Colourstrings –
an overview
Yuri Djachenko and David Banney
Colourstrings is a child-centred approach to string pedagogy developed
by Hungarian brothers Géza and Csaba Szilvay and their colleagues at the East
Helsinki Music Institute. With a history
of more than 30 years, Colourstrings has demonstrated its success through a
number of highly esteemed concert artists and an internationally acclaimed
string orchestra, and the fact that over 50% of string students from the East
Helsinki Music Institute are now professional musicians. Colourstrings is used in many countries,
including the
This presentation will give an overview of the scope, context, technical
and musical sequence and repertoire of Colourstrings, and examine the use of
Colourstrings in
The scope of Colourstrings is wide.
Its curriculum begins with preparatory material in the form of
illustrated children’s songbooks, accompanied by stories and CDs. These serve to acquaint the child with a
repertoire of over 50 songs (the so-called "Rascals")
that becomes the focus of the technical curriculum in the first few years. The technical curriculum takes the child from
the very beginning and ends with work in all keys, using all the major bow
strokes; shifting and playing in position; and scales, arpeggios and modes in
all keys.
Colourstrings is set in the context of the Kodály approach to
musicianship. The Kodály approach is now
well established throughout the world and is used in many centres in
There is much innovation in the curriculum. In the early stages each string is assigned a
character and a colour (respectively GDAE is bear, daddy, mummy, birdie and
green, red, blue, yellow). This enables
confident reading from the start, and is the first of many extra-musical
allusions in the curriculum. There is a
gradual transfer to reading from the black and white staff over the first few
years. Musicianship is developed through
singing, listening, analysis, improvisation, transposition and
composition. Notation makes chamber
music possible from an early stage. Left
hand pizzicato and use of harmonics from very early stages develops the shape
and flexibility of the left hand. The
bow is introduced through "assisted bowing" (i.e. assisted and
moulded by the teacher), with the student gradually becoming independent of the
teacher. This hands-on approach is also
important for left hand technical development.
The technical curriculum is carefully graded, and much care is taken to
ensure a thorough technical grounding in the first four years before students
advance to other repertoire and technical literature.
Special repertoire has been composed and arranged specifically for
Colourstrings by fellow Hungarian Láaszló Rossa. This includes systematic collections of
violin and piano music, violin duos, chamber music and string orchestra music –
a total of 22 volumes. The repertoire
can be supplemented with a range of other pieces, and a number of works with an
Australian focus have been composed in recent years.
Colourstrings is taught in several centres in
Bibliography
Szőnyi, E. 1973, Kodály’s
Principles in Practice, Boosey and Hawkes,
David Banney
A past winner of the ABC Young
Conductor of the Year Award, the ABC Young Composers Competition and the North
Queensland Concerto Competition, David
David graduated in Music from the
University of Queensland, and his teachers have included Patricia Pollett
(viola), Harry Kirby (violin), Vernon Handley and John Curro (conducting). He also holds a Medical Degree from the
University of Queensland, and is currently studying for a Ph D in Composition
at the University of Newcastle. David is
a member of the National Council of the Kodály Music Education Institute of
Australia.