Zoltán Kodály for kids: his life, his music, and what to play first

Zoltán Kodály (say “KOH-dye”) was a Hungarian composer and teacher who lived from 1882 to 1967. He spent years in villages writing down the songs people sang, and he used those songs in his own music. Then he changed the way Hungarian children learn music, and teachers around the world took up his ideas. The best first piece for a child is “The Viennese Musical Clock” from his Háry János Suite.

Quick facts

• Born: 1882, in Kecskemét, Hungary
• Died: 1967, in Budapest, Hungary
• Era: Modern
• Played: violin, viola, cello, and piano
• Known for: the Háry János Suite, the Dances of Galánta, music for choirs, and the Kodály approach to teaching music

The life in short

Kodály’s father worked for the railway, and the family moved from town to town along the line. His father played the violin. His mother sang and played the piano. Friends came to the house to play music together.

Zoltán learned the violin and the piano as a boy. He taught himself the cello so that the family could play string quartets. He sang in a cathedral choir and began to compose.

From about age 3 to 10, he lived in Galánta, a small town that is now in Slovakia. A Roma band played there, and he never forgot the sound.

In 1900, he went to Budapest. He studied languages at the university and composing at the music academy at the same time.

In 1905, he set off for the countryside to collect folk songs. He asked villagers to sing the old songs they knew. He wrote them down and recorded them on wax cylinders. He soon joined forces with Béla Bartók, who shared his interest. The two became lifelong friends and collected thousands of songs. Read Bartók for kids.

He taught at the music academy in Budapest for more than 30 years.

In 1923, a piece for a singer, choir, and orchestra, the Psalmus Hungaricus, made his name outside Hungary.

In the 1920s, he turned to children. He wrote music for children’s choirs, and he pressed the government to put singing at the center of school life. In 1950, a primary school with daily music lessons opened in Kecskemét, the town where he was born. Many more followed.

He lived to 84.

What the music sounds like

Kodály’s music grows from Hungarian folk song. The tunes often use a scale of five notes. The rhythms follow the Hungarian language, where the first part of each word is stressed. That gives many phrases a strong snap at the start.

He wrote a great deal for choirs. His orchestra music is colorful and full of dance.

Pieces to play first

“The Viennese Musical Clock,” from the Háry János Suite. Bells, chimes, a piano, and a celesta play a bright march. A clock in the palace strikes, and toy soldiers parade around it. It lasts two minutes.

The opening of the Háry János Suite. The whole orchestra lets out a giant sneeze. In Hungary, people say that if someone sneezes after a story, the story is true. It is a joke, because this story is full of tall tales.

“The Battle and Defeat of Napoleon,” from the Háry János Suite. A comic battle with trombones and a saxophone, and a sad little funeral march at the end.

“Intermezzo,” from the Háry János Suite. A proud Hungarian dance. Listen for the cimbalom, a stringed instrument played with small hammers.

Dances of Galánta. About 15 minutes of dances that start slow and get faster. A clarinet has a long solo near the start. Kodály based the piece on the band music he heard as a boy.

Who is Háry János?

Háry János is an old soldier who sits in a village inn and tells stories about his youth. He says he beat Napoleon and his whole army alone. He says the emperor’s daughter wanted to marry him. Nobody believes him, and everybody loves to listen.

Kodály wrote a stage show with songs about him in 1926. The suite takes six pieces from it.

His ideas about teaching

Kodály held that music belongs to everyone, and that a child’s first instrument is the voice.

• Singing comes first.
• Children begin with the folk songs of their own language.
• Notes have names to sing, such as do, re, and mi, and a hand sign for each one.
• Rhythms have spoken sounds, such as “ta” and “ti-ti.”

Kodály did not invent the hand signs. An English teacher named John Curwen worked them out in the 1800s. Kodály and the teachers around him put the pieces together.

Read the Kodály method explained for parents, solfège explained for parents, and rhythm names explained for parents.

Things to do together

Sneeze. Play the first ten seconds of the suite. Then tell a tall tale and have everyone sneeze at the end.

Toy soldiers. March with stiff legs to “The Viennese Musical Clock.” Freeze when the music stops.

Tell a tall tale. Tell the story of your day the way Háry would. Make every part bigger.

Collect a song. Kodály wrote down songs from older people. Ask a grandparent to sing a song from their childhood. Write down the words or record it.

Print and play

Fill in a composer study notebook page for Kodály. To use folk songs at home, read folk song study for homeschool. For another composer who built a way of teaching, read Carl Orff for kids.

For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.