EURHYTHMICS

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 88, 8 January 1926, Page 10

EURHYTHMICS

■ EXPONENT OF SYSTEM IN WELLINGTON

’TOWER OF SELF-EXPRESSION

The importance of a Rood system of physical exercises for young folk does not need stressing, but the best method to use has long been a subject of controversy. This has been solved in the 'Old Country by the adoption of .what is knjQWU as the Dalcroze system, a disciple of which, Miss Eileen Russell, L.R.A.M., who has completed a three'year course of training in the London 'School of Dalcroze Eurhythmies, arrived in Wellington with her mother and other relatives last month. Miss Russell also obtained her degree at the Royal Academy of Music, where she went for ear training and theory of nrnsic. Mr. T. B. Strong, Chief Inspector of : Schools for the Dominion, speaks highly of Miss Russell, and is of opinion ; that New Zealand should move in the j direction which has been followed in i many of the London schools, with un- ' doubted benefit to the pupils. A slight i idea of what can be done was shown ■ at the Kelburn Normal School eutertain- ! meat last month, when a number of ’ pupils, after only seven lessons, gave a ■ display of the method to the delight of the parents. ‘ This result, and the ■ high praise the system had received in England, Erance, and Switzerland, induced a dominion representative to in- . terview. Miss Russell, with, the object i of obtaining fuller information about a j system likely to be utilised in the schools here. Miss Russell agreed to explain the • purpose of the method used and the . reason why it has already obtained such a vogue wherever it has been tried. ‘“There are three training colleges for the Dalcroze system, where students ' are given certificates in proficiency after ,a three-year course, one in London, one 'in Erance, and one in Geneva,” she said. “M. Jaques Dalcroze explains , how the system came to develop aud ' how its results revealed to students a . scope which considerably exceeded his original intentions. He was faced i with the problem of teaching music, and hq found two main ob--1 stacles.' First, his pupils lacked ' the power of executing instantaneously the dictates of their volition, . and, secondly, their task was made ■ all the harder as they were unable 'to analyse the problems with which ; they were cbnjronted, .thereby in-

; creasing the difficulty of performing • the number of acts simultaneously of * which every performer must be cap- ‘ able. Their sense of tune was ini■jperfect, and tilie intellectual effort -required by them to obviate mistakes demanded so much concentration that 'other factors, such as musical expression, suffered in consequence. He realised that the attempt to master • musical problems by a purely intellectual process was doomed to failure and therefore had to devise means by which pupils could analyse and perceive the structure of music instinctively. If they could come to feel a rhythm as presented to them bn the printed page of music quite ’.automatially, his first battle would be won. It would then merely remain for him to develop their instinctive rhythmic reaction, and, if possible, to devise a means by which the concentration demanded of the pupil would ,tje progressively proportioned to his developing powers.” Whilg n °t attempting to describe the details of the method, Miss Rus- • sell said the pupils were taught to follow and to analyse rhythms played to them by using their limbs as an instrument. The method differed from ordinary gymnastics very materially in one respect; in physical gymnastics complicated feats were achieved by memorising the sequence of intricate movements, but by the Dalcroze ' method an instinctive, reaction to the rhythm or the word of command was acquired. “This teaches the pupils,” she said, “something which ordinary education leaves out of account almost entirely, namely, the instantaneous response of the mind to impres- . sions it receives, coupled with the •power of reacting to them or expressing them, not by virtue of intellectual process, but by the automatic control of every limb in the body. Pupils ■unconsciously gain the power of selfexpression, and it is interesting to ‘compare children at work and at play • who have been taught eurhythmies .with children who have only been i taught to perform dances. Both chil!dren and grown-ups gain primarily itwo things by the study of the new isystem; the}' learn the perfect control of their mental and physical apparatus, and the capacity for analyJsis, expression and concentration gives ’them a mental and physical poise .which is an asset in life of no mean value. "Summed up,” said Miss Russell, “the aim is to create a new basis for •'music study, to make it easier for a child to understand music by experi'encing it with his body, so that he will have felt, proved,' and lived it for him'self. The use of the body as an instrument obliges the cultivation of exercises in physical technique, exercises to obtain more co-ordination between the mental and muscular processes, to •develop self-control and concentration, to establish complete harmony between .the brain and the body, and to think , and act with the least possible effort 'and without loss of time. In outline, 'the following is the general plan of the lessons:—Pure technique of walking and beating time,' aural exercises for inhibition for concentration and quick physical response, realisation in movement of musical values, spontaneous improvisation by the child on a given rhytK- . mic subject, and a game or plastic exercise combining an inhibition exercise 'or a rhythm or a musical interpretation. “To put it shortly,” concluded Miss jßussell, “the method is for the purpose of developing aural perception, rhythmical feeling, muscular control, musical feeling and expression, and improving the mental powers.” ! In an article dealing with this matter, the London “Times” of May 3, 1924, said: “Almost all the exercises that have been given for the body, limbs, and voice are applicable to pianoforte playing, first on the basis of scale playing, and then with succesions of chords. The pupil learns to find his wav about the keyboard with his eyes shut, to imitate'by ear, or follow antipbonally the master playing on a second piano, to play three voices, inwardly hearing a fourth, to sing to his own accompaniment, and to accompany his own improvised singing, to invent rhythms at will;, to do almost anything, in fact, that was formerly only done bv musical geniuses.” Miss Russell will hold a holidav course . nt the Training College Hall, Kelburn, from January 25 to 30 inclusive, and a number of teachers have arranged to attend, while the Kelburn Normal ■ School Committee intend to consider the desirability of classes for the primary pupils. There is another teacher .of the system in the South Island, and 'the Education Department is to be asked to help the movement forward.