Body music courses within music education

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to introduce and suggest Body Music as a significant part of music education that gives the possibility to approach music as a play of sounds and silence, from its very beginning in human life at which body was the only source of sound making, before humans created musical instruments and styles. Thus what “music” and “style” mean is briefly explained in the first part. Secondly, significant properties of body music are mentioned. Body music is emphasized as a useful practice to discover sounds, patterns and to create sound orders. This brings together the realization of the relation of body movements and sounds, which carries an introduction to moving with music or dancing; and the opportunity to practice the act of “play” in the way, which was defined by Huizinga. The last part of the paper is an introduction to a Body Music Course model concentrated on classroom activities in which an alternative notation and a syllabic body scale system are introduced, technical suggestions are made and some games of improvisation, etudes and methods, traditional rhythm patterns, body music styles and accompaniment are explained.