Book Review: Edgard, Willems. Psychological Foundations of Music Education

Abstract

Edgard, Willems Psychological Foundations of Music Education, translated and edited by Jerry Louis-Jaccard. Salt Lake City, UT: BYU Creative Works, 217 pp. ISBN 978-0-8425-2827, $25.00 (paperback). Psychological Foundations of Musical Education is an English translation of Edgar Willems's (1890-1978), a Swiss composer, educator and philosopher, ideas regarding musical education. book, first published in Switzerland (1956), has since been translated to Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. Jerry Louis-Jaccard, the translator and editor of the English edition, is a contemporary American music educator with deep ties to the foundational teaching philosophy of Pestalozzi and a recognized scholar of Kodaly pedagogy. In the translator's foreword, Jaccard stated, edition seeks to situate Edgar Willems in his rightful place among Pestalozzi's other music pedagogy descendants, namely Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Zoltan Kodaly and Carl Orff' (p vii). Jaccard also noted the use of fixed do. The fixed-do framework of this book does not deter me--the underlying principles are applicable to both systems. Jacques Chapuis, a pupil of Willems's, and a well-known organist and theory pedagogue, wrote the preface to this edition as well as an article on Willems's invention of an Intratonal Metallophone used to teach intonation. Chapuis's addition to the book is a bonus for those interested in the study of intratonal space (chapter 6). In the preface, Chapuis suggested that real art was waning during the mid- to late twentieth century. seems to be at adventure's end since 1968; noting contemporary titles such as, Art without artists; death or mutation of art? end of the museum (p. x). While including other dire predictions about the state of artistic life, Chapuis challenged readers to withdraw from the noisy atmosphere, omnipresent violence, current anguish, and lexical plethora by which we are continually inundated preface--a two-page collection of inviting prose--piqued my curiosity and I was immediately captivated by the writings of this important pedagogue, so well loved in Latin America, but scarcely mentioned in the history of American music education. Edgar Willems and His Ideas about Musical Education Edgar Willems, born in Belgium in 1890, was influenced by the teachings of Emile Jacques-Dalcroze. During his early years, Willems was a likely participant in what Frega called the renewal of music teaching at the turn of the nineteenth century in Geneva. (1) Although Willems's early studies in the arts centered on painting and drawing, he began serious work in music in his late twenties at the Geneva Conservatory, where he encountered the teachings of Jacques-Dalcroze. According to Jaccard, Jaques-Dalcroze recognized and encouraged Willems's inclination toward intuitive rather than theoretical pedagogy. Willems, also interested in the musical development of children, contacted and studied the work of neurologist Edouard Claparede and developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. His understanding of developmental psychology and neuroscience becomes especially clear in the chapters that focus on instruction for young children (Starting Point, chapter 1) and auditory development (The Musical Ear, chapter 5). Readers will immediately note Willems's reference to musical education as opposed to music instruction. His differentiation of terms, involving what he calls his new pedagogy, juxtaposes the idea of uniting artistic and scientific aspects of music while harmonizing knowledge, sensitivity, and action (p. xviii). Willems's ideas regarding teaching music suggest a complementary balance between life, formal structure, culture, and musical education. His ideas about teaching music seem to counter midtwentieth century international conversation trends regarding the role of music and music education. Willems's Ideas within the Scope of International Music Education in the 1950s Willems's book was originally published in 1956--three years after the International Conference on the Role and Place of Music in the Education of Youth and Adults presented by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1953. …