Nearly every music educator who is starting their Kodály adventure will find themselves reading a very specific orange book. 150 American Folk Songs to Sing, Read, and Play is a staple for any Kodály Certification program, and anyone who is wanting to get their toes wet in the world of Kodály. It is a fantastic collection of folk songs for teaching rhythmic and melodic concepts. The issue, however, is that times have changed since the book's initial publication in 1974.
During the late 2010s, discourse began to spring up about the origins of song material used in music classrooms, Kodály-inspired or otherwise. (These discussions actually began in the early 2010s on the blogs of various music educators, and without their initial efforts to bring about change, it's quite likely we would not be as far along as we are now!) The histories of songs such as "Jump Jim Joe", "Chicken on a Fencepost", "Jim Along Josie", and "No One's in the House But Dinah" began to be investigated, and the results of the research were quite alarming. Many of the songs used in elementary music classrooms had pasts forged by oppression of and racism against African-Americans. As the discussions then continued, many educators began to find the origins of as many of the songs as they could to ensure that what they were teaching was not only appropriate for the classroom, but was ethically sourced. Research and discovery is still ongoing for many songs being used today.
The goal of Tuning Fork is to help continue this research, but with a specific aim. Tuning Fork's first major project will be historic deep-dives into every song from 150 American Folk Songs to Sing, Read, and Play. It will be a monumental task, especially for this non-scholar. However, I believe that this will be an important resource for beginning (as well as veteran) Kodály educators. I will not find every bit of a song's past, nor will I give concrete answers of "Yes, you should use/avoid this song". There will be deep-dives into each song, but these should be starting points for educators. Always do your own research when adding songs to your own collections. I will always list my sources so that you can do your own digging.
Come join me on this adventure! Along the way, we will likely find light-hearted stories about some of our beloved folk songs, but we will also find some difficult truths as well. In the end, we will be better educated and informed about the material we use to teach. "Puzzles have answers, but folk songs have questions" after all!