Dalcroze

Today was a rather odd day. I rose late and treated myself to a mocha. I have caffeine so seldom that any splash of it affects me very strongly. All of a sudden, my pulse picks up and I get the urge to be Extremely Productive. It's quite fun.

So today, despite sleeping in, I ended up accomplishing a lot. This included vacuuming my dusty apartment, which is now very grateful to be clean.

Late in the afternoon, I took a break from my typing and pondering and headed off to my Dalcroze class. I've blogged about this before, I believe, but here's a quick recap. Dalcroze is a form of music theory and teaching that uses movement to help musicians internalize things like rhythm, tone, and tempo. Today, we did everything from walking the "character" of the beats (larger steps for the anacrusis, or the last beat in a measure -- the one that leads to the crusis, or downbeat) to clapping two while walking three and then switching back and forth. We stepped back rhythmic patterns at various speeds and then notated them on the board in a form of rhythmic dictation (i.e. just the note values, not the pitches.) We conducted using large arm movements and swinging our bodies in time.

The class is taught by a dynamic guy who graduated last year from the DMA program here. He's in the midst of applying for teaching positions, which is tough in the current market. Luckily for us, he's decided to continue teaching Dalcroze here while waiting to hear about a full-time option.

I always end up feeling like I'm in a combination of kindergarten, ballet class, and a sophisticated music theory class. It's a lot of fun, and it actually does make a difference in performance. I'm better able to figure out rhythms quickly and keep regular tempi. Cross-rhythms (that two vs. three thing) are also easier, which is great because I have several pieces in which my pianist plays in three while I sing in two or vice versa. (In case you're confused, what this means is that my pianist is going 1-2-3 1-2-3 while I'm going 1-2 1-2 where 1-2-3 and 1-2 are each on a "beat." Think of a triplet vs. two eighth notes.)

When I graduate, I know one of the things I'll miss is my Sunday afternoon class of cavorting. For me, it's rather like meditation. It's pretty hard to think of anything else while you're trying to maintain two different contrasting rhythms in your feet and hands -- and then switching between them. Try it sometime. It's like the musician's version of patting your head while rubbing your tummy.

~Hope