9

college students was trained to teach young pianists using Frances Clark’s method, The Music

Tree: A Time to Begin. In this book, even the most simple strands of quarter notes are always

taught with chanting rhymes, both familiar as well as some newly composed for the book.

Young students are encouraged in the instructions to chant and clap, or even better (with the

Dalcroze influence), chant while leaning over and swinging arms to the rhythm.11 The Music

Tree uses other concepts from Dalcroze Eurhythmics, including stamping feet to the beat. This

works especially well with 2/4 or 4/4 time; adjustments can be made to express 3/4 time, such as

stomping the right foot and lightly tapping the left foot for beats two and three, and then doing

the same motions starting with the left foot for the next measure. The result is foot/body motions

in this manner: RIGHT-left-left/LEFT–right-right. Students should sway and put their weight

heavily on the side of the body that is stamping the downbeat of each measure.

These giants of music education, Orff, Kodály, and Jaques-Dalcroze, were innovative and

creative in their methods of developing better musicianship in students of all ages, and their

contributions to music education are profound. I’ve incorporated many of their ideas into this

method, including the focus on cultivating a sense fundamental beat. Once that heartbeat is

ascertained, groupings and variants of rhythmic patterns can be more skillfully executed.

Additionally, I use the rhythms of familiar tunes and rhymes as the rhythmic motives for many

of the duets and ensembles. The work of Kodály and Orff establishes the importance and

success of relating rhythmic concepts to literature that is already familiar.

11
Frances Clark, Louise Goss, and Sam Holland, The Music Tree: A Time to Begin (Miami: Sunny Birchard, Inc.,
2000), 20, 37, 44, 57.