Download - Howarth and the Movements

Transcript
  • 7/30/2019 Howarth and the Movements

    1/8

    As we launch this website, we invite those of you who are or have been responsible for Movements

    as experienced or beginning instructors and pianists to send us your thoughts, comments,

    and questions at the email address shown below. In the spirit of fostering an open exchange

    we may share part or all of them here-- unless you ask us not to.

    In the meantime, here is the opening message:

    * * * * *

    PRESERVING MOVEMENTS AS MR. GURDJIEFF ORIGINALLY GAVE THEM TO US

    by Dushka Howarth

    Part 1

    Of the several hundred Movements created and experimented with by Mr. Gurdjieff in the last

    ten years of his life, only a small percentage did he consider to be complete and evidently to

    fulfill his aim so that he then gave us permission to continue working with them. The so-

    called Thirty -Nine Movements are those he finished and authorized for continued use in

    France and another seven he added when we worked with him in New York during his last

    visit.

    These forty-six authorized movements are what we are particularly concerned with preserving for

    the future. The American order is the exact order in which Mr. Gurdjieff gave them to us in

    New York before his death in 1949. Therefore we consider it to be of more significance for

    teaching the Movements than the French order, which simply reflects the order in which

    these Movements were completed and does not include seven of the authorizedMovements. (See below for the complete list in the American order.)

  • 7/30/2019 Howarth and the Movements

    2/8

    In addition to our own memories, experience and notations, we depend on the valuable notes made

    by Jessmin Howarth and Alfred Etievant working together in New York in 1949. These were

    made in response to instructions left by Mr. Gurdjieff before he returned to France that:

    Movements must be the same in America as in Europe.

    An even more important documentation is the set of definitive notes resulting from many

    summers of work in the 1950s, when Mme. Jeanne de Salzmann, Mrs. Jessmin H owarth, and

    Mlle. Marthe de Gaigneron joined forces in Paris to pool their memories and notations,

    reconcile differences, and to correct mistakes made in the first (1951) Movements film.

    Mrs. Howarth transcribed this work into English and arranged for it to be typed out in New York.

    One copy was sent to Mme. de Salzmann in France. The other was confided to the New York

    Foundation for ready reference by their Movements instructors.

    When Mrs. Howarth died in 1984 it was discovered that these New York notes had disappeared and

    could not be found even after an extensive search was made! And sadly for the future

    neither have Mme. de Salzmanns copies surfaced!

    So with great effort, we have had to try reconstituting from handwritten and carbon copies as

    much as possible of these irreplaceable and invaluable notations. But we alert Movements

    "responsibles" everywhere that we need help in completing this essential task.

    The material located so far is being transferred onto CD for safe and practical storage,

    immediate reference and long-term preservation along with verifying photographs and other

    unique material, such as Mrs. Howarths suggestions to instructors, artists drawings and

    charts, etc.

  • 7/30/2019 Howarth and the Movements

    3/8

    Also being scanned onto CD for pre servation and storage is definitive material on the Six

    Obligatories. Carefully noted by Mrs. Howarth as part of her dedication to preserving as

    many as possible of the earliest Movements (those given circa 1917-1924,) this collection

    includes notations, photographs, historical information, and helpful material for instructors

    and musicians, such as special hints for beginners classes, inhibition exercises for advanced

    pupils, and corrected music.

    Although we do not give out copies of these or other materials, they are available for study. We may

    also consider correcting notations, viewing videos, answering questions, or otherwise

    helping those responsibly engaged in passing on the Movements in their correct context. By

    this we mean, as a part of a complete integrated practice of the Gurdjieff Teaching in all its

    aspects.

    * * * * *

    Part 2

    As each year passes we find there is more confusion about the authenticity, authorship, and exact

    intended purpose of many exercises presented as Gurdjieff Movements or Sacred

    Dances. Perhaps we can help by clarifying some of the differences.

    Early Movements. The entire repertoire worked on so intensively during the years 1917-1924,

    culminating in the public demonstrations in Paris in 1923, and various U.S. cities in 1924. (Inaddition to the Obligatories, these include Work Dances, various round and womens

    dances, Dervish Prayers, and much more).

    The Thirty -Nine. The forty-six Movements which Gurdjieff created in the last years of his life,

    finally announced as completed, and gave permission to people to continue to work

    with. These consist of thirty -nine finalized in France and another seven added in New York.

  • 7/30/2019 Howarth and the Movements

    4/8

    Other Movements. Scores of other Movements were experimented with and worked on but

    left uncompleted by Mr. Gurdjieff in his second period of renewed Movements activity, from

    about 1939-49. At this time his primary aim was no longer to use Movements in a public

    display to attract people to his Work. Now he had groups of serious pupils for whom he was

    trying to develop and prove out useful tools for their special Work. Usually referred to by

    names such as Multiplication, Pythagoras, Prayer, and Enneagram, many of these

    were later used in elaborate films made by Mme. de Salzmann during her long life. In a first

    film in 1951, she concentrated on preserving the completed Movements most of the

    Thirty -nine and some of the Early Movements. In subsequent films, she included many of

    the other Movements that had not been completed or for which Mr. G. had not decided a

    final form. Although usually beautifully executed by handsome young dancers, many of

    whom are our present-day instructors, the Movements shown in these later films must

    clearly be viewed and evaluated differently from Gurdjieffs meticulously completed

    creations. Unfortunately, these Movements and the composite suites of Movements and

    fragments, which Mme. de Salzmann put together in the films, are now often given

    precedence in class repertoires and even taught more frequently than the older, pure

    Movements.

    Preparatory Exercises. Mme. De Salzmann and various others created many preparatory

    exercises throughout the years. Some have been practiced so frequently that they have

    been given names, and are believed to be Movements. Some examples: Father -I, I Am -I

    Wish- I Can Work, Om -Im-Am- Um, Blue -Red-Black- Yellow, Two Rhythms, I Wish -I

    Am-Always- Everywhere. T hese exercises may be helpful to students if presented by an

    experienced instructor in the right way at an appropriate moment, but they arent from Mr.

    Gurdjieff and they arent Movements.

    * * * * *

    Part 3

    GURDJIEFF'S LATER MOVEMENTS ('39-'49)

  • 7/30/2019 Howarth and the Movements

    5/8

    (THOSE HE AUTHORIZED US "TO CONTINUE WORKING WITH.")

    (List per Jessmin and Dushka Howarth)

    AMER # FRENCH # (Names sometimes used later by others, not Mr. G.)

    1 19 STOP or WHEEL

    2 5 POINTING DERVISH

    3 2 PRAYER IN 4 PARTS

    4 30 CANON OF 6 MEASURES

    5 31 RHYTHMS

    6 No Fr. # AMERICAN MARCH

    7 No Fr. # AMERICAN. "I WISH TO BE"

    8 16 RUNNING or SEAGULL

    9 18 BODY CIRCLING

    10 10 PERSIAN DANCE

    11 17 MULTIPLICATION

    12 13 ANCIENT WALTZ or PERSIAN WALTZ

    13 12 "ALLELUIA"

    14 1 COUNTING AUTOMATON

    15 23 MAZURKA

    16 32 AUTOMATON NOTE VALUES

    17 24 SHARSSE VARSSE

    18 11 "LORD HAVE MERCY"

    19 27 CANON TO TWELVE

  • 7/30/2019 Howarth and the Movements

    6/8

    20 8 RUNNING SIX POSITIONS

    21 3 TABLEAUX

    22 21 REMORSE

    23 No Fr. # AMERICAN MULTIPLICATION

    24 No Fr. # AMERICAN MULTIPLICATION or "I AM"

    25 14 BREAST BEATING DERVISH

    26 No Fr. # SLOW MORSE OR AMERICAN MORSE

    27 4 PRAYER FOR INSTRUCTION or HOP

    28 6 CANON

    29 15 "LUNDI, MARDI," etc.

    30 7 WOMEN'S DANCE

    31 9 OLBOGMEK

    32 20 DERVISH or TRAMPING

    33 22 MARCH

    34 25 BLACK & WHITE MAGIC

    35 & bis 26 & bis CUTTING MULTIPLICATION

    36 28 MACHINE GROUP

    37 No Fr. # ENGLISH TURNING

    38 No Fr. # SECOND ENGLISH

    39 29 OLD 39

    40 33 COSMIC RHYTHM

    41 34 MULTIPLICATION

    42 35 MARCH

    43 36 CANON OF LEFT ARM

  • 7/30/2019 Howarth and the Movements

    7/8

    44 37 DANCE

    45 38 TWICE SIX

    46 39 MEDITATION

    ********

    In the Spring 2002 Issue of the Gurdjieff International Review.

    Remember Inner Work by Jessmin Howarth

    Jessmin Howarth reviews the history of movements in Gurdjieffs groups and hints at some

    discoveries that the practice of the movements can provide...

    Created by for Gurdjieff Heritage Society, Inc ~ Copyright 2006 ~ Dushka Howarth, President ~ New

    York ~ All Rights Reserved ~

    Email The Society

    Photographs on this website appear in Jessmin & Dushka Howarth's Book "It's Up To Ourselves" A

    Mother, A Daughter, and GURDJIEFF

    Music Library Index

  • 7/30/2019 Howarth and the Movements

    8/8