For Szilvay, ensemble music making is the most fundamental human activity. The crying of the child and the calming voice of the mother, the babble of the baby and the answering parental laughter are in fact the first ensemble music. Szilvay came to Finland from his native Hungary in 1971, expecting to teach conservatory-level classes. Instead he found himself facing a roomful of eager but untutored children with miniature violins. The language barrier that led to this confusion became the mother of invention, as Szilvay found ways to use picture books, story telling, color coding, and an overall sense of play to engage youngsters in highly focused studies.
Students can quickly find their way through color-coded music, most of it based on folk song.
The method originated with the violin, but quickly spread to teaching of the other string instruments. Szilvay and his students have developed a series of texts and methods that bring students from the cradle to the conservatory. Songs and rhythms are presented in entertaining stories, but the attached small exercises are already the first steps toward chamber musicianship, and enable the child to take up a musical instrument. Colourstrings instrumental tutors are based on the musical material which was heard, sung, clapped, and acted out at home and in the Colourstrings kindergarten. Chamber Music from the Start From that first year on, Szilvay has placed all the children in groups.