The Eurhythmics of Jaques-Dalcroze

by Émile Jaques-Dalcroze

From these suggestions something of the endless variety of exercises that may be devised can probably now be imagined.

As soon as movements become automatic they are used as units for building up more elaborate movements, and no time is wasted in doing merely mechanical exercises. In every detail of the method the brain is called into constant activity, and, lest any one should think that it would be easy for one pupil to copy another in doing the exercises, it should be stated that, if such a thing were attempted, it would end in the pupil becoming hopelessly confused, for if the mind once loses hold of the work in process it is very difficult to pick it up again.

The solfège lessons are chiefly for ear-training and practical harmony. In the elementary classes it is shown how scales and chords are formed, and where the tones and semitones occur. The pupils soon become able to tell, when three consecutive notes from any scale are played, what degrees of the scale they are, or may be. Scales are sung always beginning on C for every key and always to a rhythm. Here, again, the pupils have to think to time, for in the second scale, which would be that of F, if the flat scales were being sung, they have to remember that they are starting on the fifth note of the scale, and that the interval between the third and fourth notes of the scale is a semitone; that the third and fourth degrees in the key of F are A and B, and therefore the B has to be flattened in this scale, the other notes remaining the same. The whole cycle of scales is sung in this manner, each one commencing on C, or on C flat when necessary. The pupils are also practised in listening to a scale played and then saying in which key it is, judging it by the fall of the semitones.

Class Rooms.

The College: Interiors.

Chords are sung analytically and in chorus, with their resolutions when needed, and this is followed by practice in hearing and naming chords.

Sight singing and transposition are by no means neglected, and there is practice in singing intervals, in singing a piece once or twice through and then from memory, or in another key, which is not so easy to do when the fixed Do is used. And always, whatever is being done, the pupils have to be prepared for the word hopp, to make any change which has been previously agreed on, e.g., to sing on the instant in a key a semitone lower, or to sing in thought only until the next hopp, when they sing aloud again. In these exercises, as in those of the rhythmic gymnastics, there is no end of the variety of combination possible. There is also opportunity for practice in conducting, and very interesting it is, in a children's class, to note with what assurance a small girl of perhaps seven or eight will beat time for the others to sing one of their songs, and also to note the various renderings each conductor will obtain of the same piece.

The improvisation on the piano is perhaps the most difficult part of the system to master. It may not be realized by all people that every one can be taught to play original music. There are cases in which the pupil is not naturally musical, and has had no previous knowledge of piano playing, but has learnt to improvise sufficiently well to give a good lesson in rhythmic gymnastics, which means no small degree of ability. This training is begun by making use of the simplest, i.e., the common, chords, and when these are known in every key, including those on the dominant, the pupil is expected to improvise a short piece of eight bars, the chief feature to be attended to being the rhythm, which has to be definite and played without hesitation. When perfect familiarity is obtained with the common chord of each key and with that of its dominant, another chord is learnt, that on the sub-dominant. With these three chords alone quite charming little pieces can be played, and gradually in this manner the pupil has at his command passing notes, appoggiaturas, cadences, and an unlimited number of chords and sequences. Then come the rules for modulating from one key to another, and equal facility in all keys is insisted on. Monsieur Jaques-Dalcroze's pupils learn to improvise with definite thought and meaning, nothing unrhythmical is ever allowed, nor any aimless meandering over the keyboard. For these lessons the pupils are divided into small groups of not more than six in each, and twice a week these groups are taken altogether by Monsieur Jaques-Dalcroze.