A study of musical leadership through,

Folksongs to
Kodaly, Vocal Leadership and Sound
painting methodology. Leadership

Master candidate: Jaderick Croes

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0.0 INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH______________________________________________________4
0.1 ABOUT THE AUTHOR_________________________________________________________________________4
0.2 HOW I WAS INTRODUCED TO SOUND PAINTING/ VOCAL PAINTING___________________________________4
0.3 KODALY AND SV____________________________________________________________________________5
0.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND SUB QUESTIONS:_____________________________________________________5
0.5 METHODOLOGY____________________________________________________________________________6
0.5.1 LITERATURE STUDY_________________________________________________________________________6
0.5.2 VOCAL LEADERSHIP COURSES_________________________________________________________________6
0.5.3 OBSERVATION OF VOCAL PAINTING LESSONS;____________________________________________________6
0.5.4 EXPERTS AS RESOURCES_____________________________________________________________________7
0.5.5 CLASSROOM PRACTICE______________________________________________________________________7

CHAPTER LIST AND DESCRIPTION.__________________________________________________________8

CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS THE KODALY PHILOSOPHY, SOUND PAINTING/ VOCAL PAINTING AND
VOCAL LEADERSHIP?______________________________________________________________________10
1.1 SIGNS THAT ASSISTS THE MUSIC LESSONS_______________________________________________________10
1.2 WHAT IS KODALY?_________________________________________________________________________10
1.3 SOUND PAINTING/ VOCAL PAINTING (SV) IN CONTEXT OF THE LESSON_______________________________11
1.4 WHAT IS VOCAL LEADERSHIP?_______________________________________________________________12

CHAPTER 2.0 WHAT IS A MUSICAL LEADER?________________________________________________13

2.1 BOBBY MCFERRIN’S THOUGHTS:_____________________________________________________________13
2.1.1 MAKING MUSIC FLOW NATURALLY__________________________________________________________13
2.1.2 VILLAGES COMING TOGETHER._____________________________________________________________13
2.1.3 THE SHAMAN.____________________________________________________________________________14
2.1.4 DIFFERENT PEOPLE WORKING TOGETHER.____________________________________________________15
2.2 LEADERSHIP IN ORCHESTRAS_________________________________________________________________15

CHAPTER 3: REFLECTION ON THE CLASSROOM LESSONS AND THE LEADERSHIP ASPECT OF

THE CLASSROOM CHILDREN_______________________________________________________________17
3.1 INTRODUCTION____________________________________________________________________________17
3.2 THE COMPETENCES IN THE LESSON PLANNING___________________________________________________17
3.2.1 MUSICIANSHIP:__________________________________________________________________________17
3.2.2 MUSIC COLLABORATION___________________________________________________________________26
3.2.3 VOCAL PAINTING/ SOUND PAINTING SIGNS (SV SIGNS)___________________________________________29
3.2.4 A SENSE OF (MUSICAL) COMMUNITY AND LEADERSHIP__________________________________________33

CHAPTER 4: REPERTOIRE AND DESCRIPTIONS______________________________________________43

CHAPTER 5: LESSON PLANNING_____________________________________________________________96

CHAPTER 6: WHAT WAS GIVEN AND GIVEN BACK IN MUSICAL COLLABORATION.__________159

6.1 ENERGY GIVEN___________________________________________________________________________159
6.2 ENERGY TAKEN___________________________________________________________________________160

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0.1 About the author

Jaderick Croes is a musician born in Aruba. Jaderick began his musical studies in the
Netherlands in 2012 with a specialization in classical guitar under the guidance of Marlon Titre
at the Fontys Conservatory in Tilburg. In 2017 Jaderick graduated for his Bachelors degree in
music and continued his Master studies in The Hague Koninklijke Conservatory specializing in
music education according to the Kodaly concept. In 2017 Jaderick was introduced to the
method of sound painting and vocal painting; a method utilizing sign language to create music.
Jaderick enrolled in the vocal leadership intense weekend course module 1, where he was
thought how to use the methodology to further his musical repertoire. Jaderick continued with
module 2 in February to expand his musical horizons. Jaderick is also a composer and has
participated in various festivals on his native island of Aruba, and up until now, has won 6 first
place prizes in the “Himno y bandera” festival with 2 more first place prizes in the “propio
composicion dande festival”. Jaderick is currently teaching in Eindhoven, Best and The Hague
as a guitar teacher and Musicianship teacher and is seasonally giving lesson on the island of
Aruba to grade school children. Jaderick is member of Grupo di Betico, this group is described
as a family, family folkloric symphonic orchestra and is well known on the island of Aruba.
Grupo di Betico performed in various countries, including the Netherlands, Colombia, Curacao,
Belgium, Germany. Jaderick performed with Grupo di Betico in the 50 anniversary concert a
long side the Venezuelan recording orchestra. Jaderick orchestrated 3 pieces and conducted 2
pieces with the orchestra performing along side one of the most well known artist in the
Netherlands and The Antilles, Izaline Calister. Jaderick is also a member of the group Oruba, a
Jazz group that is influenced musically by the heritage of the island of Aruba.

0.2 How I was introduced to Sound painting/ Vocal painting

It was in 2016, I was introduced to a way of making music that I never thought was possible. I
have studied many styles of music, from classical, flamenco, Jazz, South American folklore.
Although Jazz would be the closest one to this style of music making, this still would not give a
satisfactory explanation how this style functions. The style I am referring to is what people
would call ‘’Music of the moment”. Walter Thompson describes music of the moment (music
being created in real time) as Sound painting. [CITATION Wal09 \l 1033 ]. Walter goes on to
explain that there are many possibilities to the Sound painting/ Vocal painting language with
regards to making music. For the sake of the research from now on, I will describe Sound
painting/Vocal painting as SV.
According to Walter, the SV language gives you the possibility to compose in real time, arrange
in real time and add to the music in real time.
I was fascinated by this way of music making and because of this fascination, I attended the
Vocal leadership course provided by Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam, where they teach you
the basics of SV and making music in the moment by the use of specially for this purpose
developed signs. Upon taking the classes, I discovered something more to SV; that is
responsibility, and most important one, leadership. My research dives into musical leadership

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and how children can utilize this way of making music, making use of the SV signs. The
research is also influenced by the Kodaly method, in which the ‘music in the moment’ is not
created in real time. Therefore, author and the participants will be utilizing the signs to embellish
folksongs; approaching folksongs in a different way.

0.3 Kodaly and SV

To give a small explanation on how the research is Kodaly and SV influenced, I would have to
define what I mean with embellishing folksongs. I do not mean embellishing as to what the
practice was in the Baroque or Classical era (here the notes were oftentimes adorned). In this
research I mean embellishing by adding or subtracting from the piece that is being performed. I
will be utilizing folksongs frequently to add or subtract; to indicate what I want to add or
subtract. I ‘sign’ the children to add a musical parameter to the piece; this is what is meant with
the ‘SV signs’. For example: You start a piece, f.e, Bluebird (an American folk song). The
children are singing at a moderate volume; with the volume sign, I will raise the volume of the
piece; the children are now singing louder. Afterwards, I lower the volume with the volume sign
again. I go on to give the sign to ‘energize’, the children are now singing the words to the song;
however, only concentrating on rhythm and words because the melody has been taken out. What
is important here is that the children keep singing until signed otherwise. There are various signs
and all are given when the piece is in motion. In chapter 3, I will explain more about these signs
and how the Kodaly philosophy can benefit from it.

0.4 Research questions and sub questions:

The research emphasizes leadership in children utilizing the SV signs; however, the thematic of
musical leadership is far greater then just ‘leading musically’. There are other aspects to being a
musical leader then to just utilizing signs or to conduct. Jansson states: ‘’Although it takes
certain skills to fulfil conducting functions, and the quality of execution definitely affects the
result, the legitimacy of the role derives, first and foremost, from the fact that someone is taking
care of duties which would otherwise burden the ensemble as a whole’’ [ CITATION Dag18 \l
1033 ]

If I take this in the context of my research, then it is self evident that the leader has other
responsibilities than to just make music [ CITATION Dag18 \l 1033 ]. I am utilizing the word
conductor in this context equally to leader. This is because the conductor has a leadership role in
the orchestra. Thiran states: “Great conductors lead. Most musicians in the orchestra are
much more talented than the conductor. They are experts in their musical instruments.
Great leaders know when to lead and when to let others lead’’ [CITATION ROS14 \l
1033 ]. The word lead being emphasized to denominate the conductor.
The research and the practice of the research (see methodology) is meant to teach
leadership in children and the philosophies around what it is to be a musical leader.
From all the resources gathered I came to the following research question:

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To what extent can leadership be taught utilizing the Kodaly method in combination with
the Vocal leadership and Sound painting method?

Sub questions:
1. How can musicianship be practiced through SV signs in the Kodaly context?

2. What qualities should a musical leader have in the context of this research?

3. How do I verify that the properties of leadership are being taught and or practiced in the
classroom?

0.5 Methodology

The methodology of this research is done in five ways ways: literature study, vocal painting
courses in Rotterdam, observation in vocal painting lessons to children, interviews and the most
important: classroom practice.

0.5.1 Literature study

Author gathered literature in various categories all having to do with: leadership, creativity,
musicianship, classroom management, improvisation, vocal painting, sound painting, aesthetics
study, philosophy of music. All of which have a correlation to define a musical leader.

0.5.2 Vocal leadership courses

Author has attended vocal leadership courses to assist with the knowledge of what it is to be a
musical leader and how can the pedagogy be used in a Kodaly based classroom.

0.5.3 Observation of vocal painting lessons;

In the future, the author will observe 2 or 3 lessons from a vocal painter and how the teacher uses
this methodology in their musical classroom. Author also are using experts in this field to
compare the way of giving lessons in this methodology and how can author use these tools to use
in the author’s classroom.

0.5.4 Experts as resources

Author has had extensive conversations and will continue to seek out people both musical and
non-musical people to find out why leadership in children is important. Author is interested in
knowing the disadvantages of the method and seeks to find people who do not see eye to eye
with the Vocal leadership combined Kodaly methodology.

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0.5.5 Classroom practice
Author is interested to research how the combined method of Kodaly and Vocal leadership will
result with children in the classroom. Author has chosen two classrooms to be the objects of the
main experiment. The school chosen by the author is Heydonck basisschool in Best, Noord
Brabant. Author will be working with group 7 and a mixed language class (taalklas). The Author
made lesson plans with regards to the research itself. These lesson plans are created with the
term leadership in mind, what competences should a child have to become a musical leader and
how this is practiced in each lesson.

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Chapter list and description.

Chapter 0 introduction +questions and sub questions.

Chapter 1: What is the Kodaly philosophy, Sound painting and Vocal painting and Vocal
leadership?
In this chapter, I will explain what the Kodaly pedagogy is in my views and opinions. I will also
dive into explaining what Sound Paining, Vocal painting and Vocal leadership are.

Chapter 2: What is a musical leader in the context of literature and personal thoughts.
In this chapter, I will dive into the definition of what a musical leader is. What does current
literature says about what musical leadership is? We have to take into account, that these
children are not instrumentalists; we are using their voices and body to liberate the music within.
The musical leader has to have a level of musicianship; (which is practiced in the classroom)
however, a musical leader is also responsible for many other aspects of the musical group he/she
is leading. (This is expressed in this chapter). The children will learn musicianship, SV signs and
Leadership philosophies.

Chapter 3: Reflection on the classroom lessons and the leadership aspect of the classroom
children.
In this chapter I will dive into the leadership in context of the Kodaly and The Vocal leadership
pedagogy. What are the philosophies of people utilizing circle songs and practice this type of
musical leadership? How can this be incorporated in the Kodaly context?

Chapter 4: Repertoire transcriptions, activities and suggestions

In this chapter, you can find the repertoire used during the 16 lessons with added
activities and recommendations for teachers.

Chapter 5: Lesson planning

In this chapter, the lesson planning and reflections can be found. In some
reflections, resources where used to backup the author’s conclusions.

Chapter 6: Reflection on the children and teacher

In this chapter, I am discussing what the children and the teacher learned from this experience.

Conclusion

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Reader’s guide

The objective of this section of the report is to provide the reader with a structured view how the
research was planned and conducted. To facilitate this research, it has been divided into four
phases:

1. Exploratory phase
2. Data collection phase
3. Analysis phase
4. Design phase.

Below you will find a summary of the chapters of this report under each research phase.

Ad. 1 Exploratory phase

This phase contains three chapters with the objective to define each methodology and the
concepts relevant to this research and most importantly, give answer to the first two sub
questions of this research.

The first chapter explain what the Kodaly philosophy, Sound painting and Vocal painting and
Vocal leadership are. Furthermore, this chapter discusses the Kodaly pedagogy and in addition,
dives into the details of Sound Paining, Vocal painting and Vocal leadership.

The objective of the second chapter is to define what a musical leader is from a literature
perspective. Defining musical leadership, one has to take into account, that the pupils are not
instrumentalists. The intention is that pupils use their voices and body to liberate the music
abilities within. The musical leader has to have a level of musicianship; (which is practiced in the
classroom) however, a musical leader is also responsible for many other aspects of the musical
group he/she is leading.

Chapter 3 presents a description of what is understood of the classroom lessons and the
leadership aspects. In this chapter, I will dive into the leadership in context of the Kodaly and the
Vocal leadership pedagogy. The philosophies of people utilizing circle songs and practicing this
type of musical leadership are described, and how these can be incorporated in the Kodaly
context.

Ad. 2 Data collection phase

The objective of this phase is primarily to present the finding of the conducted research based on
the literature review and research methodologies.

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Chapter 4 contains a description of the repertoire transcriptions, activities and suggestions. This
chapter presents the repertoire used during the 16 lessons. Chapter 5 describes the lesson
planning extensively, because most data was collected during the facilitation of the classes. This
phase also includes chapter 6, in which the learning experience of both the pupils and the teacher
are presented.

Ad. 3 Analysis phase

The chapter(s) presented in this phase present the analysis of the data collected during the
experimental journey of the research and also gives answer to the 3rd sub question.

Ad. 4 Design phase.

The last phase of this research is to present the conclusions and recommendations as a result of
this research. The chapter presented in this phase gives answer to the main research question,
which was: To what extent can leadership be taught utilizing the Kodaly method in
combination with the Vocal leadership method?

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Chapter 1: What is the Kodaly philosophy, Sound painting/ Vocal painting and Vocal
leadership?

1.1 Signs that assists the music lessons

At first, I have noticed that one key item that has always beset me, in my private and classroom
lessons; this was the flow, the tempo, the groove. Many items can proceed (in the lessons) at a
much faster rate and proper groove or tempo; sadly, this was not being accomplished. On my
musical journey, I encountered many techniques to aid in the classroom management and groove
of the lesson and later noticed that I was going back to my original issues. On a given day, I
came across signs that I introduced during my bachelor career but never considered them in a
classroom/Kodaly based environment.

1.2 What is Kodaly?

The Kodaly concept is a Philosophy of Zoltan Kodaly in how children should be taught music.
According to Kodaly, the primary instrument that we need to develop in children is the voice
because the voice is the most intimate instrument that one can have. Children need to be taught
music by utilizing simple music (folksongs) of their language and culture. The singing of
folksongs and games around the songs itself should be a preparation to later give children the
access art music. The Kodaly philosophy utilizes the ‘prepare, practice and present’ philosophy.
Before music theory can be taught, the child should already have been prepared for a certain
musical parameter that is wished to be taught by the teacher. If the focus of the lesson is ‘beat’;
the child will be taught to hold on to that beat through a series of musical activities such as:
singing, clapping etc. The Kodaly methodology utilizes feeling of a musical parameter before
introducing the aforementioned parameter into a definition. The three stages that a child will go
through utilizing the Kodaly philosophy are the following:

- Prepare: The child is prepared for a musical parameter through a series of musical activities;
this is done in order to provide the subject with the sensation of the musical parameter. Musical
parameter can mean a plethora of activities: beat holding, (eight) note clapping etc.

- Present: The presentation is done in abstract form. All knowledge acquired during the intense
weeks of preparation lead to the abstract form of the musical framework. All prior sensational
knowledge that the subjects acquired are given a definition; they are made aware that what was
done in the last weeks is known as the variable musical parameter, e.g.: beat.

- Practice: The constant repetition is of primary importance when it comes to the subject of
music. In an article by Evelyn Maldonado, she states: ‘’that the human mind is attracted to
repetition’’. With an abundance of repetition, the subjects anchor the musical parameter in their
minds. It should be so well anchored that that it becomes part of their musical imagery: the
internal music heard in our minds. (Maldonado, 2012) also explains about the ‘brain worm’: a
melodic motive that is acquired when a piece of music is repeated several times. This is the aim
in my lessons. The subject should know the piece and the musical parameter so well that it is
forever marked in their hearts.

1.3 Sound painting/ Vocal painting (SV) in context of the lesson

SV, is the practice of utilizing gestures to communicate a musical parameter; think of tempo,

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staccato, dynamics. Example: I am singing the folksong, ‘rain rain’. I ask the children to start
singing the piece, while the children are, singing I utilize the volume sign; the children are
singing softer. I utilize the break sign (inner hearing) the children are singing the piece in their
head; I utilize the reset sign and they start singing again. This can continue for a few minutes
utilizing different signs to change the piece. Note that the signs can go from very simple to very
difficult. In this case, because I am working with children, I utilize very simple signs. For older
and more experienced students we can use more signs.

The practice of using signs in lessons is often utilized by teachers in the regular classroom. In the
book ‘Handboek voor leraren’ (handbook for teachers) Geerts en Kralingen explain that gestures
are stronger than words when it comes to stopping unruly children[CITATION Gee16 \p 157 \l
1033 ]. The word in this citation on which I want to place an accent is ‘stronger’. According to
Petra Teerink, We communicate our whole lives with children nonverbally [ CITATION Pet12 \l
1033 ]. According to [ CITATION Moh05 \l 1033 ]: ‘’A child normally communicates with his
mother through cries, eye contact, and touch. It is only at a later stage that verbal language is
introduced. Research in the domain of nonverbal communication reveals that human
communication is mostly nonverbal’’. In my case, I see gesturing stronger because when we are
utilizing a singing activity, I can easily switch between musical parameters without having to
stop the piece and explain what needs to be done. Think of, for example, if I am singing a
folksong and I want to switch the singing to clapping of the melody and not have to tell them to
do it; I want smoother transition without having to stop the piece. This also works pretty well
when going to a new song.

I don’t utilize these signs to stop unruly children. I utilize them to do the following:

1. To communicate with the classroom on what I want to be done during a musical activity
singing in a circle. Think of: making a circle, walk in a circle, stop the circle from walking, basic
steps. All of these can be given in gesture in order to keep the lesson moving forward. These
signs are considered in this research as management signs.

2. To control the musical parameters of a musical piece: think of volume, clapping (to accent
rhythms), inner hearing, sing shorter notes etc.

1.4 What is Vocal leadership?

The Vocal leadership music education is aimed to create musical leadership and musical
collaboration between singers. In the Vocal leadership music education, you are taught:
musicianship, choir leading, move and groove. The lesson is also focused on developing musical
leadership, community and teamwork in regards to making music. Vocal leadership focuses on
the principle of vocal painting in combination with making music in the moment. Music in the
moment, as defined by Kristian is music that is made in the moment or in real time. Kristian
speaks about autonomy in the music making and explains that in comparison to choral music
-where music is made from pre-rehearsed sheet music- music of the moment groups give the
individual the chance to bring his/her idea to the table, it gives them this autonomy of creating
something of their own to benefit the performance. Kristian also speaks about mastery of the
craft of improvisation or music of the moment. At some point, to achieve a mastery of the art we
must have at least the basic musical skills; ear training being an important one [ CITATION
Skå13 \l 1033 ]. All of the above-mentioned are incorporated in the Musicianship/ methodology
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of Vocal leadership adding also leadership and team building activities to fortify the bond
between singers. An important aspect to musical leadership in the Vocal leadership methodology
is the aspect of vocal painting. Vocal painting as described above is the art of communicating
musical signs for a singer to perform.

Example of a Musical dialogue between leader and performer:

- Leader assigns, pointing at the singer: you, create.
- Singer 1: creates a looping melody line
- Leader assigns new singer: harmonize with singer 1
- Singer 2 harmonizes with singer 1.
- Leader utilizes volume sign on singer 1 and 2
- Singer 1 and 2 lowers their volume.
- Leader asks in sign to end the loop thus ending the performance
- Singer 1 and 2 ends their loop and thus ending the performance.

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Chapter 2.0 What is a musical leader?

2.1 Bobby McFerrin’s thoughts:

‘’ If you are in an African village, you are singing you are dancing, it is not a performance, it is
just another part of your day (…) This comes from the notion that villages in Africa would come
together and the Shaman gives them parts to sing. My belief is that different cultures who do not
know each other can sing together if someone is there to find the parts for them to sing.’’

-Bobby McFerrin- 2012

2.1.1 Making music flow naturally

As you can see, Bobby McFerrin mentions a couple of items that belong to the research (the goal
of the research) and some items that are related to the philosophy of the research itself. Bobby
mentions about performance being another part of your day. As a music teacher I want music to
flow naturally; making it a part of the day for anyone; it is certainly not my goal to make the
music making a mundane task. Keeping in mind that I am working with children, my belief is
that if I make the music fun and enjoyable it will ultimately flow naturally and becomes part of
your day because of the enjoyment. You can see this when children are singing spontaneously on
the playground or doing clapping games or just singing the song in the hallway. On a personal
account in my lesson practice, children would often either come to me or show me the signs that
they practiced outside the lesson, or start singing a song that I have taught them. These children
are also the ones who actively want to sign other students during the lessons; meaning, at that
point, they want to lead the group. If I take the music making from the quote of Bobby McFerrin
and approach it with a classroom in mind, in the concept for which I am researching, I would
come to the following statement: music making should be fun, enjoyable and at the same time,
develop the child musically. In a research by Custudero, she explains that, children need
challenging tasks to give them optimal experience; in return, this optimal experience will make
the activity rewarding, which in turn, gives the children a fun and enjoyable experience. The
challenging tasks that I am utilizing are the Kodaly based musicianship practice [CITATION
Lor11 \l 1033 ]. There is a myriad of activities we can use to practice bring the musicianship to a
higher level, think of clapping games, quadlibets, games etc.; all of this while letting the children
enjoy the music.

2.1.2 Villages coming together

Singing the same song together is a way to bind us together; this was stated in the prefatory note
by [ CITATION Lau39 \l 1033 ] on the CD, African music. In African tradition, music is used
for various purposes. Bolton goes on by quoting: ‘’Music is by far the most vital and most
demonstrative expression in the life of the [African] 5. From morning till night, from the cradle to
the grave, everything is done to the rhythm of the music’’.

5
In the article, Boulton utilizes the word negro as the nomenclature for the African person and is for this reason, it
has been changed to the word African.

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Because the research is leadership oriented, this can be used as a philosophy to teach the children
about leadership. The leader, in the context of my research, has to have the ability to make the
group make music together and lead them musically. I have to emphasize that leadership in the
context of this research is about 1 child utilizing the SV signs to embellish the folk songs,
making the children sing together, create together. Creating - in the context of the research- is
utilizing the signs in the folksongs; this in turn leads them to either create something new in the
parameters of the folk song or rearrange the folk song to their taste. [ CITATION Jim18 \l 1033 ]
states the following: Vopa [vocalpainting] is used to communicate non-verbally between
conductor and singers to create improvisational vocal art. The system offers an advanced set of
tools to lend shape and structure to the music of the moment. Both conductor and singers are able
to implement live composing, live arranging, re-composing (…). If we compare Hjernøe’ s and
Bolton’s statement, we can see a correlation between what the African tribes do with music and
what Hjernøe wants to achieve in the sense of making music with a group of people. Hjernøe is
looking to create musical leadership utilizing the SV signs and at the same time, letting a group
of people sing together, the group is being lead by a shaman; this correlates with Bobby Mc
Ferrin’s statement also.
As stated before, in this research, I am not looking to create new pieces, rather embellish folk
songs by utilizing this tool.

2.1.3 The Shaman

The Shaman in the context of Bobby McFerrin is seen as the musical leader of a group. His task
is to give the people the parts to sing. The Vocal leadership methodology is derived from the
leadership of the Shaman.

One of the methodologies being used in this research is the methodology of Vocal leadership
(vocal painting). The methodology has 3 different pedagogical areas which they try reinforce in
their students as Jim Daus Hjernøe (2018) states:
1. Development of skills in 5 musical focus – intonation and pitch, rhythm and groove, sound
and blend, interpretation and expression, performance and concert design-
2. Implementation of vocal painting.
3. Extension of the singer’s comfort zone - liberation of voice, body and soul -.
I am particularly (for this research) interested in point 2 &3, where 3 being the most relevant to
the title of this section of the research (1.0). The liberation of the body and soul is very important
to me, to the development of that musical leader. The musical leader must be capable of utilizing
the signs and taking risks with the pieces being embellished, because the signing of the
musicians has to happen spontaneously. If I conclude this part, the following can be said: Bobby
McFerrin wants the music to flow naturally. In order for me to make this music flow naturally I
would have make my musical lessons enjoyable; to make the lessons enjoyable, the children
need to feel that they are being challenged in order to make it an enjoyable and fun experience.
In order for me to challenge the children in the concept of my research, I would have to utilize
musicianship activities and practice them in each lesson. The fun and enjoyable experience
(according to what is written above) will ultimately make the music flow and give them the
confidence to lead musically. In an article by [ CITATION Joh \l 1033 ] In order to create
leadership in children, one has to develop skills in the children; Rompton goes on to mention: “I

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can take this example and set it also into musical leadership, particularly when developing
(musical) skills”.

2.1.4 Different people working together

There are many ways of music making; take for example an orchestra. According to
[ CITATION Tim03 \l 1033 ] these people are brought together to make music utilizing their
instrument. In an orchestra, the bringing forth of the music is done through paper; however, this
is just one way of bringing music to an audience. There is also the art of improvisation mostly
found in Jazz music. Improvisation, according to Montuori (as cited in Holdhus K., et al 2016),
Improvisation comes from the Latin word improvises, meaning: the unforeseen. In daily use,
improvisation is used as an intuitive, spontaneous and response activity when something fails or
something unforeseen happens. The unforeseen happened while Walter Thompson was
conducting a sound painting orchestra in Paris. During the performance, Walter accidentally hit
his musical stand and the contents of the music stand was scattered on the stage. Luckily, the
performance was sound painting based. The ‘incident’ became a part of the show. Walter signed
to the actors to inform what was happening (the music stand had fallen down) and continued the
performance as if nothing had happened. This correlates also to the study of Vocal leadership.
The education of Vocal leadership has its roots in sound painting. According to [ CITATION
Mer18 \l 1033 ] - as explained in the Vocal leadership course the author has attended- anything
can happen during a performance. When you are on that stage, you are the vocal leader, your
task is to sign musicians (sign a musician to create a melody or a rhythm pattern) to create a
certain musical parameter or improvisation; the music or melodies created are looped. In turn,
the leader adds to this loop by signing other musicians to either create something relating to what
is already being done or create something completely new; think of it as everyone collaborating
to make an improvised piece of music; think of it as having one common goal, the common goal
being to make music. There are no mistakes to be made by either the sound painter or performer,
you just have to adapt to everything the performer gives you. It is possible that you sign a certain
musical parameter for the singer to perform; however, the singer is capable of making ‘mistakes’
and does something completely different; this is where we have to adapt to the ‘mistake’ that has
been made. Notice that I have the word mistake between parentheses. This is because; as above
mentioned, there are no mistakes, (Thompson, 2005) there is only adapting to what the performer
gives you even if in the moment it was not the sign that you gave. [CITATION Wal09 \l 1033 ]

2.2 Leadership in orchestras

In a traditional orchestra, the responsibility of making music is shared between the conductor and
the instrumentalists [ CITATION Chr19 \l 1033 ]. According to Carnicer, Calderon and Oriola;
the conductor performs the role of the teacher as well as performing the functions of the director
and leader of the group [CITATION Car \l 1033 ]. What is intriguing in the above-mentioned
resources is what can be said about responsibility. Each individual in an orchestra carries a
responsibility with respect to the music making and the discipline around the orchestra itself;
everyone has to contribute either logistically or musically. There are many ways in which
responsibility can take form. In an example used by [ CITATION Del88 \l 1033 ], imagine you

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are ill and have to perform, you inform your colleague that you are limited in your actions with
regards to the performance. This person can either reinforce you with your parts or substitute
you. However, Schaik explains that this has to do with what type of orchestra or group you are
performing in. Is the group flexible? Is the group willing to adapt itself to the situation?

This research dives into the thematic of musical leadership in the classroom. The importance of
giving a child leadership is essential to the education/ personal development. In a discussion with
J. Overkamp (Fontys hogeschool voor de Kunsten music didactics teacher, 27 March 2018) She
states that: giving a child leadership has a positive effect on the development of the child. Not
only does it make the child independent but also helps to motivate him/her. Overkamp calls it:
“eigenaarschap” or ownership. The child is in control of his/her own learning process; the music
created or conducted in the circle will give the child the ownership of his/her material and this
helps to motivate the child. The goal of my research is to give children leadership and make them
musical leaders while utilizing the sound painting/ vocal painting gestures combining this with
the Kodaly pedagogy and folk music stylistic.

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Chapter 3: Reflection on the classroom lessons and the leadership aspect of
the classroom children

3.1 Introduction
In this chapter, I will reflect and explain to the reader about the lessons that were conducted in
Best. The lesson plans are also attached in this chapter and are provided with reflections on each
of the lessons. In this chapter, I will reflect and explain in depth about the leadership taught
during these lessons, what was done to accomplish this leadership, the activities performed etc.

3.2 The competences in the lesson planning

In the lesson planning, we come across the competences of a musical leader. These competencies
are formulated by various resources that I have encountered during this leadership journey of
music education. The following competences are in the lesson planning:

-Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

-Music Collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]

-Vocal/ Soundpainting signs (SV)[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ] & [CITATION Wal09 \l 1033 ]

-A sense of musical community and leadership6 [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

Musicianship:
The research itself is based on the Kodaly philosophy of music making; however, the research
also focuses on leadership. In the Vocal leadership program in Codarts, Rotterdam; they also
have their way of practicing musicianship. They (Vocal leadership) utilize the body as the motor
to practice the musicianship; however, because the research is Kodaly based I wished to practice
the musicianship with the children in the Kodaly philosophy. In my classroom, the musicianship
was practiced through: singing, games, clapping games, inner hearing exercises, gmusic dictation
via games (utilizing a game I let the children find out the rhythms I dictated to them), listening
and tapping pulse etc. Through signs I also had an opportunity to practice the musicianship (see
Vocal/ soundpainting (SV) in 3.2.3). In the book written by Jansson, he explains that Musical
technical mastery is of primary importance when it comes to the conductor. In the technical
mastery of his book, he lays out that: Language skills, Vocal technique, repertoire knowledge,
score proficiency, aural skills, gestural vocabulary and choir acoustics play an important role
when it comes to the leader (conductor) of the group. Because I am dealing with a classroom of
children all the musicianship competences cannot be practiced according to Jansson - keep in
mind these children are 10/11 year olds who have music lessons once a week - however, I did
practice a few of them in the classroom; namely:
6
The leadership is practiced in two ways: Regular leadership and Musical leadership.
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Singing skills/vocal technique:
I found it very important to practice the singing skills seeing Kodaly is based primarily of
singing in combination with aural skills (in a very simple way) by utilizing dictations (this will
also be explained in this chapter). The children were taught how to sing properly.

Aural skills:
The musicianship was practiced utilizing games to dictate rhythm patterns to the children.
Because there were only fifteen lessons and the focus of these lessons was leadership, I could not
come to melodic dictation skills.

Repertoire knowledge:
In the case of Jansson’s statements; knowing the score by heart is crucial. As the conductor, you
must be aware of what is going on in the whole piece. While the singer or the instrumentalist is
busy with his/her own part, you must be attentive to all the parts. In my case, the children are
given broad repertoire selection; these selections are repeated throughout the lessons. The
knowledge of what will happen in the music when it is known by heart will make the leading or
SV easier for the children. They will know exactly where in the piece it is logical to sign a new
musical parameter through the SV signs.

Gestural vocabulary:
Jansson explains that a certain gestural proficiency is part of the competences of a conductor
(leader). A rich repertoire of gestures will enhance the effectiveness of the conductor in many
ways. To the average person, conductors are only there to give the beat and this is in fact a very
shallow conclusion. The gestures that the leader uses also must give shape to the music itself. In
the case of the classroom, the children are not taught conducting gestures in the traditional sense;
they are thought the SV signs - which are also gestures and extra tools of conducting -. These
signs help shape the music to how they want it to be shaped. The children were taught to utilize
their body more and more, because the signs are just one way of shaping the music itself. Some
children do it; some children are still not comfortable moving in front of their peers. You can
really feel the energy increase in the piece when a child does it with a great deal of energetic
movements; the children sing with more energy than when one child does the SV signs without
movements.

‘’Talking circles, also called “peace making circles,” come from the traditions of indigenous
people of North America, particularly tribes in the Midwest. Circle processes are based upon
equality between participants and the principle of sharing power with each other instead of
having power over one another.’’

-Alaina Winters

According to [ CITATION Ala \l 1033 ] the circle should be a safe place where one can express
themselves, share problems, problem solving or just discuss a topic without having to be judged.

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It is meant to be used as a contribution to the classroom without the teacher having to be the
primary content giver; it gives the child leadership on the content he/she wants to bring forward.

Development of musicianship:
Musicianship development was done various ways:

- Clapping
- Inner hearing
- Aural recognition
- Singing
- Games
- Music appreciation

Clapping
Clapping games were utilized to either clap the beat or clap the rhythms of the pieces. I would
often switch from a sung piece to clap the rhythm by utilizing the clapping sign in order to not
disrupt the flow of the piece. The children know beforehand that when the clapping sign is given,
children can only clap the rhythm and not sing. Karen Cadera expresses that clapping lets you
listen carefully to what you are playing and helps you develop the ear[ CITATION Cad17 \l
1033 ]. I will also add that clapping is a great tool to prepare the children aurally when
introducing a new piece. I would often clap the rhythm first and have the children clap the
rhythm back to me; I would choose very simple folk songs with tadi tadi tadi ta (rhythmical
elements, pieces that have this element: Engine number 9, Appelboom, Wie kruipt eronder door.)
To give variation to clapping games, I would often let a child go into the middle of the circle I
would ask a child to clap only on beat 2 or 3; the children outside the circle will just stomp all
the heartbeats (beats of the piece)

Inner hearing
Inner hearing is also utilized between the pieces utilizing the inner hearing signs. Inner hearing
was not only utilized to promote musicianship; it was also used to develop the music community
of the lesson and utilized as a tool to embellish the pieces that we performed in the SV rounds
with the children. When the children are singing, I would often give them the chance to give the
inner hearing signs where they deem fit to use it. The sign is also used as a musicianship
practice..see video

In the video, I am showing how it is done in a logical sense; I utilize the sign on every first beat
of the measure, on the first beat and throughout the measure we have to inner hear, in the next
measure, I deactivate the inner hearing and we keep singing. Children will have the sign in their
hands and do the same movement. See

I let them do this on each measure just to let them get a sense of logical movement; in the circle
singing round they can utilize it how they want as long as it is used logically.

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Figure 1: This image shows where I utilize the break in a logical way. This also practices the
children's sense of whole notes. A variation can be done with half notes and breve (double
whole notes)

Aural rhythm recognition

Lessons were focused on leadership; however, I found important to incorporate theory in the
lessons. Because all of my songs were had the rhythms: Tadi Tadi Tadi ta, I used this as the basis
of teaching the children theory. The following was thought to children with chair games.

Figure 2: This combination is translated to the chair game for aural exercise

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Translated to:

Figure 3: The children are sitting on the chairs to illustrate the Tadi tadi tadi ta rhythm

The children are standing in a circle and I would often use one of the pieces with the same
rhytmic element in as in image 2. I would sing the last lines with the Tadi tadi tadi ta element
and the children have to guess what I sang. Off course, the children are prepared by clapping
everything with teacher. I would make my way to the chairs and point to the chairs (chairs are
acting as beats) while singing the rhythms. Children have to guess how many times I sang or
clapped on the beats (chairs); this is done beat by beat (chair by chair). When a child guesses
correctly, I let either one child or two children sit on the chairs (depending if the chair is a tadi
chair or a ta chair)

Singing
‘’To teach a child an instrument without first giving him preparatory training and without
developing singing, reading and dictating to the highest level along with the playing is to build
upon sand.’’

-Zoltan Kodaly

To be very clear, we are utilizing simple folk songs to develop the singing in the children.
Singing is a very important part in the lessons as it accounts for a majority of the activities.
Singing connects you with the music and helps you understand what is happening in the music
itself. Rhythmically incorrect performed passages can be corrected if one starts singing the piece
before playing it on the instrument. You can see this often in a child while I am teaching to play
an instrument. Children would often play a simple piece incorrectly; it is at this moment that we

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have to engage them to sing the piece to get the rhythm we want. I always engage my students in
singing before they are even allowed to play the piece on the instrument. Off course this is
personal experience. In an article posted by the New Mozart School of Music, 7Vicky, W
expresses why singing is so important, Vicky W explains that singing is the quickest way to
internalize the music and is vital to develop a good ear. [CITATION Vic18 \l 1033 ]

Games
The musicianship is also developed through playing games with the children that practice a
certain musical parameter (beat, volume, rhythm). 8The games that were utilized were various.
Seeing I was dealing with children, I found it important to utilize games in order to keep the
lessons interesting for the children. Games are a good way to get children to unconsciously
practice musical parameters and at the same time it practices the musicianship of the children.
According to Elena Bodrova and Deborah J, Long, playing is beneficial to children when there is
a level of difficulty in the play. [ CITATION Bod15 \l 1033 ]. The games I have utilized
(explained in chapter 4) have a level of difficulty to them. In the game Mousie the children stand
in a circle and hold each others hand; the hands are windows. Two children are chosen to be a cat
or mouse; they have to chase each other. The children that are holding hands are ‘must open and
close the windows’ (hold hands going up or down). When held hands are up, the windows are
open, when the held hands are down, the windows are closed. The cat is inside the circle and the
mouse is outside. Until the windows are open the cat can go outside and chase the mouse. The
children that are forming the circle have to sing and ‘’close and open the windows’’ on every
half note.

Figure 4 The movement of the windows, while singing the above melody

Music appreciation
7
Website does not give a last name for Vicky; she is cited only with her first name
8
Please see chapter 4, here you will find the repertoire list and games that were used.
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Music appreciation was used in my lesson as a way to appreciate music of the great composers. I
utilized classical pieces and Jazz pieces to do activities on. One of the signs that I taught the
children was with a modern rendition of classical music. Composers pieces that were used were
the pieces of: Bartok, Sinesi, Brubeck, Von Paradis, Tchaikovsky, Nielsen, Bach. A lot of pieces
were repeated to practice the activities with these pieces.

The importance of appreciating music from these great composers is paramount to the
development of children. Children these days are highly exposed also to music of inferior quality
and as teachers it is our duty to balance this with music of superior quality. However, children
should not only appreciate music of the old masters like Bach; we must also teach them music
from the composers of this time9. I have future plans to cover pop music repertoire with the skills
that were taught to me at the Vocal leadership course; however, I did not have enough time to
cover this portion of rich repertoire.

‘’A child is the most susceptible and enthusiastic audience for pure art, only music of intrinsic
value is suitable for children. Everything else is harmful’’
-Zoltan Kodaly

Some mention of ‘Kodaly purist’ expressing that only Western classical music is superior to
teach children, I strongly disagree with and this is why I also taught the children multicultural
folk songs and let them appreciate quality music of other cultures; I do believe we need to teach
the children quality music; however, multicultural teaching is a very important part of music
education and in different cultures, quality music is existent. Susan Brumfield expresses the
same in her book First we sing. She expresses that: ‘’There are many different and equally valid
music systems in the world and all music exists in cultural context. Music education should
reflect the inherently multicultural nature of music’’[CITATION Bru \l 1033 ]

Note: on the next page you will find the ‘quality music repertoire list’.
Composer/ Title Origin Activities

9
Music of this time is meant with music of the 20th century going forward.
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 Béla Bartók (1881- 1945) Hungary Former friends: one child was given the chanc
- Former friends lead the group in movement. In this piece I alrea
started practicing the leadership of children. I m
- Children at play admit, some children turn oblivious to the leade
is at this point that I reflect with the children and
them, how they would feel if they lead and som
children do not show them the respect; often
children will react positively to this. Off course,
try always to put the positive in light before
reflecting on the negative

Children at play: In this song, the children are

Quique Sinesi (1960)
- Cada vez que siento tu amor
- Seras Verdad
running around; however, the song is fast and th
becomes slow; children have to move fast when
song is fast and slow when the song becomes slo
With this song, I also reflect on how the song is
moving; all the children will say it is moving fas
and slow; they experience this through their own
movement. With this song, I also prepared the
Tempo sign.
Argentina Cada vez que siento tu amor: This song is a so
in 5/4. The children practiced a 5/4 pattern
Beat 1: Hit left knee with hands
Beat 2: Hit right knee with hand
Beat 3: Hit chest
Beat 4: Clap own hands
Beat 5: Clap your neighbours on right and left

Seras verdad: This piece was used solely as mu

appreciation. I played the guitar on this piece.

David Brubeck (1920- 2012) -Take five United Take five: On this piece, I utilized the same
States exercise as the piece from Quique Sinesi. The
children were asked if this pattern has been don
before and in which song. We also utilized this
pattern in the piece, Run little lamb.
Maria Theresa von Paradis (1759-1824) Austria Sicilienne: On this piece, the children did a rhyt
- Sicilienne pattern utilizing the body. The piece is 6/8. Chil
were instructed to stomp the first eight note and
the 2nd and third eight note and repeat this action
the song has a fairly long phrasing, at the end of
each phrasing, we would spin around. 10
Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Russia The Nutcracker; Chinese dance: On this piece
10
See figure 5
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 - The Nutcracker, Chinese dance children have to imitate a cat and bird. When th
flute is playing the children are very happy bird
and utilize their hands as wing movements to th
beat. When the violin pizzicato come in they ne
move their hands in the beat like claws of cats.
Erik Nielsen11 (N.D) United Sketches: III. Staccato: On this piece, the child
- Sketches: III. Staccato States had to hold the beat using the hand position in
figure 6 on page 24.
J.S Bach (1685-1750) Germany Air on G string, was utilized as a beat exercise
- Air on G string using the hands; however, we also used this to l
the children utilize leadership exercises. Leader
exercises are in the community and leadership
section on page …

The children practiced in these pieces several of the abovementioned musical parameters:
Beat, staccato, fast and slow, sing rhythm and even preparing the SV signs. See video

Below is a list of the composers and the respective pieces I utilized in my lesson

Figure 5: Von Paradis and the movements that the children had to make

11
No date is given on the birth of Erik Nielsen, the composer of the piece itself; not to be
confused with Erik Nielsen (conductor)
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Figure 6: The way the children had to hold their hands. The children had to use this hand
position and move it to the beat. The hand position is also the sign for stacatto in Sound/ Vocal
painting

3.2.2 Music collaboration

‘’Rhiannon explains a state that she finds herself in when performing with a group; the group,
WeBe3 (which Rhiannon is a part of). She expresses: ‘’We stand together for inspiration from
the air, from each other, from the audience that sits silent and intrigued. Then one of us starts.
We listen, wait listen deeper, jump in harmonically or rhythmically or in counterpoint, whoever
feels like grabbing hold and of we go. We follow this thread of music, taking turns holding the
reins, listening like owls, jumping in to shift of course, the rhythm, the dance, of this piece, and it
is working. We can all sense it, creating music that appears composed and harmonic, has shape
and lyrics, and has a kind of movement from beginning to end. There is no leader; we find a way
together. No editing, no errors no need for perfection, no judgment, no time but the present’’
[CITATION Rhi13 \p 8-9 \l 1033 ]
The abovementioned quote is what we can call music that is made in the moment or music that is
improvised; everyone contributes their ideas to the piece that is being created in real time. In my
classroom lessons, the children are collaborating or adding new ideas to the piece by utilizing the
signs. The children get a turn in collaborating to the music and are taught the basics of
collaborating musically so they can experience the possibility of what can be done to a piece of
music. Children are taught the signs beforehand and are asked in a couple of the repertoire that

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we are using to collaborate musically with it by leading the other children musically. Children
want to be heard. Ayub Bte Nurjannah (as explained in my reflection in lesson 11). Children
want to be heard and they want to express themselves [ CITATION Bte14 \l 1033 ]. This is one
of the many ways we can use to let them express themselves; by collaborating with a musical
piece.

Putting music collaboration into practice

The way we put this into practice was by utilization of the SV signs while singing folk pieces. I
will give an example of what theoretically can be done with the signs and what one student did
utilizing these signs to musically collaborate with a piece. I want to remind the reader again that
the music is not improvised, only embellished by the signs, creating music like Rhiannon and in
Vocal Leadership requires a higher aptitude of musicianship.

Children can collaborate very effectively with a piece; you can see this in their reactions when
they get a chance to SV a piece; however, children also want to amuse their colleagues and with
this amusement can disrupt the beautiful music making and use the signs in a way that can
sabotage the performance. See video. I agree with Rhiannon in her statements in that, there are
no mistakes to be made while performing; however, with children it is of the most utter
importance to tell them that sabotaging the music by being humorous is unacceptable. According
to Vera Keijsers, (Bachelors degree in music education from the Fontys conservatory in Tilburg)
children need structure; this is one of the reasons that a classroom that has complete freedom will
lack structure, because children do not know any better; we as teacher can give them partial
control of their development; however, we must structure them in a way. I agree with Vera,
children cannot be given complete control of the music making process. [ CITATION Kei19 \l
1033 ]. Dr. Karen Postal also expresses the same and explains why it is important for children to
have structure in their lives. She gives an example over being a helicopter parent. That parent is
the one who stands in front of the door before the child goes to school and gives him/her the
library book that needs to be handed in; this teaches the child that he/she is responsible for the
book that he/she has [ CITATION Pos11 \l 1033 ]. If I utilize this statement in my music
classroom you can see why it is important for us to let the children be structured in the music
making. The children need to be taught responsibility and that their (musical) actions have
consequences for the harmony in the classroom.

Analysis of music collaboration with the children. (See video)

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Page 29 of 157
Figure 7: Analysis of one child utilizing the signs. See video attached.

As you can see in the videos, there were some beautiful moments: In measure 3, the crescendo
was very interesting. It seems in this moment that the signs helped with making the music
beautiful. In the last measure, nobody performed the volume; I think it had to do because the
piece was ending.

Vocalpainting/ soundpainting signs (SV signs)

The sound painting/ Vocal painting language is a language in itself; it utilizes rules that you
would find in language. Sound painting/ Vocal painting is a dialogue between the leader and
followers to create music. There is a syntax present, and as Walter Thompson puts it: ‘’In other
words, the gestures in Sound painting first identify Who is going to perform, followed by What
type of improvisation is going to be performed, How the improvisation will be performed, and
When to begin performing. An example of this is Whole Group (Who), Long Tone (What),
Volume Fader – pianissimo (How), Play (When)’’[CITATION Tho05 \p 4 \t \l 1033 ] 12

The signs are a way to let the children collaborate with the pieces that are being used. In the
Vocal leadership the signs are one of the ways to promote contribution and collaboration to the
pieces. The signs allow us to be creative with the pieces that we are utilizing gives the piece a
different character in the moment. A piece like, Rocky Mountain, will sound far more different
when the signs are utilized. The children are the musical leaders that will determine what will
happen to the piece when we are performing it. Signs that the children received from me are the
following:

- Volume - Break/ inner hearing - Vowels, A, I, U, M

- Energize - Clapping - Feels like you

- Reset - Short notes - Stop/off

- Make a circle - Boy and girl

- Walk in circle - Body stop

- Basic step 1,2 - Tempo change

All the signs can be seen in the glossary. In the following list I will explain the sign and why I
used these particular signs to utilize with my classroom. I would also like to express that in
12
Although it says Sound painting, Vocal painting also falls under this category and are called in
this research, SV signs.
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addition to the signs being utilized in a musical kind of way, it is a very useful tool to utilize for
classroom management. The signs are prepared via the PPP model (Prepare, present and
practice)
Note to the reader: Teacher uses these signs as well as the students are able to use this sign.

Volume
I utilized this sign because the musical parameter (being volume) is something that is
encountered in music everywhere. Raymond Chandler (as cited in Boyk, 1997) says that the best
short film scene he had ever written had no dialogue at all except a woman saying ‘’Uh huh’’
three times with three different (dynamic) inflections. According to Boyk, music uses dynamics
for expressive purposes. With the children I am working I wanted to show them this dynamic
and how beautiful it can be when done properly[ CITATION Dyn97 \l 1033 ]. The way the
children were taught dynamic was first with preparation (singing), teacher sings with lower
volume indicating this with corporal movement them and children must sing with lower volume.

Energize
Energize is the act of singing the rhythm of the piece taking out the melody. This sign is also a
great way for the teacher to practice rhythm singing without having to tell the children to do so
vocally. Cecilia Vajda, explains that singing only rhythms helps the child feel the rhythm of the
language a bit more. [CITATION Vad08 \p 42 \l 1033 ]

Reset
One of the first signs you learn in Vocal leadership. This sign will let the group go back to the
original way the piece is sung. Example: If we are singing, Hot cross buns in energize mode and
I utilize reset sign, everyone must sing the melody again to the piece in question.

Make a circle
Make a circle sign is only utilized when the class is not standing in a circle. Certain activities
require the children to be in some other part of the classroom than the traditional circle. The
moment I make this sign the children must stand in a circle. The make a circle sign was only
utilized in the leadership practice exercises in lesson 12 to 16. I chose this sign to promote
teamwork in the children …check on page..

Walk in circle
This sign was used to walk on the beat of a piece; all the children must walk in the circle that is
formed. I utilized this sign to practice synchronicity between the children. As the teacher I would
remind the children to walk in the beat of the piece and always giving praise to the ones who are
doing it well in an attempt to make these children an example for the others. This also practices
the musicianship.

Basic step 1.2

Basic steps come from the Vocal leadership course to practice the musicianship. See video..
Basic steps are also used to get synchronicity with the body itself for one’s own musicianship. In
comparison to regular step (tapping beat with your feet), basic steps utilize a pattern to make
where the beat falls a little bit clearer. The children are taught to be precise when singing and

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adding basic steps. We often practice rhythm games utilizing basic steps; the children clap what
the teacher claps. When clapping the children are also requested to let the clap sound when the
feet touches the ground. (Vocal leadership, 2018/2019)

Break/ inner hearing

The inner hearing sign is utilized to let the children during a piece to inner hear. In the leadership
rounds, children can utilize this sign to embellish the folksong and add a break to it. In the
experience that I had with the students, the children inner hear when I give them the sign without
having me to ask them to do it verbally. I chose this sign because of the importance of inner
hearing. In an article from the British Kodaly academy written by Becky Welsh explains that
inner hearing develops our musicianship skills; in particular, it develops our listening, aural and
ensemble playing and listening skills, it also improves sight reading. Because people are
listening more to each other, inner hearing becomes paramount to people playing in ensemble,
this is because it allows you to hear and blend with the orchestra.[ CITATION Wel10 \l 1033 ]

Clapping
Clapping is a sign I utilize in order to practice the inner hearing and rhythm production. When
the children receive the clapping sign, they must only clap the rhythm of the piece; they are not
allowed to sing. They have to use their inner hearing to clap the correct notes.

Short notes (stacatto)

When the children are given the short notes sign, they need to sing the notes in staccato form.
The children were introduced to the short notes through art music. …see video.. As you can see
in the demonstration video, the children had to hold the sign in their hand and the sign as a whole
moves in the beat. The movement with the sign must be very short movement on the beat. The
children are then asked if the notes are long or short? What are the benefits for singing stacatto
with the children? One of the key components of my lessons is to listen to each other; however,
we also must practice listening to ourselves and utilize correct vocal technique - throughout the
lesson, I usually remind the children how they need to breathe before singing-. When I utilize
the volume sign, some children will often want to yell; this is not good vocal technique. I would
often let the children warm up with the boom chicka boom song, utilizing a stacatto sound and
raising the volume with the signs; the children sing stacatto and make their voices louder;
however they are unable to yell. I would stop and reflect on the volume; the loud volume that is
produced when singing stacatto is desirable and I would request this volume - when I give the
volume sign - instead of yelling In an article about singing stacatto [ CITATION Lam13 \l
1033 ] explains that singing stacatto lets you concentrate on what you are doing and sing with
great flexibility, they also express that you cannot bellow when singing stacatto. This is one of
the reasons I also chose stacatto.

The repertoire chosen for stacatto: Erik Nielsen sketches: III. Stacatto.

Boy and girl

The boy and girl sign is used to contrast the high voices of the girls and low voices of the male
singers. The children have to be alert when this sign is given. I utilized this sign to practice
awareness.

Body stop

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The body stop sign, is used to stop the children from walking when they are given walking in a
circle sign. It also practices awareness and teamwork; this is because we need to stop together. It
does not work everytime because some children are not looking at you; however, with practice it
came up to an acceptable level.

Tempo change
This sign is utilized to switch tempo while we are singing the piece. The children does this is by
giving the tempo sign and stomping their feet to tne new tempo. This exercise of tempo changed
is used by myself to tach the children about fast and slow. This sign was taught to the children by
having them listen to music that goes from fast to slow.

Repertoire chosen to teach tempo change is: Bartok’s children game, no.8

Vowels, A, I, U, M
The vowel is a sign I use to take the lyrics away from the music and just sing on the vowels that I
indicate. Audrey Hunt expresses:
‘’Learning how to shape primary vowels (Ah Eh Ee Oh Oo) will bring clarity to your voice. In
order to sing in such a way that every word is clear and can be understood, the singer must learn
how to shape the vowel within the word itself. Learning how to do this will enrich your singing
because the vowel actually carries the sound itself.’’ [ CITATION Hun19 \l 1033 ] In these
lessons, my primary focus is leadership; however, at every beginning of the lesson; I remind the
children how they need to keep their bodies, how to utilize their breath; this is all done through
singing off course.. The vowel singing is also a great tool to only focus on tone; If the children
are not matching my pitch, I would often have them sing vowles, lower the volume, and have
them here themselves to see if they are matching my pitch. On the SV side of the coin, this
allows the children to add only vowels to the piece to variate the music a bit.

Feels like you

The feels like you sign is utilized to let the children copy one child in doing a singing action.
When one child is given the sign, the child must phrase the piece in his or her way and then
everyone can copy this. video

Stop/off
The sign off is to indicate the end of a piece. This sign was used in several pieces where the
children are split into two groups. I would indicate off to group one (this group has to stop
singing) group number two keeps singing. Depends on where the song is, I reset group two, and
they have to sing precisely what group number one is singing. This sign I utilized not only as an
off signal but also as an awareness and timing tool. The children need to be aware where the
other group is and the timing must be precise to enter precisely with the other group when
resetted. …. Video

According to Peder Karlsson ( Honorary professor of the Vocal leadership program in Aarhus,
Denmark): ‘’The contribution of music should not be limited only to the teacher/conductor, but
should also be given to anyone who is forming part of the (musical)group; We can name this as a

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musical synergy; everyone contributes their ideas to form a unity in the music that they are
making’’[ CITATION Kar18 \l 1033 ]

The circle songs are a perfect way to take the child out of his or her comfort zone. By being in
the circle he/she can take leadership of the music when given the opportunity to do so. The child
is taught musical parameters over the years and through the Kodaly concept we arrive at the
circle songs to improvise the material which was taught in the time that the teacher had with the
students. It is important to note that: circle songs and improvisation with the signs are a process,
and with great care it can lead to great results, that means: prepare the music accordingly
(according to the Kodaly approach), repetition of the musical parameters (signs introduced) and
practicing the parameters in the circle song.

3.2.4 A sense of (musical) community and leadership

What would the difference be between having leadership with the SV signs and section
3.2.4? The best way I can put it; it is not enough for the children to have leadership musically;
we also have to practice leadership aspects that are not connected to music. I want the children to
listen to each other, to be in sync with each other while making music and respect one another in
the process. We have to be able to trust one child to make the group sound beautiful. In this
section, I am focusing on the aspect of leadership without utilizing the SV signs13.

Community
An interview conducted by The guardian with Bobby McFerrin, Bobby expressed that: ‘’I've
always wanted to break down the line between performer and audience. We're a roomful of
strangers and music is the one thing that binds us together, makes us an instant community’’.
[ CITATION McF10 \l 1033 ]. Music has to sound good and the only way it will sound good in
the classroom is if the children are cooperating with each other and respecting what is being done
- this is not always the case in the classroom situation-. The children are always asked to pay
attention to the leader; some of the children often do not pay attention and miss cue’s to either
enter or stop on time; sometimes even laugh through an ending. I often explain to the children
that it is not very communal to keep laughing when there is a silence or if someone gives the sign
to inner hear and children keep talking; it disrupts the music. Music does bring people together;
however, I want to also teach them that, when we are making music, we also have to have
respect as a community.

Leadership
There are many articles about what leadership actually is, especially, leadership in children. I
asked my two teachers what they think about this seeing that they are working with the children
that I was also teaching. According to my two teachers, Tom van der Vlught and Francijntje
Siauw, leadership is a practice very closely related to also being communal towards each other.
The difference is that a leader becomes a leader because the respect he/she has for the
community that he is the leader of in contrast to a dictator who takes power whether people agree
with him or not. A leader has to be a team player and listen to the followers; all decisions have to
made with the consent of everyone in the community. [ CITATION Sia19 \l 1033 ]. In the
classroom I always paid attention to the students who were ‘’good followers’’ These children
13
Still everything is taught through music.
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were often given the chance to become leaders when SVing a piece as a sort of appreciation for
their behaviour in the lessons. Good leaders must be good followers and must give respect when
somebody else has better insight into a subject; he/she must leave their ego aside and work
together for the betterment of the community. If we bring this criteria to a musical context, all
the children are given the chance to contribute something to a piece, and as the leader of the
moment, one child (child #1) is responsible to make sure we sound good, vice versa, when
another child (child #2) is assigned leadership, child # 1 must follow the musical dialogue of
child #2 and have respect for the new leader.

Practicing community and leadership through music

‘’Nothing of significance was ever achieved by an individual acting alone. Look below the
surface and you will find out that all seemingly solo acts are really team efforts’’

-John C Maxwell-

John C Maxwell, also writes about Einstein and how Einstein benefitted from the people who
were his peers and the people who have passed on.[CITATION Maxnd \p 4-5 \l 1033 ] We learn
a lot from our peers and this kind of learning is crucial to make us go forward in the world. I
wanted the children to learn not only from myself, but from each other also. I certainly learned a
lot from these children and their teachers. In order to learn, we must look to each other for
knowledge, we must open our ears and eyes to benefit from the wisdom that anyone can give us.
This is what what was being taught to the children, we need to listen to each other, work
together, respect each other (this is not always the case). In regards to respecting each other, this
is not something that happens in every classroom; I did however, teach the children about having
respect when performing.

Practicing community and leadership

There are several ways to practice the community. These exercises were utilized to fortify the
classroom bond with each other, to teach them why it is important to trust each other and how
beautiful music can sound if we work together. It was not until lessons 12-16 that I came to the
realization, that leadership utilizing the signs were not enough to let the children take leadership
and build community, I had to let them practice leadership and community through leadership/
community exercise. Below, you will find a couple of exercises I utilized. More exercises are in
development.14

Clapping together exercise with/without music

In the Vocal Leadership methodology, I have experienced one exercise that was used to develop
the synchronicity, leadership, and community. See video’s

One child is the leader and he/she has to clap. The other children must also clap with this child
when he/she claps. This exercise is to develop trust; leaders have to let us clap together; the
leader must help the group clap together; this is a way to let the group sound good and in sync
with each other. In the beginning, children tended to be humoristic and try to trick the other
14
The exercises that exist as of this moment, were created with influence from the Vocal
leadership methodology and Mark Collard.
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children into a clap that will not take place. Is at this moment, I correct them and tell them that,
as the leader, we must be able to trust you to make us sound together, the goal is not achieved if
you trick everyone. This exercise is preparing them for the next phase of the activity. See video

Clapping together exercise with music

I utilized the same exercise as abovementioned; however, now with music that the children
know. The children will be given the same exercise (to clap at the same time). The leader will
clap in a logical place in the music. See video
As you can see in this video, one child decided to clap on all the beats, which is a creative
solution seeing that they have to find a way to make the class look good. This way is also a good
way to check if the children can hold a beat; unconsciously, if a child claps the beat, they are also
reinforcing the beat. Some children found other solutions to clap on the third beat of the piece.

Respect from the leader and respect from the community is something I wanted to instil in the
children. In this exercise the classroom has to be able to trust you and the class must respect you.
If you sabotage the exercise you are actually not giving respect to your peers - we must
differentiate between sabotage and accident/mistake.

Sabotage
Consciously wants to be humoristic and make sure the class does not clap together.

Accident/mistake
The child made a mistake when clapping because he/she was unclear in giving the signal; Walter
Thompson describes in the syntax as, when

How did I differ between these two? You see in the inflections of the child that he/she wants to
help the group; when a child is utilizing her eyes to check if everyone is ready is a good indicator
that they are trying their best - this is my experience; it can differ classroom to classroom -
Sabotage would come if you see the child make the movement to clap and then stop, not
completing the clap; as abovementioned, I correct this by telling the child that the group has to
trust you, off course, I will always give praise to the children that do their best. Respect for
others is highly appreciated in my lessons. In an article posted by the U.S department of
Education they explain why is it important to teach respect to children: People show respect in
many ways. They speak and act civilly, avoiding insults, cruel remarks, rude and crude language.
They are courteous and considerate for others. [CITATION USd05 \l 1033 ] This statement
correlates with how the children were taught. Leader must have respect for the community and
the community must have respect for the leader.

Stopping together
In this exercise, the children are walking through the class (the children can walk wherever they
want). One child is the leader in the walking; nobody must follow the leader; the children are
encouraged to walk randomly around the class. When the leader stops, everyone must stop.

How do the children not looking at the leader stop?

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The children will always walk in the path of the leader (by coincidence) when these children see
the leader stop, they will also stop. The more children that are standing still, the more it becomes
visible that the whole classroom has stopped walking all children are still. The leader decides
when to continue walking and everyone walks. See video
There is also a variation of this by preparing it with clap; when the leader claps everyone stops.

Variations of this game can be done with singing and utilizing the SV signs:

- Inner hearing
- Make a circle
- Volume
- Music appreciation

Volume
Children are walking around and singing a piece, the leader utilizes the volume sign and
everyone stops lowering the volume.

Inner hearing
Children are walking around and singing a piece, the leader utilizes the inner hearing sign and
everyone sings in their head.

Make a circle
Everyone walks around, when the leader gives the, make a circle sign everyone will go and stand
in a circle.

Music appreciation
These exercises can be done while utilizing quality music. If the children can clap the beat of the
piece and the leader decides if the volume is low or high, clap the beat and inner hear the beat
etc.15

Note: the exercises can be mixed with all of the SV signs. The children must also sing the pieces.
I choose children to become leaders if they are singing.

Scanning game and preparing the scan exercise

In this game, the children are scanning. In Vocal painting/ sound painting, scanning is the action
of assigning someone a musical parameter temporarily. The Vocal painter/ sound painter needs
to point at you in order for you to perform; as soon as the pointing hand of the Sound painter/
15
I always made sure that we do a musicianship activity before going to the leadership activity
in the quality music pieces.
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Vocal painter are not on you anymore, you immediately stop singing. In the Sound and Vocal
painting, scanning is used to create random sounds; these sounds can be anything - from
melodies to rhythm motifs to silly sounds, does not matter, the Sound painter/Vocal painter will
develop what he/she deems fit.[CITATION Tho05 \p 23 \t \l 1033 ]

This exercise is prepared by having the children sing the piece, Hot cross buns. Children will
sing the piece first and after the piece is in the children’s head, I will introduce a ball. The ball is
going to be passed around by the children on every beat:

Hot: child #1- cross: child #2 – buns: child #3

The next level would be that the children who have the ball will sing the word corresponding to
them; other children will tap the beat until the ball reaches his/her person. The last part of the
exercise is that the teacher gives leadership to a child to use his/ her hands to scan the children to
sing in the same way that the ball is utilized; teacher gave an example of this, and asked the
children to utilize the same activity.

What was practiced?

Inner hearing: Children need to be aware of where the piece is; when they get the ball, they
know what to sing

Beat: The ball needs to flow in the beat of the piece.

Rest: The piece has a rest (see repertoire list). The child who has the rest cannot sing; however,
he/she needs to pass the ball in tempo.

Leadership: the leader assigned to scan is given the responsibility to hold the beat and be very
clear with the scanning arm in order for the other children to sing. 16

Paper holding exercise

In this exercise, the children are split into groups of 4 or 5. The idea of the video is to hold five
pieces of paper between two children. The rules are:

- Two children are in the middle and have to hold pieces of paper between them, while the rest
of the children in the group have to help out
- Papers may touch each other, but are not allowed to be on top of each other.
- Children will hear music in the background, they are not allowed to talk above the music;
failure to comply will result in resetting the position and losing points.
- When you reach five papers, group receives a point.

In this exercise, the idea is to work together to achieve the goal of making their group successful.
In my observation the children worked very well with each other and enjoyed this game a lot.

16
Scanning exercise was used more as a future preparation for the scanning sign: the sign is
given to the children; however, it did not have to be used in the music collaboration rounds (SV)
and was mainly used to give the child responsibility and leadership.
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Off course, some children do occasionally talk above the music; when this is done, I reset their
positions.

There are a couple of things happening in this exercise:

 Teamwork
 Creativity
 Music appreciation
 Communicate without talking (non verbal communication)
 Leadership

Teamwork
The children must help each other out to achieve the goal of earning points. They cannot think
individually because all of the children have ideas on how to put the two children in the middle
in a way that they can hold the papers easily.

Creativity
Some positions of the two children in the middle can be easy and some difficult. Often, the
children will think of positions that will be easy for them to get the amount of paper needed
between the two in the middle.

Music appreciation
Children are listening to music as they are doing this exercise. As abovementioned; the children
have to communicate non-verbally with each other; they can use their voice; however, it needs to
be low in volume. I always have a non-verbal round. In the non- verbal round, children can earn
two points per action completed. I have to admit, it is a non musical exercise and this is a
disadvantage; however, in the lessons, the children are receiving an average of 8 to 9 musical
activities.

Communicate non-verbally
Children have to communicate non-verbally when indicated to do so. In my observation the art
music takes first place in this moment.

Leadership
There is always a leader in the group suggesting what to do, this is the leadership attitude I
wanted to see; however, leadership is shared between the children; I might say a nice correlation
of what is being done in the SV rounds.

Advance uses, practicing with the Matrozenkoor in The Hague.

In the research I also utilized these signs while preparing them with the Kodaly methodology on
the children of the Matrozenkoor. In these set of examples, I want to demonstrate the advance
uses of the signs while they were prepared with the Kodaly methodology. This is to show the
applications of creativity utilizing these signs. See video

SV leader: Jaderick Croes

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Long tone+ create: In this exercise, the children are given the sign of the long tone and are
stimulated to create something in long tone.

Figure 8 Analysis of creativity practice in video ...: The transcriptions is done to the best of my abilities to transcribe what was
being done.

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Short note+ create: In this exercise the children are given the sign of short notes and asked to
create something with short notes.

Volume added: the volume is to get them to raise the volume on the long tone that they are
holding.

Musical analysis of the piece in question

Sound painting and Vocal painting (SV) is a structure for improvisation; however, it also offers
structure for the children to improvise[CITATION Ras16 \p 198-199 \l 1033 ]; this is what was
done in these set of exercises with advanced music students. The children are given parameter to
improvise on. In the process of singing, if there is a mistake it is not counted as such. You just
have to keep performing until being [SV]17 signed again.

One can start to wonder, if the music they are making sounds illogical, but in reality it is not.
This creation is something that is in them at that moment and the SV leader tries to bring this out
of them.

In the presentations of Walter Thompson, you would often hear that when he sound paints, the
music is of modernistic quality. This can be explained in the following quote:

‘’Soundpainting is a unique portal to what is really creative and liberating in the collective
musical experience, whether you are taking part or just listening: improvisation!
Soundpainting works at all levels and therefore it’s an extremely strong tool, both in concert
and teaching exercise.’’

-Niels Offenberg, Project manager Copenhangen, Jazz festival-

I want to emphasize a creative, liberating and collective music experience. In the regular
classroom, the children liberate themselves when utilizing the signs. They become the leaders
and the arrangers of the piece at that moment, collaborating to a new interpretation of the piece
that they are embellishing. In the Matrozenkoor, they are liberating sound that lies in the depth of
the soul (although simple sounds) they are sounds nonetheless that are there in that moment.
One can say when listening to the creation on the video and the performances of Walter
Thompson, that the music has a modernistic quality towards it. I strongly believe that Sound
painting/ Vocal painting can also be utilized to teach children about the beauty of Modern
classical music.

General observation
17
SV is not described in their own word; however, for the sake of the research and the naming,
I changed the word sound painting to SV, seeing that sound painting is based on instruments
and vocal painting is based on vocal.
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In this general observation, I am utilizing resources of colleague’s opinion over the subject
matter of Vocal Leadership, Kodaly, SV signs, Leadership.

According to Marlou Vriens (Vocal leadership teacher and Master candidate in the Vocal
Leadership program): She agrees that, the Kodaly method and the Vocal Leadership
Methodology have a lot in common – the Solfa, Curwen hand signs and the rhythm language are
one in the same in both methodologies- however, she finds the prepare, present, practice model
limits the SV signs[ CITATION Vri19 \l 1033 ].

Walter Thompson18 expresses that, in 1 year, his children already knew more than thirty signs.
This is a point I can agree on; however, this way of music making is based on the Kodaly
philosophy of music making and this can be a very helpful tool in the Kodaly context of music
education. Children can be part of the creative process of music making. Co-creativity is a
theme that occurs in the Co-creative classroom of Mathieu Vulto (Teacher at the Utrecht
conservatory and Master candidate in Vocal Leadership program): Mathieu agrees, that the signs
are very liberating when utilizing it to create new pieces. The children are proud to be part of the
music collaboration and creation. Mathieu also states that, children can do a lot more than we
think, and utilizing this way of music making can expose that positive behavior[ CITATION
Vul19 \l 1033 ]. We have to make sure that the children are being educated in every aspect of
music; even the musicality must have a place in the lesson planning. According to composer,
Xavier Geerman, the signs are very unemotional and can give the impression to children that
music is without emotion[ CITATION Gee18 \l 1033 ]. To counter this, I always ask my children
to move with the piece (movement is a way to groove with the piece and activate emotion). I was
recently in Amsterdam as a guest teacher with Emilie la Haye B.mus19 (Music teacher and Vocal
Leader) and I saw how she utilizes the Vocal Leadership methodology in the classroom. She
begins with utilizing the clapping together exercise and afterwards, she would let a child take the
lead in the classroom. Afterwards, the children go on to utilizing the Solfa with the Curwen hand
signs. She begins this session playing a vamp on the piano and afterwards, one child can do the
same and take the lead in the classroom. The children go on to sing pop music; however, Emilie
always makes sure to activate the emotion in the piece by moving; the reactions on the children
are so beautifully positive, because all the children move along with the piece and sing with such
emotion; I must mention, the enjoyment on the children’s faces is indescribable[ CITATION
LaH19 \l 1033 ]. Emily utilizes the principle of Jesper Hólm (Professor at the conservatory in
Aarhus’s Vocal Leadership program). Jesper expresses that musical inflections can be utilized to
get a certain musical expression from the singers without having to utilize signs. Think of
moving your arms fast; this would result in the singers singing fast, or think of conducting very
softly with very soft movements; the singers will either sing soft without
aggressiveness[ CITATION Hól19 \l 1033 ]. All of these inflections can be practiced.

As you can see in the following video. The girl was conducting fairly well; however, certain
areas was unclear and without the inflection of moving, I immediately noticed that there was a
drop in energy. You would hear the children trying as a classroom to pull the energy up;
however, the conducting of the girl made it that the children were a bit reserved and unsure in the

18
A lot of the info’s over Walter’s way of doing this was gained through Skype conversation
19
Title of the person in question; Bachelor of music
Page 42 of 157
singing. If you listen to the boy and girl in the other videos, you would immediately feel another
energy than when you see this video.

Chapter 4: Repertoire and descriptions

In this chapter, the reader can get an idea what songs I utilized in the lessons. Although some
lessons do not describe which signs or leadership activities have been used, the songs can still be
utilized to either practice musical leadership and practice leadership games.

All songs used were transcribed by the author and the games were described. There is one
example below.
The remaining transcripts can be found in Appendix 1 of this research.

Page 43 of 157
Page 44 of 157
Repertoire # 1: Hallo iedereen

Activity: In this piece the children are singing this song as an introduction to the lesson that is
about to take place. The children clap along with the rhythm of ay ay ya ya yay.

Variations: Utilize the walk in circle sign and let the children walk in circle.
Teacher can use any signs to prepare the children for the signs

Leadership/ SV signs: Children can take leadership in this piece by utilizing the Vocal painting
signs.

Musicianship: The children practice their musicianship by clapping and singing;

if the teacher gives the volume sign; children are practicing dynamics.

Game: no games

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Chapter 5: Analysis Phase…e.g. Research findings

This chapter covers the findings of the research and is part of the analysis phase. The data
collected for this research was done by means of the lesson plans that were applied in the
classroom. The reader will find each lesson plan with its contents and findings in Apendix XYY.
This chapter presents a summary of the findings in the table below. To be able to understand the
analysis of the findings, please find a summary of the different criteria that served as a
foundation for this research.

Research criteria:
1. Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

2. Music Collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]

3. Vocal/ Soundpainting signs (SV)[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ] & [CITATION Wal09 \l 1033 ]

4. A sense of musical community and leadership20 [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

20
In this section leadership is split in two section: Regular Leadership and Musical leadership
using the SV signs.
Page 46 of 157
Practice: Findings Analysis in relation to
criteria (yes or no)
1: • Kids understood the nonverbal instructions that were given to - Yes
them.
• Use of volume sign and the walking, stopping signs were - No, children sometimes
effective. abused the power
• Collaboration was evident in that the children utilized the signs
in a correct way. - Yes
2: • Kids understood the nonverbal instructions that were given to - Yes
them.
• Use of volume sign and the walking, stopping signs were - No, children had to be
effective. corrected again.
• Collaboration was evident in that the children utilized the signs - Yes
in a correct way.
• Children collaborated musically with the new signs - Yes
3. - In this lesson I see the children more and more involved in - No, children misuse the
utilizing the signs. signs and need constant
correcting
- After explaining what needs to be done, children do it - Yes, I tell them we need
adequately? to be able to trust them
to make the group sound
beautiful.
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - No, Children utilize it in
an unclear place and in a
jokingly fashion.
4 - In this lesson I see the children more and more involved in - Yes, everyone wants to
utilizing the signs. collaborate

- After explaining what needs to be done, children do it - Yes, I still correct the
adequately? children.
- Inner hearing is precise? - No, I had to practice this
with musicianship
exercises
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - No, they started using it
in a more serious way;
however, the sign is
used illogically
sometimes.
5 - In this lesson I see the children more and more involved in - Yes, children are
utilizing the signs. actively collaborating

- Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, I had to stress a lot

and it still did not work
- Inner hearing is precise? - No, however, I am
practicing musicianship

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Practice: Findings Analysis in relation to
criteria (yes or no)
through the signs to give
a sense of logical areas
where the children can
utilize the signs
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention to
the teacher.
6 - In this lesson I see the children more and more involved in - Yes, children are
utilizing the signs. actively collaborating
- Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, I had to stress a lot
and it still did not work
- Inner hearing is precise? - No, however, I am
practicing musicianship
through the signs to give
a sense of logical areas
where the children can
utilize the signs.
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention to
the teacher.
7 - Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, I had to stress a lot
and it still did not work.
- Inner hearing is precise? - Yes, timing is going
better
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention to
the teacher. And the
timing is getting better.
- Praising positive behavior. Children reacted better. Yes, I have noticed more
enthusiasm.
8
- Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, I had to stress a lot
and it still did not work
- Inner hearing is precise? - No, however, I am
practicing musicianship
through the signs to give
a sense of logical areas
where the children can
utilize the signs.
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention
to the teacher.
- Praising positive behavior. Children reacted better. - Yes, I have noticed more
enthusiasm.

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Practice: Findings Analysis in relation to
criteria (yes or no)
9
- Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, however, children are
cooperating more with
this and you hear less
talking.
- Inner hearing is precise? - Yes, timing is going
better.
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention to
the teacher and the
timing is getting better.
- Praising positive behavior. Children reacted better. - Yes, I have noticed more
enthusiasm.
- Assigning signs to the children to give them less stress. Is this - Yes, assigning them
effective? signs, they are surer of
what they are doing or
what they need to do.
10
- Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, however, children are
cooperating more with
this and you hear less
talking.
- Inner hearing is precise? - Yes, timing is going
better
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention to
the teacher. And the
timing is getting better.
- Praising positive behavior. Children reacted better. - Yes, I have noticed more
enthusiasm.
- Assigning children to use signs? - Yes, assigning them
signs, they are surer of
what they are doing or
what they need to do.
- Giving the children a chance to rest or sit down? - No, lesson dynamic has
to change

11
- Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, however, children are
cooperating more with
this and you hear less
talking
- Inner hearing is precise? - Yes, timing is going
better.

Page 49 of 157
Practice: Findings Analysis in relation to
criteria (yes or no)
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention to
the teacher. And the
timing is getting better.
- Praising positive behavior. Children reacted better. - Yes, I have noticed more
enthusiasm.
- Assigning children to use certain signs? - Yes, assigning them
signs, they are surer of
what they are doing or
what they need to do.
- Giving the children a chance to rest or sit down? - Yes, immediate
cooperation from the
children.
- Giving the children leadership, apart from utilizing the signs? - Yes, the children are
introduced to the feels
like you sign. The
children express
themselves much more
and without stress.
- Children talking through the music? - Yes, children engage in
conversation with each
other instead of singing.
12
- Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, however, children are
cooperating more with
this and you hear less
talking.
- Inner hearing is precise? - Yes, timing is going
better.
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention to
the teacher. And the
timing is getting better.
- Praising positive behavior. Children reacted better. - Yes, I have noticed more
enthusiasm.
- Assigning children to use certain signs? - Yes, assigning them
signs, they are more sure
what they are doing or
what they need to do.
- Giving the children a chance to rest or sit down? - Yes, immediate
cooperation from the
children.
- Giving the children leadership, apart from utilizing the signs? - Yes, the children are
introduced to the feels

Page 50 of 157
Practice: Findings Analysis in relation to
criteria (yes or no)
like you sign. The
children express
themselves much more
and without stress.
- Children talking through the music? - Yes, children engage in
conversation with each
other instead of singing. I
did have to give
warnings.
13
- Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, however, children are
cooperating more with
this and you hear less
talking.
- Inner hearing is precise? - Yes, timing is going
better.
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention to
the teacher. And the
timing is getting better.
- Praising positive behavior. Children reacted better. - Yes, I have noticed more
enthusiasm
- Assigning children to use certain signs? - Yes, assigning them
signs, they are more sure
what they are doing or
what they need to do
- Giving the children a chance to rest or sit down? - Yes, immediate
cooperation from the
children.
- Giving the children leadership, apart from utilizing the signs? - Yes, the children are
introduced to the feels
like you sign. The
children express
themselves much more
and without stress.
- Children talking through the music? - Yes, children engage in
conversation with each
other instead of singing.

- Teacher must sing less? - Yes, I am singing the

whole time and not
hearing the children.
14

Page 51 of 157
Practice: Findings Analysis in relation to
criteria (yes or no)
- Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, however, children
are cooperating more
with this and you hear
less talking.
- Inner hearing is precise? - Yes, timing is going
better.
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention to
the teacher. And the
timing is getting better.
- Praising positive behavior. Children reacted better. - Yes, I have noticed more
enthusiasm.
- Assigning children to use certain signs? - Yes, assigning them
signs, they are surer of
what they are doing or
what they need to do.
- Giving the children a chance to rest or sit down? - Yes, immediate
cooperation from the
children.
- Giving the children leadership, apart from utilizing the signs? - Yes, the children are
introduced to the feels
like you sign. The
children express
themselves much more
and without stress.
- Children talking through the music? - Yes, children engage in
conversation with each
other instead of singing.
I did have to give
warnings.

15
- Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, however, children
are cooperating more
with this and you hear
less talking.
- Inner hearing is precise? - Yes, timing is improving
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention to
the teacher. And the
timing is getting better.
- Praising positive behavior. Children reacted better. - Yes, I have noticed more

Page 52 of 157
Practice: Findings Analysis in relation to
criteria (yes or no)
enthusiasm.
- Assigning children to use certain signs? - Yes, assigning them
signs, they are surer of
what they are doing or
what they need to do.
- Giving the children a chance to rest or sit down? - Yes, immediate
cooperation from the
children.
- Giving the children leadership, apart from utilizing the signs? - Yes, the children are
introduced to the feels
like you sign. The
children express
themselves much more
and without stress.
- Children talking through the music? - No, Children are singing
more.
- Teacher is singing less? - Yes, I am singing less so
I can hear the children.
- Leadership exercises letting the children work together more - Yes, the children can be
effectively? very creative when
doing these exercises.
- Are the other signs apart from inner hearing and volume - Yes
utilized in a good matter?

16
- Silence in the lessons after ending? - No, however, children
are cooperating more
with this and you hear
less talking.
- Inner hearing is precise? - Yes, timing is going
better.
- Is volume precise? In that the children react immediately? - Yes, the children are
paying more attention to
the teacher. And the
timing is getting better.
- Praising positive behavior. Children reacted better. - Yes, I have noticed more
enthusiasm.
- Assigning children to use certain signs? - Yes, assigning them
signs, they are surer of
what they are doing or
what they need to do.
- Giving the children a chance to rest or sit down? - Yes, immediate
cooperation from the
children.

Page 53 of 157
Practice: Findings Analysis in relation to
criteria (yes or no)
- Giving the children leadership, apart from utilizing the signs? - Yes, the children are
introduced to the feels
like you sign. The
children express
themselves much more
and without stress.
- Children talking through the music? - No, Children are singing
more.
- Teacher is singing less? - Yes, I am singing less so
I can hear the children.
- Leadership exercises letting the children work together more - Yes, the children can be
effectively? very creative when
doing these exercises.
- Are the other signs apart from inner hearing and volume - Yes
utilized in a good matter?

Chapter 6: What was given and given back in musical collaboration.

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In this chapter, I will explain what the thought behind the research was and what both parties
(pupil & teacher) learned.

6.1 Energy given

I was intrigued in the idea of leadership after I was introduced to the Vocal Leadership
pedagogy. Combining it with the Kodaly concept was done in one of my lessons in my homeland
of Aruba; it is there that I saw a remarkable potential in utilizing this concept. This concept has
made me think about the 21st century skills that a child should have. 21st century skills as
described by the Nationaal Expertisecentrum: ‘’The National Expertise Center for Curriculum
Development (SLO) defines 21st century skills as "generic skills and associated knowledge,
insight and attitudes that are needed to function and contribute to the knowledge society."

- Het Nationaal Expertisecentrum Leerplanontwikkeling (SLO)-

Some of the skills of 21st century learning include:

Critical thinking, creativity, self-regulation, teamwork/ working together, leadership.

[ CITATION Ler19 \l 1033 ]

In the context of this research, a leader should have these criteria’s. I tried to connect it with the
criteria of the 21st century skills. In the musical rounds the children are taught to let the music
flow even if a mistake is made or if the desired result is not received from the classroom. They
should not get frustrated or mad because this affects the music. Naturally it does not work every
time; however, that is why the children were receiving these leadership lessons and the SV
rounds served to fortify the, ‘let the music flow’.
Dr. Becky Bailey describes this state of mind of remaining in control when something is not
going your way as, Self- regulation [CITATION Bai11 \p 23 \l 1033 ]. Off course, not every
time there was a need for Self-regulation, because the children were taught the importance of
teamwork and why is it so important when it comes to music. In the book, Music in East Africa,
The workers utilize ‘song and singing’ to get them through the day as it calms the listeners by
focusing on the mental energy[CITATION Bar04 \p 20 \l 1033 ]. In a way, you want to
teach these children the importance of teamwork. Making music together, cooperating with each
other, gives us the energy we need. The word that need to be highlighted here is the word
‘energy’. Working together on the piece of music by utilizing the SV signs, we take each other’s
energy (leader) and we learn also to give back this energy to someone (performers). The leader
can become a performer, and give back the energy that he took from the performers while he/she
was leading. Which energy did I take from the children?

6.2 Energy taken

The energy taken from the children was beautiful. Children want to be part of their own
development; they want to show that they can do certain actions independently. Although they di
need structure we need to give them the chance and trust to collaborate with the musical process
and correct them when they need correcting. These corrections work, from the first lesson to the
last lesson, I have experienced the simplest forms of development in the musical soul of the
children. At a certain point, the children already knew what to do in the pieces and the children
Page 55 of 157
gave a special character to the pieces every time we did our SV rounds. In the simplest forms of
interpretation, these children taught me that if enough leadership is practiced and autonomy is
give, children can give you the most beautiful results. Each child gave a different character to the
pieces every time they were assigned to. In the book ‘Over dirigeren, dirigenten en orkesten’
Louis Metz,[CITATION Met68 \p 13 \l 1033 ] expresses that a conductor gives a different
feel to the piece because of his own personal character; each piece receives their own
physiognomy. This is exactly what was exciting to see. In the lessons, we did not utilize a lot of
signs (4 per child to avoid mental blocks); however, the energy that each child gave to the pieces
was very interesting to see; some gave more, some gave less. You would even find some other
children laughing at the leaders, not because they are laughing at him because there was a
mistake, but because they were tainted by the energy of the leader at that moment. The laughs
were laughs of joy.
Children are tainted by the energy that everyone brings. If the energy is low, the children will
feel this, if the energy is high, the children are joyful.

Page 56 of 157
APPENDIX I
Chapter 4: Repertoire and descriptions

Page 57 of 157
Repertoire #2: Ridders van de ronde tafel

Activity: In this piece, the children are singing with the teacher and have to clap a beat pattern.

The pattern is in 3/4 and 4/4; the 3/4: Tap right knee- tap left knee, clap.
The 4/4: Tap right knee- tap left knee, clap, clap partner.

SV signs: Teacher can utilize the signs to prepare the signs for the SV rounds.

Musicianship: The children are practicing beat patterns and unconsciously, preparing the Bi
meters in the piece.

Leadership/Community: In this piece I did not utilize the leadership for the children.

Games: In this piece, two children can come in the middle and have a mock fight with each
other utilizing swords. The swords are drum sticks. Please be very clear with the children that
they have to tap the swords in the beat and not hit each other.

Page 58 of 157
Page 59 of 157
Repertoire # 3: Boom chicka boom

Activity: In this piece, the children are repeating what the teacher is singing
The pupil has two sticks and is holding the beat while singing the words to the children.

SV signs: No signs have to be used.

Musicianship: The children are singing and utilizing the rhythms that are indicated in the above
piece. You can change the voice that the children are using; maybe say the words like a queen or
a duck; this is also a great way to warm up the voices.

Leadership/ community: One child can take leadership by holding the beat with the sticks.
(letting the children do the voice
can be difficult; in this case, it was difficult. I just let them hold the beat with the stick and I lead
the class with singing. they
can also choose the voice they want to perform.

Games: no games

Page 60 of 157
Page 61 of 157
Repertoire #4: Doemla

Activity: Doemla was used to prepare various musical parameters. We also used it to prepare the
walk in circle sign. Teacher could also variate by giving the kids sticks and let them hold the beat
with the sticks.

SV signs: Walk in circle sign

Musicianship: Children are singing and walking on the beat in a circle

Leadership/ community: Children can use this piece to make use of the SV signs

Games: no games

Page 62 of 157
Page 63 of 157
Repertoire # 5: Rocky Mountain

Activity: The children hold the beat with their feet and sing the piece. We are also utilizing a
clapping pattern.
Pattern: Beat 1: Tap right knee- Beat 2: Tap left knee- Beat 3: clap- Beat 4: clap with
partner

Variation: One child stands in the middle and claps the beats that is asked to be clapped. Think
of beat 1 or 3.

I usually ask the group to choose on which number should the child in the middle clap; two
children can also go in the middle
and clap various beats.

SV signs: Various signs can be used. I usually utilize walk in circle, volume, energize to make
the piece interesting

Musicianship: Utilizing singing and a clapping activity, the children are developing the sense of
beat.

Leadership/ community: This is one of the pieces I utilized and the children utilized to make
use of the SV signs.

Page 64 of 157
Page 65 of 157
Repertoire # 6: Mousie

Activity: Utilize clapping sign to play the rhythms of the piece or using energize to focus on the
rhythm.

SV signs: Various signs can be used. I usually utilize walk in circle, volume, energize to make
the piece interesting.
These signs can be used to prepare the piece before going to the game itself.

Musicianship: Children are preparing the half note and are singing; polyphonic activity.

Leadership/ community: The children can contribute utilizing the SV signs.

Games: The children stand in a circle and are holding hands with the children next to them.
Two children are chosen to be either a cat or a mouse. The mouse stands in the circle and the cat
is outside. The rest of the children forms the circle and these children that are forming the circle
are holding hands. The held hands are acting as doors; when these hands are up the door is open
and when the held hand is down the door are closed. When the doors are open the mouse or cat
can move out of the circle or go into the circle; The idea is that the cat catches the mouse and
utilizes the doors to get away. The children are singing the piece and moving the hands up and
down on every half note.

Page 66 of 157
Page 67 of 157
Repertoire # 7: Wie niet lopen wil

Activity: The children run around while the teacher sings. When the teacher sings, stil (quiet)
everyone has to be quiet and stop moving around. There are two ways you can go with this. You
can utilize this to go to an Art piece, or you can form the circle again utilizing the
'make a circle sign'.

SV signs: Various signs can be used. I usually utilize walk in circle, volume, energize to make
the piece interesting. These signs can be used to prepare the piece before going to the game
itself.

Musicianship: Children have to inner hear to stop precisely on the words, stil

Leadership/ community: Make a circle.

Games: game described in the activity.

Page 68 of 157
Page 69 of 157
Repertoire #8: Appel boom

Activity: The children are utilizing a parachute in this game to hold the beat and prepare the Sol-
mi melody.

SV signs: Teacher varied through the lesson to utilize the SV signs in the piece.

Musicianship: The children are utilizing a parachute to see the physical movement of the sol-mi
melody. The parachute is also utilized to hold the beat.

Leadership/Community: none

Games: A game can also be used utilizing a ball. The children pass the ball around in the
beat. When the last word of the song comes up (“zeer”), the child who is receiving the ball must
let it fall.

Page 70 of 157
Page 71 of 157
Repertoire#9: Hey oh nobody home

Activity: Children are standing in a circle and a child is chosen to come in to the middle of the
circle. One other child that is the circle is giving the beat.

SV signs: The child in the middle is the leader and gives the signs that he/she indicates.

Musicianship: The children will sing and follow the beat and what the leader does.
If the leader gives volume, the children either lower their volume or raise their volume; the child
with the stick must also do so.

Leadership/ community: One child must hold the beat correctly.

Games: none

Page 72 of 157
Page 73 of 157
Repertoire # 10: Run little lamb

Activity: The children will sing and run around in the classroom.

SV signs: The song can be utilized to either go to Art Music or Make a circle to go to a new
activity.

Musicianship: Apart from running around, the children can also utilize a rhythm pattern with
bodies. Pattern: beat 1: tap right knee- beat 2: tap left knee- beat 3: tap chest- beat 4: clap- beat 5:
Clap child next to you. (Children are in a circle)

Leadership/ community: none

Page 74 of 157
Page 75 of 157
Repertoire #11: Alle vingers weg oh jee

Activity: The children are standing in a circle and are utilizing the parachute

SV signs: Teacher used signs to make the learning of the piece interesting

Musicianship: The children hold the parachute in their hands and move it up and down
to distinguish between the melody, sol-mi sol is when the parachute is high and mi is when the
parachute is low. The children are also practicing beat and are singing.

Leadership/ community: -

Games: The teacher chooses a child that will go below the parachute. The child under the
parachute has to put a number in his/her hands and the children must guess how many fingers the
child under the parachute is holding. The child guessing has to sing with: 6 vingers spelen mee
s mm ss m

Page 76 of 157
Page 77 of 157
Repertoire # 12: The ring we have hidden

Activity: The children are standing in a circle and have to help their peer find the ring that is
hidden in the classroom.

SV signs: Volume only when singing and introducing the piece before the game. During the
game it can be more of a community decision to help their peer.

Musicianship: Children are singing soft and loud. This is a way to let the children also have a
feel for volume. This game can also be utilized to prepare volume sign. In this activity, it was
used to support the musical parameter and sign.

Leadership/ community: The idea of the game, is to help your peer find the ring together you
must decide if the volume goes higher, that means that you are very close, if we are singing
softer, than you are far away.

Games: Game is described in the activity

Repertoire# 13: A la Rueda de San Miguel

Activity: The children are standing in a circle and have to imitate the pattern the teacher gives
them

SV signs: No signs.

Musicianship: The children have to learn three patterns to be used to for this piece.
A: stomping beat
B: 1st eight note: tap right knee; 2nd eight: tap left knee; 3rd eight: clap your hands together;
repeat on 4,5,6 eight
C: Shoveling motion with the body in the 6/8 meter
D: Repeat B

Leadership/ community: I have given children leadership to the children to collaborate with the
piece. They utilized the SV signs

Games: Children stand in the circle and one comes in the middle.
The children who are making the circle face away from the child in the middle and have their
eyes closed. The children sing the whole piece, and teacher chooses a child to come in the
middle. The child in the middle has to say: yo soy el burro. The children forming the circle have
to guess who is in the middle. (Child can disguise his/her voice)

Page 78 of 157
Page 79 of 157
Repertoire# 14: Here comes a blue bird

Activity: The children are standing in a circle and will sing this song while performing various
musical activities.

SV signs: This song was use to practice musical leadership utilizing the signs.

Musicianship: The children sang the piece multiple utilizing the signs: inner hearing, clapping,
energize and basic step. The basic step is very fast in this piece, so in combination with the
tempo sign, I am slowing down the piece so we can perform the basic step.

Leadership/ community: I have given children leadership to the children to collaborate with the
piece.

Games: Children stand in the circle and one comes in the middle. The children are standing in a
circle and are singing the piece; the children’s holds hands and raises their hand above their
heads (this is to simulate a window) one child is chosen to be a bird that can fly through the
windows. When we sing: take a little partner; the child can choose another child to hop in the
middle with. The child that was chosen gets to be the new bird.

Page 80 of 157
Page 81 of 157
Repertoire# 15: De mieren marcheren

Activity: The children are froming a line and walk around the room

SV signs: No signs

Musicianship: The children sang the piece and walk around the room while being led by one of
the children. At the, dam dam dam; the children have to clap with the melody.

Leadership/ community: One child leads the group to walk around the room.

Games: -

Page 82 of 157
Page 83 of 157
Repertoire# 16: Wie kruipt eronder door.

Activity: The children are standing in a circle and are utilizing the parachute

SV signs: none

Musicianship: The children utilize this piece to introduce them to rhythm language. The focus is
only to prepare them for the rhythm language; in the lesson series, the theory is not presented to
them.

Leadership/ community: Together as a group, the children must lift the parachute together
and push it down together on the beat of the piece.

Games 1: The teacher will give permission to a student who has a certain item of clothing on.
The child who matches can go under the parachute as the other children keep singing the song.

Game 2: Chairs are put in the front of the class to represent the beats of the piece. The teacher
will utilize the, tadi tadi tadi ta. Teacher will sing the rhythms while pointing the beat on the
chairs. The teacher will ask a child if they hear one or two units of rhythm on the corresponding
beats. When one child has the answer right, teacher will send the amount of children on the
chairs, because it is Tadi tadi tadi ta: 2, 2, 2, 1.

Children are rhythms.

Chairs are beats.

Page 84 of 157
Page 85 of 157
Repertoire # 17: Ik loop mijn eigen weggetje

Activity: The children walk in a circle and at the words “zitten” the children sit on the small
bags set on the floor. In the “taalklas” (language class) I thought the walking in circle signs to the
children by utilizing this game

SV signs: reinforces walking in circle sign.

Musicianship: In this piece the children are walking in a circle in the beat and are singing. They
must also know where to sit so they are also practicing timing.

Leadership/ community:

Games: game described as activity.

Page 86 of 157
Page 87 of 157
Repertoire #18: Grandma grunts

Activity: The children sing the piece together with the teacher.

SV signs: The sign that is introduced is the girl/boy sign.

Musicianship: The children are queued when singing. The girls sing their part of the piece.

Leadership/ community: The children can utilize the sign boy and girl.

Games: none.

Page 88 of 157
Page 89 of 157
Repertoire# 19: Tussen Keulen en Parijs

Activity: The children are standing in a circle and this song was specifically used for leadership/
community activity.

SV signs: This piece has used the signs to embellish.

Musicianship: The children have to clap together with the leader of the group. The leader in
charge, can look for a logical place to clap. Some children choose beat 1 (which is good) some
children feel beat 3.

Leadership/ community: The leader must try to help his/her colleagues clap together.
Another game that was utilized was the walking exercise, where the children had to walk around,
when someone takes initiative to stop, everyone must stop together.

Games: none.

Page 90 of 157
Page 91 of 157
Repertoire #20: Penguin

Activity: The children are imitating a penguin movement. The movement can be any movement
that the teacher sees as penguin related.

SV signs: none

Musicianship: The penguin movements must go on the beat and the children must sing with the
teacher.

Leadership/ community: none

Games: none

Page 92 of 157
Page 93 of 157
Repertoire # 21: A sailor went to sea

Activity: The children are standing in a circle and need to follow the commands of the activity.

SV signs: none

Musicianship: The children will follow the movements of seeing something. When the teacher
says, see the children put their hands on their heads as if trying to see something in the distance.
The second round of the piece, all the words, see will be substituted for the word, clap. A sailor
went to clap clap clap, third round, the word becomes saw. The fourth round you combine all
these words. Every action must be in the beat.

Leadership/ community: Children can choose which combinations of actions they want to use;
instead of See, clap, saw; it can be clap, saw, see; the person choosing must teach us the new
combination.

Games: none.

Page 94 of 157
Page 95 of 157
Repertoire# 22: Hot cross buns

Activity: The children are sitting down in this activity and are singing with the teacher.

SV signs: scanning

Musicianship: The children have a ball that they need to pass around in the beat. The exercise
gets difficult when the children can only sing when they have the ball. This activates the inner
hearing of each child so they know what to sing when they have the ball. There are also rests, so
the children who get the ball on a rest have to pass the ball, however, they can not sing.
Afterwards the teacher and the children can utilize the scanning sign.

Leadership/ community: The children can scan the other children to sing

Games: none.

Page 96 of 157
APPENDIX II
Chapter 5: Lesson plans

Lesson Planning Kodaly Research

Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: October 24, 2018
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 1:
The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:
Children are receiving musical lessons once a week from their teacher.

Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, walk in circle.

Focus song: Rocky Mountain

Page 97 of 157
Lesson planning and repertoire:
- Fill out questionnaires

- Ridders van de ronde tafel. Children enter the classroom with the teacher and while singing
children clap the ja ja ja part. Teacher also trains the musicianship by utilizing the meters that
are switching. We are training the musicianship and preparing the odd and even meters.
Teacher will also lower volume and raise volume throughout. From here, the make circle sign
is given.

- Hallo iedereen

- Boom chicka boom; vocal warm up and preparing beat; follow hands (beat) and slow beat

- Doemla: Teacher start singing Doemla and walk in the circle (preparing walk in circle sign).
We sing soft and loud.

Teacher uses body and clap patterns to prepare beat (this also prepares rocky mountain’s
pattern) Children are set in a straight line. (in front of each other and are preparing the stand in
front of each other sign)

- Rocky Mountain: Teacher teaches the children the song Rocky Mountain and then adds
movement. Children stand in a circle and are given the sign to find a partner. Children clap the
same pattern as Doemla, however, are now clapping the last beat with a partner. Teacher will
let children stand in a circle and clap with each one. Afterwards children stand in front of each
other to clap with partner. Children are given the stand in front of each other sign.

- Mousie game: Children stand in a circle and they will be given the circle sign. Teacher sings
with the children. One child is chosen to be the cat and one to be the mouse. Children in the
circle are prepared for the movement of closing the doors with clapping.

- Wie niet lopen wil”. Children are given the option to run or walk around as the song suggests.

- Children are asked through the song to sit down and close their eyes.

- Children will hear a classical piece played on the guitar. The piece is minuet in G by J.S Bach.
Afterwards children are asked to stand up and are sung out by “Hallo iedereen” but this time
Dag iedereen as new words. While doing this, I give the children the opportunity to control
the volume of the piece while singing them out.

Musicianship
Utilizing the Kodaly concept and vocal leadership concept: The lesson is focused on beat and
small amount of leadership using the SV signs in the last piece.

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Vocal painting signs
Solidifying my above mentioned statement: The researcher desires to ‘lead by example’. In this lesson,
children are given the signs after preparing them; observing how the teacher utilizes these signs; the
children also follow these signs in regards to the musical parameter (volume)

Creativity, Improvisation, Collaboration

Creativity is not a theme in this lesson; however, the researcher is utilizing the signs and the
children unconsciously to observe this. This is paramount. The reason for this is that the leader,
at this moment, needs to lead by example and teach the children to follow him; In turn they will
lead the researcher in future lessons and utilize the creativity in their form.
Musical experience (aesthetics): Children are constantly listening to folks songs and developing
their musicianship. Apart from this they are being prepared to listen to music by the great
composers such as Bach to develop their musical taste.

A sense of (musical) community and leadership

In this lesson, we practice only the musical leadership utilizing the SV signs. The children are standing
in a circle and they are each collaborating to the music utilizing the first few signs we have learned. A
couple of the children are getting the opportunity to collaborate.

Reflection:
In this lesson, I will reflect on what was given to the children on this date.
The children were given all that was on the repertoire list and are making the first steps towards becoming
leaders. Author must express that these children are very capable of being leaders, although they do not
see it themselves.

At the beginning of the lesson, they had to fill out a questionnaire. In the questionnaire there were several
questions about their musical experience. A few have musical experience but a great deal doesn’t. A few
of them have experience in music because of the blazer’s “klas” program which focuses on children being
thought how to play a wind instrument. The focus is about making the music and developing the
musicianship; however, it is also focused on the leadership, musical and creative experience with the
signs and managing the group.

Today they were taught various signs; off course, all of them being prepared beforehand what the
corresponding actions to the signs are.
- Volume: prepared by first singing soft and loud and then making them aware of how this action is
communicated.
- Make a circle: prepared by giving the action first and afterwards being showed how the sign works.
- Stand in a circle: Idem
- Walk in circle: idem
- Sit down: idem
- Stop circle from moving (body stop)

The actions offer more dynamics in the class, since one does not have to break their singing to request a
musical action.

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In the last piece that we sang: “dag iedereen”, the kids were given the opportunity to make their own
interpretation of the piece by using ‘volume”. I must say that the children worked very well and a lot of
them started using their creativity with the volume sign.

Next week we will practice the same signs and continue with more leadership and musicianship activities
Lesson planning Kodaly research

Researcher: Jaderick Croes

School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: November 6, 2018
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 2:
The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:
The children received one lesson from myself and today we continue the second lesson.

Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, walk in circle.

Focus song: Rocky Mountain

Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, stand in front of each other (look for partner) walk in
circle; fortify these signs and introduce ‘’stand in front of each other sign and stand in straight
line.

Focus song: Rocky Mountain and Appelboom.

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Lesson planning and repertoire:
- Ridders van de ronde tafel’ Children enter the classroom with the teacher and while singing;
children clap the ‘ja ja ja part’. Teacher also trains the musicianship by utilizing the meters that
are switching. We are training the musicianship and preparing the odd and even meters.
Teacher will also lower volume and raise volume throughout. From here, the make circle sign
is given.

- Hallo iedereen.

- Boom chicka boom: Vocal warm up and preparing beat; follow hands(beat) and slow beat

- Rocky Mountain: Teacher teaches the children the song Rocky mountain and then adds
movement. Children stand in a circle and are given the sign to find a partner. Children clap the
same pattern as doemla; however, are now clapping the last beat with a partner. Teacher will
let children stand in a circle and clap with each one, afterwards children stand in front of each
other to clap with partner. Children are given the stand in front of each other sign. tTeacher
will explain the stand n front of each other sign. We will take time to practice the stand in front
of each other sign.

- Mousie game: Children stand in circle they will be given the circle sing. Teacher sings with
the children. One child is chosen to be the cat and one to be the mouse. Children in the circle
are prepared for the movement of closing the doors with clapping.

- Alle vingers weg oh jee (parachute)

- Appelboom: The children are thought to sing this piece utilizing break (thinking voice)
Children are prepared to utilize beat and very long notes; they are prepared to use the ball to
pass in the same timing as the beat note and longer duration notes. The sign ‘’break’’ is
introduced

- Hey ho, nobody home: One child uses a stick to hold the beat, one comes in the middle of the
circle to give leadership; teacher shows the child first what he has to to do. Giving volume and
teach break.

- Run little lamb. Children are thought the pattern of run little lamb utilizing the beat in 5 and
afterwards children can also run around; the piece is a running around piece.

- Former friends: Bartok. Move with the teacher. One student will also take leadership in
‘follow me’. The child becomes the leader in this piece. They have to move to the music. One
child is chosen to lead the other children into movement.

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Musicianship
Utilizing the Kodaly concept and vocal leadership concept: The lesson is focused on beat and
small amount of leadership using the vopa signs

Creativity, Improvisation and collaboration

At the beginning and the end of the lesson, the children are given the opportunity to lead us
musically via the signs. The children also contribute to the piece of Bartok by making their own
movements; the children need to make their movement and everyone has to follow the child who
is leading. At the end of the lesson, a couple of children are chosen to contribute their SV ideas
to a chosen piece

Vocal painting signs

The children repeat the signs we already know. They will learn the break sing or thinking voice
sign. In the Bartok piece they learn the copy me sign; however, only as preparation; however,
they are going to prepare for new signs. We will first make them aware of the actions and then
introduce the new signs.

A sense of (musical) community and leadership

The common goal today is to move like how the teacher is moving. The children will also move
as their own colleagues do. The children will imitate another child while listening to ‘’ former
friends’’ by Bartok

Reflection
The lesson today was a bit rough; children were a little bit on edge; however, we managed to go
through it. I had a conversation with the teacher. In this I found out that the children enjoy the
lessons; however, the human contact is still not there. Leadership involves human side of
everything: asking the children how their day was can be the difference in everything. The
children need to be able to see that I am also a human being with the same goal as them: to make
music. Researcher will reflect deeper on this subject in lesson 3.

Signs that were taught today are:

Energize and break. The children are slowly taking leadership. I make sure to give them the
opportunity to sign what the volume is or if we need to use our inner hearing. I challenge them to
use 2 of them. I will reflect on this further in the next lessons.

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Lesson Planning Kodaly Research
Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: October 24, 2018
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 3:
The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:
Children are receiving musical lessons once a week from their teacher.
Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, walk in circle, stand in front of each other (look for a
partner) walk in circle; fortify these signs and introduce ‘’stand in front of each other, sign and
stand in straight line.
Focus song: The ring we have hidden.

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Lesson planning and repertoire:
- “Ridders van de ronde tafel”. Children enter the classroom with the teacher and while
singing, children clap the “ja ja ja” part. Teacher also trains the musicianship by utilizing the
meters that are switching. We are training the musicianship and preparing the odd and even
meters. Teacher will also lower volume and raise volume throughout. From here, the make
circle sign is given.

- “Hallo iedereen”

- Boom chick a boom; vocal warm up and preparing beat; follow hands (beat) and slow beat

- Principles of basic step and using signs as focus 

- “Kleine bever zoekt een vriendje”: call and response. Children clap the response after they
sing it utilizing inner hearing. 

-‘Rocky Mountain’. Teacher teaches the children the song Rocky mountain and then adds
movement. Children stand in a circle and are given the sign to find a partner. Children clap
the same pattern as Doemla; however, are now clapping the last beat with a partner. Teacher
will let children stand in a circle and clap with each one; afterwards children stand in front of
each other to clap with partner. Children are given the stand in front of each other sign.

Note: Utilize a couple of the songs to practice the SV signs that have been taught. 

-“Alle vingers weg oh jee” (parachute). One child goes under the parachute. Sitting sign.

- “Appelboom”: The children are thought to sing this piece utilizing break (thinking voice)
Children are prepared to utilize beat and very long notes; they are prepared to use the ball to
pass in the same timing as the beat note and longer duration notes. The sign ‘’break’’ is
introduced.

- Hey ho, nobody home: One child uses a stick to hold the beat, one comes in the middle of
the circle to give leadership; teacher shows the child first what he has to do. Giving volume
and teach break. 

- “A la Rueda de San Miguel”: Let the children say the name and make the movement of
triplets.

- The ring we have hidden: Children stand in a circle and one is given the ring by the teacher:
the one who has it will respond with ‘’ I have the ring’’ the child guessing who this person is
will be with eyes closed and will try to guess who has the ring.
 
- If there is time we can practice Tadi Ta language with the fingers.

-Cada vez que siento tu amor”. This song is used as the art song to practice 5/4 while clapping.

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 Teacher will sing and prepare the movement. 
“Dag iedereen”.

Musicianship
Vocal Painting Signs
The signs up until now are: walking in a circle, stop the circle, make a circle, volume and break
(inner hearing). We will practice these at the beginning of a lesson to show the children how they
can be also used for activities outside singing. A new sign that is introduced is the sign energize.
This sign is introduced by singing the folk song “Appelboom” with its melody and then I silence
the children. I start then by only utilizing the rhythms of the piece without the melody. The
children will copy me. The sign is now introduced and we can start utilizing these signs to our
SV “palet”.
Children are being subjected to songs with 4/4 and 5/4 measures with clapping. In the songs we
are utilizing call and response. We use volume and inner hearing signs to fortify the musicianship
even further

A sense of (musical) community

After seeing in the last lesson how the signs can be misused, the children are being trained to use
the signs in a more logical matter. This also gives me the opportunity to practice the
musicianship with the children. If we use volume sign, together as a group, we change the signs
on every whole note; every bar has a change in dynamic. The children do not have to perform it
this way when they are the leaders, however it does give a sense when the signs should be
changed and as abovementioned, it practices the musicianship and the community a bit more so
as a group we can achieve beauty.
Creativity, improvisation and collaboration
Through the pieces we are constantly collaborating new ideas to the pieces. I often utilize the SV
signs to embellish the piece before we go on to the games or activities around the piece itself.
Walk in a circle, stop the circle, sit down, stand up, and make a circle, women, men.
The children know: walk in a circle, stop the circle, and make a circle. In the next lesson I will
introduce them to men and women. Some children are chosen either at the beginning, midway or
at the end of the lesson to lead the group musically. They collaborate to a chosen piece adding
what they think sounds beautiful in that moment: they think of maybe just adding more volume,
adding a break (inner hearing) etc. The children can now also utilize the energize sign to
contribute to the piece that is SV’d.

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Reflection:
In this lesson I see the children more and more involved in utilizing the signs.
Some of the children misuse these signs (video # shows this)
I counter this misuse by telling the child that is leading, that we need to be able to
trust you with the signs and at the same moment make the group sound good. If
we misuse the signs than nobody goes forward. The leadership role has a lot of
responsibilities. I practice also through the signs the musicianship of the children;
this allows them to change the signs in a more logical and economical matter
( video #... shows this). As you can see on the video, the children sometimes want
to be humorous towards the other children and misuse the signs. As
abovementioned, this is a wrong way to lead the group. The children are taught to
help their peers out to achieve a beautiful performance. As abovementioned in the
musical community section; the children are taught where to change the sign in a
more logical matter. We do this in various ways. At this point everyone must hold
the signs in their hands and copy the teacher.
Inner hearing sign: break the piece on every half of whole note. This is to give
them a feel of the notes value and at the same time to make them utilize the signs
more logically for the other children.
Volume exercise: same as the inner hearing. Now utilizing the volume sign.

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Lesson Planning Kodaly Research
Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: November 19, 2018
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 4:
The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.
Start situation:
Children are receiving musical lessons once a week from the author of this research. The
children are experienced in music making having received lessons on instruments.
Goal: To reinforce the prior signs and practice the musicianship. The signs that are being
practiced are: Making a circle, walk in a circle, stop the circle, basic step 1, volume, energize.
Focus song: “A la rueda de San Miguel”.

Page 107 of 157

Lesson planning and repertoire
- “Ridders van de ronde tafel” Children enter the classroom with the teacher while singing;
children clap the “ja ja ja” part’. Teacher also trains the musicianship by utilizing the meters
that are switching. We are training the musicianship and preparing the odd and even meters.
Teacher will also lower volume and raise volume throughout. From here, the make circle sign
is given. In the song, I am utilizing the signs to reinforce the children for the end of the lesson.
The children are also collaborating with the piece utilizing the piece they already know.

-“Hallo iedereen”.
- Boom chicka boom; vocal warm up and preparing beat; follow hands (beat) and slow beat
- Principles of basic step and using signs as focus. (Without music)
- The ring we have hidden game: children are asked to play the game along, one child is given
the task to control the volume and the way we sing the piece.
- “A la rueda de San Miguel” with movements created by the teacher. When the game is
perfected, I will also use the signs to accommodate this piece.

- ‘Rocky Mountain’: With movements that are already practiced (beat). Using leadership
signs: beat, walk in circle, energize, externalize, inner hearing, basic steps. One child takes
the leadership with assigned signs.

The externalize sign/ reset is also practiced as a musicianship exercise. The externalize sign
is used to reset the actions of what we are doing.
- Practice musicianship through signs: In this exercise, I am singing a piece. All children must
copy the sign in my hand; they must also perform the sign correctly. I change the signs every
one or two bars to give logical dynamic movement to the piece.

- “Appelboom” with ball game and clapping beat and words. The children pass the ball
around in the beat. On the word “zeer” the child has to avoid holding the ball. This also
practices the pulse.

- “Cada vez que siento tu amor” (repeat from last week). Children practice again the 5/4 meter
with a clapping game, after this clapping game the children are now asked to come with their
own 5/4 movement, where we will imitate that movement. 1 child will move to this piece.

“Dag iedereen” song. Children are given a chance to use the SV signs.

Musicianship
Children are being subjected to songs with 4/4 and 5/4 measures with clapping. In the songs we
are utilizing call and response. We use volume and inner hearing signs to fortify the
musicianship even further. In a lot of the songs we are practicing polyphonic activities.
“Appelboom”: Ball game and beat game. Polyphonic activity.
In the song of “A la rueda de San Miguel”, we are utilizing beat and the movements of triplets.

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Vocal painting signs
The signs up until now are: walking in a circle, stop the circle, make a circle, volume and break
(inner hearing) energize, basic step. We will practice these at the beginning of a lesson to show
the children how they can be also used for activities outside singing. In three songs, we are
practicing the signs to use for leadership.

A sense of Musical community:

The children are constantly practicing the signs as a musicianship exercises to change the signs
in a logical matter. They are constantly being reminded to not change the signs in ways that does
not help the other children perform the music correctly.

Improvisation and collaboration:

The children are at the beginning stages of improvising. I am giving them the task now to use
three signs; this requires putting their creativity and improvisation skills to the test. For me: as
explained in the introduction to this chapter: the creativity and improvisation go hand in hand.
The child has to improvise which sign he/ she wants to use.

Reflection:
We (the children and I) had a discussion on our classroom rules today. I have taught them the
importance of helping the teacher out. It has to be said that a couple of days ago I found a flaw in
my nonverbal communication with the children. Sometimes the children do not look at you while
they are busy with an activity. They can’t be blamed for this as they are trying to concentrate and
at the same time they are being curious to what is happening. This causes them to look away and
when a new sign is given, they do not pick it up. For this situation, I will now engage other
students to take responsibility to help their fellow students out if they miss a sign. This is also a
criterion to become a leader; help people in need or just helping out when they need to be helped.

On a positive note: Today we also discovered that the musicianship can be practiced in sign
form; utilizing the volume sign for example the student can sign the volume every 4 beat or two,
whichever makes sense at the moment; We can try to change every 2 beats or 3 or 4; this
requires a knowledge of the meter of the song being performed.

Lesson Planning Kodaly Research

Page 109 of 157

Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: November 26, 2018
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 5:
The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.
Start situation:
Children are receiving musical lessons once a week from their teacher.
Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, stand in front of each other (look for a partner), walk in
circle; fortify these signs and introduce ‘stand in front of each other sign’ and ‘stand in straight
line’.

Focus song: Rocky Mountain and “Appelboom”.

Page 110 of 157

Lesson planning and repertoire
 SV exercise; children are reminded of the signs that are being used at the moment:

Make a circle, Energize, externalize, walk in circle, break, volume, sit down, stop circle
 “Hallo iedereen”.
 Boom chicka boom; vocal warm up and preparing beat; follow hands(beat) and slow beat
 “Ridders van de ronde tafel”. Children enter the classroom with the teacher and while singing;
children clap the “ja ja ja” part’. Teacher also trains the musicianship by utilizing the meters
that are switching. We are training the musicianship and preparing the odd and even meters.
Teacher will also lower volume and raise volume throughout. From here, the make circle sign
is given. To prepare the last movement of a “A la rueda de San Miguel”

 “A la rueda de San Miguel”: This song is repeated to give a feeling of the triplet movement.
We play a game with this song. The last movement is practiced through ridders van de ronde
tafel.

 Rocky Mountain. Teacher teaches the children the song Rocky Mountain and then adds
movement. Children stand in a circle and are given the sign to find a partner. Children clap the
same pattern as doemla; however, are now clapping the last beat with a partner. Teacher will
let children stand in a circle and clap with each one. Afterwards children stand in front of each
other to clap with partner. Children are given the stand in front of each other sign. Teacher
will explain the stand n front of each other sign. We will take time to practice the stand in
front of each other sign.

 Here comes a blue bird: We will play a game with this song, but also reinforce beat and use
the vocal painting signs. 4 children will create the beat. Each get’s a turn to assign one part of
the body that the beat will be played on; we imitate these movements. Afterwards; we keep
singing the song to go over to beat. In the next lesson, children will get exposed to clapping
the words.

Our art music for today is Bartok’s Children’s game. The children will move on the movements.
If it is slow they can move slow, if it is fast they can move fast. Because it is fast and slow, I will
introduce the sign: tempo.
https://youtu.be/AnSMwdBb5t0
“Dag iedereen” with the tempo sign added.

Page 111 of 157

Musicianship
To utilize the Kodaly and vocal leadership concept: The lesson is focused on beat and small
amount of leadership using the SV signs.

Vocal painting signs

The children repeat the signs we already know. They will learn the break or thinking voice sign.
In the Bartok piece they learn the ‘copy me’ sign; however, only as preparation; however, they
are going to prepare for new signs. We will first make them aware of the actions and then
introduce the new signs. The new sign is introduced through the music of Bartok: The children
are given the opportunity to sign the new signs in our outro song “dag iedereen”

A sense of (musical) community

We have now arrived at the tempo sign. This sign was also practiced in the lesson apart from
utilizing it in the music. The sign tempo is used to make the tempo of the music slower or faster.
The child has to indicate which tempo he/ she wants (video # shows this). The children together
must slowdown to the wishes of the leader of the group. Teacher also trains this with the children
in other repertoires. Together, everyone must slow down or raise the tempo. The community
aspect of this is that the children must pay attention to either what the teacher is doing or the
child who is the leader; together, everyone must slow down or raise the tempo.
Improvisation and collaboration:
Children can now collaborate to the piece by adding new tempos with the tempo sign and also
improvise with the tempo sign. Also the children can add to the piece the vowels A, I, U, M.

Reflection:
In this lesson, there were moments where the children were a little bit too enthusiastic. Between
the silences the children were constantly talking and there was no silence. I asked the classroom
teacher what I could do better to make the children be silent. He told me to just wait, stand in a
neutral position with a serious face, and wait until the children calmed down; eventually the
children know what is expected of them and they will calm down. What also worked in the past,
in previous lessons, was using the children, the enthusiastic ones, to help with an activity.
Sometimes I do begin the lesson while the children are talking; According to [ CITATION
Wag12 \l 1033 ] The children will think that it is okay to talk while the teacher is talking.
Wagner says that the teacher accepts the inattention of the children and gives the idea that they
are permitted to talk while the teacher is talking. The teacher should demand attention before the
lessons begins.

Musical analysis: The utilizing of the signs is going great. All of which is done musically before
introducing the sign itself. The signs that are being used, are being used in a proper matter;
however, sometimes the children utilize the signs in a very unmusical way (they play very fast
with the volume) this to me is a bit unmusical; although anything can happen; it is not the
message I want to convey: children need to learn to use the signs in a logical way: In the
following lessons, I will utilize the signs to practice musicianship. Use the volume sign every

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four beat of 2 beat (here they need to feel the beat, instead of randomly inserting the signs) or
change every 4 beats from the A, I, U, M signs. Singing, moving, performing are the ways we
can develop the musicianship in children. We want to be able to practice the musicianship
through the signs, not only in the sense of its parameter (volume for example) but also in the
sense of timing.

About the tempo sign: At first the children want to use the sign; however, they are hesitant and
forget that they need to give the tempo also that they want. This is not an issue; I correct them
and afterwards they go on to perform the in the right tempo.

Lesson Planning Kodaly Research

Lesson Planning Kodaly Research

Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: December 5, 2018
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 6:
The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:
Page 113 of 157
These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:
Children added in the last lessons more signs to their pallet.

Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, stand in front of each other walk in circle; fortify these
signs and introduce them.

Focus song: Rocky Mountain and “Appelboom”.

Lesson planning and repertoire:

- De mieren marcheren 1 voor 1: Children walk the beat, while one child does the leadership
in front. Children have to follow the leader wherever he wants to go. The children have their
hand on the shoulders of the other children. All the children are standing behind each other
with hands on the shoulders of the child in front of them.

- Boom chicka boom: The exercise will be added with two children in the center circle holding
the beat with the sticks; also signs for: A, I, U, M prepared through the same song changing the
words to the corresponding syllables. The children are following what the teacher says;
afterwards, the children get turns to hold the stick I am using to hold the beat and say the
words: ‘boom chicka boom’ They decide how they want to say the ‘boom chicka boom’. They
can choose to do it in a high voice or low voice, or they can choose to do it with the syllables.

- Hallo iedereen with signs: Teacher utilizes couple of the signs they know to embellish the
piece.

- Ridders van de ronde tafel: Children enter the classroom with the teacher and while singing;
children clap the “ja ja ja” part’. Teacher also trains the musicianship by utilizing the meters

Page 114 of 157

 that are switching. We are training the musicianship and preparing the odd and even meters.
Teacher will also lower volume and raise volume throughout. From here, the make circle sign
is given. To prepare the last movement of a “A la rueda”

- A la rueda de San Miguel: We prepare the final movement with the movements of ridders van
de ronde tafel.

- Rishi rishi with game

Sit: reflect on signs. Make a circle, Energize, externalize, walk in circle, break, volume, sit down,
stop circle.

- Here comes a blue bird: leadership practice; teacher repeats the signs through the music: then
children will be given leadership to make what they want of this piece.

- Game of blue bird: The game is played in the following way. The children are holding hands;
on every half note the children switch the position of the hands together up and after another
half note they move down; this is to imitate the opening of windows. The child in the middle is
the bird and can fly around when the windows are open. This can also be played leaving the
windows completely open (concentrate on singing). We can also practice the signs through the
half note movements. Every time we are with our windows open (hands up) we sing loud,
every time with windows closed (hands down) we sing softer. This can also be done by using
the inner hearing. See video #..

- Rocky Mountain: Teacher teaches the children the song Rocky Mountain and then adds
movement. Children stand in a circle and are given the sign to find a partner. Children clap the
same pattern as Doemla; however, are now clapping the last beat with a partner. Teacher will let
children stand in a circle and clap with each one, afterwards children stand in front of each other
to clap with partner.

Our art music for today is Bartok’s Children’s game. The children will move on the movements
if it is slow they can move slowly, if it is fast they can move fast. Because it is fast and slow, I
will introduce the sign: tempo.

If there is enough time, another game will be added.

After the vacation we will use new folk songs.

https://youtu.be/AnSMwdBb5t0

Dag iedereen: with the tempo sign added.

Musicianship:
Utilizing the Kodaly concept and vocal leadership concept: The children are further along after
the fifth lessons. I have not yet introduced theory. Musicianship is trained not only in the games

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and activities but also through the signs. Volume sign can be given after every four beats; here
the whole note is practiced, it can also be done using 2 beats: the half notes are practiced.

Vocal painting signs:

Vocal painting signs that the children should know are: Energize, externalize, walk in circle,
make a circle, feels like you, volume, tempo change, sit, basic step 1 and 2, and stops from
moving and off. A couple of new signs will be added to the mix in the warm ups A,I,U, M. The
children repeat the signs we already know. They will learn the break sing or thinking voice sign.
In the Bartok piece they learn the copy me sign; however, only as preparation; however, they are
going to prepare for new signs. We will first make them aware of the actions and then introduce
the new signs. The new sign is introduced through the music of Bartok: The children are given
the opportunity to sign the new signs in our outro song “dag iedereen”

A sense of musical community:

In the lessons, we are constantly practicing the musical community aspect of the research. When
the children are utilizing the SV signs, they have to make sure everything is done in s logical
way. In the game, bluebird, we practiced this again through game. The children must lower their
hands together. On each half notes (the children are singing; however, the rhythm of the hands is
moving polyphonically in contrast to the piece) we the signs and imitate this with our voices (this
is done only before the game starts) If we choose volume then on one half note we sing loud and
on the other we sing soft. If we choose inner hearing, on the first half notes we are singing on the
second we are inner hearing and on the third we are singing again etc.

Improvisation and collaboration:

Children are thought this with the piece ‘children at play’ by Bela Bartok. The children can make
movements with this piece either fast or slowly, they have to move on the tempo of the piece.

Reflection:
One thing that I have noticed was, that maybe we are utilizing too many signs. Some of the
children are aware of what the signs are; however, some of the children could not utilize the
signs in correct matter.

In a conversation with Ewan Gibson (former Kodaly teacher at the Royal conservatory in The
Hague, Netherlands), I was warned that the signs could become a distraction to the children. In
one sense I agree with this; however, I do see possibilities in combining the Kodaly method with
vocal leadership method if the signs were less. I very much appreciate the teachings of Ewan as
this advice that he expressed is now paramount to the research and the success of it. In the
following lessons I will not introduce new signs until I know the children are ready and that we
can keep practicing the old ones. The next lessons will also focus on theory aspects of the
activities and signs. The signs are also a theory put into practice. This is also one the reasons I
am not teaching the children more than fifteen signs.

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In a conversation with Walter Thompson (developer of the SV signs) he informed that in his
classroom at the end of the year children can learn up to 50 or more signs; however, this is purely
based on a SV classroom utilizing the SV as primary method. In this research, the Kodaly
philosophy is utilized to teach the musicianship. As you may notice, all signs are prepared
through music making before being introduced as the signs.

Lesson Planning Kodaly Research

Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: January 23, 2019
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 7:
The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

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These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:
Children are receiving musical lessons once a week from their teacher.
Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, stand in front of each other (look for partner) walk in
circle; fortify these signs and introduce ‘’stand in front of each other sign and stand in straight
line.
Focus song: Rocky Mountain and “Appelboom”.

Lesson planning and repertoire:

- “De mieren marcheren 1 voor 1”: Children walk the beat, while one child does the leadership
in front. Children have to follow the leader wherever he wants to go.

- Boom chicka boom: The exercise will be added with two children in the center circle holding
the beat with the sticks: also signs for: A, I, U, M; prepared through the same song changing
the words to the corresponding syllables.

- “Hallo iedereen”, with signs.

- “Ridders van de ronde tafel”. Children enter the classroom with the teacher and while singing;
children clap the “ja ja ja” part. Teacher also trains the musicianship by utilizing the meters
that are switching. We are training the musicianship and preparing the odd and even meters.
Teacher will also lower volume and raise volume throughout. From here, the make circle sign
is given. To prepare the last movement of a ‘a la rueda”

- “A la rueda de San Miguel”: We prepare the final movement with the movements of “Ridders
van de ronde tafel”.

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7 minutes: this becomes short fire music making round. This is done for the musicianship and the
signs. The signs are utilized throughout the piece.
Sit: reflect on signs that were utilized.
Make a circle, energize, externalize, walk in circle, break, volume, sit down, stop circle.

- “Wie kruipt eronder door”. The children will learn today what the beat is and how we mark it.
They will learn quarter notes, and eight notes. This is done through utilizing the piece in
question. I will also practice a bit of leadership with the children; I will give 4 beats
represented by chairs. One child is chosen to say how many sounds does he/she hear on the
beat (chairs) he/she will set 1 or 2 children on a chair depending how many rhythms is on the
beat. Leadership is thought in the way of being polite to each other and saying thank you
when somebody sits on the chair and asking politely to take a seat; also, they will ask to go
back to their places in a nice matter.

15 minutes.
- Rocky Mountain. Teacher teaches the children the song Rocky Mountain and then adds
movement. Children clap the same pattern as Doemla; however, are now clapping the last beat
with a partner. Teacher will let children stand in a circle and clap with each one; afterwards
children stand in front of each other to clap with partner. Add game with one child in the
middle: When the children clap, the one in the middle needs to stop walking (child only walks
in the circle). This is done to give a break of the theory of the prior game; however, practicing
the musicianship. The child in the middle will also utilize leadership with assigned signs
(volume and A) 7 minutes. Our art music for today is Bartok’s Children’s game. The children
will move on the movements if it is slow they can move slowly and if it is fast they can move
fast. Because it’s fast and slow, I will introduce the sign: tempo. Tempo has already been
introduced; however, it
is good for the children to see how it is utilized in context to the musical life. They will move
fast and slow when the music moves fast and slow when it moves slow. They have to be quiet
to hear the music; Children tend to laugh when moving joyously in music which is fine as long
as it does not affect the listening. After the piece, the children will be asked what sign is used
in this piece. It is the tempo sign. Teacher will sing the piece and do the movements while
teacher gives the tempo sign.

https://youtu.be/AnSMwdBb5t0.

“Dag iedereen” with the tempo sign added’.

Musicianship
Utilizing today the theory that is learned children will develop their musicianship through theory
and practicing it through auditory means. The will also utilize clapping to reinforce the theory
that is being given. The musicianship is practiced with dynamics in rocky mountain by
combining signs and semibreve. The children stand in volume sign and change sign together
with the teacher every 4 beats. This also changes the dynamics.

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Vocal painting signs
The children repeat the signs we already know. They will learn the break sing or thinking voice
sign. In the Bartok piece they learn the copy me sign; however, only as preparation;
however, they are going to prepare for new signs. We will first make them aware of the actions
and then introduce the new signs. The new sign is introduced through the music of Bartok: The
children are given the opportunity to sign the new signs in our outro song ‘dag iedereen’

A sense of (musical) community

In this lesson, the piece by Bartok is used to get a sense on how the piece is moving. Is it moving
at a slow tempo or fast tempo. All children must move together; this way everyone can see the
contrast of moving fast and slow. There are children who like to keep moving fast and this needs
to be corrected. Often, I would tell these children that we have to move together to make the
classroom look good. If one moves fast when they are not suppose to, it does not look nice.

Improvisation and Collaboration

Children are collaborating to the music when given the chance to SV the classroom. Because the
children know more signs, I often split the group. Two children SV two groups. Note: The
children are standing in the same circle, half of the circle does what child number one signs and
the other half does what child number two does –we use the same piece; however, child number
one SV a differently than child number two- You get a very beautiful contrast in the sound.

Reflection
I found the lesson this day was very difficult seeing the children were very energized to make
music. This is good in the sense of enthusiasm. I must admit, in these lessons reflection, I often
write about the children’s behavior, rather than the progress of the lesson. I must also add that
the usage of the leadership signs is working very well and I am very excited to go over to the
leadership aspect of the lessons. Lesson giving is just more than just giving the material and be
glad that you gave the children something new to learn. This is what I am learning as I go along.
You must also manage the children so they can receive the music lessons in an appropriate
matter. In the case of my classroom, when I give a stop sign, some of them still either keep
singing or break into talking instead of staying silent. My approach for the following lesson
would be the approach of Katharina Sieberer-Nagler. She states that in order to get the desired
behavior one must encourage that behavior one must encourage the behavior [CITATION
Kat15 \l 1033 ] This means, that I have to praise the positive behavior of the children. I must
then encourage them to stay silent during the ending of the pieces.

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Reflection of the signs and leadership aspects: What I can add to this is that the children are
receiving a lot of information over the lessons that I am giving them; however, we come up short
because of the lesson time. I learned that we have to practice the signs; however, it is better to
introduce less signs another time around. The children got at least 15 signs in a short time;
combining it with the Kodaly method it proves that it works; however, the signs must be less and
practiced often.

Lesson Planning Kodaly Research

Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: January 30, 2019
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 8:
The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

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- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]
- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:
Children are receiving musical lessons once a week from their teacher.
Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, stand in front of each other (look for partner) walk in
circle; fortify these signs and introduce ‘’stand in front of each other sign and stand in straight
line.
Focus song: Rocky Mountain and “Appelboom”

Lesson planning and repertoire:

- Boom chicka boom / volume/ clap prep-
Floor roof game zip/zap/ boing/prrr
- “Hallo iedereen”/ tempo
- Blue bird: volume/ walk
- Doemla: volume/ energize/ reset
Prep short notes in doemla
Introduce sign (last sign of this series)

- Begin with basic step.

- Rocky Mountain/ basic step
- “Appelboom”/break and basic step

Silence game: “Ik loop mijn eigen weggetje” with game: The children are taught the song and
afterwards we play the game: the game has two functions; to reinforce the walking in a circle and
to time the ending of the piece. At the ending the children need to sit down on the seed bag
(“pitten zak”). The language class utilized the same repertoire but simpler games because of the
age limit. Today with the language class they were taught the walking in circle sign with this
game seeing this game requires the children to walk in a circle.

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- “A la rueda de San Miguel” spelletje with rhythm fingers and volume

- “Stoel spelletje. Wie kruipt eronder door”

- “Ik ben weer mijn sleutel kwijt” 1 or 2 times indicate volume.

- Short notes is introduced through the piece: Sketches number III. Staccato. The children will
feel in this piece the short notes. At the same time, the children hold the staccato sign in their
hands.

Choose a song:
With A, I, M, U.
With Volume.
With clapping.
With tempo.

Focus theory: Eight and quarter notes; Conscious making of dynamics.

Musicianship
Utilizing the principles of Kodaly, children are made aware of the notes that are being played n
the folk song ‘wie kruipt eronder door’. The children are learning aural distinction between the
rhythms that are being used in this piece – quarter and eight notes-

Vocal painting signs

Vocal painting signs that the children should know are: Energize, externalize, Walk in circle,
make a circle, Feels like you, Volume, tempo change, sit, basic step 1 and 2, stop from moving
and off. A couple of new signs will be added to the mix in the warm ups A,I,U M. In this lesson
we added short notes

Language class: Volume, walk in circle, tempo, off.

Children are now given the opportunity to practice these signs while making music. At the end of
the lesson the children receive opportunities to vocal paint.

A sense of (musical) Community and Leadership

In this lesson, the children are asked in the song, “Ik loop mijn eigen weggetje”, to sit on small
bags that are put on the ground. They have to do it together on the word, “zitten” (sit). They have
to be reminded how important it is to sit together to be in sync with each other. It practices the
synchronization and the timing. The leadership aspect is being practiced throughout the lesson
when the children are given chances to SV the class.

Improvisation and collaboration

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In this lesson children can now improvise with the short notes sign. The children are split in two
as the prior lesson and will utilize the new signs however they want to use them.

Reflection
In this lesson I will reflect on two things:
1) How to keep the silence during the lessons.
2) The leadership aspect of the lessons and how progress is being made in the classes with
regards to the Vocal painting.

1) In this lesson I tried to practice the silence that needs to happen at the end of the piece. I used
the piece “ik loop mijn eigen weggetje”. There was one situation where the children didn’t
want to stay quiet after the music stopped. This is a recurring issue in the lesson and I want to
correct this. Currently I am developing a game where it is required to be musical; however,
they must also work with each other to stay quiet. This will be developed in the lessons where
leadership and community is the focus. To remind the reader, the 4 lesson that we are busy
with is focused on theory; however, leadership and unconscious preparation of different
parameters are being prepared also.

2) Leadership: In this lesson, I gave 2 children the chance to become leaders and I have to say, I
was impressed by how they did it. The leader knew exactly where to utilize volume and the
changing of syllables, add clap and inner hearing; this requires good timing; I stimulate them
always to change signs at the beginning of the new sentence of a piece. Below is an example
how the children changed the signs at the sentences of the folk song; Rocky Mountain:

(Begin with clean sheet) Rocky Mountain, Rocky Mountain, Rocky Mountain high (lower
volume). When you are on that rocky mountain hang your head and cry. (Change syllables to A)
Do, do, do, do do remember me, (Change syllables to M) do, do, do, do, do remember me.

This is just one example; children can decide also to utilize clap or inner hearing:

(Begin with clean sheet) Rocky Mountain, Rocky Mountain, Rocky Mountain high (inner
hearing) When you are on that rocky mountain hang your head and cry. (clap) Do, do, do, do do
remember me, (sing) do, do, do, do, do remember me.

According to Clarice Assad this is called Dynamic music. Assad defines this term as music that
is not the same every time. [ CITATION Cla18 \l 1033 ] In the context of music making with
the children, they add new elements to the piece every time we vocal paint (SV).

The children also go more rounds and utilize different signs. The point I am trying to make is
that at the beginning of the lesson series the children did not use proper timing. To achieve
proper timing, we practiced the musicianship with clapping games, moving games, stick games;
however, the signs could also be practiced utilizing timing; for example: All the children start
with the volume signs on their hands; teacher starts singing, and change the volume on each
sentence; the children also with their volume gestures must follow me; unconsciously they are
practicing where to change the signs. In the example above, I am changing it on every whole

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note (semibreve). Another exercise I utilize is to clap on every new sentence of the piece so the
children are aware where to change the signs.

Lesson Planning Kodaly Research

Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: February 6, 2019
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 9:
The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

Page 125 of 157

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:
Children are receiving musical lessons once a week from their teacher.

Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, stand in front of each other (look for partner) walk in
circle; fortify these signs and introduce ‘’stand in front of each other sign and stand in straight
line.

Focus song: Grandma grunts.

Lesson planning and repertoire

- Boom chicka boom / volume/ clap prep-

- Floor roof game zip/zap/ boing/prrr
- “Hallo iedereen” / tempo
- Blue bird: volume/ walk
- Doemla: volume/ energize/ reset
Prep short notes in doemla
Introduce sign ( last sign of this series)

- Begin with basic step

- Rocky mountain/basic step
- “Appelboom”/break and basic step.

- Grandma Grunts: prepare boy and girl sign

-“A la rueda de San Miguel spelletje” with rhythm fingers and volume

Chair game: Chairs are placed representing beats: The piece: Wie kruipt eronder door is sung;
the last part of the piece is a Tadi tadi tadi ta rhythm: children have to guess how many times I
clapped or touched the chairs. After this, one child chooses how many rhythms he/she heard and

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assigns children to take a seat in the chairs: in this case the rhythm is tadi tadi tadi ta or 2, 2, 2, 1;
on the first chair 2 child must sit and so on until the last chair: the children who are not sitting
form a line and the teacher sings the song wie kruipt eronder door. When we arrive at the tadi
tadi tadi ta; the children in the chairs act as the musical notes; the children in line must tap the
children sitting, on their head in the correct rhythm: tadi tadi tadi ta.

-“Ik ben weer mijn sleutel kwijt” 1 or 2 times indicate volume.

Staccato: By Erik Nielsen (Art song)

30 minutes

10 minutes: assignment to SV a folk song

“Kies een liedje”

With A, I, M, U.
With Volume.
With clapping.
With tempo.

Another child: walk in circle, volume, short notes I, A, M, U

Focus theory: Eight and quarter notes. Melody Sol-mi

Musicianship
Utilizing the principles of Kodaly, children are made aware of the notes that are being played n
the folk song ‘wie kruipt eronder door’ The children are practicing and singing with me with
utilizing clapping games to fortify the musicianship. Children are also made aware of the musical
parameters unconsciously.

Vocal painting signs

Vocal painting signs that the children should know are: Energize, externalize, Walk in circle,
make a circle, Feels like you, Volume, tempo change, sit, basic step 1 and 2, stop from moving
and off. A couple of new signs will be added to the mix in the warm ups A,I,U M.

The last signs were given in this lesson: In the reflection, I will explain how the children have
been taught the new signs.

New signs added: short note, boy and girl and energize.

Children are now given the opportunity to practice these signs while making music. At the end of
the lesson the children receive opportunities to vocal paint.

A sense of (musical) community and leadership

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In the song; Ik ben weer mijn sleutel kwijt, one child has to look for a key or any item that is
small; The item can be hidden in the classroom. The other children will have to help the child
look for the key by utilizing their voice. If the key is very close, you sing louder, if the key is far
you sing softer. This way, they have to help their peers to find the key.

Improvisation and Collaboration

In this lesson, the children can collaborate with a new sign. The sign is introduced through a folk
song called, Grandma grunts. The piece has the lines where only girls sing and a line where boys
have to sing. At the SV at the end of the lesson the children have the option of utilizing this sign.

Reflection
In this lesson my reflection will focus on how the introduction to the new signs took place.

The lesson all in all went pretty well today: However, I want to reflect on how I introduced the
signs to the children. When I introduced the boy/ girl sign; I started singing the piece Grandma
grunts. Grandma grunts has the words: Boys can whistle, girls can say tralalala; The piece
assigns the girls and boys to do a task; this is how the boy/girl sign is introduced.
The short notes sign is introduced through an art piece: Staccato, by Erik Nielsen. The children
are standing in a circle and make the gesture of the short notes. They move with the piece along
with the gesture; the piece has a lot of staccatos. After the piece, the children are asked if what
they heard are long or short notes? We heard the piece again, and all children agree that the piece
has a lot of short notes.

The children are getting more independent in their vocal painting (SV); however, because they
are children and they get a plethora of other lessons during the day, I try to assign them the signs
that they have to use. Maybe one child utilizes only two signs and another uses another two.
This way I take the pressure of the children who are uncomfortable utilizing the signs, but still
want to participate. I decided to take this approach in order to still create a safe space for the
children to make music; this style of music making using signs can really be stressful if you are
not comfortable with the situation. Students need to feel safe in order to learn and participate
better. [CITATION Lin12 \l 1033 ]

We see this in the first 5 activities that are very short fired activities. In order to get through them
I will be utilizing this to get through the activity with adequate tempo. You can imagine, in 10
minutes a lot of musical activities can happen; think of: inner hearing
Activities, clapping activities, hand games, beat games, ball games. In order to get an adequate
tempo, the children need to be well versed in the repertoire. We utilize signs to communicate
while singing the pieces and adding musical parameters: think of inner hearing, clapping, sing
rhythm only, tempo change, volume etc. These actions are done not by talking, only signing; in a
sense, it does not break the lesson tempo and the musical parameters are presented in a more
musical way. During this section of the lesson, the children are eager to ask questions, so I
always have the ‘no question’ sign to not interrupt the lesson.

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Lesson Planning Kodaly Research
Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: February 14, 2019
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 10:

The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]

Page 129 of 157

- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:
The children are practicing their musicianship each week and know various signs that they can
utilize to contribute to a piece.
Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, stand in front of each other (look for partner) walk in
circle; fortify these signs
Focus song: Tussen Keulen en Parijs.

Start situation: Children are receiving musical lessons once a week from their teacher. More
will be filled tomorrow.
Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, stand in front of each other (look for partner) walk in
circle; fortify these signs and introduce ‘’stand in front of each other sign and stand in straight
line.
Focus song: Onze manieren with game and clapping pattern+ feet pattern

Lesson planning and repertoire

Boom chicka boom / volume/ clap prep-
Floor roof game zip/zap/ boing/prrr
Hallo iedereen / tempo
Blue bird: volume/ walk
Doemla: volume/ energize/ reset
Prep short notes in doemla

Begin with basic step

Rocky mountain/ basic step
Appelboom/ break and basic step

Grandma Grunts: reinforce boy girl sign.

Onze manieren: Children stand in a circle; one half of the circle claps the 6/8 pattern of the piece
and the other half taps the dotted note: another group holds the A, I, U, M. This session of music
is vocal painted in three ways. The teacher is singing the piece; at the same moment, the teacher
signs the children to either stop their movement, change vowels etc.

Chair game: Chairs are placed representing beats: The piece: wie kruipt eronder door is sung; the
last part of the piece is a Tadi tadi tadi ta rhythm: children have to guess how many times I
clapped or touched the chairs. After this, one child chooses how many rhythms he/she heard and
assigns children to take a seat in the chairs: in this case the rhythm is tadi tadi tadi ta or 2, 2, 2, 1;
on the first chair 2 child must sit and so on until the last chair: the children who are not sitting
form a line and the teacher sings the song wie kruipt eronder door. When we arrive at the tadi

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tadi tadi ta; the children in the chairs act as the musical notes; the children in line must tap the
children sitting, on their head in the correct rhythm: tadi tadi tadi ta.

- Ik ben weer mijn sleutel kwijt 1 or 2 times indicate volume...let one child indicate volume also

The children will listen to the piece Sicilienne by Paradis; performed by Jacqueline du Pre: The
children will learn half of the piece in the movement of 6/8. The same movements as the other
movements we have already used in the piece: onze manieren. Next week the children will learn
new moves for the second set.

1st move: Tap your left knee, right knee, clap

2nd: stomp the dotted quavers
3rd: Imagine the phrasing or long notes of the piece.

(Note: make movements with folk songs preferably movements that the children need to move
about with each other, as the first movements are in the first part very separated from each other.

30 minutes

10 minutes: assignment to vocal paint a folk song

Kies een liedje

With A, I, M, U.
With Volume.
With clapping.
With tempo.

Another child: walk in circle, volume, short notes I, A, M, U

Focus theory: Eight and quarter notes. Melody Sol-mi

Musicianship
In the short fire round of folk songs children are reinforcing what they already know. I am
introducing a new piece in this lesson called, Onze manieren. This song is a 6/8 pattern. The
children will do polyphonic activity with this piece today.

Group 1: claps the 6/8 (All 6 notes)

Group 2: Stomp the beat
Group 3: hold the tone with vowel A, I, M, U
Teacher sings the song while signing the children.

In this song I can sign several of the groups with different parameters; it is up to the teacher.
Teacher must be careful on which signs he will use with each group:
Group 1: Can use the break sing inner hearing) volume.
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Group 2: Can stop and add clap; add clap can be difficult because this adds and I did not cover
the ‘add parts’ in this lesson series. They can also break (inner hearing), volume
Group 3: Can change vowels and add clap.

Improvisation and collaboration

Every lesson 1 or 2 children get to utilize the signs for a couple of minutes. In the short fire
rounds at the beginning of the lesson I let the children do the SV; however, they can only use one
sign and then I change. The beginning of the lesson is always to let the lesson flow while
practicing the musicianship through the signs. At the end of the lesson, I choose one or two
children to utilize 2 or more signs. Because we are utilizing a lot of signs, I prefer to choose the
signs the children can use. I start by letting them choose the four signs; when they choose it, I
repeat the signs vocally with the children. Then we go on to sing a piece; the children choose a
piece. The children will also count us in.

Vocal painting signs

SV signs that the children should know are: Energize, externalize, walk in circle, make a circle,
feels like you, Volume, tempo change, sit, basic step 1 and 2, and stop from moving and off. A
couple of new signs will be added to the mix in the warm ups A, I, U, M.

Children are now given the opportunity to practice these signs while making music. At the end of
the lesson the children receive opportunities to vocal paint.

A sense of (musical) community

This is practiced through utilizing the sign, feels like you. The child who receives the sign will
sing a piece in a certain way and the other children must try to sing the same way as the child
that is chosen to lead. The goal here with this sign is to listen to each other and make sure you
are singing what the chosen child is singing.

Reflection
In this lesson I will reflect on two things:
1. Children’s state of tiredness at the start of my lesson and throughout the lesson.
2. The Vocal painting signs/ Soundpainting (SV) signs and leadership.

1. At the start of the lesson, the children are always complaining that they are tired and do not
want to be standing up while doing the activities. Of course, this becomes an avalanche effect
where when I give permission for one to sit, others start questioning why they cannot sit. In an
article published by Michigan State University, children often would imitate the behavior of us
as adults; however they will also imitate the behaviors of their peers; it all depends on what kind

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of reinforcement we give them that they will continue to continue with such behaviors
([ CITATION Rym15 \l 1033 ]). What I want to express is, that in this research, it was not only
about giving lessons and observing how the SV signs function with the children; it was also how
I had to utilize my best abilities to get the class to either, be quiet while making music, not to sit
down when they have not been told to sit down etc. A lot of the children often want to imitate
each other; this can be positive; however, it also can be negative. In this situation, the children
want to sit down because they see another child sitting down. This can sound like a very minor
offense; however, it is difficult to stop the lesson each time to tell them not to sit down. After
every lesson, the teacher gives time to reflect on the lessons. This time, my reflection came to the
theme of being too accepting to what the children do; in other words, being too nice to the
children. Mr, de Vlught expresses that it is important to be nice, however you need to be
authoritarian otherwise the children will take advantage of this. The children (when standing in
the circle) sometimes also break free from the group and go lean on the benches that are behind
them. This is a result of being too lenient with them. Mr, de Vlught has advised me to be more
authoritarian and have different levels of warning for the children when they are not complying.

I came to the following conclusions and solutions for the upcoming lessons:
The children will start the lesson sitting down in a circle; I will also let them sit down on chairs. I
can understand that some of the children are tired, because the lessons begin after the break
(children are playing outside and can come with less energy in the class). After this, the children
will stand up however, we will leave the chairs in their place; this forms a barrier between the
children and the benches (children lean on the benches as described above).

2. Although the children are not yet in the phase of practicing leadership (will be practiced in
lesson 11), the children are taking initiative to utilize these signs. It is kind of a humorous
situation. While taking the vocal painting lessons in the intense weekends at the Codarts
conservatory in Rotterdam, all of the participants are hesitant to utilize the signs to vocal paint,
the teacher ends up having to choose one of the participants to do this. In my lessons, the
children are eager to SV (all the children raise their hands to get a turn). The reaction is going in
a good direction. You can see that the children are now getting more comfortable with the signs;
however, I am still assigning signs to the children; I do this to not give them a lot to think about.
I would give a child a turn and ask to use two signs; some of them take initiative and use three or
more. This is fascinating; however, I must admit that I do not know the answer to this yet. In the
feedback lesson (1 lesson after the 15 lesson series) I will take all the children and ask them
about this. The children are actively learning in the environment that we are in. Not only they
obey the signs that I am using; they are actively participating in the lesson also with the music;
they are participating by singing and most of all, utilizing the SV signs. The SV signs are used to
utilize musical parameters in practice; meaning, the children work with dynamics, articulations
through practice. When they utilize the SV signs, I also reflect on what can improve. I would
also like to add, that the children see me do it throughout the lessons with all the songs we do.
Putting these all together, I am arriving at the theory of constructivism [CITATION Placeholder4
\p 62 \l 1033 ]. The children are actively participating and reflecting on what they are doing; they
also see me using the signs. They are learning by imitating the teacher.

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Musical management: We see this in the first 5 activities that are very short fired activities. In
order to get through them I will be utilizing this to get through the activity with adequate tempo.
You can imagine, in 10 minutes a lot of musical activities can happen; think of: inner hearing
activities, clapping activities, hand games, beat games, ball games. In order to get an adequate
tempo, the children need to be well versed in the repertoire. We utilize signs to communicate
while singing the pieces and adding musical parameters: think of inner hearing, clapping, sing
rhythm only, tempo change, volume etc. These actions are done not by talking, only signing; in a
sense, it does not break the lesson tempo and the musical parameters are presented in a more
musical way. During this section of the lesson, the children are eager to ask questions, so I
always have the ‘no question’ sign to not interrupt the lesson.

Lesson Planning Kodaly Research

Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: February 21 2019
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 11:

The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

Page 134 of 157

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:
Start situation: Children are receiving musical lessons once a week from their teacher. More will
be filled tomorrow.
Goal: beat, volume sign, make circle, stand in front of each other (look for partner) walk in
circle; fortify these signs and introduce ‘’stand in front of each other sign and stand in straight
line.
Focus song: Onze manieren with game and clapping pattern+ feet pattern

Lesson planning and repertoire

Boom chicka boom / volume/ clap prep-
Floor roof game zip/zap/ boing/prrr
Hallo iedereen / tempo
Blue bird: volume/ walk
Doemla: volume/ energize/ reset
Prep short notes in Doemla

Begin with basic step

Rocky mountain/ basic step
Appelboom/ break and basic step

Grandma Grunts: reinforce boy girl sign.

Onze manieren: Children stand in a circle; one half of the circle claps the 6/8 pattern of the piece
and the other half taps the dotted note: another group holds the A, I, U, M. This session of music
is vocal painted in three ways. The teacher is singing the piece; at the same moment, the teacher
signs the children to either stop their movement, change vowels etc.

Chair game: Chairs are placed representing beats: The piece: wie kruipt eronder door is sung; the
last part of the piece is a Tadi tadi tadi ta rhythm: children have to guess how many times I
clapped or touched the chairs. After this, one child chooses how many rhythms he/she heard and
assigns children to take a seat in the chairs: in this case the rhythm is tadi tadi tadi ta or 2, 2, 2, 1;
on the first chair 2 child must sit and so on until the last chair: the children who are not sitting
form a line and the teacher sings the song wie kruipt eronder door. When we arrive at the tadi

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tadi tadi ta; the children in the chairs act as the musical notes; the children in line must tap the
children sitting, on their head in the correct rhythm: tadi tadi tadi ta.

-Ik ben weer mijn sleutel kwijt 1 or 2 times indicate volume.

The children will listen to the piece Sicilienne by Paradis; performed by Jacqueline du Pre: The
children will learn half of the piece in the movement of 6/8. The same movements as the other
movements we have already used in the piece: onze manieren. Next week the children will learn
new moves for the second set.

1st move: Tap your left knee, right knee, clap

2nd: stomp the dotted quavers
3rd: Imagine the phrasing or long notes of the piece.

(Note: make movements with folk songs preferably movements that the children need to move
about with each other, as the first movements are in the first part very separated from each other.

30 minutes

10 minutes: assignment to vocal paint a folk song

Choose a song
With A, I, M, U.
With Volume.
With clapping.
With tempo.

Another child: walk in circle, volume, short notes I, A, M, U

Focus theory: Eight and quarter notes. Melody Sol-mi

Art music: The children are going to make movements on the piece. Sicilienne- von Paradis;
performed by Jacqueline du Pre.

Musicianship
In the short fire round of folk songs children are reinforcing what they already know. I am
introducing a new piece in this lesson called, Onze manieren. This song is a 6/8 pattern. The
children will do polyphonic activity with this piece today.

Group 1: claps the 6/8 (All 6 notes)

Group 2: Stomp the beat
Group 3: hold the tone with vowel A, I, M, U
Teacher sings the song while signing the children.

In this song I can sign various of the groups with different parameters; it is up to the teacher.
Teacher must be careful on which signs he will use with each group:

Page 136 of 157

Group 1: can use the break sing inner hearing) volume.
Group 2: Can stop and add clap; add clap can be difficult because this adds and I did not cover
the ‘add parts’ in this lesson series. They can also break (inner hearing), volume
Group 3: can change vowels and add clap.

Vocal painting signs

Vocal painting signs that the children should know are: Energize, externalize, walk in circle,
make a circle, feels like you, volume, tempo change, sit, basic step 1 and 2, and stop from
moving and off. A couple of new signs will be added to the mix in the warm ups A, I, U, M.
Children are now given the opportunity to practice these signs while making music. At the end of
the lesson the children receive opportunities to vocal paint.

A sense of (musical) community

This is practiced through utilizing the sign, feels like you. The child who receives the sign will
sing a piece in a certain way and the other children must try to sing the same way as the child
that is chosen to lead. The goal here with this sign is to listen to each other and make sure you
are singing what the chosen child is singing.

Improvisation and collaboration

The children are utilizing the signs even more now and more comfortably. They are making sure
that the signs are used in a logical matter. Today, I will choose two children to SV a chosen song.

A sense of musical community and leadership

The children are more in sync with each other when it comes to utilizing the signs. The children
are utilizing the signs in a way that every child understands what they are doing. This will keep
being reinforced throughout the lesson.

Reflection
I would like to reflect on the, feels like you, sign. This sign gives the children a chance not to
lead with signs but with their voice. It gives the children the freedom they need to express
themselves in the piece; the signs can do this; however, I find this sign to be liberating as it
utilizes either body or voice to do the action. This is another way to give the children leadership;
however, instead of using signs we let them use the abovementioned parts of their body to
achieve this. Seeing the children are doing music the child can express him/herself through the
music, through the singing and one’s self-expression is an important aspect in the child’s life.
According to ([ CITATION Bte14 \l 1033 ]) children should express themselves; when this is
achieved, they can begin exploring their own strengths and interests. This lets them think about
who they are and what identity they want to have in the future. Nurjannah also expresses that:
‘’pupils should own the entire creative process. They will have a sense of achievement and gain
confidence when they think: “This is my work. Everything is mine, from the thought process to
the process of creating it.”

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Lesson Planning Kodaly Research
Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: February 28, 2019
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 12:

The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

Page 138 of 157

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:
The children are capable of utilizing various signs. The children know beat, dynamics,
articulations, vocal painting signs (sv)
Goal: The children are taught leadership in this lesson. Also, the children will learn what it is like
to take initiative with leadership exercises that teacher created.

Focus song: Hot cross buns for clapping.

Lesson planning and repertoire:

- Ridders van de rond tafel: With hand movements: children tap the right knee, left knee and
clap. On the ja ja ja en nee nee nee they add a snap (this song alternates between 3 beats and 4
beats); Teacher will also utilize SV signs in this piece; because of the difficulty teacher will
only use volume and inner hearing.

- Hallo allemaal: with clapping movements: left knee, right knee, clap and clap partner.

- Boom chicka boom: Teacher will tap his sticks on the beat and will say: say boom chicka
boom; children repeat this. One child will be given the task of holding the beat; teacher goes in
the middle of the circle standing up and will have the opportunity to sign the other children;
use volume, A, inner hearing, tempo.

- Practice musicianship of the signs with folksong; Hot cross buns with movement and
musicianship with signs.

- Grandma grunts with boy and girl reinforcement; children will have to stand next to a boy or
girl, they will take the responsibility here.

- Rocky Mountain with vocal painting: walk in circle, clap, Basic step 2, inner hearing.

And scanning game: We utilize a folk song and every child needs to listen to each other. The
idea of the game is that every child will say 1 word of the piece; everything needs to stay in the
beat. If I choose the song, Rocky mountain.

Child 1: Rocky

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 Child 2: mountain
Child 3: Rocky
Child 4: mountain
Child 5: Rocky
Child 6: Mountain
Child 7: High.

- Heb je ooit een een penguin: Children will copy the teacher with this movement, however will
also utilize after every round of the song, either by singing soft, loud, inner hearing; teacher
will demonstrate the signs and children must know what it is then we start.

- A sailor went: This is relatively a new song in the repertoire: Children will imitate the teacher.

2 leadership games:
Children will sing the piece: Tussen Keulen en Parijs and the teacher walks with them. When the
teacher claps, the children stop walking. Teacher starts walking again means we need to start
walking as a group.
Clapping sign is introduced by utilizing the folksong hot cross buns. We sing the whole piece,
the children stop and then the teacher will start clapping the rhythms. We do this until all
children have this right. Afterwards, I introduce how to indicate clap.

Level 2: Teacher will ask children to take initiative stopping and walking (everyone must stop
when one stops)

Level 3: Art music and making a circle: Same principle of the prior game; however, we are now
using Art music to make a circle; the teacher will ask the children to make a circle while walking
around, everyone must respond! And make a circle; repeat exercise.
Vocal painting round with children adding clap.

Dag allemaal song.

Musicianship
Children are practicing multiple items of musicianship in the lessons: The clapping games in the
chosen pieces, walking the beat, singing, inner hearing. Today we also add clap. The clap
utilizes inner hearing to clap the correct rhythm. I chose hot cross buns for the ease of singing
(words are easy to remember). We have 1 rule with clapping; you cannot sing unless asked to do
so, The sign in itself is to just clap the melody.

Vocal painting signs

Children are constantly being exposed to the signs in the activities; this is done to reinforce their
understanding of the signs: Children know up to 15 signs already and now I am focusing on all
of them: Clapping, make a circle, walk in circle, inner hearing, off, energize, volume, tempo,
basic step 1 and 2, copy, boy and girl, reset, short notes, A/I/U/M.

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Improvisation and collaboration
Children can now improvise with clapping in the piece. At the end of the lesson I will request the
children doing the SV to include all the signs that they know. Naturally, one child cannot use all
of them; they will be assigned signs to use.

A sense of (musical) community and leadership

In this set of exercises - as reader can see in the lesson planning- The children will focus on
singing as a group, working as a group, feeling as a group. The children must sing and sense that
the teacher stopped walking. Also, in the exercise with making a circle the children must help
each other out by telling them to make a circle.
There are rules: If you help out a fellow student that did not catch the sign, it must happen as
quiet as possible!
Other aspects of leadership are the utilization of the (SV) signs: Children get a chance to use
these and try it out with their fellow students. This allows them to take musical leadership of the
group.

Reflection
In this lesson I would like to reflect on the vocal painting session we have and the leadership
initiative exercises we are utilizing. I have created leadership exercises utilizing leadership
videos and theories. In Rotterdam at the intense weekend course of the vocal leadership music
education, we did the same exercise that I did in my lessons; in Rotterdam we did it without
singing and here we are doing it with singing. To recapitulate, we are walking around the room
and on every clap, all children must stop; this exercise is to create precision on the stopping, we
need to do it together. To make it more difficult, teacher walks around and he takes initiative in
stopping, the children need to stop as soon as they see the teacher stops or feel that the class is
stopping. In my variation, we are doing it with music and corresponding dynamics. As a last part
of the exercise, the children can take initiative in stopping and we as a class have to stop
together; the children can take initiative in stopping.

The exercise went on an acceptable level. The children are concentrating more and not talking
throughout the music because they have to concentrate on what I am doing and what others are
doing. In the following lessons I will continue to practice leadership exercises through music.

With the SV exercises, I chose only 1 child to do the exercises. The child did it pretty well,
timing of the signs is getting a bit better and they are more confident in utilizing the signs. The
children are given the signs beforehand to do what they want. I would have to practice the timing
a bit more, and this will be done through musicianship activities starting with the volume sign.
The future exercise will utilize the volume sign; on every semibreve or breve, the children will
change the signs and sing the corresponding sign parameter. Teacher will ask the children after
how many beats that the signs changed.

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Lesson Planning Kodaly Research
Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: March 20, 2019
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 13:

The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

Page 142 of 157

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:
The children are capable of utilizing various signs. The children know beat, dynamics,
articulations, vocal painting signs (sv)

Goal: The children are taught leadership in this lesson. Also, the children will learn what it is like
to take initiative with leadership exercises that teacher created.

Focus song: Hot cross buns

Lesson planning and repertoire

- Ridders van de rond tafel: With hand movements: children tap the right knee, left knee and
clap. On the ja ja ja en nee nee nee they add a snap (this song alternates between 3 beats and 4
beats); Teacher will also utilize vopa signs in this piece; because of the difficulty teacher will
only use volume and inner hearing.

- Hallo allemaal: with clapping movements: left knee, right knee, clap and clap partner.

- Boom chicka boom: Teacher will tap his sticks on the beat and will say: say boom chicka
boom; children repeat this. One child will be given the task of holding the beat; teacher goes in
the middle of the circle standing up and will have the opportunity to sign the other children;
use volume, A, inner hearing, tempo.

Scanning game: In this lesson we will scan utilizing, hot cross buns. When teacher points to the
children they must sing their part.

- Heb je ooit een een penguin: Children will copy the teacher with this movement, however will
also utilize after every round of the song, either by singing soft, loud, inner hearing; teacher
will demonstrate the signs and children must know what it is then we start.

- A sailor went: This is relatively a new song in the repertoire: Children will imitate the teacher

3 leadership games:

Children will sing the piece: Tussen Keulen en Parijs and the teacher walks with them. When
the teacher claps, the children stop walking. Teacher starts walking again means we need to

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 start walking as a group.

Level 2: Teacher will ask children to take initiative stopping and walking (everyone must stop
when one stops)

Level 3: Art music and making a circle: Same principle of the prior game; however, we are now
using Art music to make a circle; the teacher will ask the children to make a circle while walking
around, everyone must respond! And make a circle; repeat exercise.

Leadership game 2: Children will be split into groups. The groups will each get pieces of paper,
and must work together to make sure the pieces of paper can be held in various ways by two
students in the middle; the paper cannot touch each other. The children must find a way to put as
many paper possible between the two children acting as the paper holder. This is done with
music. There will be a classical piece setup. The rule is that the children are not allowed to talk
above the music; communication must be done at low volume to silent. If you talk over the
music, the activity resets.

Musicianship
Children are practicing multiple items of musicianship in the lessons: The clapping games in the
chosen pieces, walking the beat, singing and inner hearing. The children are practicing the
musicianship through the short fire rounds and on the focus song.

Improvisation and collaboration

Children can now improvise with clapping in the piece. At the end of the lesson I will request the
children doing the SV to include in the improvisation the clapping sign. Some children will get a
chance to collaborate with one sign; at the end of the lesson, chosen children can collaborate
with 3 or 4 signs.

Vocal painting signs

Children are constantly being exposed to the signs in the activities; this is done to reinforce their
understanding of the signs: Children know up to 15 signs already and now I am focusing on all
of them: Clapping, make a circle, walk in circle, inner hearing, off, energize, volume, tempo,
basic step 1 and 2, copy, boy and girl, reset, short notes, A/I/U/M.

A sense of (musical) community and leadership

In this set of exercises - as reader can see in the lesson planning- The children will focus on
singing as a group, working as a group, and feeling as a group. The children must sing and sense
that the teacher stopped walking. Also, in the exercise making a circle the children must help
each other out by telling them to make a circle.
There are rules: If you help out a fellow student that did not catch the sign, it must happen as
quiet as possible!

Page 144 of 157

Other aspects of leadership are the utilization of the (SV) signs: Children get a chance to use
these and try it out with their fellow students. This allows them to take musical leadership of the
group.
In the last set of leadership exercises the children will have to work together to come to an
agreement on how to let the papers fit between two children. The rules are that minimal 3 papers
must be held by two students at the same time and cannot touch each other; the rest of the sheets
of papers can be divided between the two students standing in the middle.

Reflection
Reflection on the comments made by my observing teacher, Anne- Christine Wemekamp.
I will be utilizing a Q & A model (Question and answer) followed by a personal reflection of the
answers from Anne- Christine.

Q = Question
A = Answer
RA = Personal reflection of the answer

Reflection from the comments of Anne Christine:

In this lesson, I had a guest teacher observe me and gave me comments icw what I am doing and
how I can make my lessons more fluid. Anne Christine asked me what needs to be observed in
my lessons? I asked the following:

Q: How can I let the children sing more in tune?

A: This was an issue for me because often the children will not sing in tune: Anne Christine
suggested that I sing les and let the children sing the pieces more without my help. Anne-
Christine also commented that the volume exercise works very well, because children will sing
in tune when they have to sing soft or hard. Anne-Christine also recommended singing on MMM
vowels; which gives more flexibility to the voice.
RA: agree with this because often I noticed that singing on syllables brings more concentration
to pitch. I have been singing a lot with the class and mainly doing all the work without really
focusing on what the children are doing. I will sing les in the lesson and give the children more
responsibility with the pieces.

Q: What can I do to let all children participate?

A: Better to remind the group of the rules: everyone must participate. Let the child know that it is
a pity that he/she is not participating. If the non-participating behavior continues, remind them of
the rules of participation.
Ra: I will continue to reinforce the rules of participation by being positive to the children that are
participating. I will also give out a reward; the child who participates will become the leader in
another game. There is also a game which the children love doing, which is the penguin game. If
everyone participates I would play this game once again with them at the end of the lesson.
Q: What could have gone better in the lesson?
A: When you played the scanning game, you could have prepared them by first utilizing a ball
rather than your hand.
RA: This game is called a scanning game, where the children are singing in scan mode. The
children were less aware of what had to be done. Anne Christine suggested at this point using a

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ball, letting them pass it around, and when one child has the ball they sing the words and pass it
back. I agree completely; however, I wish to utilize also the signs, because these signs come
back in our vocal painting exercises. The scanning sign is often used and is a great way to give
different color to a piece by utilizing different voices. I could utilize Anne-Christine’s suggestion
by preparing the children first with a ball passing game and then use the hand to scan. Children
need to know their cue. When I am pointing to a child, the child should only sing one word of the
piece. For example:
Child 1: Rocky

‘Point to new child’

Child 2: Mountain
Etc.

Lesson Planning Kodaly Research

Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: March 20, 2019
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 14:

The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Page 146 of 157

Start situation:
The children are capable of utilizing various signs. The children know beat, dynamics,
articulations, vocal painting signs (sv)

Goal: The children are taught leadership in this lesson. Also, the children will learn what it is like
to take initiative with leadership exercises that teacher created.

Focus song: Tussen keulen en Parijs. With this song I will focus on initiative taking.

Lesson planning and repertoire

Reflection on behavior and respect: Last week the children were a bit energetic. This week I
want to start the lesson with talking about what respect and participation is.

- Hallo allemaal: with clapping movements: left knee, right knee, clap and clap partner.
Walk in circle, stop circle, walk through each other, make a circle sign.

Scanning game: In this lesson we will scan utilizing, hot cross buns. When teacher points to the
children, the children must sing their part with ball. The children pass around a ball. The child
who has the ball must sing the corresponding words. If by chance you get the ball on a rest, the
child cannot sing. The ball is passed on the beat. I will play this game at a slow tempo.

- Heb je ooit een een penguin: Children will copy the teacher with this movement, however will
also utilize after every round of the song, either by singing soft, loud, inner hearing; teacher will
demonstrate the signs and children must know what it is then we start.

- A sailor went: This is relatively a new song in the repertoire: Children will imitate the teacher
3 leadership games combined. The children will be given the task to do 4 things
Stop together, volume lowering together and inner hearing together, make a circle together. The
teacher will give the signs while the children are walking around in the circle. The teacher
chooses which sign to use when doing this exercise. The teacher will choose a child to do the
same. Teacher reminds the children who the leader is and the respect he/she deserves.

Leadership game 2: Children will be split into groups. The groups will each get pieces of paper,
and must work together to make sure the pieces of paper can be held in various ways by two
students in the middle; the paper cannot touch each other. The children must find a way to put
as many paper possible between the two children acting as the paper holder. This is done with
music. There will be a classical piece setup. The rule is that the children are not allowed to talk
above the music; communication must be done at low volume to silent. If you talk over the

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 music, the activity resets.

Vocal painting round with children.

Dag allemaal song.

Musicianship
Children are practicing multiple items of musicianship in the lessons: The clapping games in the
chosen pieces, walking the beat, singing, inner hearing.

Improvisation and collaboration

The children are utilizing the signs even more now and more comfortably. They are making sure
that the signs are used in a logical matter. Today, I will choose two children to SV a chosen song.

Vocal painting signs

Children are constantly being exposed to the signs in the activities; this is done to reinforce their
understanding of the signs: Children know up to 15 signs already and now I am focusing on all
of them:
Clapping, make a circle, walk in circle, inner hearing, off, energize, volume, tempo, basic step 1
and 2, copy, boy and girl, reset, short notes, A/I/U/M.

A sense of (musical) community and leadership

In this set of exercises - as reader can see in the lesson planning- The children will focus on
singing as a group, working as a group, and feeling as a group. The children must sing and sense
that the teacher stopped walking. Also, in the exercise with making a circle the children must
help each other out by telling them to make a circle.
There are rules: If you help out a fellow student that did not catch the sign, it must happen as
quiet as possible!
Other aspects of leadership are the utilization of the (SV) signs: Children get a chance to use
these and try it out with their fellow students. This allows them to take musical leadership of the
group.
In the last set of leadership exercises the children will have to work together to come to an
agreement on how to let the papers fit between two children. The rules are, that minimal 3 papers
must be held by two students at the same time and cannot touch each other; the rest of the sheets
of papers can be divided between the two students standing in the middle.

Reflection
In this reflection I will reflect on: The leadership game that we have practiced. There is a video
of this game added for the reader to see how this game is performed.

The game is performed, by holding pieces of paper against each other. Two children have to
stand in the middle; they are the ones who need to hold the pieces of paper. The pieces of paper
have to be held by both of the children at the same time. 2 pieces of paper is fairly easy to hold
between two children, to hold more than this, you have to utilize your creativity. I give the

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children 5 pieces of paper; when all the pieces of paper (A4 paper) are used, the group gets a
point. The children have to communicate with each other on how to get this accomplished. The
groups are made of 4 children each. The ones who are not holding the paper have to come up
with the solution; of course, the ones that are holding the paper also can help. The way of
communicating is mostly talking; however, they are not allowed to talk at a high volume. To
control this, I put, Air on G string by Bach. If the children speak loud enough they have to reset
the exercise. The idea of this game is to create teamwork and at the same time, the children are
exposed to Art music.
The children were very creative in this exercise. This is what I want to see in these lessons. Some
of the children asked me why are we doing this? What does this have to do with music? I would
like to answer this so the reader can also know why I am doing this. Note: this part will also be in
the main research.

The research is about three things:

- Musical leadership: Children take the leadership in making music. There is a plethora of ways
how a child can take musical leadership. I am utilizing vocal painting as a tool to promote this
behavior.

- Musicianship/Kodaly: Utilizing musicianship activities to promote music literacy.

- Leadership Philosophies: Activities that promote creativity and teamwork. This is mostly
influenced by regular leadership activities combined with music.

The last activity we were performing with the piece of paper was inspired by ([CITATION
Cul18 \l 1033 ]).
Why is teamwork so important in the music setting? Why am I focusing on collaborative music
making?

The ability to engage in joint actions is a critical step toward becoming a cooperative human
being ([CITATION Chi17 \l 1033 ]). In this world is it very hard to get by individually. As
musicians, we will always need guidance to evolve in our playing. According to ([CITATION
Har15 \l 1033 ]) who described how the human race came to be, there were several other human
race like the Denisovans, Neanderthals etc.

We ourselves are Sapiens. The reason that this race thrived is because we were better hunters and
gatherers in comparison to our Neanderthal counterparts. Sapiens were also social towards each
other; the Sapiens started communicating with each other in their language. This language
allowed them to share information about where certain animals are. This is than the importance
of being social and utilizing teamwork. We need to work together to reach a common goal. To be
clear, a leader or a musical leader needs to have teamwork abilities in order for his group to
succeed.

When utilizing the signs, some children wanted to use them in a very illogical way; I found
myself a couple of times explaining this to them; however, to no avail. To put this into context,
take the volume sign for example. The volume sign - in order for it to be logical-, the child must

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raise it or lower it very slowly, in doing so, the group has time to react to what the leader wants.
Often, the children will utilize it very fast. I know in my experience that they are doing this to be
funny or on purpose. When this happens, I stop the music, and reflect on why this would not help
the group. The child also reflects and corrects his behaviour to help the group make beautiful
music.

Lesson Planning Kodaly Research

Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: March 27, 2019
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 15:

The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:

Page 150 of 157

The children are capable of utilizing various signs. The children know beat, dynamics,
articulations, vocal painting signs (sv)

Goal: Practicing of leadership, musical leadership and teamwork.

Focus song: We have various focus songs in this lesson; see lesson planning.

Lesson planning and repertoire

- Agreements over the utilization of the signs: the child who does this will have the chance to
vocal paint during the lessons.

- Helping each other exercise: Children are sitting down and have to clap when a chosen child
claps. The task of the child that is the clapping leader must try to help the class clap together. I
will start first without singing followed by using this exercise with a folk song. We are using a
folk song to let the children clap on a tempo; children can clap at any moment; however, it
should be on one of the beats. A folk song, ‘Hoedje van papier’.

- Hallo allemaal: With clapping movements: left knee, right knee, clap and clap partner.

- Aram sam sam: in this song, the children are using some steps to practice their musicianship.
Children stand in front of each other. On the lyrics to the song they will do certain actions;
think of clapping partner next to and clapping partner in front. After this I will transition to a
circle position by utilizing the, make circle sign.

Scanning game: In this lesson we will scan utilizing, hot cross buns. When teacher points to the
children, the children must sing their part with ball. The children pass around a ball. The child
who has the ball must sing the corresponding words. If by chance you get the ball on a rest, the
child cannot sing. The ball is passed on the beat. I will play this game at a slow tempo.

- Heb je ooit een een penguin: Children will copy the teacher with this movement, however will
also utilize after every round of the song, either by singing soft, loud, inner hearing; teacher will
demonstrate the signs and children must know what it is then we start.

- A sailor went: This is relatively a new song in the repertoire: Children will imitate the teacher. I
will utilize also vocal painting signs: Clapping, Inner hearing, scanning, tempo.

3 leadership games combined. The children will be given the task to do 4 things.

Page 151 of 157

 Stop together, volume lowering together and inner hearing together, make a circle together. The
teacher will give the signs while the children are walking around in the circle. The teacher
chooses which sign to use when doing this exercise. The teacher will choose a child to do the
same. Teacher reminds the children who the leader is and the respect he/she deserves. The
musical parameters for today are: Inner hearing, a vowel, energize, make a circle, clapping.

Leadership game 2: Children will be split into groups. The groups will each get pieces of paper,
and must work together to make sure the pieces of paper can be held in various ways by two
students in the middle; the paper cannot touch each other. The children must find a way to put
as many paper possible between the two children acting as the paper holder. This is done with
music. There will be a classical piece setup. The rule is that the children are not allowed to talk
above the music; communication must be done at low volume to silent. If you talk over the
music, the activity resets.
Vocal painting round with children.
Dag allemaal song.
Musicianship
Children are practicing multiple items of musicianship in the lessons: The clapping games in the
chosen pieces, walking the beat, singing, inner hearing

Vocal painting signs

Children are constantly being exposed to the signs in the activities; this is done to reinforce their
understanding of the signs: Children know up to 15 signs already and now I am focusing on all
of them:
Clapping, make a circle, walk in circle, inner hearing, off, energize, volume, tempo, basic step 1
and 2, copy, boy and girl, reset, short notes, A/I/U/M.

Improvisation and collaboration

The children are utilizing the signs even more now and more comfortably. They are making sure
that the signs are used in a logical matter. Today, I will choose two children to SV a chosen song.

A sense of (musical) community and leadership

In this set of exercises - as reader can see in the lesson planning- The children will focus on
singing as a group, working as a group, feeling as a group. The children must sing and sense that
the teacher stopped walking. Also, in the exercise with making a circle the children must help
each other out by telling them to make a circle.

There are rules: If you help out a fellow student that did not catch the sign, it must happen as
quiet as possible!

Other aspects of leadership are the utilization of the (SV) signs: Children get a chance to use
these and try it out with their fellow students. This allows them to take musical leadership of the
group.

Page 152 of 157

In the last set of leadership exercises the children will have to work together to come to an
agreement on how to let the papers fit between two children. The rules are that minimal 3 papers
must be held by two students at the same time and cannot touch each other; the rest of the sheets
of papers can be divided between the two students standing in the middle.

Reflection
In this lesson I would like to reflect on the comments of my colleagues in the master circle. In
our session on the 5th of April, my colleagues gave me feedback on my presentation of one of
the leadership games that was covered in this lesson. My colleagues were presented a video of
one of the leadership exercises where the children had to hold papers against to each other; they
need to hold 5 papers to score a point. The idea of the game is to promote teamwork. The
children are also at this point listening to music (Art music) while they do this.
One of the comments that I have received was that the children are not busy with anything
musically at the moment. I partially agree with this statement. I know the concern is about
utilizing a game with no musical properties; my defense is that the property of listening is added
because of the rule of not talking above the music. The goal of this game is to promote
leadership through music and this is what I want to accent in this exercise and present my
defense of the comments:

- Children are busy with listening to the music as they are not allowed to talk above the music;
children who do this will have to reset the exercise. In an article published by Jill Suttie, she
explains that, experiments have been carried out on two groups of people who were busy with
a creativity experiment. According to Suttie, she expresses, that the group who were exposed to
music scored better on the test than the group who worked in complete silence, or as she
expresses it: “The results suggest that listening to happy music increases performance on
overall divergent thinking [ CITATION Sut17 \l 1033 ]. The objective of the game was to be
creative and utilize teamwork to reach the goal.

- The children are already busy with a plethora of musicianship exercises intensively. I can say
between 7 to 9 per lesson; so, one leadership exercise will not affect the musicianship
development.

Page 153 of 157

Lesson Planning Kodaly Research
Researcher: Jaderick Croes
School: Basisschool Heydonck
Adress: Max de Bossusstraat 7, Best.
Country: Netherlands
Groep: 7 and mix
Date: April 4, 2019
Teachers: Tom van der Vlught/ Francijntje Siauw

Lesson number 16:

The exploration of my research dives into leadership. In my research a leader is someone who
has the following competences:

These competences are formulated between two resources and are explained in the introduction
of this chapter.

- Musicianship [ CITATION Jan18 \l 1033 ]

- Creativity, improvisation, collaboration [ CITATION Rhi13 \l 1033 ]
- Vocal/ Soundpainting signs[CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]
- A sense of musical community and leadership [CITATION Fer13 \l 1033 ]

The abovementioned competences are formulated between four resources and are explained in
the introduction to this chapter.

Start situation:

Page 154 of 157

The children are capable of utilizing various signs. The children know beat, dynamics,
articulations, vocal painting signs (sv)

Goal: Practicing of leadership, musical leadership and teamwork.

Focus song: We have various focus songs in this lesson; see lesson planning.

Lesson planning and repertoire

- Helping each other exercise: Children are sitting down and have to clap when a chosen child
claps. The task of the child that is the clapping leader must try to help the class clap together. I
will start first without singing followed by using this exercise with a folk song. We are using a
folk song to let the children clap on a tempo; children can clap at any moment; however, it
should be on one of the beats. a folk song, ‘Hoedje van papier’.

- Hallo allemaal: with clapping movements: left knee, right knee, clap and clap partner.

- Aram sam sam: in this song, the children are using some steps to practice their musicianship.
Children stand in front of each other. On the lyrics to the song they will do certain actions; think
of clapping partner next to and clapping partner in front. After this I will transition to a circle
position by utilizing the, make circle sign.

Scanning game: In this lesson we will scan utilizing, hot cross buns. When teacher points to the
children, the children must sing their part with the ball. The children pass around a ball. The
child who has the ball must sing the corresponding words. If by chance you get the ball on a rest,
the child cannot sing. The ball is passed on the beat. I will play this game at a slow tempo. The
children will also utilize the scan!

- Heb je ooit een een penguin: Children will copy the teacher with this movement, however will
also utilize after every round of the song, either by singing soft, loud, inner hearing; teacher will
demonstrate the signs and children must know what it is then we start.

- A sailor went: This is relatively a new song in the repertoire: Children will imitate the teacher. I
will utilize also vocal painting signs: Clapping, Inner hearing, scanning, tempo.

3 leadership games combined. The children will be given the task to do 4 things.

Page 155 of 157

Stop together, volume lowering together and inner hearing together, make a circle together. The
teacher will give the signs while the children are walking around in the circle. The teacher
chooses which sign to use when doing this exercise. The teacher will choose a child to do the
same. Teacher reminds the children who the leader is and the respect he/she deserves. The
musical parameters for today are: Inner hearing, a vowel, energize, make a circle, clapping.

- Leadership game 2: Children will be split into groups. The groups will each get pieces of paper,
and must work together to make sure the pieces of paper can be held in various ways by two
students in the middle; the paper cannot touch each other. The children must find a way to put as
many paper possible between the two children acting as the paper holder. This is done with
music. There will be a classical piece setup. The rule is that the children are not allowed to talk
above the music; communication must be done at low volume to silent. If you talk over the
music, the activity resets.
Vocal painting round with children.

Dag allemaal song.

Musicianship
Children are practicing multiple items of musicianship in the lessons: The clapping games in the
chosen pieces, walking the beat, singing, inner hearing.

Vocal painting signs

Children are constantly being exposed to the signs in the activities; this is done to reinforce their
understanding of the signs: Children know up to 15 signs already and now I am focusing on all
of them:
Clapping, make a circle, walk in circle, inner hearing, off, energize, volume, tempo, basic step 1
and 2, copy, boy and girl, reset, short notes, A/I/U/M.

Improvisation and collaboration

Children can now improvise with clapping in the piece. At the end of the lesson I will request the
children doing the SV to include all the signs that they know. Naturally, one child cannot use all
of them; they will be assigned signs to use.

A sense of (musical) community and leadership

In this set of exercises - as reader can see in the lesson planning- The children will focus on
singing as a group, working as a group, feeling as a group. The children must sing and sense that
the teacher stopped walking. Also, in the exercise with making a circle the children must help
each other out by telling them to make a circle.
There are rules: If you help out a fellow student that did not catch the sign, it must happen as
quiet as possible!
Other aspects of leadership are the utilization of the (SV) signs: Children get a chance to use
these and try it out with their fellow students. This allows them to take musical leadership of the
group.
In the last set of leadership exercises the children will have to work together to come to an
agreement on how to let the papers fit between two children. The rules are, that minimal 3 papers

Page 156 of 157

must be held by two students at the same time and cannot touch each other; the rest of the sheets
of papers can be divided between the two students standing in the middle.

Reflection
In this reflection: I would like to reflect on the working together aspect of the lesson and how
much improvement I have seen in the musicianship and teamwork of the children.

To recapitulate on the exercise: The children are given the task to clap together; the children
must help each other to accomplish this exercise. I did this round with three children in the
group. I asked them this time to find a place in the piece of music where they know everyone
will clap together - by clapping together-, I mean that the leader (1 child) will clap, when the
leader does this, the other children must react to it and clap at the same time with the leader-
In the above mentioned exercise, this game is done with music; the children must clap at a
logical point of the piece. Some children kept clapping on the 1st beat, which in my opinion was
a wonderful thing; this is because at the same time clapping on the one, the leader knows
everyone will clap on the 1st beat. Some children chose to clap on the 4th beat and kept it going
to help the other children out. The exercise is in fact to clap together; some of the children
figured out that if they clap on the abovementioned beats, that everyone can clap at the same
time. Again, this was very refreshing to see; it showed me that they really cared about clapping
at the same time. Unconsciously, I can also say this practices the musicianship. Imagine singing
the song and the child who is the leader only wants to clap on beat 4; this requires a lot of
concentration from the leader, the other children are also dragged to clap on beat 4 with the
leader; we have now trained how to clap on the 4th beat without myself having to say where the
children need to clap. At one moment, one of the children who were clapping on 4 got a turn to
do the same in a second round. The child in question forgot where he needed to clap; however, a
child next to him remembered what he did and guided him towards it. Of course for me this was
a beautiful moment, because this child showed a leadership behaviour at the moment of helping
the child who was at turn to clap.

I will try my best in the next few words to explain what I think happened in the abovementioned
moment with these two children. According to Dick Swaab: Altruistic behaviour is seen as the
moral ideal in cultures. People or animals often show this behaviour towards each other. Dr.
Swaab, explains that altruistic behaviour is crucial for the survival of one’s own species. Dr.
Swaab goes on to examples on how animals behave altruistically. Elephants show this behaviour
by helping a fellow elephant out if it is hurt by a bullet. Elephants will often trumpet and try to
help the wounded to stand up [ CITATION Swa10 \l 1033 ]
The children are trying to help each other out maybe because of the feeling of the other in
distress where he could not remember his first pattern. The child shows a helpful behaviour
towards his colleague.

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