Resources

Kodály wrote many reading exercises which are ideal for sight-reading practice and for reinforcing newly learned musical elements. These exercises range from simple single-line melodies of two or more notes through to multi-part pieces of greater melodic complexity, and can be used in many ways by the teacher to aid the understanding of rhythm, melody, form and tonality. The most famous, 333 Reading Exercises, features exclusively pentatonic melodies, so semitones and other challenging intervals are omitted. The 333 provides a wealth of musical material suitable for simple rhythm-reading from stick notation and stave, melodic sight-singing and inner hearing, ostinato exercises, dictation, canon singing, harmonic exercises etc. Pentatonic Music Volume II consists of marches composed by Kodály and may be used similarly to the 333.

Examples of Irish teaching resources include Sing with Mike by Mairéad Ní Chondúin, Jim Armour and the children of Fanore Primary School. This book comes with a CD and features a selection of folk songs, game songs and step-by-step activities tailored for the various stages of the primary school music curriculum and supported by Teachers’ Notes.