Audio Library Volume I
“Pulsation & Locomotion”

This volume includes ten musical pieces mostly focused on the theme of locomotion. Through walking, running, skipping, slow walking, dance steps etc., the pulsation, which is the basis of music, is incarnated in the body. The pulsation (beat), in the body, results in steps. From pulsation to measure, and then to phrasing, VOLUME I brings together these musical notions intimately linked to each other, which give life and meaning to the musical discourse.

Volume 2 is based on the notion of pulsation and develops the concept of division and multiplication of the basic pulsation. This naturally leads us to different speeds, in precise relation to each other. These relationships necessarily imply relations between the notions of time, space and energy, central subject of the Dalcroze pedagogy.

Volume 3 presents simple rhythms, created from the different note values introduced in the previous two volumes. These include mainly short-short-long and long-short-short combinations. The purpose of these musical tracks is to introduce a variety of activities that allow students to assimilate musical rhythms while developing their motor skills and coordination.

The subject of contrasts is one way in which young children can begin to put words on what they hear. It is an excellent didactic tool for making conscious what is often intuitive listening. While some of the contrasts in this volume are suitable for the youngest listeners, others are aimed at more experienced children and even adults.

Phrasing is the art of conducting a musical discourse. Like the phrasing of spoken language which conveys thought, musical phrasing has an inflection, a movement, an articulation, a breath, a dynamic and a direction that expresses an intention.
Body movement and the use of space allow us to feel the phrasing, to become aware of it and to express it clearly and globally. The experience of phrasing, once inscribed in the body, leads to an intimate understanding of the music.

This volume presents simple time measures with 2, 3 and 4 beats. Their common point is the division of the beats, but they are very different from each other. Through a variety of exercises involving the whole body, one discovers the back-and-forth sensation of the two-beat meter, the circular movement of the three-beat meter, the duration and therefore the greater use of space induced by the four-beat meter.

Volume 8 is dedicated to compound division. Like volume 7, it deals with the different meters, this time from 2 to 5 beats, and in increasing order. It focuses on the feeling of the overall duration of the meter and the beats, as well as their division into three. One becomes familiar with the rhythmic cells of both ternary trochee and iamb (long-short, short-long), one plays with rhythms and creates them.

After the simple and compound meters which deal with the division of a regular pulse by two or three, here are the unequal beat meters. Now, instead of dividing a pulsation, regular note values are added into groups of 2, 3 or 4. In this volume the note values are eighth notes.
Music in unequal beats reveals the richness of many cultures and gives you an irresistible desire to dance!