Sabbatical in Switzerland: Institut Jaques-Dalcroze (Part 2)
Note: this is part 2 of a series. Find part 1 here. This article first appeared in The Orff Echo, Volume XVIII, No. 4, Summer 1986. ©1986 American Orff-Schulwerk Association, Mayfield Heights, OH. Used by permission.
Scale singing [at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze] is a daily must. “So what?” one might ask. Here is one example of creative scales: sing every scale, major and minor, within the octave middle C to C1 (C-sharp or C-flat as required), a different scale on each ascent or descent, but without repeating the C of the scale just concluded. As for me, I soon realized that I was sorely in need of a refresher course in the basics and I welcomed this sabbatical opportunity that was enabling my to brush up on the groundwork I had for so many years brushed over.
Some form of improvisation is included in all Dalcroze classes. However, it is in the Piano Improvisation Class where the most ordered and concentrated instruction is provided. I was not permitted to enroll in these overcrowded “impro” classes since the regular students need as much time as possible at the keyboard. Therefore, I audited a number of classes and went to the work in one of the many private practice rooms. I wanted to improve upon my minimal skills and overcome my inhibitions in this area.
Excellent books for beginners were available and I chose Et Caetera by Dominique Porte and Un Chemin vers l’improvisation by Bernard Reichel. The first begins with melodic and rhythmic inventions using ancient modes and easy major and minor scales. Singing while playing is encouraged. Transposition is obligatory from the outset and I soon found that playing the same inventions in various keys kept me alert and fascinated through many hours of practice that would have been tedious to some. One is urged to invent melodies with the left hand as well as with the right.
The first harmony poses no threat, employing the open fifth drone familiar to Orff Schulwerk practitioners. This works well with the ancient modes. I regularly interspersed chord progressions in every key and harmonized scales in rhythmic variations with absolutely free flights of fancy where anything goes. I read the harmonic structures of Messrs. Porte and Reichel, transposed them, singing aloud the notes of the bass, the tenor, the alto voices. I was not content until I had memorized each device and could then play it with freedom and power, eyes closed, in some tough key like G-flat, singing still either note or chord names.
Occasionally, I ‘bootlegged’ a lesson from one of my eurhythmics teachers. The solfège book contained hundreds of melodies of the masters, some obscure, others well known. I set myself the goal of writing the harmony of the well-known works, without resorting to any other score, just whatever I was able to recall. Challenged and invigorated, I seemed to zero in on the proper setting with miraculous frequency. Other times, I heard my inner voices singing but I was unable to write accurately what I heard. Along with these activities, I added the practice of realizing figured basses.
Improvisation Games at IJD
The “impro” teachers have many devices to aid the flow of ideas. One, for example, requires one student to invent a four-bar phrase to be completed by a second student. Another is the playing by three or four students of their original short pieces. Then, the second time around, the pianist plays his invention again, then incrporoates the piece of one of the other students as a B section and, then returns to his own A section to conclude the music. After all have taken turns, the instructor asks the class members to decide who played whose piece in their B sections. (Memory is encouraged in each phase of Dalcroze work. Intense concentration is fostered constantly).
In the class work, traditional harmonic inventions alternate with freer compositions that reflect, nonetheless, good form and structure. A typical device of Marie-Laure Bachmann is to make a gesture such as raising an arm abruptly high over the head. The student is to respond by paying music to reflect the energy and the sense of movement. The raised arm might be followed by a contrasting three slow steps forward. Responding, the student finds a germ idea, a forte arpeggio or chord followed by a descending scale passage. The idea repeated in sequence fashion makes for a convincing musical phrase, but only until it is interrupted by the teacher changing to a gently swaying motion or perhaps a circular movement to suggest a contrasting theme.
Frequently, students are required to compose their own movement or composition assignment to be presented at the following session. Generally, the student performs his pece with teachers and classmates trying to discover gestures that fir the music. Finally, the student is allowed to demonstrate the source of his inspiration and there is considerable discussion as to whether or not the music was appropriate to the movement.
During the closing weeks of the term, Marie-Laure Bachmann generously consented to give me a number of private lessons in piano improvisation. By this time, I had already been asked to take my turn at the piano during the Friday morning Cours Global of Madeleine Duret. I had acquitted myself respectably by improvising repeatedly phrases of four measures duration, the first being three beats, the second being seven beats (3 plus 4), the third being seven beats (4 plus 3), and the last being three again. The task of the listening students was to talk the pulses and determine the directing pattern, demonstrating as soon as possible. So I approached the private lessons with modest confidence and found that my weeks of homework had paid off. Much encouraged, though not exactly a master of improvisation, I was on my way to realizing one of my minor ambitions.
Adult Enrichment Eurhythmics Classes
The Tuesday evening classes for amateurs taught by Marie Louise Hatt-Arnold were a great source of enrichment. It supplied an opportunity for me to get added experience in the endlessly varied application of eurhythmics, a chance to observe the workings of classes intended for non-musician adults.
Mme. Hatt-Arnold adapted her procedures to the immediate needs of the people of all ages, who were coming together after a long and hard working day. To prepare them to be receptive to the energizing Dalcroze experiences, Mme. Hatt-Arnold engaged her students in easy and relaxing yoga poses accompanied by deep breathing exercises for loosening the taut limbs. Through carefully chosen, softly spoken instructions, she procured deep concentration on the various parts of the body. The exercises were progressively challenging and progressively relaxing.
In the darkened room, the participants frequently yawned and a few dozed happily until the instructor discreetly called the class back to reality. Slowly lighting the room anew, she gradually brought back the energy level, and shortly thereafter instructor and students were engaged happily in listen-and-respond activities that are characteristic of the Dalcroze work.
“It does not occur often enough to teachers to recall feelings and sensations that they experienced when, quite small, they were attending school. If they did, they would be able to avoid ever so many misunderstandings and their memories would teach them mountains of things, far more useful, more fascinating and lively than ar to be found in certain learned volumes on psychology.”
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze in Notes Bariolees
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