Issues with current baroque repertoire
It is the suggestion from this paper that manuscripts from the seventeenth century should be explored to find more violin repertoire for the younger generation. There is a lack of very simple baroque songs and this means that there are not enough examples of pieces available from which to experience this style of music.
Much of the repertoire in currently popular beginner violin teaching books such as Sassmannhuis, Eta Cohen, Suzuki, are varied in style, including simple folk songs, nursery rhymes and arrangements of pieces from the romantic, classical and baroque eras. Within these collections, there are of course many examples of pieces from the Baroque masters such as Bach, Handel, Purcell and Vivaldi. However nearly all this repertoire are arrangements of orchestral suites, the soprano line of a choral work, the right hand of a fortepiano/harpsichord sonata or the famous melody from a violin concerto. (A list of pieces can be found in Appendix B). These are simply regurgitation of the cut up popular baroque melodies from Handel’s Water or Bach’s peasant cantata or one of the many minuets attributed to Bach.[1]
Arrangements are on the whole are not very successful in helping to inform on the baroque style, as most editions are not interested in being historically informed. Yet there are many manuscripts of simple pieces and songs that are accessible that are not used. To only use the frequently used repertoire, the “popular hits” is limiting such a multi-leveled style such as baroque music.
[1]Origins of pieces are incorrect. There are a few errors that have been repeated over decades, for example A Gavotte was attributed to Lully (can be found in Suzuki Volume 2 as well as the from ABRSM Grade 2) however it was originally a rondeau written by Marin Marais for Viola da Gamba, Pièces de Viole Book 1. Nr. 24, 1686
Teaching baroque music
Experience-based learning
The general question when teaching music to children is how we, as teachers, can provide a varied musical environment in which our students will engage their curiosity and experience music with joy. With the aim of facilitating students to develop a lasting appreciation of music, the teacher must develop their inner hearing and provide tools to approach basic technique of the instrument.
The idea of inner hearing is that music is trained from within, so what can be sung, heard and felt externally can just as clearly be sung, heard and felt internally. This should be developed from a young age and like many features in music, they should not be taught in abstract terms but rather through experience-based learning. Inner hearing begins with singing and can be further internalised through movement. Whilst we sing and our body moves to the melody (or taps the words to the song), the music is experienced through auditory and kinesthetic methods. Music starts from the individual and then through an instrument.
The ideas behind experience-based learning are strongly resonant in the two particular branches of pedagogical methods, Kodály and Dalcroze. Dalcroze says,
"The whole method is based on the principle that theory should follow practice, that children should not be taught rules until they have had experience of the facts which have given rise to them.”[1]
Eurhythmics, a study of music with movement, was an idea originated from Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950). The study of simple movements such as walking to a beat is the basis of the musical training, in the Dalcroze method. This is developed further to investigate different speeds, energy and style, which help students to build a physical response to music.[2]
Video 1
Eurhythmics also used within this paper's 'Apollo’s Banquet for Children', looks at music through the experience of gestures and movement with the aiming “to enable pupils, at the end of their course, to say, not "I know," but "I have experienced,"[3]
Video 2
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967), much like Dalcroze, believed in experience-based learning and he expressed that singing was at the heart of his method:
Singing connected with movements and action is a much more ancient, and, at the same time, more complex phenomenon than is a simple song.[1]
He taught singing through solfège and adapted the hand sign system from earlier scholars such as John Curwen (1816-1880). The method uses hand signs for the different steps of the scales, with the idea that this visually and physically represents the intervals, help students to sight-sing and feel intervals.
Video 3
Kodály believed that music learning should begin with the voice and that true musical literacy is the ability to read, write and think music.[1]
Both Dalcroze and Kodály advocate a strong physical interaction with music and although their focus is not on baroque music, their approach can be applied to teaching elements of the baroque musical language.
Baroque music
Historically informed performance practice is attention give to the performance conventions that were present when a piece of music was composed. The attempt to recreate the style present in the baroque period is never certain and is a continuous search but one that should also be encouraged in the younger generation.
It is important that young musicians should experience baroque music in a way that encourages a long-lasting understanding of the style. Experiencing rudimentary elements of the baroque musical language such as gestures, in a physical way will help to do this by strengthening their association with the music.
Video 4
A typical baroque bowing pattern such as П⋎⋎, may be easily and effectively solved, by thinking of the gestures.
Video 5
Using movement within learning can more naturally aid the baroque style due to the already strong connection to dances.
Video 6
Other basic baroque elements can also be guided by auditory and kinesthetic experiences. Light cadences for example can be understood by experiencing a plié or curtsey. The hierarchy of the bar can be experienced through students feeling the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ notes by bouncing a ball whilst singing. If the teacher is creative there are many possibilities to experience the music elements. More examples will only strengthen their subconscious and (soon to follow) conscious understanding of the music.
All this develops the inner hearing to become acquainted with the baroque language. It will set baroque music apart in terms of styles. If the student wishes to specialise in historically informed practice at a later stage then this will prepare them for a more in-depth study as they will already have the basic vocabulary.