Monday, 14 November 2016, is the bicentenary of the birth of John Curwen (1816-1880) who was the developer of the Tonic Sol-fa Method.  Curwen based his Tonic Sol-fa method on an earlier movable solmisation system invented by Sarah Glover and later, in the first half of the twentieth century, the pedagogical principles of Tonic Sol-fa were adopted by the Hungarian composer and music educator, Zoltan Kodály, and developed into what is now known as the Kodály music education method.

To commemorate this event, a ‘John Curwen Bicentenary’ website is now available online at http://www.music-ed.net/curwenbicentenary/  The website includes details of the Tonic Sol-fa method, links to some key references and to some of Curwen’s pedagogical textbooks, a gallery of relevant visual images and a page on ‘Tonic Sol-fa Today’.  There is also a link to an article entitled ‘A System ahead of its time’ which outlines the main features of Tonic Sol-fa and Curwen’s contributions to music education.

Please make contact with Robin Stevens if any queries or comments:                                     robinstevens@music-ed.net