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Leading and Following
Because music is often a social activity, the Dalcroze classroom is a great opportunity for kids to experiment with roles that will also be important for them as they move through life. Over the past several months, I have become interested in giving them experiences of leading, following, working with a partner and being a…
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Phrasing
A phrase can perhaps be best described as a musical sentence. Phrases can be long, extending over many bars of music, or short, lasting only a few beats. And just like a spoken sentence, phrases are often separated by a breath, or at least a feeling of a breath. The ends of musical phrases can…
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Register And Scale
Translating musical phenomena into verbal language can be tricky. Most adults are familiar with the use of the words high and low as applied to musical pitch. Specifically, these words refer to the frequency of the musical tone. Higher tones have a more frequent wavelength than lower tones. When physicalizing these concepts, we take advantage…
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Exploring Meter
A primary focus areas in the beginning of the year is the subject of meter. Meter can be defined as the grouping of beats into 2’s, 3’s and 4’s. Usually the first beat of the group is felt as a stressed or accented beat, and in the Dalcroze work we also recognize and explores the…
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Curriculum Focus: Attention
One of the most important aspects of the Dalcroze work is the training and development of attention. There are many different forms of attention: focused, sustained, selective, divided, alternating have been identified by motor learning researchers. Like many other motor activities, music utilizes all of them, and in the Dalcroze class we attempt to foster the…
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What We’re Working On
Parent: “What did you do in class today?”Child: “I was a cat.”Parent: “Oh.” It is difficult for children to express exactly what they are ‘learning’ in a Dalcroze classroom. Having heard many exchanges which ended like the one above, I am writing to keep you more informed about what exactly we goes on in the…
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Reinforcing the Classwork at Home
The Dalcroze classes are now in full swing (ok, pun intended), and the kids have heard and experienced music with a variety of tempos, rhythms, and dynamics. They have been encouraged to express those changes in movement. Children naturally learn in many different ways. Some like to watch in class and ‘do’ at home. Some…
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Improv Sonata, 2009
In June of 2009, the Bloomingdale School of Music presented a composition of mine which I called ‘Sonata for Improvised Piano’. An excerpt appears above. The piece exists in two versions, one completely written out, and the other written with a combination of graphic and conventional notation. The piece was designed as an entry way…
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Notes and Music from ‘Playing Through’, Solo Piano Concert from 2009
In December of 2009, I presented a concert of solo improvised piano at the Bloomingdale School of Music. Here are the program notes from the event. I have posted a few mp3’s from the evening, as well. Program Notes Unlike the magician’s art which is betrayed by divulging its secrets, the improviser thrives on listeners…
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One Musician/One Magician plays the Carlyle
Last May, Jeff and I performed at a private party for kids at the Carlyle Hotel in the gorgeous Bemelmans Bar. Our set of music and magic concluded with an impromptu sing-a-long complete with My Favorite Things, Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Frere Jackque that I will never forget. I’m sure Bobby Short was smiling…
Writing about music and music education from a Dalcroze perspective: