Music literacy refers to the ability to read and write musical notation and to read notation at sight without the aid of an instrument. It also refers to a person's knowledge of and appreciation for a wide range of musical examples and styles.
Kodály and his associates adapted techniques from a variety of sources in the development of their approach to developing musical literacy in children.
Rhythm Syllables
Rhythm names were adapted from the French time-names system developed by Paris-Chevé and Galin. In the Hungarian adaptation some of these are:
Note Value...........................Rhythm Syllable
quarter note.............................................ta
paired eighth notes...................................ti-ti
half note..........................................….....ta-a
four sixteenth notes...........................…....tiri-tiri
dotted quarter note.................................tai
dotted eighth note...................................teem
Solfa
The use of syllables to represent the sounds of the notes of the scale has its roots in the 11th century when the monk, Guido d'Arezzo, used the initial tones of a "Hymn to St. John" (ut, re, mi, fa, so, la] as a mnemonic device to train singers.
Solfa (solfège-Fr., solfeggio-It.] can be applied in absolute (fixed-do) form or in relative (moveable-do) form. In England, through the work of Sarah Glover and John Curwen, moveable-do solfa became the favored pedagogical tool to teach singers to read music.
Kodály and his associates adapted the Tonic Solfa system of Glover-Curwen in Hungary. Each of the tones of the scale is represented by a syllable. For the sharp an ‘i‘ is added, for the flat an ‘a’ is added (except for la that will become lo). The absolute (ABC) names of these depend on the key of a piece:
do....re....mi..fa....so....la......ti..do'
Do is the first note in any major scale. La is the first note in any minor scale. Thus, in the key of C Major, C is do, in the key of F Major, F is do, etc. In the key of A Minor, A is la.
In addition to these syllables, John Curwen applied a different hand-sign to each of the tones of the scale. These were incorporated in the Hungarian system as well.