The book is in Estonian.
The collection consists of thirty lesson plans, or “lessons”, as Professor Heino Kaljuste himself called them, and was published to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth.
Heino Kaljuste (1925–1989) was a conductor, chief conductor of national song festivals and the initiator of the youth song festival tradition, composer and teacher, founder of the Ellerhein children’s choir, professor of music pedagogy, music education methodologist and author of music textbooks, publicist, and an active citizen.
The lesson plans, which were compiled with exceptional thoroughness, clearly reflect Kaljuste’s enthusiasm for the relative solmisation method (also known as the movable-do method) that he encountered at the ISME (International Society for Music Education) conference in Hungary. While in Hungary, he became acquainted with the relative solmisation method developed by the composer, music educator and ethnomusicologist Zoltán Kodály. Kaljuste was captivated by the method, as students in some Hungarian schools could sight-sing as fluently as they could read their native language. He decided that Estonian children should also benefit from this “miracle tool”, adapted the relative solmisation method to local conditions and introduced it to Estonia under the name JO-LE-MI method.
This material is suitable for use in both in general education schools for music classes and music schools for solfeggio lessons that use the relative (step-based) system in music theory studies.
The collection was edited by Professor Kaljuste’s student, Kadi Härma.
Preface and commentary Kadi Härma
Consultants Kerri Kotta, Mall Ney
Design Mari Kaljuste
Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Press, 2025, ISBN 978-9908-9730-0-5
