REVIEW of "Guitar Playing and How it Works" by Martin Finnegan - Alexander Teacher

Rhythm and Eurhythmics

One thing I noticed about this book, and that had me wondering a bit is that there are quite a few pictures of dancers. What the hell has all this dancing got to do with playing a vibrant piece of classical guitar or peeling off a down and dirty riff on the old Fender Strat? Well quite a lot, as it turns out.

Chapter 3 is all about rhythm . Rhythm is movement. And what's the best way to find a rhythm? Walking, I hear you say. That's right.

"Usually in a one-to-one teaching session when I have a new piece for my students to learn, I tell them to put down their guitar, and we walk the rhythm", says the author. But, that's not all folks. We also have swaying, skipping, running and marching. All of which have their musical equivalents. This is making it a whole body experience.

What we are really talking about here is something called Eurhythmics (no, not the 80's rock band). Eurhythmics insists that rhythm, articulation and dynamics in musical performance must arise from bodily movement.

Dalcroze Eurhythmics A method of music education using body movement. It was developed by the Swiss composer-teacher Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950) and has achieved widespread influence in the 20th century. After studying in Paris and Vienna with Fauré and Bruckner, Jaques-Dalcroze became fascinated with rhythm during a year spent in Algiers directing a small theatre orchestra. During the 1890s he searched for ways to help his students at the Geneva Cons to listen and respond more accurately. Experimenting with exercises of walking and breathing, beating time, gesture, and improvisation, he encouraged the idea that music comes from the original instrument, the human body. Jaques-Dalcroze and his colleagues eventually explored lunging, skipping, pulling a partner, carrying an imaginary weight, and many other ways of involving the whole body in the experience of music. Reference : The Canadian Encyclopedia © 2004 Historica Foundation of Canada www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com

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Please note that...

"Guitar Playing and how it works"

... was superceded in December 2007 by...

"Guitar Playing and How it Works - 3rd Edn."

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