Rhyme, Rhythm and Ritual

The traditional three R’s of education – Reading, ’Riting, and ’Rithmetic – have been the bedrock of our educational system for hundreds of years and are of course also central to the Waldorf curriculum. The question is: When should they be introduced?

In Waldorf Education, children learn through play in their preschool years and do not have the traditional three R’s drilled into them with the attendant testing.

The success of the Finnish model, where formal education only begins after age six, further supports this approach.

THE THREE R’S OF CHILDHOOD

I would like to suggest another set of R’s to precede the traditional ones in the first six years of childhood, both at school and in the home. Our modern media-run societies are in danger of losing their connection to Rhyme, Rhythm and Ritual, replacing them with flat-screen media entertainment instead.

Let us consider the importance of Rhyme, Rhythm and Ritual, on which Rudolf Steiner laid such emphasis in so many of his lectures on education, and which Waldorf teachers throughout the world work with on a daily basis.

RHYME

The learning of the mother tongue is a continual miracle. The young child’s capacity to imitate the sounds it hears from the speech of the adults surrounding it, and especially its mother, enables it in a very short time to master its mother tongue.

From the moment of birth, and even while still in the womb, research has found that the sounds it hears are beginning to form the child’s capacity for language.

What a responsibility then for the adults around the child to ensure that the sounds it hears are worthy of imitation!

The greatest influence comes from the mother in talking and singing to her new-born child. Lullabies, the oldest songs of which we have a record, are for helping the child to go to sleep.

With lullabies, the mother is teaching her child language set to music, and nursery rhymes also aid in its development and learning.

Note: Research supports the assertion that music and rhyme increase the child’s ability in spatial reasoning, which leads to greater success in the subjects of Math and Science.

There have been many studies which indicate that nursery rhymes and rhyming are not only important in the acquisition of language, but also central to acquiring language skills and learning to read.

Video: Rhymers Are Readers – The Importance of Nursery Rhymes “Nursery rhymes are the bread and butter, the very basics of literacy. Listening comprehension precedes reading comprehension. (…) Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they’re four years old, they’re usually among the best readers by the time they’re eight. (…) The most important thing is that they [nursery rhymes] bond us to who we are.”

In Waldorf education, the importance of rhyming is used from the very first day in preschool, and right on through the grades.

Songs and verses with movement accompaniment are nourishment for preschool children, so that when they enter first grade, the memorizing of poetry is second nature to them.

Age-appropriate songs, verses and poems with memorable rhymes and rhythms are part of every Main Lesson at the beginning of their day, and are often carried by the student into adult life to be a source of pleasure and inspiration.

RHYTHM

The second R, Rhythm, is of course also part of nursery rhymes, verses and poems that children learn at home and at school. But it is also central to the development of the human being from conception to birth, and from childhood through all of life.

The rhythms of life reflect the cosmic rhythms of our solar system in the seasons of the year, the lunar monthly cycle, the rhythms of the week and day. Rudolf Steiner indicated in many of his lectures, both educational and others, the importance of rhythm in our lives.

I have chosen one extract from the lectures Steiner gave in Torquay, UK, in August 1924, titled The Kingdom of Childhood, to illustrate the importance he gave to the teacher working with the rhythmic system of the child:

Rhythm of breathing, rhythm of the blood, the whole rhythmic system is what holds sway between the change of teeth and puberty. Only Rhythm!

But what is the real nature of rhythm? Now if I think a great deal, particularly if I have to study, I get tired, I get tired in my head. If I have to walk far, which is an exertion for my limb organism, I also tire. The head, or the nerve-senses organism, and the metabolic-limb organism can get tired, but the rhythmic organism can never tire.

Your heart beats at night as well as in the day. It must never stop, from birth to death. The rhythm of it has to go on all the time and cannot ever tire. It never gets tired at all.

Now in education and teaching you must address yourself to whichever system is predominant in man; thus between the change of teeth and puberty you must address yourself to rhythm in the child by using pictures.

Everything that you describe or do must be done in such a way that the head has as little to do with it as possible, but the heart, the rhythm, everything that is artistic or rhythmic, must be engaged.

What is the result? The result is that with teaching of this kind the child never gets tired, because you are engaging his rhythmic system and not his head.

Rudolf Steiner, The Kingdom of Childhood, Lecture 7, page 127

Ritual

It is less easy to define why the third R, Ritual, is important in the life of the child. Many people associate ritual with religion, and in our increasingly secular society religious practices are becoming less and less relevant.

Ritual has to do with tradition. In any social setting, be it in the home, at school or in the larger context of life, tradition plays its part. Some traditions come and go, others survive the test of time. And those that survive usually have a component of ritual.

For the small child, the element of repetition can be a safe anchor in an ever-changing world. This repetition can take on the mantle of a ritual, be it a grace at mealtime, a prayer or verse before going to sleep, or the celebration of a seasonal festival.

FESTIVAL TRADITIONS

Christmas has many well-known rituals, and other religions have them too. Christmas traditions in the home and at school can be very important and meaningful for the young child. Many families have their own rituals for this season, whatever their religion.

Waldorf Schools throughout the world celebrate the time of Advent with an Advent Spiral, a Spiral of Light for the younger children.

This event is followed by the Oberufer Christmas Plays, which in their medieval simplicity take on a ritual aspect that leaves a lasting impression on young and old alike.

There is also an element of ritual in the Waldorf Main Lesson, for every class teacher develops rituals and rhythms which reflect the students’ stage of development and the curriculum. In the larger context of the school, annual traditions and rituals also play a part.

I would like to end with a tradition at Michael Hall School that has taken on a ritual aspect. This is the lighting a St John’s fire at the school’s Midsummer Festival on the Saturday nearest to St John’s day, June 24th.

This festival involves the Class 12 students, who process with torches to the site of the bonfire, watched by the school community. The young adults circle this site and recite a verse (see below) before plunging their torches into the pile of brushwood.

As the flames leap skyward, Class 12 sing the songs they prepared for their final class trip; songs they will be offering to the art centers and churches they visit in Italy.

This moving ritual leaves a lasting impression on the young people who are about to leave their school and set out on life’s adventure.

FIRE! Fire I bear
Fire to burn the dead wood
FIRE! Fire I bear
Fire to warm the cold air
FIRE! Fire I bear
Fire to light up the dark night
That death may give new life
That warmth may turn to love
That light may lead to freedom:
For this we come
With many fires
To light the one

David Bryer, Upper School teacher, 1970s

Stephen Sheen, born 1935, taught at Michael Hall, the UK’s oldest Waldorf School, where his father Arthur was one of the first teachers. His four children were also educated there. In 1987, Stephen and his wife Libby left England for the USA to support a new Waldorf School. There he also produced the Oberufer Christmas Plays. After decades as a sports and class teacher, Stephen became a roving mentor, and in retirement co-authored the book A Good School on Michael Hall’s history. The images used here are taken from this book, and the article is a digest of thoughts addressed to an audience at the Nashville Waldorf School in earlier years.

Comments are welcome, so don’t hesitate to share experiences, questions and feedback below.

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