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About author : JAELL Marie
At the end of the nineteenth century, a pianist, composer, and pedagogue lived in France: Marie Jaell.
Through an acute sense of observation, an intense practice and some careful research, she was led to propose a new and revolutionary way to teach the piano; which is now known as the Marie Jaell method.Being a woman, at that time, she was not well known, albeit respected by some famous contemporary artists, such as Franz Liszt, Cesar Frank, Gabriel Faure or Camille Saint-Saens.
Her method has reached us thanks to some students of hers who became great performers: Dinu Lipatti and Eduardo del Pueyo. They benefited from her musical approach and did not miss the opportunity thus given to them to develop a musical personality.Far from being outdated, the Marie Jaell method is on the contrary now being confirmed by the most recent researches in the field of science, mainly by neuroscientists.
Although in her time the scientific apparatus was not available, she could feel by careful and deep attention what was to be observed later by our latest sensors of the functioning of the brain. At the end of her life, she tried to confirm her observations on the pianistic development by some scientific means, and dedicated her time to physiopsychology, collaborating with Doctor Charles Fere.
The aim of this website is to introduce the main features of the method, to give some information on the woman who created it, and to present the whole range of people who have spread this knowledge up to now. What is at stake is of importance: How can we understand the various links between the thought, the body and the instrument? How to use this knowledge with sense and sensibility in order to have a richer and thorough interpretation?
This agenda could look obvious since the musical interpretation is meant to follow this route, going from some expressive intention to the physical implementation by some movement on an instrument. But one must acknowledge what Marie Jaell deplored in her time, the teaching is not always along those lines, and this is still a pending problem.
Because of the ignorance of these links, and because of an abundant use of repeated automatisms in practicing, the resources of an interpret can by spoiled and suppressed. Although the method was originally developed for the piano, it is also relevant for any kind of musical instrument, as long as a human being is involved!
Association Marie Jaëll - Alsace (Strasbourg)
http://www.mariejaell-alsace.net
