Name
2255 - From Curwen to Kodály: Reconstructing the Genealogy of Intonation Pedagogy through the 53-Tone Network
Date & Time
Thursday, July 30, 2026, 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Description
This study reconstructs the theoretical and historical continuity—the genealogy—of intonation pedagogy among three educational philosophies: Curwen's Tonic Sol-fa in nineteenth-century England, Kodály's music education philosophy in twentieth-century Hungary, and Kardos's theory of intonation. Although differing in form and context, these pedagogies share a common educational aim—to cultivate in learners the capacity to perceive music through solmization, integrating structural comprehension and affective sensitivity. This study reexamines their interrelated approaches through the 53-tone division of the octave, proposing a renewed philosophical foundation for intonation pedagogy that fosters diversity and unity through the conscious navigation of multiple valid goals within tonal music.
Curwen established the Tonic Sol-fa method, enabling learners to internalize pitch relationships through hand signs and solmization. Kodály reinterpreted this vision within the Hungarian context, prioritizing vertical resonance through systematic solfège. Kardos further refined this tradition by theorizing pure choral intonation centered on harmonic stability. Together, these pedagogies represent a cumulative effort to make harmonic intonation teachable and learnable.
This genealogy, however, reveals a significant pedagogical gap. While harmonic intonation has been systematically cultivated from Curwen through Kardos, the educational implications of melodic propulsion and the conscious navigation between dual goal regions remain insufficiently theorized. Unstable degrees (2, 3, 6, 7) invite learners to navigate between at least two distinct goal regions: Pythagorean intervals for directional melodic tension, and just intervals for beat-minimized harmonic resonance. Stable degrees (1, 5, 8) maintain consistent goal regions, while the fourth degree shifts conditionally depending on harmonic function. Developing this conscious choice represents a new frontier for intonation pedagogy. The 53-Tone Network serves not as a fixed tuning system but as a coordinate system of dynamic goal regions—a pedagogical map for conscious aural direction.
Intonation can thus be redefined not as a corrective technique, but as an educational philosophy of intentional aural direction: cultivating the capacity to listen toward a goal, to choose consciously between stability and propulsion, and through that act of listening, to develop sensitivity to the coexistence of multiple valid goals within tonal music itself. This framework further suggests that intonation training is most effective when grounded first in learners' native melodic traditions, before progressing through scale degrees where melodic and harmonic goals converge. This study proposes the 53-Tone Network as a contemporary pedagogical framework applicable to choral education, ear training, and intercultural music pedagogy—a shared aural space in which diversity and unity are experienced as complementary dimensions of musical understanding.
Location Name
210A - Poster Gallery
Session Type
Poster Presentation
Presenter(s)
Masahiro Inukai
Poster Board
46