Presto - Multiplier Events
The fourth Multiplier Event of the PRESTO project took place in Helsinki, Finland over the weekend of Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th March, 2023.
On Friday and Saturday the event was organized at the Liszt Institute (Hungarian Cultural Center). The event began with the warm welcoming words by Endre Szabó, Director of the Liszt Institute. After that Maarit Rajamäki, the Founder and CEO of Caprice Oy, shared her experiences in teaching music online. The first distance teaching classes organized by Caprice date as early as in 1997, giving her a great perspective of the development of remote teaching.
Then, Leena Haverinen presented the PRESTO project and demonstrated the wide selection of resources created in the areas of classroom, choral, and instrumental music, now freely available on the website www.kodalyhub.com/presto.
The presentation was followed by Prof. Géza Szilvay’s, creator of the Colourstrings Method, keynote speech “50 years of teaching violin playing with the help of cameras”, where he explained the development of the Colourstrings and the extensive pedagogical and musical work he has done during the decades. After a coffee break the day was closed with a heart-warming matinée. Talented young musicians, Senny Herler (violin) and Ellen Herler (viola) performed pieces of J. Ch. Bach/Casadesus, Bloch and Mozart together with the pianist Natalia Lehtinen. Senny and Ellen are students of the East Helsinki Music Institute.
On Saturday the day started with the welcoming words and introduction by Maarit Rajamäki, followed by Leena Haverinen presenting the PRESTO and demonstrating the resources created in the project. She also expressed her wish that the participants would share the word about the PRESTO resources with their colleagues and friends. After that Prof. Géza Szilvay delivered a full-day workshop and synopsis about the Colourstrings method, starting from the very first violin lesson until the professional studies, giving a comprehensive general view to this child-centered and pedagogically systematic approach. The intensive workshop included plenty of active participation and playing together.
On Sunday a similar event to the one of Friday’s was arranged at the Caprice Oy’s studio, located in Laajasalo, East Helsinki.
The event participants included local and international instrumental music school and conservatory teachers, music pedagogy students, musicians, choir conductors, teachers from primary school as well as other professionals working in the cultural sector.
All in all, the events had a warm and joyful atmosphere, and the participants noted their enjoyment of the practical activities.
The participants provided feedback on the multiplier event and on their impression of the resources created in the project. The overall score was a remarkable 4.9 out of 5. Comments included:
“The event was great. I was happy that I could attend!”
“Géza was inspiring! The event was magnificent.”
“[The resources seem] interesting, fine and useful.”
“To hear Géza Szilvay himself telling about the Colourstrings Method was best.”
Singing and Signing Day – Saturday 4th March 2023, Maryhill Burgh Halls
On Saturday 4th March, the National Youth Choir of Scotland (NYCOS) ran their Multiplier event at Maryhill Burgh Halls in Glasgow. Lucinda Geoghegan, Dr Paul Whittaker OBE and Karen Clark presented the project and delivered training on how resources can be accessed and used in the classroom, and online.
Timetable
9:30 – 10:00 Registration and Tea/Coffee
10:00 – 10: 45 Welcome
10:45 – 11:30 Workshop 1 - (Group A and Group B)
11:30 – 12:00 Tea/ Coffee Break
12:00 – 12:45 Workshop 2 - (Group A and Group B -swap)
12:45 – 13:45 Lunch
13:45 – 14:15 Inclusion (BSL) Talk by Dr Paul Whittaker OBE
14:15 – 14:45 Singing Together Again
14:45 – 15:00 Conclusions
49 delegates from around Scotland and England attended the Multiplier and took part in a variety of activities. The day began with a welcome from Ed Milner, NYCOS CEO, group singing and a sharing of the Kodály HUB website and the new PRESTO webpage presented by Karen Clark. Delegates were shown how to find the resources and introduced to classroom, choral and instrumental sections.
The group was split into two smaller groups and each group alternated between Workshop A; a sharing of singing games delivered by Karen Clark and Workshop B; BSL singing games delivered by Dr Paul Whittaker and Lucinda Geoghegan. After lunch, Paul delivered an inspiring talk on British Sign Language (BSL) and music in education, including the work he is doing/ has done in collaboration with NYCOS and the Presto project. The day concluded with training on delivering BSL singing and how all of the resources can be adapted to use in whole class environments.
We received extremely positive feedback on the resources and the event itself. Lucinda Geoghegan has since delivered further training in a local primary school as a result of the multiplier event.
“Excellent resources, the videos are excellent and well worth the effort they took.”
“Great resources, will use as inspiration for sessions that incorporate music.”
“Brilliant that [the resources] are accessible and free.”
“Very useful. Good spread for all ages and abilities”
The second Multiplier Event of the PRESTO project took place in Budapest, Hungary at the Dome Hall of the Liszt Academy of Music, the parent institute of Kodály Institute on Saturday, 25 February, 2023.
The event was a Continuous Professional Development Day, where the majority of the participants were returning guests at the CPD courses of the Kodály Institute. Music teachers, choir conductors and instrumental teachers came from various parts of Hungary, teachers from primary and secondary schools, afternoon music schools, and scholars, retired musicians and specialists. The day was on live stream so that those bound to their homes mainly for the flu season could also enjoy the event, as well as a handful of Hungarian speaking teachers and experts outside of Hungary joined through the cyberspace. This is the link, where the recording of the whole event is available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ny8K1w4BE
Dr Andrea Vigh, the rector of the Liszt Academy delivered kind welcoming words then invited Dr László Norbert Nemes, Director of Kodály Institute and the artisitc leader of the PRESTO project to the stage. His introduction about the project’s philosophy and ideals, its origins and progress, along with a warm-up common singing&game created the right open atmosphere to discover the project’s intellectual outcomes. Dr Nemes gave a demonstration of the wide selection of resources created in the areas of classroom, choral, and instrumental music, and now freely available on the website www.kodalyhub.com/presto.
It was followed by an informative introduction by Dr Máté Balogh to his compositions that form part of the PRESTO project under the title Song Book 2021. He outlined the flexible nature of the works, being suitable for both in-person and online use, due to their particular musical characteristics. Then, Dr Anna Fűri led the participants in a rehearsal of one of Máté’s pieces, Choral Underwater No. 1, using a carefully prepared pedagogical process.
After lunch, workshops were delivered by:
- Matthias Kadar: How to make your own song?
- Réka Tóth: Introducing Musical Reading and Writing for Beginners
- Edina Barabás: Active Music Listening in Upper Primary School
- Kata Körtvési & Anikó Novák: ZeneZen: Creative Piano Teaching through Singing and Movement
- Lajos Rozmán: Music in Games, Games in Music
The event had a positive, energetic and joyful atmosphere, and the participants noted their enjoyment of the practical activities.
In his closing words László Norbert Nemes extended his thanks to the organisers and the participants, and expressed his hope that the resources available on www.kodalyhub.com/presto would be of long-standing use to everyone in attendance. The participants provided feedback on the multiplier event and on their impression of the resources created in the project, the overall score was an outstanding 4.8 out of 5.
The first Multiplier Event of the PRESTO project took place at the All Hallows Campus, Dublin city University on Saturday 11th February. Over 100 people gathered in one room to join in singing and collective music-making, all while learning about the project’s philosophy and ideals, its origins and progress, and enjoying the first showing of the project’s intellectual outcomes.
Participants included local and international primary and secondary school teachers, university lecturers, choral conductors, community music facilitators, choir singers, instrumental teachers, composers, freelance musicians, and arts administrators. The event had a positive, energetic and joyful atmosphere, and the participants noted their enjoyment of the practical activities.
The day began with a vocal warm-up led by Dr Róisín Blunnie of the host institution, and collective singing of one of the new compositions for the project, ‘Summer’s Coming’ by Irish composer Laura Sheils. Then, Dr László Nemes, Artistic Leader of the PRESTO project, outlined the philosophy and the progress of the project, and gave a demonstration of the wide selection of resources created in the areas of classroom, choral, and instrumental music, and now freely available on the website www.kodalyhub.com/presto.
Róisín Blunnie continued the morning session with a tour of selected materials in the ‘Polyphonic Skill Development’ section of the choral resources, exploring pieces by the well-known composers of history and touching in particular on the pieces that were newly composed for PRESTO. The participants sang pieces in unison, two parts, four parts, six parts and eight parts, and experienced the pedagogical resources available on the website for choir conductors’ professional development as well as for using in various ways with choirs.
During a break for coffee and cakes, the participants had an opportunity to mingle and network, and to meet the researchers from the project partners.
The second session began with common singing led by Dr László Nemes, followed by an informative introduction by Dr Máté Balogh to his compositions that form part of the PRESTO project. He outlined the flexible nature of the works, being suitable for both in-person and online use, due to their particular musical characteristics. Then, Dr Anna Fűri led the participants in a rehearsal of one of Máté’s pieces, Choral Underwater No. 1, using a carefully prepared pedagogical process.
After lunch, participants attended the following smaller-group workshops:
1. Visualising Vocal Sound in a Singing and Choral Context, led by Barbara Dignam (Ireland)
2. Singing Games for Children, led by Karen Clark (Scotland)
3. ZeneZen: Creative Piano Teaching through Singing and Movement, led by Kata Körtvési & Anikó Novák (Hungary)
4. The Kodály-Based String Teaching Method, Colourstrings, led by Géza Szilvay (Finland)
5. Choral Conducting: Fundamental Technique and the Selection of Repertoire, led by Bernie Sherlock & Brian Dungan (Ireland)
6. Introducing Musical Reading and Writing for Beginners, led by Réka Tóth (Hungary)
7. Active Music Listening in Upper Primary School, led by Edina Barabás (Hungary)
8. Developing More Advanced Musicianship using Kodály’s Exercises, led by László Nemes (Hungary)
During a final full-group session, László Nemes extended his thanks to the organisers and the participants, and expressed his hope that the resources available on www.kodalyhub.com/presto would be of long-standing use to everyone in attendance. Then, Róisín Blunnie led some final collective singing, and the participants provided feedback on the multiplier event and on their impression of the resources created in the project. Comments included:
“Excellent day! Very well planned. [Resources are] vast, wonderful, varied, thorough, practical, musical, excellent.”
“It’s wonderful to be inspired by these amazing musicians…Active musicianship is the way to go!”
“Fantastic day – every aspect was engaging, informative, and so helpful!”
“So much expertise all in the one place.”
“Excellent range of resources – will definitely use and recommend to others.”
“Incredible that such material, expertise and ideas can be made available to all the musicians, teachers and singers across Europe and indeed the world. A fantastic resource.”
“[The resources] will be invaluable to me for teaching choirs, musical groups, primary school classroom music and for developing the musicianship of my private instrumental students.”
“Very clearly set out and attractive and flexible.”
“Amazing, inspiring people did a lot of work for the benefit of all of us.”
“A wonderful day – really enjoyed it and gained such a deeper insight into so many elements which will no doubt impact and develop my teaching.”
“Brilliant! Very informative, interactive and I’ve got so many ideas from the day.”
“Accessibility and variety of resources is brilliant.”
“A fantastic day full of resources suited to all ages and abilities.”