“RESONARE - Music Foundation Course”

by Cate Decker

During the 2008-2009 academic year, I had the fortunate opportunity to join the Resonare Foundation Course, studying music out of anthroposophy. With a distant background in piano and more recent participation in choral groups, I was eager to take up this work. The training led me beyond anything I could have imagined.

    With great anticipation, I began the part-time music foundation course.  Far exceeding my expectations, this series of intensive weekends proved to be a beautifully choreographed blend of listening, singing, playing the lyre, music theory, eurythmy, and sharing unique perspectives and insights within a small group of faculty and students.

    Through this program, I encountered the nourishing elements of music. Using the lyre, we began each day with exercises to experience tone. The main thrust of the course was enabling students to truly listen, in order to meet and become acquainted with individual tones, as well as in relationship to other tones. Through this exploration, the students gained an appreciation for the qualitative differences of the tones and intervals themselves.

    Studying the evolution of human consciousness through music provided a framework for more deeply understanding the tasks of our current epoch. This was further expanded upon in our research into the associations of colors, planets, days of the week, and the yearly calendar. These correspondences informed us of the influence of cosmic forces as we sought to understand the intertwining of music with other art forms.

    Not only did we cover historical underpinnings and conventional music theory, but we also delved into music from a whole new perspective. During our work with the lyre, we encountered modal scales, followed by introduction to the mirrored scales. There we discovered the multi-dimensional textures found within these less familiar intervals. What arises from these scale structures, we learned, can lead to novel possibilities as  applied to harmonies, melody lines and improvisation. As we worked with the planetary scales, I felt as though a gateway to a forgotten garden had been unlocked.  Each participant came to see the vast range of musical inter-relationships that lie within these mirrored scales.

    During our time singing together, we learned to uncover the voice, allowing the music to stream towards us. We were encouraged to open ourselves to the sung tone, both physical and spiritual. Exploring a variety of musical traditions, our group sang rounds, folk songs from various cultures, as well as contemporary compositions. Our choral work culminated in an offering to residents of a local nursing home.

    Following the sessions of theory, singing, and lyre playing, we spent time experiencing musical intervals through eurythmy. This exploration of cosmic principles through movement was especially meaningful as we felt the sounds in a whole new way. Moving the intervals gave us the opportunity to experience the effects of the tones and intervals through our bodies.

    Evenings gave us time to engage with improvisation. Trying our hands at a multitude of bells, chimes, gongs, tone bars, and other percussive instruments, the space became a rich fabric of resonant textures. With emphasis on the generative and cooperative nature of the work, each member brought specific gifts and questions to the circle, where ideas were shared and the multi-layered “soundscape” was woven.

    Sundays were dedicated to a group review of the entire weekend. Similar in nature to the “ruckschau” which Steiner recommends as a way of reviewing one’s experiences in reverse order at the end of each day, this opportunity to recapitulate the previous days spent together proved to be a most enriching practice. This activity of the will, where each member of the group was fully involved, resulted in our ability to penetrate the work even further.

    The Resonare program offered a reverent balance of intellectual content and practical skills that grew over time as an amazing gift for all in attendance.  As a model for adult education, these meetings offered soul sustenance as well as stimulation of our processes of thinking. Throughout the course of the year, the organic rhythm nurtured the thorough grasp of the material. As the teachers adeptly accommodated varying levels of musical background, one felt supported in creating a new relationship to the being of music.

    In the words of one of the participants:

    “I found Resonare to be a life changing experience. As a conservatory trained musician, I found that the insights of the instructors deepened and profoundly transformed my experience and understanding of music. Perhaps the most wonderful thing about this course is that those who had no musical background found the course content to be as informative and transforming as I did. I would recommend this course to anyone who is interested in music and to anyone who wants to discover more about what it means to be human.”

    For those who want to study music from an anthroposophic approach, this course is to be highly recommended. It serves as both an independent course as well as a basis from which to engage in further study of music in any of its applications, whether pedagogical, therapeutic, or for personal development.