Parent: “What did you do in class today?”
Child: “I was a cat.”
Parent: “Oh.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, in the mind of the child the most important thing we did probably was <\/em>that he became a cat. And not just any cat, but one who plays, prowls, chases mice and catches one for dinner. The class attempts to take every possible advantage of a child’s passion for drama and role-play. While he was busy being a cat, he was also moving to music that moved very softly (the prowl), music that moved very quickly and lightly (the chase), and music that slowly crescendo-ed to a loud accent (the pounce).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Experiences like these are meant to align the child’s sense of music with the way she naturally moves. This will, hopefully, inform the way she perceives and responds to music, and the way she might engage a musical instrument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a eurhythmics class sound equals movement, and vice versa. Many initial experiences are meant to help the student begin to discover this for himself. The child may hear music that walks, runs, skips, gallops or marches. Most children do not need to be asked to move appropriately to what they hear \u2013 it is often their natural impulse to do so. To give them a more personal experience, the students also are given opportunities each week to have the piano match as closely as possible their own improvised movement. You can try this at home. Put on music that walks, runs, skips, sneaks, slides, rolls, marches… and see what your child does!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the first semester, the 4-5 year-old groups will have classes built around basic oppositions: slow and fast, long and short, heavy and light, for example. In the first 30 minutes of class, we experience the subject in as many ways as possible: songs, stories, and games requiring the students to follow changes in what they hear on the piano or drum. In the last 15 minutes, the students might have opportunities to create the music themselves. For example, if they have experienced soft walking and loud pouncing, individual students can try these sounds out on the drum while the class responds to what they hear. Or student conductors will create gestures for loud and soft, while the class responds on percussion instruments. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[113,94,130],"class_list":["post-362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dalcroze-reference","tag-children","tag-early-childhood","tag-for-parents-families"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/cpsess1042171136\/frontend\/paper_lantern\/filemanager\/2012\/10\/prowling-cat-150x150-1.jpg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9ohMj-5Q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":455,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-olds-september\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":0},"title":"7-9 Year-Olds: September","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"September 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"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 \u2013 even for adult Dalcroze students \u2013 to be able\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":447,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/infrequently-asked-questions-about-early-childhood-dalcroze-classes\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":1},"title":"Infrequently Asked Questions About Early Childhood Dalcroze Classes","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"July 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Aside from one or two perennials, I don't get asked too many questions during my Dalcroze classes for young children. With busy toddlers demanding attention, there just isn't a lot of time for chatting. (There are one or two questions I am commonly asked. See if you can guess what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19086,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/invisible-subjects\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":2},"title":"Invisible Subjects","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"June 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes, to see the whole, we need to look at the parts. But suppose some of the parts are difficult to see? This is one of the things that makes Dalcroze education so notoriously hard to describe. In one sense, the curriculum for the Dalcroze classes I teach is very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":500,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-3617\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":3},"title":"7-9 Year-old Dalcroze: 3\/6\/17","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"March 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This was another very unusual class. The story from the previous week was very strong in their minds, and they desperately wanted to continue it. That kind of intense student engagement is very hard for me to resist, so I relented, not having the least idea about where it would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":423,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/is-my-child-gifted\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":4},"title":"Is my child gifted?","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"October 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 There is one comment that I often hear from parents that still catches me off guard: \u201cHe really responds to music!\u201d The sentiment is usually expressed with a mix of surprise and awe, but seeing children respond to music with delight, enthusiasm, passion, abandon, inventiveness and curiosity would likely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DSC_0769","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/DSC_0769-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":510,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-4417\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":5},"title":"7-9 Year-old Dalcroze, 4\/4\/17","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"April 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This week\u2019s activities: We first reviewed the notation and language for some basic rhythms for compound (ternary) meter: dotted quarters, 3 eighth notes, quarter-eighth. I put the symbols on the board, and asked one student to stand in front of the one he\/she wanted to hear and see moved. 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