Level 1/2

This class is intended for people with little or no musical knowledge and will cover the basic elements of pitch, rhythm, metre and the introduction of the do and la pentatonic scale. One of the main features of Kodály inspired musicianship is the sound before symbol approach – the ability to hear what is written in notation.

Level 3

There is an assumption that members of this group are people with some musical knowledge (eg Grade 5 theory) but no solfa experience, who will understand the theory of music and will therefor move through the material quickly. This class will cover all pentatonic scales (do, re, mi so and la) and work on the do and la pentachords, leading to major and natural minor scales as well as covering rhythm names, metre, form and some improvisation.

Level 4

This class is aimed at those who have considerable musical experience (such as a music degree) and who have covered all the elements of Level 3. This knowledge will be consolidated, moving into harmonic and melodic minor and work on tonic/dominant harmony as well as absolute pitches, more complex rhythms, identifying intervals, improvising melodies to a given form, tone set and rhythm. An important focus of this level will be sight singing from solfa and stave and sing and play.

Level 5

This class is for those who have a thorough knowledge of the pentatonic scales and are aware of the hand signs and rhythm names. The content covered will include the revision of all pentatonic scales, all pentachords, diatonic major scale and natural minor scale, harmonic scale and an introduction to modes. Simple, compound and irregular time signature work will be introduced and there will be some harmonic work on triads and cadences.

Level 6

This class is for those who have attended Level 5 or have equivalent knowledge and will work on the consolidation and extension of pentatonic and diatonic music, altered pitches and modulations, the consolidation of simple, compound and irregular rhythmic elements, further introduction to the modes, consolidation of harmony, with the introduction of sub-dominant harmony. More complex 2 part sing and play exercises, composition and improvisation.

Level 7

These classes are intended for those who have a secure knowledge of the contents of Level 6 and who are working towards Level 8. The content covered will be further and more advanced work on the modes being sung in both authentic and modern solfa, major/minor/modal transformations, all chromatic alterations, modulation, triads and inversions.

Level 8

These classes are for those who have covered all the contents of Level 7. More complex material will be covered, analysing both Classical and Folk songs. Students will be expected to be able to sight sing from both stick and staff notation. Sing and play in three-part pieces and singing from three and four part pieces, use of irregular rhythms, composition and improvisation will be covered.

Level 9

Intended for those who have an advanced level of musicianship, this class will look at repertoire from Renaissance to Contemporary art music as well as folk songs. The class will focus on modulations to more distant keys, acoustic scale and whole tone scale. It will comprise an overview of classical harmony starting with diatonic harmony, triad and seventh chords and moving on to chromaticism in the second half of the course. This will consolidation participants’ prior experiences and provide security in analysis, writing and recognition of harmony.

Level 10

Aimed at those who have completed Level 9 and wish to extend their knowledge and focus on an overview of the five great musical style periods.

Each level has 10 weekly classes.