METOD ATONALNOG SOLFEĐA ŽAKA FEJIA – METODIČKI EKSPERIMENT ILI REALNI DOPRINOS SAVLADAVANJU ATONALNOSTI?

Abstract

A book from France, by Jack Fei (Jacques Feuillie, 1937), entitled Method of Atonal Solfeggio (Méthode de solfège atonal), published in 1986 in Rouen, is a very rare, hard-to-find, and unique publication with an intriguing title. In solfège teaching, the most complex content in the intonation sense is that which is based on the atonal musical language. It can only be covered at the university level, at least when it comes to the music education system in Serbia. For this reason, the number of publications dedicated to this type of musical material in solfège teaching is relatively small, and there is no known method focused only on atonal music, as in the title of this book. The aim of the paper is to present the content of the aforementioned publication by Jack Fei and to establish whether it is truly an original method (according to the definition of Zorislava Vasiljević) or not, and whether the application of such a method is purposeful. The scientific method applied in the paper is descriptive analysis. The research results indicate that Jack Fei did propose an original method, but qualitatively he did not make a special contribution to the learning of the complex language of atonality, but rather left behind a kind of solfeggio experiment. The book contains only technical exercises for intonation of melodic and harmonic intervals; it does not contain examples from artistic literature or dictations. The focus is, therefore, on vocal reproduction; it is commendable that production, i.e. improvisation, is also suggested, and this is very good for consolidating musical-auditory performances. However, practicing the special system of interval syllabification by Jack Fei would slow down the teaching process (which is contrary to the didactic principle of optimization), and there is no evidence available that the results of performing the musical text according to Fei would be better. Jack Fei's atonal solfeggio method, although unique and interesting, is not needed in the reality of contemporary pedagogical practice, i.e. it does not have pedagogical value, which does not mean that its existence should be ignored during a future broader consideration of the history of the development of solfeggio teaching methodology.