Charlotte Blensdorf

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Charlotte Blensdorf , married. MacJannet-Blensdorf (born November 21, 1901 in Elberfeld , † November 27, 1999 in Geneva ) was a German rhythmist .

Live and act

Anna Julia Charlotte's father was the elementary school and gymnastics teacher Otto Blensdorf , who founded the first Dalcroze school in Elberfeld in 1906 . In 1909 she completed her training in rhythmic gymnastics at the Dalcroce Institute in Geneva . Afterwards she worked for a long time as a teacher for rhythmic gymnastics at the Conservatory of Music in Malmö and at the gymnastics institute in Lund.

When she returned to Germany, she helped her father train rhythm teachers. Otto Blensdorf moved the training center to Jena in 1926 and to Bad Godesberg two years later. The rhythmist gave many lectures and above all practical demonstrations on rhythmic education at home and abroad. Her musical-aesthetic courses at the Jena Adult Education Center, for which she was able to win over Adolf Reichwein , founder and head of the educational institution, were very well received. In 1927 she became a member of the board of the "Rhythmics Association (Dalcroze Association)" and as such organized the rhythm conference in Lobeda near Jena. From around 1930, Charlotte Blensdorf gave more advanced and advanced training courses for kindergarten teachers (including in the Finkenkrug youth home founded by Anna von Gierke in 1932 ). For them, rhythmic education should form a center within kindergarten work , whereby the introduction of rhythmic education in kindergarten is less equivalent to introducing a new subject or increasing the teaching material , but rather a changed type of teaching , an invigorating deepening of the existing .

In 1932 Charlotte Blensdorf married the linguist Donald MacJannet (1894–1978), whom she had met at a conference in Nice. When the National Socialists seized power in 1933, she gave back her German passport without further ado because she considered herself a citizen of the world.

Charlotte MacJannet-Blensdorf opened her own rhythm school near Paris and worked in theory and practice for rhythm until her death. Her focus was on rhythmic education in kindergarten and preschool. Another area of ​​their courses dealt with the construction of bamboo flutes. In her opinion, children from around the age of eight can be encouraged to build bamboo flutes and use them for music. In this regard, she put the following three goals in front:

1. The instrument must respond directly to the pleasure in making music.
2. The instruments should challenge people to make music together.
3. The instruments used were so interlocked that the child of the out natural rhythm of his movements to the beautiful and right musical sound will .

Charlotte MacJannet-Blensdorf, who had a lifelong friendship with Gerda Alexander , was President of the L'Union internationale des professeures de la methode Jaques-Dalcroze for many years . Together with her husband, she founded the MacJannet Foundation in 1968 .

Principles of their rhythm

For Charlotte Blensdorf, rhythmic upbringing is an interplay of physical movement and music. It is an educational idea, not a system that can serve where it is necessary . Rhythm as a method is based entirely on the child's ability to experience. The physical and musical training makes the children mature, expressive and creative ... In rhythm, it is possible to directly loosen the productivity of the child .

Works (selection)

  • Rhythmic-musical education in kindergarten, in: Zeitschrift für Schulmusik, 1928, pp. 61–65
  • The rhythmic course at the Leuchtenburg, in: Kindergarten 1926, pp. 28–29
  • Rhythmic-musical education in kindergarten, in: Central Institute for Education and Teaching (Ed.): Berlin 1929, pp. 30–35
  • Children make bamboo flutes and learn to listen and make music, Bad Godesberg 1932
  • The rhythm in kindergarten, in: Elfriede Feudel (Hrsg.): Rhythmik. Theory and practice of physical and musical education, Munich 1926, pp. 115–124
  • The rhythm in the university school, in: Peter Petersen (Ed.): The creative work in the Jena University School 1925–1930, Weimar 1930, pp. 69–76

literature

  • Barbara Schürhaus: Music Education in Pre-School Age between 1900 and 1933, Frankfurt / Main 1986, pp. 159–220
  • Helga Tervooren: The rhythmic-musical education in the first third of our century, Frankfurt / Main 1987
  • Konrad Lorenz: Moving and Moving. Charlotte Blensdorf-MacJannet on her 85th birthday, in: Rhythmics in Education 1987, pp. 65–70
  • Reinhard Ring / Brigitte Steinmann: Lexicon of Rhythmics, Kassel 1997
  • Lena Sander: On the history of rhythmic-musical upbringing in Germany - demonstrated by selected pioneers, Munich 2002 (unpublished diploma thesis)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ring / Steinmann 1997, pp. 42–43
  2. ↑ cf. Sander 2002, p. 34 ff.
  3. ↑ Blensdorf 1929, p. 32
  4. ↑ Blensdorf 1926, p. 124
  5. ↑ Blensdorf 1932, p. 7
  6. ↑ http://macjannet.org/
  7. ↑ cit. n. Tervooren 1987, p. 296
  8. ↑ Blensdorf 1926, p. 128 f
personal data
SURNAME Blensdorf, Charlotte
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German rhythmist
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Elberfeld
DATE OF DEATH November 27, 1999
Place of death Geneva