【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 sroom Music lessons were not mentioned in the autobiographical narrative, but in thinking back to these experiences and discussing them with my mother, who was just beginning to teach classroom Music at this time, I recall not enjoying classroom Music, yet I loved singing in the choir, going to violin and piano lessons, and playing in the school orchestra. Why? It was the nature of the lessons, Which were strongly Kodaly based . Kodaly advocated a sequential and developmental Music programme with Musical literacy as its goal. The programme was based around Kodaly’s belief that : true Musical literacy , the ability to read , write and think Music , is the right of every human being 。 2 . Music learning must begin with the voice 。 3 . the education of the Musical ear must begin in kindergarten and the primary grades ( or earlier ) if it is to be pletely successful 。 4 . Music skills and concepts necessary for Musical literacy should be taught with folk Music of the mother tongue 。 5 . only Music of unquestioned quality , both folk and posed , should be used ( Choksy , 1981 ) . During my time at primary school ( the mid 19705 ) Kodaly based Music education was introduced into Queensland primary schools . One of the few memories I have of c1assroom Music is singing songs , playing them on the recorder and performing the solfa hand signs while singing , all of which I disliked , and all of which was advocated at teachers college . Lifelong attitudes to Music are formed during the primary school years ( Asmus , 1986 。 Bowles , 1991 。 Temmerman , 1993 ) . Therefore , I questioned the nature of Kodaly based Music education during my pre service training , where Kodaly based Music education was the only ‘ method 39。 of teaching Music taught to pre 一service Music teachers . In interviews with classroom Music teachers of different ages , it was the teacher closet to my age ( 4 years teaching experience ) who questioned such a Kodaly based approach to Music education as I did : The Music program [ the Queensland Music Program , a strongly Kodaly based series of sequential Music lesson plans for each year level ] is totally unrealistic . I mean there’s no way you could get that done . You could perhaps get it done if you had little wooden children sitting there , but not with real children … I mean it 39。 s not … interesting to them a lot of the time … It 39。 5 just too far removed from the sort of Music they 39。 re hearing a lot of the time . Music folk songs and things like that , or Hungarian folk songs I know , it 39。 s just a little bit far fetched for them . I mean it 39。 s good with the little kid 、because of all the singing games and stuff , but … the older kids need something they can relate to a little bit more I think .This teacher 39。 s reference to teaching Music and Hungarian folk songs is important because it is this kind of folk song repertoire that is the repertoire for Kodalybased in Music education in Queensland . The songs taught at teachers college were predominantly this type of song. The Queensland primary school Music curriculum , Music Syllabus and Guidelines Years 17 ( Department of Education , Queensland , 1996 ) , does not specify what songs are to be taught , yet many Music teachers in Queensland exclusively teach Kodaly remended folk songs because they are presented as the material in the Queensland Music Program , ( Department of Education , Queensland , 1986 ) . This prises a set of 30 lesson plans for each year level in the primary school detailing not only Musical objectives , but also specific Kodaly based repertoire to be taught . The Kodaly method of Music education differs from other methods in its selection of song materials , which Kodaly insisted should be authentic children 39。 s games and nursery songs , authentic folk Music and ‘ good posed Music , i . e . Music written by recognized posers 39。 ( Choksy , 1988 , p . 17 ) . As much as the Queensland Music Program, tried to remain faithful to this , there was one glaring problem : the authentic folk Music to be used was to e from the mother country ( Choksy , 1981 , p . 7 ) 。 in this case , Australia . Bridges ( 1989 ) points out that ‘ Kodaly 39。 s song materials , intended for Hungarian children … ［are only］ examples for teachers , [ yet ] are used all over the world , regardless of their suitability for particular environments or developmental needs 39。 ( p . 45 ) . There are Australian folk songs in the Queensland Music Pro gram, but not many. Johnson ( 1 988 ) goes some way to explaining why , indicating that many Australian folk Songs are diatonic , begin with an anacrusis , are in 6 / 8 or3 / 4 meter , and have lyrics that are undesirable for the classroom . Therefore they are viewed as unsuitable as repertoire for a Kodaly based programme. As a result , there is a predominance of Music , Hungarian and Irish folk song material used instead . These songs are chosen because they are useful for teaching specific Musical skills . Certainly there is not the quantity of Australian folk song material that there is from England and Hungary 。 however , having Australian children sing mainly Music , Hungarian and Irish folk songs surely alienates children from Music to some degree , and goes against Kodaly 39。 s philosophy . Such song material lacks relevance to the life of Australian children , and as Bruner ( 1971 ) asserts , education must have social relevance and personal relevance to the child ( p . 114 ) . This highlights the crucial problem with the Kodaly method as practiced in many Queensland schools: the Music is chosen not so much for its Musical appeal to students, but to teach specific skills and concepts. This was also apparent at teachers college . I am not suggesting that the Kodaly method be abandoned. Anybody who has taught a Kodaly based Music programme will know just how successful it can be . From week to week , children 39。 s singing , particularly pitch , i