assessment once your deposit has been paid.

Participants must have completed the Colourstrings foundation course.

Cost R2000.00 per person. Deposit of R1000.00 secures your booking, balance 1 week prior to registration. Venue: Pretoria University.

To apply for this course contact:

Zelda Martin at 083 695 4721 or zelmartin AT gmail DOT com

5-day course in Pretoria for teachers and musicians 7 -11 January 2013

Colourstrings is a child-centred approach to musicianship, conceived and developed in

Finland by Géza Szilvay. It is based on the principles of Kodály who saw music as a

birthright and recognised the voice as the fundamental tool for experiencing and expressing music. Through singing, children from birth to 5 years enjoy music, develop aural skills and become musically literate. Their training in the Music Kindergarten, means young beginners are musicians before they start an instrument.

A course covering the Colourstrings Singing Rascals song books, child psychology, lesson

planning, repertoire for babies through to 5 years, dance and movement ideas, principles of Kodály and the philosophy of Colourstrings. The course also includes daily Kodály tuition.

Tutor: Karen Mackenzie, an internationally acclaimed Colourstrings lecturer and

practitioner based in the UK.

Only 30 spaces available.  Cost R2400.00 per person. Deposit of R1000.00 secures your booking, balance 1 week prior to registration. Venue: Pretoria University.

To apply for this course contact:

Zelda Martin at 083 695 4721 zelmartin AT gmail DOT com

More on the Colourstrings' Philosophy

Colourstrings is a music education programme that starts from pregnancy and is a continuous developmental process. Although Szilvay divides his methodology into separate teaching phases, he did not want the process to be felt by children as separate but rather as one continuous process. If children felt it to be split into phases, the new phase would be difficult to start and would have to be related back to the previous phase, but if continuous, the child would just grow into the new phase seamlessly. He envisaged a programme where instrumental tuition would be a follow-on from the kindergarten programme. The kindergarten programme directly connects to instrumental teaching.


After the kindergarten programme, once the child starts school, s/he would go to a Colourstrings instrumental teacher and start an instrument from the beginning but have an enhanced level of understanding of the basics and elements of music. Also, the children should know 50 to 70 children’s songs by the time they start instrumental tuition and some of them they would learn to play on their instruments. This he called subconscious education. He believed that instrumental music would be made easier, and the teacher would go through the process so much more quickly, if the kindergarten teachers did their job well.  Szilvay went as far as to say that kindergarten teachers could change the life of instrumental teachers if they did their job well. This is because the same ideas and material should be followed throughout: that is that the material initially introduced to the child is also used as the introduction to each successive phase and because of its familiarity, it can be easily assimilated by the child.

Secondly, Szilvay wanted to develop a philosophy that was for the average child and not only the talented child. He felt that most instrumental teaching philosophies were written for the talented and musical child. The average child fell by the musical wayside. ‘The Colourstrings approach acknowledges that there are born talents or natural abilities but also takes into consideration the extreme importance of the environment or surroundings for the development of the child. Colourstrings creates an environment for the child where toys, fairy tales, singing and instruments live side by side serving the happiness of the child. Such a music land which is an integral part of the child’s play world should be available to everyone’ (Vainio 196:50).

By Zelda Martin (extract from a Master's thesis - University of Pretoria)

Certified Organic Music

While all around us we see a drive to the natural and the organic, in the area of musical culture we see a trend to the artificial. Lullabyes and nursery rhymes are a fundmental part of our muscical culture, however what we see today is that electronic toys and their synthesised sounds are literally driving out the parent’s voice.

Ironically these toys are being promoted as educational. The value of training the young ear with good quality sounds can never be overestimated. A baby’s ear is at its most sensitive stage while it is developing speech and learning to recognise different sounds. This is the time that they should be exposed to good quality, well played, in tune music. In fact, this exposure should take place during pregnancy.  Sadly this is the time that babies are most exposed to artifically produced sounds. The synthetic sounds from a toy, synthetic nursery rhyme tunes and sometimes even synthetically produced human voices.

Flat batteries and the inevitable wet and wild use that babies subject these toys to result in even the best quality toys quickly being reduced to out of tune horrors.

Other sources of poor ear training are synthetic instrumental sounds and badly recorded or played music.  The prevalent idea appears to be that if music is recorded for children, quality is not an issue. Recorded music for childen should be of the highest quality, as this is the music that is forming their ear. Just as poor quality food affects the development of the child more than the adult, poor quality music affects the intellectual and aesthetic development of the child more than it affects the adult. If you can’t stand a noisy toy it is a good sign that your child shouldn’t be listening to it. It is a fallacy that children enjoy noise.

One of the greatest gifts you can give your baby is to sing to him/her regularly, play good quality music on real instruments, or well recorded, well played classical music, whether live or on compact discs, as opposed to out of tune synthetic sounds. This will assist the child in developing a good musical ear. 

Naxos have recently released a series of “My First” albums. These include "My First Lullaby Album", "My First Classical Music Album" and "My First Mozart Album". 


"My First Piano Album" and "My First Violin Album" may be of interest for children learning these instruments.


These are all available for download from Classics On-line.  Tracks can be purchased individually to allow you to make your own compilation.


By Colourstrings South Africa

A short overview of Colourstrings Music Methodology

1. Introduction

Colourstrings was established in Finland over thirty years ago, and spread to the rest of the world in the early 1990s. Colourstrings is a child-friendly system that was created by Hungarian Géza Szilvay, and aims to teach a child not only to eventually play an instrument, but also to improve his or her musical audio-perception and mental capacity.

Colourstrings introduces children to music in an enjoyable way through inner ear training, developing musical sense, social skills and co-ordination. Szilvay uses the rhythm, melody, movement and improvisational experiences of Kodály for his methodology.  Although Colourstrings is not the first Kodály-inspired music education methodology, it is unique in that it is intended for very young beginners with no prior formal music training required. Kodaly was an Hungarian music education philosopher who created a child friendly methodology that utilized all the children’s senses in order to teach musical concepts.

2. The Colourstrings philosophy

Colourstrings is a music education programme that ideally starts with children of eighteen months and is a continuous developmental process. Although Szilvay divides his methodology into separate teaching phases, he did not want the process to be felt by children as separate but rather as one continuous process. He envisaged a programme where instrumental tuition would be a follow on from the kindergarten programme. After the kindergarten programme, once the child starts school, s/he would go to a Colourstrings instrumental teacher and start an instrument from the beginning but have an enhanced level of understanding of the basics and elements of music. Also, the children should know 50 to 70 children’s songs by the time they start instrumental tuition and some of the songs they would learn to play on their chosen instruments. This he called subconscious education. He believed that instrumental music would be made easier, and the teacher would go through the process so much more quickly, if the kindergarten teachers did their job well.  Szilvay went as far as to say that kindergarten teachers could change the life of instrumental teachers if they did their job well.

Secondly, Szilvay wanted to develop a philosophy that was for the average child and not only the talented child. He felt that most instrumental teaching philosophies were written for the talented and musical child. The average child fell by the musical wayside.

Finally, Szilvay’s approach is one that develops not only the fingers, but the ear, the intellect and the emotions. He does not see the methodology as a quick fix method with fast results, but rather a slow step-by-step approach where a deep foundation is built in a child-friendly, stimulating way.

By Zelda Martin

New research highlights value of Kodaly-based fraction programme

A brand new study by researchers at the San Francisco State University has confirmed previous research that children who learn fractions using rhythm outperform students taught in a traditional method, and this programme has a basis in the Kodaly method.

Assistant Professor Sue Courey developed the programme in conjunction with a music teacher. "They borrowed aspects from the Kodaly method, a Hungarian approach to music education that includes movement, songs and nicknames for musical notes, such as "ta-ah" for a half note.
The curriculum helps children connect the value of musical notes, such as half notes and eighth notes, to their equivalent fraction size. By clapping and drumming rhythms and chanting each note's Kodaly names, students learn the time value of musical notes. Students learn to add and subtract fractions by completing work sheets, in which they draw musical notes on sheet music, ensuring the notes add up to four beats in each bar or measure."

Of specific interest in South Africa is that the music-based method is especially valuable in a situation where those who are not first language English speakers are being instructed in English, as music provides a way to learn fractions that is not intensively language-based.

Fractionally in Rhythm

coloring one half, a photo by jimmiehomeschoolmom on Flickr.

Second & third grade students who were taught fractions through musical rhythms scored 100% higher on fractions tests than those who learned in the conventional manner.—“Rhythm Students Learn Fractions More Easily,” Neurological Research, March 15, 1999.

Source

Bounce

Are high performing music students talented, or do they just practice more than other students?

An answer to this question comes from a surprising source, one-time table tennis champion turned sports journalist Matthew Syed’s book “Bounce”.

Bounce is based on the latest research into performance by cognitive neuro-scientists.

This research, from fields as diverse as tennis, fire fighting and music, points out that practice (or experience) is much more important than any amount of “natural aptitude”.

As music is the field that many believe is dominated by the naturally talented, music was one of the first fields for studies into performance.

The idea that natural talent existed was tested in a key study of violinists at the renowned Music Academy of West Berlin. Researchers divided the students into three groups. One group was of “soloists” i.e. students who were considered to be likely to go on to perform as leading soloists. Group two consisted of “orchestra players” i.e. students likely to go on and play in leading orchestras, and finally, a group designated as likely to be music teachers. All of theses students had been considered “very talented”

This grouping was based on the assessment of their professors, and the student’s performance in open competitions.

A detailed biographical history was taken of each student, and they all showed remarkable symmetry, in all factors but one – time spent practicing.

The top students had without exception practiced for at least 10 000 hours, which was 2000 hours more than the students likely to go into orchestras, and 6000 hours more than students likely to become teachers.

Not a single top performer had practiced less than the 10 000 hours. This lead to the formulation of the ten thousand hour rule, i.e. any one wishing to be world class in any field, would have to practice for 10 000 hours. Research also showed that, as more than about 3 hours practice a day was not productive, this has become the ten-year rule, i.e. roughly a thousand hours practice a year over ten years.

What is more, there was no evidence that in the long run, any of the top performers learned any quicker than anyone else. So top performers were not quicker learners, they just practiced harder.

What this suggests is that the more time teachers spend encouraging, monitoring and rewarding practice, the more successful their students will be.