Kodály was a devout educationalist and ethnomusicologist, and he pioneered the reintegration of folk material into 20th-century music. He and Bartók were lifetime friends, and together in 1905 they began field trips collecting folksongs. Kodály was a great champion of singing in all its many forms. His choral works combine the influence of Magyar folk singing, Gregorian chant, and the polyphonic styles of Palestrina and Bach, and he revolutionised the teaching of singing and sight reading with t...