Emile Jacque Dalcroze and Eurythmics - Essay Example

Essay, Music 7 April Emile Jacque Dalcroze and Eurythmics Introduction Mr. Emile Jacque Dalcroze has remained a great legend to the past, contemporary and future society for his great contributions in musical education. From his early upbringing, he had suitable opportunities to learn, which enabled his to venture into performing arts. His interests in music studies, composition and teaching have benefitted the greater society in areas of performing arts (specifically composition of music and their dances) using his concepts even after his life. Dalcroze’s eurythmics have been incorporated into most early educational systems such as elementary and primary schools and have generated positive effects in their educational lessons and development. Eurythmics has supported musical learning through bodily movements that physically convey musical ideas. 2. Dalcroze’s Early Life and Family The life of Dalcroze began in Vienna. However, as a young man, he moved a lot as he pursued his studies in performing arts and this continued into his adult life. He came to be known by the name Dalcroze, but was born Emile Henri Jaques in Vienna 6th July 1865 to Mrs. Julie Jaques and Mr. Jules Louis (Whyman 126). He was the only son of his French and Swiss parents. He was raised together with his sister Helena as they were born as only two siblings. Dalcroze came from a stable family whose wellbeing and parents flourishing careers facilitated a comfortable upbringing for the children. Dalcroze’s mother was a Pestalozzi - trained teacher well experienced in music teaching. She had learnt Pestalozzi’s educational principles and philosophy in education which upheld that “students should learn by direct experience, ought to be taught through activity and concrete experience was needed before abstract knowledge” (Ristow 2). His father served as a representative of the Switzerland’s clock makers factories in the industry. His family was part of the early industrialization, making them above average household earners capable of providing leisure experiences for their children. From an early life, Dalcroze and his sibling had opportunities and exposure to engage with the outside world through cultural exchanges and experiences in performing arts. According to Bauer, “born in Vienna and raised in Geneva, the adolescent Emile had thus far enjoyed a comfortable upbringing with little exposure to people or cultures outside of his bourgeois realm of experience (against which he found novel ways to rebel)” (7). His mother was a great influence from his early life, which eventually inspired his interest in musical teaching and education. As early as the age of six, Dalcroze’s mother introduced him to piano lessons, allowing him to explore music. Together with his sister, they got many opportunities and got diverse training from their mother in piano lessons, singing and composition. With such a background and value for performing arts, they were taken for concerts and theatres for further learning and got exposed to outside cultures. Dalcroze was an active student in performing arts, won numerous awards for best recited texts, engaged in plays, acquired gymnastic knowledge and had basic physical military training for speed, body building and endurance (Odom 139). He had great experiences of the Greek and Swiss cultures in theatre and music lessons right from when they lived in Vienna, Austria, to his later childhood in Geneva. He perfected Piano skills in Geneva and at the age of 16, he wrote his first opera (Ristow 3). Leaving Vienna at 10 years old, he had studied in a private school and joined school for his studies and a city college later. 3. How He Started Composing Seriously during His Early 20’s After completing his studies at the college of Geneva, Dalcroze took a bold move to advance his musical composition in Paris. He had already studied harmony at Conservatoire de Musique, which had contributed to his earlier composition of opera comique, just before he graduated in his late teen age. In Paris, he studied both acting with former colleagues from Conservatoire who had become known in comedy francaise, and composition in music education where he studied with composers like Gabriel Faure (Odom 139). He then shifted to Vienna and began practicing from Vienna conservatory, where he had the opportunity to further music ad composition with his friend, Anton Bruckner. His first piece ‘La Soubrette’, which he composed in his teens got the first performance in theatre in the early 80s, but his career as a composer got established in from his early 20s. Studying in Paris, he composed ‘Riquet a la Houppe’, which though never performed, received wide acceptance (Spector 11). Later, he composed ‘Par les Bois’ in Vienna and ‘L’Ecolier’ while working in Algiers, and after, he wrote numerous musical comedy, poetry and opera acts, which became ppular and inspired many in the 20th century (Hale 1234). Some of his series of acts performed were ‘La veillee and Le Violon Maudit,’ amongst many others that flourished from his composing career in his twenties (Hale 1234). 4. Dalcroze and Music Dalcroze was raised in a musical home with a parent well experienced in music teaching and who understood its value. As a child in Vienna, he had attempted to mimic Johann Strauss conduct the orchestra, right behind him with a ruler in front of the audience (Lei 35). He had an early encounter with the piano instrument and lessons at home and schools and enjoyed musical scales. The passion for music drove young Dalcroze to form an orchestra in his teen age with classmates, which they performed at concerts and also provided an opportunity for him to self-instruct and motivate. By the age of twenty five, he was a qualified composer, conductor and singer, having gone through art and music education. His music study in Paris exposed most of his shortcomings that his mentors pointed out for correction, if Dalcroze intended to seriously take music as a career and excel. Equipped with sufficient skills, he returned home in Geneva and took a paying job as a piano player at saint Gervais resort. Here, he had ample time to correct his shortcomings, perfect his play, composition of pieces and study the treaties on harmony as instructed by his mentor, Faure (Lei 39). By this time, western music and art were most of what he had acquired until he had the opportunity outside Europe. When an opportunity came for a choir master in Algiers, Dalcroze accepted the conducting position for ‘Theatre des Nouveautes’, where he was accompanied by a few members of his former orchestra. He spent several months of the late 80s in Algiers after the theatre’s owner went bankrupt, which facilitated his embarking on the North African musical tour, exposing himself to foreign music, rhythm and culture. He came to appreciate the integration of culture, music and expression, which he transferred back to Switzerland. Aware of the musical variation in rhythms and dances he witnessed across countries, it ultimately shaped his future career in music. Back in Paris, he was introduced to Mathis Lussy, who taught him musical expressive performance and theory of rhythm and form. Inclusive of support from musical masters like Bruckner and Prosnitz in Vienna, and Delibe and Faure in Paris, he learnt professional discipline and standards in music composition, teaching and performance. According to Ammer, Dalcroze “wrote many songs, instrumental pieces, and much choral music”, which are often performed in Switzerland (200). He composed music for concerts and events connecting to the western world and eventually resorted to teaching music as a professor in Solfege at the Geneva Conservatory 5. Dalcroze’s Purpose/ Objective on Inventing the Eurythmic Movement Having studied music under the guidance of different teachers, Dalcroze seriously understood the existing gap in musical teaching methods. He compared several teachers like Bruckner and Prosnitz, where he admitted that the former lacked connection with his students, which even made learning music difficult. On the other hand, where Prosnitz used demonstrations and required students to invoke their feelings into the music, music learning was enjoyable, understandable and remained memorable for the student. Dalcroze was challenged by the previously existing musical teaching practice (the metronomic), which was a standard musical learning requiring memorized precision of rhythms. This method produced players without necessary command of musicians’ skills and he saw the need to device a method that would enhance his students’ listening skills and recognize the composer’s expressive intention in learning music. He had learnt the usefulness of putting emotions, nuance and expression in musical learning, which Mathis Lussy had proposed to education systems without success. Dalcroze’s purpose was to facilitate students teaching of musical concepts though movement (physical body shift, expression) and acquire sensation of the rhythms or music they learnt. To enhance the students’ inner hearing, he devised ear training games that assisted them to be attentive by captivating their interest so they would respond. There were finger exercises to teach them meter and keyboard experiments, which students responded through physical movements (Lei 48). This entailed swinging their waists, heads and legs in movement with the rhythms. His years of worth experimentation with the students yielded results. 6. Dalcroze Inventing The Idea Of Eurythmics Considering his students’ difficulties to articulate and hear the harmonies they wrote and were taught, Dalcroze sought to make them tangible for them to recall. He focused on shaping the students’ perception and inner sensation of the music by linking communication through hearing, thoughts or sensations and body movements to facilitate expressive responses. In his invention, he came to regard the human body as an instrument that experienced emotions physically, through muscular changes or nervous trigger upon sensation of a rhythm from musical motions (“Emile,” thetutorpages.com). He established rhythmic workshops where he performed his trials and error experiments of physical body engagement as well as playing and reading scores, human tempos, rhythmic schema and refining of Lussy’s theory. He placed emphasis on his students using kinaesthetic senses of the body in learning music. However, it was impossible unless they had learnt the technical skills (concentration, expression, recalling, reproduction and listening) applied in all areas of education (Manifold 16). Repetitive experiments allowed him to witness sensitive responses when the body was subjected to mind control. He came to conclude that when people hear music and it creates a sensation, the mind unconsciously commands a gesture or bodily movement in response to the rhythm of the music. It was proof that bodily movements translated musical ideas. The study of this rhythmic principles entailing study of music via body movements, he called it Eurhythmics. 7. Dalcroze Eurythmic Movements and How they Work Eurythmic movements are ways of artistic expression produced by a singer, composer or performers. Movement becomes an artistic creation or interpretation of the musical idea conveyed through the body. Eurythmics provides for bodily exploration in movement. First are swinging of hands in relation to the tunes and second is the movement of the lower limbs with respect to the rhythm. Movement can occur in a coordinated manner involving numerous body parts following a particular rhythm. Teaching this can be imitated from the teachers’ actions or the students invoking their creativity. Movements also entail facial expressions that vary with intonation to distinguish the high and low keys. Movements can be spontaneous, linear or cyclical, with some requiring great energy to perform. Eurhythmic movements allow creation of soft and vigorous dance as response to musical motions. Students studying eurhythmics in the modern world have to master strategies for movement, learn their space through beats, vocal improvising, controlling breathing and pulse rate, and substitute reaction methods with beats. Responding to the music, they move their lips, express their feelings through soft dance, and swing their bodies and limbs changing style and tempo. Improvisation of music may rely on recorded pieces. Others use pianos and composed songs and are also given opportunity to engage in creativity of their plays and movement. 8. The Methods of eurythmic Unfortunately, a number of people only consider rhythmic movement in Eurythmics as Dalcroze’s only concept. Mason describes Dalcroze’s Eurythmic approach to also entail use of Solfege and improvising aspects (7). After studying the principles of rhythms and body movement, musical students needed to develop sound consciousness, which is principal in vocal training. This concept learnt in Solfege enables “teaching students to write melodies, rhythms and harmonies by ear and translating the written music into sound often at first sight singing” (Juntunen 28). Improvisation entails relaying of the music generated emotions either by vocalization, playing instruments or movement. 9. Conclusion Dalcroze methods have been published and have made progressive impact in musical education across the world. He established numerous Dalcroze’s institutes which offered musical classes through his established Eurythmic approach. He invented Eurhythmics movements to address the need in music teaching practices after observing the difficulties students had in understanding what they were being taught. Eurhythmics approach embraces rhythmic study, Solfege and improvising, which support musical learning. At the core of Dalcroze’s principles is the concept of how body movements express musical rhythms. Works Cited “Emile Jacques Dalcroze.” thetutorpages.com. 2 March 2014. Web. 9 April 2015. Ammer, C. The Facts on File Dictionary of Music. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2004. Print. Bauer, W. R. “Radical Departure: Where did Emile Jaques Get the Idea of Rhythmic Education?” dalcrozeusa.org. 2013. Web. 8 April 2015. Hale, P. “Boston Symphony Ochestra,” worldcat.org. 1906. Web. 9 April 2015. Juntunen, M. “Embodiment in Dalcroze Eurythmic.” oulu.fi. 2004. Web. 10 April 2014. Lei, J. W. “Dalcroze by Any Other Name: Eurythmics In Early Modern Theatre and Dance.” August 2003. Web. 9 April 2015. Manifold, L. H. “Applying Jaques-Dalcroze’s method to teaching musical instruments and its effect on the learning process.” manifoldmelodies.com. May 2008. Web. 10 April 2015. Mason, E. J. Kodaly or Orff: Pre-service Teachers Perceptions of and Preference for Two Different Methodologies used in Teaching Elementary General Music. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest, 2008. Print. Odom, S. L. “Delsartean Traces in Dalcroze’s Eurythmics,” April 2005. Web. 8 April 2015. Mime Journal 23(9): 137-151. Ristow, G. “Dal-Who? Your- What?” musicalmind.org . March 2006. Web. 8 April 2015. Spector, I. Rythm and Life: the work of Emile Jacques Dalcroze. Pendragon Press, 1990. Print. Whyman, R. The Stanislavsky System of Acting: Legacy and Influence in Modern Performance. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Print. Read More