tonal harmony, and that written theory study is ongoing. Half· and 'Whole-Step. Recognltio;l. Developing the skill of reliably distin. gUishing half steps from whole ...
by ]\athy M. Thomsen
Hearing Is Believing Dalcroze $olfege and Musical Understanding .
t
,~;3$lfa'.':;: Dalcroze solfege engages the ear and the mind in chords, functional harmony, and key relationships, in addition to scales, intervals, and melodies. This article provides an overview of Dalcroze solfege by describing its methodology and by offering sample exercises for beginners as well as advanced students.
Dalcroze, ear training, eurhythmics, harmony, improvisation, theory, solfege
'Eurhythmics, the physical movement aspect of the Dalcroze approach, is well known, bur it is in the Dalcroze approach to solfege that lesser-known but equally dis tinctive content and methodology can be found. Dalcroze solfege engages the ear and the mind in chords, functional harmony, and key relationships, in addition to scales, interand melodies. Its goal is to sensitize the diatonic system. What follows is an ear to overview of this remarkable system of solfege, which is not well known outside Dalcroze training centers. I will describe its methodol ogy and offer sample exercises for beginners as well as advanced students. There is neither a fixed curriculum nor a standard set of procedures for any of the three branches of the Dalcroze work solfege, eurhythmics, and improvisation. The approach is transmitted primarily by master teachers (a few of whom studied with Emile jaques-Dalcroze) and their students, all of whom filter their teaching through their own
musicianship and sensibilities. The Swiss musician and pedagogue Marie-Laure Bach mann writes, "It [the Dalcroze approach] offers many paths to follow, everyone of them shaped by its own particular landscape."1 Those who experienced lessons with Jaques-Dalcroze were clear about the nature of his teaching: "'Nothing dogmatic about this,' wrote jacques Copeau, the great theatrical producer. 'It's an incessant invention, a perpetual outpouring. Nothing is fixed, nothing set solid, nothing but constant eXIDel]erlCe and discovery"'2 Flexibility and a lack of dogma characterize the Dalcroze work. Although the approach is difficult to define precisely, it is possible to describe some of the basic principles, methodology, and content of Dalcroze solfege as it is taught in the United States. 3 Emile jaques-Dalcroze, Professor of Har mony at the Conservatory in Geneva, Swit zerland, beginning in 1894, was frustrated
KatllY M. Thomsen is an associate professor of music at Hamline Universi/y, St. Paul, Minnesota, where slJe teac,~es piano, accompanying, and Da/croze EurhythmiCS. She also directs the Women's Chorale. SlJe can be contacted at kthomsen03@ hamline.edu.
www,nafme,org
Music teachers can help their students become better listeners and musicians via DaIcroze solfege techniques.
Copyright © 2011 Nationai Association
for Music Education 001: 101177/0027432111425614 http://meJ.sagepJb.com
69
with his tbeory students' lack of musi system, and that is a matter of content and cality. ''After the first few lessons, I methodology more than language. The noticed that the ears of my pupils were debate over language is not meant to be not able to appreciate the chords which the topiC here. they had to write, and I concluded that Absent a standard curriculum, some the flaw in the conventional method of of the guiding principles for Dalcroze training is that pupils are not given (the) solfege are the following: experience of chords at the beginning of • Exercises should have a rhythmic
their studies-when brain and body are component.
developing along parallel lines, the one • Exercises should have an identifiable constantly communi~ating its impres l musical goaL sions and sensations to the other-but • Exercises should develop inner
that this experience is withheld until hearing.
the time arrives to express the results in writing. I set about training the ears of What is taught, exactly how, and in what (my) pupils as early as possible.'>4 order are decisions left to the pedagogical Improvisation is central to this work. and musical judgment of each teacher. Many Dalcroze solfege exercises are While Jaques-Dalcroze wrote many solfege exercises for others to use, he accompanied by some sort of movement, encouraged teachers to invent their own usually not requiring locomotion. These and to have their students improvise. movements may be analytical with regard Frameworks for improvisations are care to pitch (e.g., open hand for whole step, fully designed so that students under closed hand for half step) or rhythm related (pulsing the beat, conducting), or stand how to use them. The teacher can assess what students know by hearing both at once. The Dalcroze approach con tinuously connects the written, phYSical, what they can invent. Cognitive and aural aural, and cognitlve aspects of music. attention collaborate from moment to moment; sometimes the ear leads with Reacting quickly is also an important feature of the Dalcroze work. Examples out conceptual support, and at other of quick reaction commands include times, the mind understands the struc "Stop singing abud but continue inter ture first and leads the ear into the music. nally," "Sing twice as fast" or "Sing twice When mind, ear, and voice work together as slow," and "Fill in intervallic gaps smoothly in an improvisation, the results stepwise. are satisfying and artfuL Creating con The following exercises are repre ditions for these moments is a principal Da1croze objective.. sentative of Dalcroze solfege. Dalcroze teachers base their approaches to a sub In the Dalcroze solfege class, the ject on their own experiences and that complete diatonic scale is used from of their students. Dalcroze solfege deals the beginning, sung with fixed-do sylla with both major and minor; due to space bles. Many students entering a Da1croze solfege class have been trained in move limitations, major is emphasized here. Starting in C major postpones the fixed able do, and using a fixed-do system can versus moveable-do conflict. The exer be confUSing for them. Two things need cises begin with half and whole steps, to be known about any tone one is inter and scale degrees. They could be done ested in: its function and its pitch. For with students of any age, including ele that, two languages are needed. Fixed-do mentary or middle school children. The names pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C as rest of the exercises, beginning with do, re, miJa, sol, la, si, do. Numbers and dichords, assurr.e that students are older common terms (dominant for five, lead (high school or college) and have a fun ing tone for seven, etc.) are used for func damental understanding of scales, inter tion. In moveable do, syllables are used vals, key signatures, rhythm, and basic for function, and letter names for pitch. Germane to this article is how DaIcroze I tonal harmony, and that written theory solfege sensitizes the ear to the tonal study is ongoing. I
70
Half· and 'Whole-Step
Recognltio;l Developing the skill of reliably distin gUishing half steps from whole steps, a crucial aspect of musical analysis, is one goal of Dalcroze solfege. It can begin simply. The teacher plays ascend ing and descending half or whole steps, and students sing back both tones first OIDa neutral syllable, then by identifying the interval. In addition to singing "la, la, la, minor second," they half step" or identify the interval size in some physical way, for example, closed hand for half step and open hand for whole step. Easi est versions of this exercise are to alter nate pairs, sLlch as E-flat to F, then E to F. As students gain proficiency, isolated half and whole steps can be offered. This skill-building exercise easily turns into a game when students take partners and stand close together for half steps and farther apart for whole steps. Interacting SOCially, learning from class mates, and making discoveries are essen tial characteristics of a Dalcroze class.
Identifying Scale D'egrses Being able to identify scale degrees is an important part of orienting oneself in a key. Asking students to identify the starting scale degree of familiar songs ("Happy Birthday," "Three Blind Mice," "Danny Boy," "Edelweiss," etc.) activates their inner hearing. Another activity to promote this skill is to discover on which scale degree a phrase ends. Paper cups and a small object (an M&M, a marble) are needed. The cups are numbered on their bottoms 1 through 8 (1 through 5 for beginners). The cups are set upside down, reading 1 through 8 from left to right. The students look away while the teacher places the prize (M&M or marble) under the cup on which the phrase will I end. The teacher then improvises (with voice or piano) two phrases, one ending on tonic to establish the key, and the other ending on a different scale degree. A stu dent guesses the correct cup. Once the game is learned, students can provide the improvised phrases 5
Music Educators Journal December 2011
nGURE 1 C-Major Scale with Fixed-Do Syllables
D
s
F
M
R
L
D
Si
FIGURE 2 Diehords in CMajor
S
L
L
Si
Si
D
D
D
Si
5i
L
FIGURE 3
,
Diehords in CMajor with Half Steps in Triplets ,-3---,
.-3---,
J J J'-'"J I £J 1 J J'--'"J I J'-----'" D'--"'R
R
M
M
F
F
M
Inner hearing is developed as stu dents first learn the sound of tonic and then compare other scale degrees to it. When they can improvise musical phrases ending on predetermined scale degrees, they will have moved toward a solid understanding of tonality.
www.nafme.org
S
L
429 I rTf? r I r77r l2? ;
etc.
L
Si
Si
D
Si
Singing dichords in major scales (see Figure 2) provides a tonal context for the half- and whole-step exercise above. A Dalcroze solfege class would probably spend time in C-major, familiarizing stu dents with fIxed-do syllables and reinforc ing C as do. Different rhythms can be sung to differentiate half steps from whole steps (see Figure 3) These exercises, and many others, can be sung in canon (Figure 4) or contrary motion (Figure 5).
Diehards In the Dalcroze system, a dichord is made of two adjacent tones in a scale. It is use ful to display for the class an ascending C-major scale with syllable names (see Figure 1) This visual display assists them in singing syllables and proVides tbe framework on which subsequent lessons will be built.
S
i
,-3---,
D
D
Si
D
Si
L
continues to build facility with fixed-do syl lables, enlarges the half- and whole-step context, and prepares students to hear the mUltiple functions of trichords. (High re and low si need to be added to the scale notation to accommodate full trichords.) To promote inner hearing, Dalcroze teachers will harmonize these dichord and trichord exercises on the piano at first, and later eliminate the accompani ment. Over time, students learn to hear harmonies internally.
Trichords
Types of Trichards
Singing trichords (three adjacent tones in
There are three types of trichords in a major scale Figure Trichords beginning
a scale) in the C-major scale (see Figure 6)
71
fiGURE 4 Diehords in CMajor in Canon fl tJ
.1
"*.J 0
R
..
" --,,
R
,M
--
'-' 5
"--"
M
F
5
F
~t-
-
........
L
L
Si
Si
0
0
fl
~
I
0
5i
5i
:L I
L
"*ORR "--""!'
fJ
"--"
M
M
'-'
F
F
S
L
-
.......
........
'-"j
S
'-' F
S
5
I
~
.."--"
-
[Si
5i
0
o
0
5i
5i
I I I I
, etc.
L
FIGURE 5
Diehords in CMajor with Half Steps in Triplets, in Contrary Motion
tJ
"*---./
..,---"
'-..-/
0
I'J tJ
r-3--,
r-3-,
fl
--
~
o Si 0 5i L
""""
L Si 5 L r - 3 -,
5
~
"---"
S F
5
L
-
'-....-/
M F M F
R R M r-~--' 1"'"-'1
'
"!'
1"'"-'1
-
! '-"-
5i 0 5i 0
~
F M F M R
"*
i
...o
0 5i 0 Si
~ '---" R M
'!"
"*
L
1
------
'--"
L 5 5 r-3-, '-..-/
I I
, etc. ,
F
I
I
'-....-/
M F M F
S
FIGURE 6 Triehords in CMajor
lrum l't'
Wtm@}M2)W1@W1wro
R M R M F
M F 5
F 5
L
5
L Si L Si 0
Si 0
R O D Si L 5i L S
FIGURE 7 Three Species of Triehords in CMajor
, i~
~
' l
72
Species 1 in C Major
"*0
Species 2
:J
J
OIl
J
:
j
J =
R
M
F
S
L
S
L
p
Si
J = J l F L R M
Species 3
r J• Ii J ; r r J
Si
0
M
F
5
Si
Music Educators Journal
0
/II
R
December 2011
~
on scale degrees 1, 4, and 5 contain two whole steps. Some teachers refer to these. as species 1. Trichords begirming on scale degrees 2 and 6 are whole-half, or species 2. Trichords beginning on scale degrees 3 and 7 are half-whole, or species 3. The teacher plays or sings trichords, first in the C-major scale then in other keys, asking the students to identify the species. Since the placement of half and whole steps in a scale determines tonalI ity, tlalcroze solfege emphasizes hearing these relationships from the beginning. At first, students learn to hear half and whole steps. Then the context is enlarged to include dichords and trichords in a scale. The context is further enlarged as trichords are heard in melodies.
I
TrichcrcJ
elodi83
the given melody as a model, they improvise similar melodies. The contin ual integration in musical time of hear ing, analyzing, moving, improvising, and notating are important in Dalcroze teaching. After several examples of DRM as 1-2-3, the teacher plays or sings the DRM trichord again with another tune, with or without accompaniment, such as that in Figure 9. Once students determine that this melody begins on scale degree 5, they can sing it with numbers, then syllables. Several tunes in F major will orient their ears to DRM as 5-6-7, and these tunes . may be compared with tunes in C major, where DRM is 1-2-3.
In Dalcroze methodology, music is both the means and the end. Beginning with species 1, do-re-mi (DRM) as 1-2-3, the teacher improvises a short melody, such as that in Figure 8. This could be offered with or without accompaniment. The general procedure for these trichord melodies is as follows: • • • •
'
.
Sing melody on a neutral 'syllable Sing melody with numbers Sing melody with fixed-do syllables Identify the trichords
Students hear a melody, which they repeat and practice, analyze, conduct, and notate-any or all of these. Using
•
•
FIGURE 8
Melody beginning with Species 1 Trichord (Do-Re-Mi) as Scale Degrees 1-2-3 I'l ~
Key ofC Major
•
-fill.
D I
R 2
r
I
-fill.
M 3
D I
M
F
3
4
S 5
...
,..
...
L
Si
L
6
7
6
f!::. ,..
•
!L
S 5
D I
Si
7
f!::. •
-
-
FIGURE 9 Melody beginning with Species 1Trichord (Oo-Re-MiJ as Scale Degrees 5-6-7 fI ~
