When music instructors gathered from all over the US and Canada to participate in the Kodály Institute at UTC (KIUTC), the group demonstrated new teaching techniques with students from UTC Youth University, a summer enrichment program. One of the Kodály instructors, Don Garrett, snapped the photo selected to appear on the cover of the winter 2010 issue of Kodály Envoy, the official journal of OAKE: The Organization of American Kodály Educators.
Garrett is retired after teaching 30 years with the Cleveland and Bradley County (Tennessee) school systems as both music specialist and elementary band director. He is currently on the faculty of the Kodály Institute at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, according to Beth Pontiff, Editor, Kodály Envoy.
“In this photo, visiting dance instructor Robbin Marcus leads the children and adults in a scatter mixer dance from Denmark called Sascha. Robbin, who lives in Atlanta, is an OAKE member and works with two other summer Kodály programs,” Pontiff said.
Participants and instructors from the Kodály Institute at UTC worked with two different groups of children, one week with third and fourth graders, the second week fifth and sixth graders, for 45 minutes each day on songs, games, and dances, according to Dr. Lee Harris, head of the UTC Department of Music. “The kids had a blast because it was all active and age-appropriate,” Harris said.
To become certified a teacher has to complete 225 hours of training. The teacher must demonstrate an ability to use this training in a music classroom through a video-recorded lesson, finish a folk song collection of 250 songs, and perform as a soloist and conductor on the concluding concert of the Level III (and final) course. Ultimately, the teachers learn to provide the best music instruction possible for their students.
To learn more about the Kodály Institute at UTC (KIUTC), email Lee-Harris@utc.edu.
Find more info about OAKE and the Kodály Envoy at www.oake.org.
