Articles about Dalcroze pedagogy organized by age.
Early Childhood:
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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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For Parents: Classes for 4-5 year-olds
Parent: “What did you do in class today?”Child: “I was a cat.”Parent: “Oh.” It is difficult for young children to express exactly what they are ‘learning’ in a Dalcroze classroom. What happens in the room after we take off our socks and shoes and close the door? Of course, in the mind of the child
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Exploring Meter
A primary focus areas in the beginning of the year is the subject of meter (with subtle differences this is also known as ‘measure’ and ‘time signature’). Meter can be defined as the grouping of beats into 2’s, 3’s and 4’s. (They can be larger, too!) Usually the first beat of the group is felt
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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
Early elementary:
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7-9 Year-Olds: September
Welcome parents and family members of the new Dalcroze class for 7 to 9-year-olds at the Lucy Moses School. I am pleased we were able to expand our program to include older children this year! Because it is sometimes difficult – even for adult Dalcroze students – to be able to articulate just what happened
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7-9 Year-olds: 9/27/16
The 4:45 group (7-9 year-olds) had their best session yet. Here’s what we did: Explore ways to walk (heels, toes, sideways, large steps, small steps, through molasses, without picking up your feet, etc.) Sometimes at this age, creativity can take a back seat for a while as skill mastery moves to the fore. In this
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7-9 Year-olds: 11/2/16
We had a long break (4 weeks) after only a few classes. It was as if we had just seen each other last week, though. Here’s what we did: Warm-up: A group of children stand throughout the room. They cannot move unless they have the magic ball. The ball only retains its power if it
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7-9 Year-olds: 11/8/16
Here’s what we did this week… Move to the music; when the music stops, stop and clap 4 times. I had to tweak the directions to this until the music felt right to me. In the past, I have made it work with a signal (usually a high accented note from the piano). It ended
Late elementary:
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It’s All a Charade
The Classic Party Game as Music and Movement Portal for 3rd-5th Graders Last week, I came across a passage in a book by Elizabeth Vanderspar that stopped me in my tracks. (The book was originally published as “Principles and Guidelines for Teaching Eurhythmics” and is now available as Dalcroze Handbook: Teaching Rhythmics.) She suggested playing
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It’s All a Charade (Part 2)
Even revolutionary approaches can become rigid. Here’s part 2 of the story of a 3rd-5th grade class which encouraged me to think outside of a box that was already outside of the box.
Adult
note: during the pandemic, when we were looking for ways to keep ourselves moving, I made some posts for adults to practice their eurhythmics skills. For more about teaching Dalcroze to adults, view ‘by subject‘.
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Changing meter: Reaction game
Read more: Changing meter: Reaction gameThis is the first of a series of posts for adults interesting in practicing eurhythmics on their own. The following is a known as “Reaction Game” in Dalcroze parlance. In a reaction game, a signal (auditory (musical or non-musical), visual, verbal or tactile) tells the participants what to do to explore a given musical subject.…
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Patterns with 4 beats and 1 rest: Inhibition Game
Read more: Patterns with 4 beats and 1 rest: Inhibition GameStep and clap the patterns that you hear. At the signal “hands”, stop the hands and move only the feet. When you hear “hands” again, restart the hands. Same with “feet”. Having trouble following? Use the piano: the left hand is associated with your feet, the right hand with your hands. This is known as…
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Expanding and Contracting Beats in Duple Meter
Read more: Expanding and Contracting Beats in Duple MeterIn a measure of two beats, the length of beat can change from as low as two divisions (e.g. two eighths with a quarter note beat) to 6 divisions (e.g. 6 eighths with a dotted half note beat). I call the number of divisions right before each change. You could: Simply step, gesture or conduct…
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Changing Beat
Read more: Changing BeatHere we play with beats of 2, 3 and 4 divisions. I start with 3, which I am playing with a swing feel on the recording. At “hip” I take a way a division (e.g. 3 divisions becomes 2), at “hop” I add one (e.g. 3 divisions becomes 4). I am playing in a measure…
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Beat, division and multiple: an inhibition game
Read more: Beat, division and multiple: an inhibition gameHere is a classic Dalcroze “Inhibition” game. Step and gesture or lightly clap simultaneously. At “feet” stop the feet. When you hear “feet” again, start the feet. Likewise with the signal “hands”. You might try improvising this without the recording at first, calling your own starts and stops. You can simply move the beat, or…