Instrumental improvisation

Becoming a master of rhythm means wanting to teach music through the body and through improvisation. To improvise is to invent one’s own music, develop the tools that will enable you to accompany the students, to follow and elicit their movements, to encourage their musicality. To improvise is also to understand the music of the interior, to appropriate languages and create a direct connection from the thought to the instrument.

Taught by experienced professors, the instrumental improvisation class at the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM) offers students the chance to acquire the tools they need for all situations: accompanying a song, or a movement, creating quality in their listening, and eliciting curiosity while overcoming their own inhibitions. The class places the emphasis on learning in small groups of 3-4 students. Each student will have a chance to play on their own, in a duet, or in an ensemble.

The learning is done mainly on the piano, which is a very important instrument for those looking to master rhythm. The other instruments are also included depending on the opportunities and requirements for each skill worked on.

By looking at the repertoire and composers from centuries past, from baroque to jazz, from song to atonal music, from exploration to construction, the students become acquainted with the fundamentals that are vital for future music and rhythm teachers. The link with the harmony on the keyboard and writing classes makes it possible to strengthen skills in tonal improvisation, and to develop musical culture. The jazz and contemporary music courses expand this field still further.

The students at the HEM’s Music and Movement Department regularly take part in internal performances within the department, of original personal and collective works, Masterclasses, concerts or projects with a broader scope alongside the HEM’s other departments or a number of external cultural partners, including the Institut Jaques Dalcroze de Genève, with whom our institution has close ties. These various activities enable our students to pick up experience of broadcasting and of the stage, and to build the foundations of their professional network.

Teachers

Pablo Ernesto Cernik

Professor of Keyboard Harmony and Jaques-Dalcroze Writing - Instrumental Improvisation - Physical and Mental Preparation: Bodily Approach to Music through Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics - Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics - Jaques-Dalcroze Solfège

Pablo Cernik is currently employed as an adjunct professor, teaching in the Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, and CAS programs in the Music and Movement Department at the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM). He collaborates with the department's administration on tasks related to the visibility of the programs and also with the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in coordinating the Diplôme Supérieur. He is the director of the Dalcroze Certificate programs in Italy, Spain, Chile, and Argentina. He has significantly contributed to the dissemination of the method by conducting workshops and conferences in various regions and countries across Europe, Asia, and Latin America. As an opera, chamber music, and dance pianist, his presentations have placed particular emphasis on multidisciplinary creation. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Arts at the Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA) in Buenos Aires. He is a member of the Jaques-Dalcroze College and the central committee of the International Federation of Eurhythmics Teachers (FIER). He is also the president of the Dalcroze Association of Argentina.

Tamaé Gennai Deveaud

Professor of Instrumental Improvisation - Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics - Jaques-Dalcroze Solfège

Tamaé Gennai was born in Geneva, where she began her musical training at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze from a young age. In 2007, she graduated with a Master of Arts (Jaques-Dalcroze Pedagogy, receiving the Conseil d’Etat Prize and the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze Prize). She continued her studies in solfège and counterpoint at the Haute école de musique de Genève, obtaining her advanced solfège certificate in 2008. She furthered her piano and pedagogical training with Robert Kaddouch in Paris. Tamaé teaches music and movement to diverse audiences (parents-children, adolescents, seniors, the psychiatric department of HUG, etc.), and in 2019, she received the Diplôme Supérieur in the Jaques-Dalcroze method, allowing her to teach the method to professionals. On this occasion, she was awarded the Aletheia Foundation Prize for her group choreography. She teaches eurhythmics, solfège, pedagogy, improvisation, and performance creation at the Haute Ecole des Arts de Berne. Since 2021, she has also been teaching regularly in Bucharest. In addition to her career as a pedagogue and teacher, Tamaé performs as a musician and singer on stages in Switzerland, France, and Sweden with singer and guitarist Jackson Wahengo (traditional music of Namibia) and writes and directs numerous multidisciplinary shows (music, dance, theater) with the Compagnie TaMiErO. In 2019, she was awarded a writing grant from the Swiss Society of Authors for her children's show "L’enfant do," which was premiered at the Petit Théâtre de Lausanne. Dedicated to linking her stage and pedagogical skills to serve audiences with limited access to the arts, she has created several performance projects in the slums of Kolkata and Mumbai, in Geneva's Villas Yoyo, and within the creativity workshops of the IJD. Learn more about Tamaé Gennai Deveaud.

Hélène Nicolet

Professor of Instrumental Improvisation - jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics

Hélène Nicolet was born in Geneva, Switzerland, and began her musical journey through Dalcroze Eurhythmics at the Jaques-Dalcroze Institute from a young age. With a jazz musician father and an educator mother, her artistic path has been deeply influenced by improvisation and a corporeal approach. She obtained her teaching license in the Dalcroze method in 2006 (awarded for the best level of license, best adult lesson, and best rhythmic exam). Her commitment to teaching was further solidified when she earned a Master of Music Diploma from the Haute école de musique de Genève. During her stay in New York in 2011, she enhanced her interest in movement by becoming a Certified Movement Analyst at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. In 2013, she completed her Advanced Diploma at the Jaques-Dalcroze Institute, the highest title allowing her to fully teach and represent the method (Eurhythmics, Solfege, Improvisation). Alongside her professional training, Hélène Nicolet studied classical piano and received the amateur certificate from the Federation of Music Schools with honors from the jury. She continued her piano study through jazz and classical improvisation. She started playing the cello in her teens and participated in various musical formations (accompanist for opera singers or instrumentalists, baroque trio, jazz-folk duo, and jazz quartet). Currently, she teaches students in the Music and Movement department (Bachelor, Master, and CAS in Dalcroze Eurhythmics). She is frequently invited abroad to teach and present the Jaques-Dalcroze method at various universities and partner centers. Additionally, she works at the Jaques-Dalcroze Institute, where she has been the director since August 2023. Research Projects Proceedings of the Jaques-Dalcroze Institute Congress: https://www.hesge.ch/hem/recherche-developpement/projets-recherche/termine/actes-du-congres-linstitut-jaques-dalcroze Publications Silvia Del Bianco, Sylvie Morgenegg, Hélène Nicolet, Pédagogie, art et science: l’apprentissage par et pour la musique selon la méthode Jaques-Dalcroze, actes du Congrès de l’ijd 2015, Editions Droz et HEM, 2017.https://www.hesge.ch/hem/publications/pedagogie-art-et-science Mary Brice, Ruth Gianadda, Hélène Nicolet, « Racines d’une pratique encore en mouvement », 2019.https://www.dalcroze.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Racines-dune-pratique-encore-en-mouvement.pdf Mary Brice, Ruth Gianadda, Hélène Nicolet, « Roots of a practice still in movement », 2019.https://www.dalcroze.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Roots-of-a-practice-still-in-movement.pdf

Stéphane Orlando

Professor of Improvisation Workshops (Coordinator) - Keyboard Harmony and Dalcroze Writing - Instrumental Improvisation

Laureate of the SABAM for Culture Award for contemporary music in 2020, pianist and composer Stéphane Orlando regularly collaborates with various musicians, ensembles, and orchestras. Since 2022, he has become the composer-in-residence at the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège. Stéphane Orlando draws his inspiration from classical, traditional, and jazz music, as well as from his own practice of piano improvisation. He enjoys composing for a single instrument or chamber music, with or without electronics, as well as for orchestras. Above all, he likes to embed his music in a rich narrative context, with a strong sensitivity to images, words, and movements. Stéphane Orlando teaches instrumental improvisation at the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM).

Pascale Rochat-Martinet

Professor of Experimental Workshop: Applied Pedagogy - Keyboard Harmony and Dalcroze Writing - Instrumental Improvisation - Improvisation for Movement and Teaching

Holder of the advanced diploma from the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze, Pascale Rochat-Martinet furthered her education with choral conducting studies in Paris, classical singing at the Conservatory of Lausanne, and training for seniors at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze. She is also involved in the creative group "Aldente," which combines music, theater, and movement. Passionate about pedagogy, she has created numerous rhythmics-solfege courses at the Conservatory of Lausanne, leading her students to certification. Currently, she teaches piano improvisation, rhythmics, and solfege at the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM) as well as at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne (HEMU). Her teaching is directed towards rhythmicians, future piano teachers, and concert performers. She is regularly invited to teach at international higher education institutions and universities. Always seeking to refresh and renew her teaching methods, she has undertaken jazz piano studies. Improvisation being her specialty, she also practices this discipline in various fields: organ improvisation, accompanying Gospel singers, and creating music for podcasts. Her artistic journey is rich, varied, and eclectic. Pascale Rochat-Martinet loves to share her joy of music with everyone, without distinction.