Thank you all for taking part in this exciting contest for our 1000th record in the Songbook. Our experts have been busy checking the songs and games you uploaded, the competition was very tight. We are glad to announce our winner: Esther Hargittai from the UK (teacher of the Guildhall School - Junior Guildhall, tutor of the British Kodály Academy and frequently holds master courses in Israel). We contacted her for a short interview, please see below. Thank you again, keep uploading :)
First of all congratulation for uploading the 1000th record onto the Songbook! If you don’t mind we’d like to ask you some questions :)
KodályHUB: How did you learn about the competition?
Esther Hargittai: I saw the advert on Facebook.
KH: Were you surpised when you got to know you were the winner?
EH: Oh yes, I was really surprised and very excited. I never won anything in my life!
KH: What was the song you won with?
EH: It was an Israeli song 'Simi Yadech' - a lovely, uplifting song for singing and dancing together. The title says: 'Put your hand in mine' - which might be a problem nowadays, but hopefully one day, when the pandemic is over, we can again sing and dance together.
KH: Was it easy to upload your record? Any plan to upload more?
EH: I won't lie, anyone who wants to upload, needs to analyze the song thoroughly. Although it takes a bit of time, I think it's brilliant, it's professional and it's definitely the right and only way to go when you want to learn and use a song. Yes, I do plan to add more!
KH: Do you use the KodályHUB in your daily teaching life? Is it a useful site for you?
EH: There are many songs, compositions with activities I look through, use or get inspiration and ideas from. I love the summary of the Kodály philosophy, I think everybody (existing 'Kodály fans' or 'New to Kodály' people) should read and think about its message. I use it when teaching Kodály philosophy, methodology - it helps me to summarize, to explain. I also use the resources - books, publishings, articles. It's great that you can find all in one place, including new publishings. You can also be reassured, that everything on KodályHUB is valuable and true to the philosophy. I also use the calendar- reading about exciting courses, launching of books, projects, concerts, etc. I also asked the editors to add courses of the British Kodály Academy or even my courses which happened in Israel.
KH: Do you know any other people around you who uses the KodályHUB?
EH: Yes, I do, but not enough. In one of my courses in Israel almost all the participants signed up after the last session. I think we need to visit the site more often, being part of the community, uploading songs/activities and putting up exciting news in the Kodály world.
KH: And lastly which book/publication did you choose and why?
EH: Zoltán Kodály (2019) Writings on Music Education (Ittzés, Mihály ed.) Budapest: Liszt Academy. I chose this book because the value of the presence of these two incredible musicians in the book (Kodály, Ittzes) is second to none. I will treat the book as a bible to the Kodály philosophy, but not only to that; to music, music education and to the way of our life in general. Never a better time for it, although this treasure will stay with me forever.
We would like to thank Esther for her time answering our questions.
