1st Workshop of Music: Dalcroze Eurhythmics

Friday, January 22, 2016

Sooner music becomes part of the child’s universe more natural it will be the connection between the baby and the entire musical dimension. When a child is exposed to a sonorous environment merges it self with the sounds. Body and music become one. The child listens to music with the whole body.Music goes beyond audition! The human being experience music as a creature formed by body, mind and soul. 
Dalcroze Eurhythmics looks at music as a body and physical experience. 

In this workshop we were challenged. 
According to Dalcroze Eurhythmics the warming up is fundamental to receive the music inside us! It is crucial wake up the sensations, body muscles and the brain’s cells to let the music getting in.We began by shaking our wrists and ankles one at a time, rhythmically. To warm up more the all group sat down on the floor to sing a special song. With our legs stretched and our hands next to the hips we sang "A-ram-sam-sam." As we were singing we had to repeat a sequence of movements. In the second round the sequence changed. Alternately, we had to clap our hands in our colleague's legs and tickled the chin of the person sitting next to us. We all shared a moment of bigs and larges guffaws. The physical contact between colleagues broke up the ice of the group and put us more comfortable with each other.
Music is made of pulse, time and rhythm. Is its body.
All this elements are possible to be felt spontaneously. When we dance, movements find the pulse, the time and the rhythm of the song.  To bring our sensitivity into these concepts the teacher prepared us some exercises.First we talked about music’s heartbeat – the pulse. Pulse is like a heart. It beats the time constantly and in a regular way.If we listen a song with attention and let our bodies react to the composition of sounds, we can find the pulse and mark it on the right spot. In an attempt way to respect the song’s pulse we were beating the pulse while the claves were being carefully passed through the partners.Music is made of time, like every other thing in life - between sounds and silences exists time making up a musical piece. The teacher played some songs again. The great majority of pops songs that we listen are quaternary (in other words, each metre is composed by four beats).To help us feel the time of  a song we used a tennis ball. When the strongest time sounded the ball was thrown to the ground, reaching the other colleague. Together we counted the time between beats.Rhythm is the organization of time in a musical sheet. It determines the duration of the sounds and the extension of the pauses. This concept is deeply connected with mathematics. In fact, all the musical construction is bond with mathematic.The teacher put a song playing. That song quickly transported me to a wild forest. "Let´s become moose! We are very peaceful walking through the woods". Then we started to walk a little bit faster. "We are feeling insecure! We are getting suspicious that something is not right", the teacher marked a faster pace. After a while shouted "Run way! The hunters are coming!" all the moose started running.  "The moose are tired", all the group returned to a peaceful but heavier and slower walking than the previous. Rhythm shapes the sounds. Throughout the game our feet were reproducing rhythms. The rhythmic figures came from our feet’s soles.It´s possible to work with rhythmic visually, to make it more clear for children . The professor picked up a card-stock bar. She began by dividing it into two parts. "Before we had a full bar line, now we only have half of it.” If we look to a piece of cardboard, like if it was a musical figure, the entire bar line will be a "rest note" (a full note) - it will last 4 whole beats. When it divides into two, each half will be a "stride note" and will have the value of 2 beats. If the cardboard has been divided into four parts, each piece will worth 1 beat. These are the "walking notes" (the quarter note).But it is possible to fold it again! And the card will be slice in eight equal parts! Each part takes half of one beats. Those figures are called "running notes". During the second part of the workshop we learned some Swedish songs joined with movements and gestures. Before using the voice it is important to warm it up. With our voices we can reproduce a lot of many funny sounds. We created a sound's machine. From a theme each member of the group thought about a sound and a movement to build a repeat sequence.During the workshop we sang some songs accompanied by the piano, ukulele and djambé. We also had the opportunity to play eggs shakers creating different kinds of intensities. (To finish the exercise the teacher gave to the group a box with a small hole in the middle. Each one of us put the egg in the hole while a song was being singing by the group. The teacher found this strategy to separate children from the instruments in a calm and playful way).With a big bag on her legs, the teacher said:"Inside this bag I have a giant thing! It is blue and covers most of the Earth's surface ""The Ocean" I thought. We sang a beautiful song about the ocean while the whole group was moving the textile, creating big and blue waves.We formed a large circle and closed our eyes. In our hands the teacher placed a silky, thin and light material. "Guess what is in your hands". Scarves! Floating and softs scarves!  Music was playing. We launched scarves in the air and experienced its fluidity and lightness. After a moment of great dynamism it is important taking time to relax and to calm the down the group, transporting it to a lower level. The teacher asked us to use the scarf as a blanket. I closed my eyes and listened to the music, this time only with the ears.
We open our eyes and turned face down, with the heads turned to each other. "Grab the scarf and hold it tightly with your hands closed ...Now you can open them..." A beautiful and big yellow flower broke free from my hands.

All this work led me think.
In order to develop the exercises, the teacher used different kinds of musical genres. Children deserve to have the opportunity to contact with a wide variety of different musical styles to develop their aesthetic sense and to open their horizons. The contact with different kinds of musicality enables the child to have greater willingness to experience new situations. Voice is our mainly musical instrument. It's amazing the different sounds that we are able to reproduce with our vocal chords!
Playing with the voice can be highly entertaining for children. However we must be careful in how we use it. Each time we sing with children, we have to think about a proper tone to their vocal abilities, preserving its "instrument" and understanding the limits of their anatomy.
The body is also able to "sing". Movements may also have "sound". Many songs can be explored by voice and gestures.  Dance and music are two arts forms that meet each other spontaneously. Sing a song with a series of moves makes the whole musical experience much richer. Contact with musical instruments is an excellent opportunity to open children´s musical knowledge. Knowing several sound sources allows the child to expand their musical experience and to use different sources in multiple records. The instruments are part of a very ancient cultural heritage. Musicality has been accompanying the human’s journey on Earth.
The establishment of rules is important for any human being. Since an early age the human is accustomed to respect a number of containment rules. We live surrounded by a series of behavior´s "codes" required in our society. Moments of liberation are essential to the emotional balance. Arts are an open door to emotions.The group needs to feel security and confidence during the session. This it may be difficult to accomplish.  When children have to explore movements along a song the feet can get stuck into the ground and do not flowing a single movement from their body. The pedagogue can use materials and objects to loose motions (scarfs, balls, hoops, ribbons) and helping the children to get loose during the session. When we prepare a music session is crucial to create moments with different kinds of moods and dynamics in a way to provide a complete experience of the music’s world.
"Music expresses what can not be said and what it is impossible to be silent". (Victor Hugo, french poet, 1802-1885)