Introduction

What is Stepping Notes?

Stepping Notes is a music curriculum for children aged 2 to 9, developed by Nikhil Dally and implemented in his Music School since 2000. It is based upon the methods and concepts of Zoltán Kodály (music education through singing), Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (teaching music through body movement) and Géza Szilvay (originator of the Colourstrings method).

The Stepping Notes concept starts from the axiom that all musicians need to have a deeply-rooted sense of musicality and musicianship. Therefore we all need to start learning music, when we are very young, at an instinctive, sub-conscious level – and only later gradually develop towards a more intellectual, conscious understanding. To give children a firm grounding in their musicality, we work through three main channels: singing, body movement, and the imagination. In young children these “roots of musicality” are so coinherent that, as much as possible, we do them together: singing and moving together, in imaginative play.

By these means, the children develop genuine musical skills. We do not concentrate upon producing set-pieces to perform and show off. We do not concentrate on “covering repertoire”. Rather, we use the songs we sing and the games we play as means to learn about these core skills:

    (1) pulse and rhythm
    (2) metre, phrasing and structure
    (3) pitch, scale and melody
    (4) harmony

What is this book for?

This book is not designed to stand alone. There are three reasons for this:

First: No book can be a complete manual for music teaching. All the ideas contained herein have been developed by borrowing, adapting and recombining ideas originated by far greater musicianship teachers than I. Apart from the three great men I list in my first paragraph above, I have learnt so much, directly or indirectly, from:

             - Maureen Murphy: one of the finest early-years dance teachers I know, and with whom I have had the privilege to work for many years

            - Mark Schneider: in my opinion, the finest Colourstrings kindergarten music teacher I have ever known, who made the Kodály and Colourstrings concepts scintillate with fun, excitement and magic

            - Helga Dietrich: one of the grandes dames of Kodály early-years pedagogy, who manages to make such a carefully constructed and rigorous pedagogical system flow with such ease and grace – like she’s making it up for the first time

            - Karin Greenhead: the finest Dalcroze teacher I have ever come across, I think

            - Steve Grocott: a wonderfully exciting musician and early-years music teacher, who produces the Bright Sparks CDs

            - Christine Waite: a wonderful primary music teacher and trainer, who afforded me my first “break” into this profession, and thankfully, provided me with a treasure-trove of songs to start out with!

            - Michael Deason-Barrow: a superb Steiner-influenced musician and musical visionary, originator of the Tonalis concept

            - Vera Rose: my Margaret Morris Movement teacher; she taught me so much!

            - Diana Beatty: my Alexander Technique teacher: she too taught me so much!

The Bibliography at the end of this book lists many of the other people with whose ideas I have been privileged to come into contact with. Apologies if I have missed anyone out!

Second: Hardly any of the songs listed in this book are “mine”. Many are traditional, and you will find their notation and texts in the public domain. There is hardly any need for me to reproduce these in full here. Those songs which are not in the public domain come from so many sources, and reproducing their notation here would be a copyright nightmare. Instead, I suggest you go and buy the original books and recordings from which they come. (I have given these in the text of this book as best as I can: see also the Bibliography/Discography. If I had made any errors or omissions, please let me know.)

Third: At least as important as what songs to use is how to use them. Since so many of these songs and activities are best experienced in the context of whole-body movement, there is no way I can do justice to them in words. If you have not yet done so, please attend one of my Stepping Notes training courses, where we can work on these ideas in a practical, hands-on way. This book is really, therefore, a supplement to my teacher training courses. Use it that way, and I hope it will bear fruit. 

If attending one of my courses is utterly impossible for you, you might benefit from watching some of my Stepping Notes videos. Details of how to access these can be found on www.steppingnotes.com.

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© 2025 Nikhil Dally
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.