The Eurhythmics of Jaques-Dalcroze Part 2

[Ill.u.s.tration: Movements for the Semibreve.]

(_c_) This is not required in the _pupil_, however valuable it may be as an additional means of self-expression; it is, however, absolutely necessary for the successful _teacher_ of rhythmic gymnastics, who must be able to express, on some instrument--most conveniently the piano--whatever rhythms, simple or compound, he may wish to use in the training of his pupils. This subject, therefore, naturally forms an important part of the normal course at the h.e.l.lerau College, since this course is planned to meet the needs of students preparing for the teaching diploma in Eurhythmics. Here, too, Jaques-Dalcroze has his own system, with which he obtains results often remarkable, but, as in the case of the ear-training, this is a detail not peculiar to the method as a whole.

To repeat: the essentials are that the teacher have the power of free expression on some musical instrument, the pupil that of hearing correctly.

The system of exercises known as rhythmic gymnastics is based upon two ideas, (i) _time_ is shown by movements of the arms, (ii) _time-values_, i.e., note-duration, by movements of the feet and body. In the early stages of the training this principle is clearly observed; later it may be varied in many ingenious ways, for instance in what is known as plastic counterpoint, where the actual notes played are represented by movements of the arms, while the counterpoint in crotchets, quavers or semiquavers, is given by the feet.

The system of beating time with the arms provides for all tempi from 2/4 to 12/4 and includes 5/4 7/4 9/4.

In the series of movements to represent note-values the crotchet is taken as the unit; this is represented by a step; higher values, from the minim to the whole note of twelve beats, are represented by a step with one foot and a movement or movements with the other foot or with the body, but without progression, e.g., a minim by one step and a knee bend, a dotted minim by a step and two movements without progression, a whole note of twelve beats by a step and eleven movements. Thus for each note in the music there is one step, one progression in s.p.a.ce, while at the same time the note, if of greater length than a crotchet, is a.n.a.lysed into crotchets.

Notes of shorter duration than the crotchet, i.e., quavers, triplets, etc., are expressed also by steps which become quicker in proportion to their frequency.

When the movements corresponding to the notes from the crotchet to the whole note of twelve beats have, with all their details, become a habit, the pupil need only make them mentally, contenting himself with one step forward. This step will have the exact length of the whole note, which will be mentally a.n.a.lysed into its various elements. Although these elements are not individually performed by the body, their images and the innervations suggested by those images take the place of the movements.

The process is similar to that of the child learning to read; at first it reads aloud, then to itself, still, however, moving its lips, i.e., still making all the innervations necessary for the p.r.o.nunciation of the words. Only after much practice does the process become sufficiently automatic for these lip and tongue innervations to be dropped. Indeed, many adults show traces of them when they read. To what degree our power to read is based upon such innervations is shown by the fact that old people, as their inhibitory powers become weaker, often revert to making these lip movements. From this we may conclude that such innervations, although they do not find their natural expression, still exist and have effect, i.e., they are necessary. The Jaques-Dalcroze method aims at nothing more or less than the training of rhythmic innervations.

The whole training aims at developing the power of rapid physical reaction to mental impressions. These latter are more commonly obtained through the ear, chiefly from the music played; naturally, however, the teacher needs at times to give commands during an exercise. For this purpose he invariably uses the word _hopp_, a word chosen for its clear incisiveness.

Before each exercise it is clearly stated what the word is to represent in that particular case, e.g., omit one beat, omit one bar, beat time twice as fast with the arms, etc.; often the word will be used in series in an exercise, each _hopp_ meaning some additional change. As the command generally falls on the second half of the beat preceding the one in which the change is to be made, very rapid mental and physical response is necessary, especially if the music be at all quick.

Exercises of this cla.s.s soon give the power of rapid muscular innervation and inhibition, and are of extraordinary value in education, quite apart from their purely rhythmic side.

We will now consider the exercises in some detail, taking, as a matter of convenience, the order and grouping generally adopted at demonstrations of the method. In actual practice such strict grouping is neither possible nor necessary; the actual form which the lessons take will depend upon the genius of teacher and pupils, the possibilities of variety being infinite.

[Sidenote: =MOVEMENTS TO INDICATE VARIOUS TEMPI=]

Simple music is played to which the pupils march. As they grasp the beat they mark it by an accented step; when this becomes easy, the corresponding arm movements are added, and the strong beat, at this stage always the first, is marked by full contraction of the arm muscles. Practice is given until at _hopp_ the pupil can stop suddenly, discontinue accenting with one or both arms or with one or both feet, subst.i.tute an arm-movement for a foot movement, insert an extra accent either with arm or foot, or do any similar thing previously agreed on.

By repeated practice of such exercises complete automatic control of the limbs is obtained and the ground prepared for more advanced work. It is at this stage that the simple movements to indicate times and notes are learnt; they may be likened to the alphabet of the method, the elementary exercises as a whole being its accidence, the more advanced stages, including plastic expression, its syntax.

[Sidenote: =TRAINING IN METRE=]

This group of exercises is a natural extension of those preceding.

The pupil learns a series of movements which together form a rhythm, first practising them singly, then in groups, the signal for the change being always the word _hopp_. By means of such exercises the component movements required in the physical expression of a rhythm can be learnt, first individually, then in series, until the complete rhythm can be expressed and the use of _hopp_ be dropped, each change of movement becoming itself the signal for the next.

Again, the pupil learns to realize[1] a rhythm played on the piano or indicated by the movements of another person. This is something quite apart from mere imitation; trained by previous exercises, the pupil first forms clear mental images of the movements corresponding to the rhythm in question and then gives physical expression to those images.

In other words, he does not reproduce until he has understood; in fact, without understanding, correct reproduction of a lengthy series of such movements is impossible. In the same way, an individual cannot easily remember and repeat a succession of words which he does not understand, but can repeat without difficulty a long series of words of which he understands the sense. Indeed, the importance of many of these exercises becomes clearer when the way in which children are taught to read and write is remembered.

[1] _Realize_ is used in rhythmic gymnastics in the sense _express by movements of the body_.

Oral and visual images of letters and words are impressed on the child by reading aloud, and in this way the young brain easily masters the difficult work of reading and writing. The Jaques-Dalcroze method proceeds in exactly the same manner as regards the elements of music.

When we have once realized this point, we are bound to wonder why music teaching has not always been based on this elementary and unfailing form. What would be said to teachers who tried to teach children to read and write without letting them spell and read aloud? But this is what has often been done in the teaching of music, and if children generally show but little pleasure and interest in their first music lessons, the fault does not lie with them but with our wrong method of making the elements clear to them.

As a matter of fact we generally do not make the latter clear to them, and fail in the most important duty of the educator and teacher, namely, that of making the child really experience what he is to learn.

[Sidenote: =DEVELOPMENT OF MENTAL RESPONSE=]

A rhythm in music consists of a regularly recurring series of accented sounds, unaccented sounds, and rests, expressed in rhythmic gymnastics by movements and inhibitions of movements. Individuals who are rhythmically uncertain generally have a muscular system which is irregularly responsive to mental stimuli; the response may be too rapid or too slow; in either case impulse or inhibition falls at the wrong moment, the change of movement is not made to time, and the physical expression of the rhythm is blurred.

Although feeling for rhythm is more or less latent in us all and can be developed, few have it naturally perfect. The method has many exercises which are of use in this connexion. By means of these the pupil is taught how to arrest movement suddenly or slowly, to move alternately forwards or backwards, to spring at a given signal, to lie down or stand up in the exact time of a bar of music--in each case with a minimum of muscular effort and without for a moment losing the feeling for each time-unit of the music.

[Sidenote: =MENTAL HEARING. CONCENTRATION=]

Physical movements repeatedly performed create corresponding images in the brain; the stronger the feeling for the movement, i.e., the more the pupil concentrates while making that movement, the clearer will be the corresponding mental image, and the more fully will the sense for metre and rhythm be developed.

We might say that these movement images store up the innervations which bring about the actual movement. They are for the body and its movements what formulae are for the mathematician.

Developed out of many movements they become a complete symbol for the rhythm expressed by the series of movements in question. Thus the pupil who knows how to march in time to a given rhythm has only to close his eyes and recall a clear image of the corresponding movements to experience the rhythm as clearly as if he were expressing it by marching. He simply continues to perform the movements mentally. If, however, his movements when actually realizing the rhythm are weak or confused, the corresponding mental images will be vague or incorrect, whilst movements which are dynamically clear guarantee the accuracy of the corresponding mental images and nerve-impulses.

In practice the exercise consists in first mastering a rhythm played, marching and beating time in the usual manner, then at _hopp_ discontinuing all movement, either for a number of bars previously agreed upon or until the signal to resume is given by a second _hopp_.

In this exercise the teacher ceases to play at the first _hopp_.

[Sidenote: =a.n.a.lYSIS AND DIVISION OF TIME VALUES=]

The exercises of this group are designed to teach how to subdivide units of time into parts of varying number. At _hopp_ the crotchet must be divided into quavers, triplets, semiquavers, etc., as may have been previously arranged, or instead of _hopp_ the teacher may call _three_, _four_, etc., to indicate the subdivision which is to be expressed by the corresponding number of steps. Apart from their direct object, the exercises of this group are of value for the training which they give in poise; they might be cla.s.sed equally well with the group under _Development of Mental Response_.

Here, too, belong exercises in the realization of syncopation in which, as the note is represented by the usual step, it comes off the beat, the latter being indicated by a knee-bend which, in quick time, becomes a mere suggestion of movement or is omitted, e.g., {Music}

These exercises in syncopation are perhaps some of the most difficult in the method, as they demand an extraordinary control of inhibition.

Individuals of musical ability often find them difficult at first, and their easy performance may be taken as evidence of a developed feeling for rhythm. As a rule children find these exercises easier than do adults.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Beating 5/4 in canon without expression.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Beating 5/4 in canon with expression.]

[Sidenote: =REALIZATION OF TIME AND RHYTHM=]

The object here is to express by rhythmic movements and without hesitation rhythms perceived by the ear. The exactness of such expression will be in proportion to the number of movements of which the pupil has acquired automatic control. There is not time to a.n.a.lyse the music heard; the body must _realize_ before the mind has a clear impression of the movement image, just as in reading, words are understood and p.r.o.nounced without a clear mental image of them being formed.

When the realization of a rhythm heard has become relatively easy, the pupil is taught to concentrate, by listening to, and forming a mental image of, a fresh rhythm while still performing the old one. In this manner he obtains facility in rendering automatic, groups of movements rhythmically arranged, and in keeping the mind free to take a fresh impression which in its turn can be rendered automatic.

Here again the process is a.n.a.lagous to that of reading, in which, while we are grasping the meaning of a sentence, the eye is already dealing with the next, preparing it in turn for comprehension.

[Sidenote: =DEVELOPMENT OF INDEPENDENT CONTROL OF THE LIMBS=]

Characteristic exercises of this group are: beating the same time with both arms but in canon, beating two different tempi with the arms while the feet march to one or other or perhaps march to yet a third time, e.g., the arms 3/4 and 4/4, the feet 5/4. There are, also, exercises in the a.n.a.lysis of a given time unit into various fractions simultaneously, e.g., in a 6/8 bar one arm may beat three to the bar, the other arm two, while the feet march six.

[Sidenote: =DOUBLE OR TRIPLE DEVELOPMENT OF RHYTHMS=]

These exercises are a physical preparation for what is known in music as the development of a theme. While the composers of fugues always use a double or quadruple development, the method introduces an entirely fresh element--the triple development, exercises in which are difficult but extremely valuable.

[Sidenote: =PLASTIC COUNTERPOINT AND COMPOUND RHYTHMS=]

In plastic counterpoint the arms realize the theme, i.e., make as many movements as there are notes, whilst the feet mark the counterpoint in crotchets, quavers, triplets or semiquavers.