{"id":468,"date":"2016-12-10T14:25:17","date_gmt":"2016-12-10T19:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/?p=468"},"modified":"2026-03-31T14:59:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:59:01","slug":"7-9-year-old-dalcroze-112216","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-112216\/","title":{"rendered":"7-9 Year-old Dalcroze: 11\/22\/16"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>7-9 Year-old Dalcroze; 11\/22\/16<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Make a shape with curves. Make a shape with straight lines.\n<ul>\n<li>This seemingly simple direction was first intended to be a physical warm-up. As I watched their choices, I began to play accompanying chords: towards dissonance for the curvy, and towards consonant for the straight-line shapes. After a time, I stopped calling, and let the music speak to them. I experimented with harmonic progressions that moved from tension to release, and many responded well to this. It was interesting to see their interpretations even though there is a good deal of subjectivity when it comes to consonance and dissonance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Toss the scarf on the long note.\n<ul>\n<li>I played three patterns in 2\/4 time, using all the different possible combinations of a quarter and two eighth-notes. I encourage musically a big release on the long note. When we were finished, we looked at how these rhythms are be notated. I choose not to emphasize this too much, as there is so much about experiencing those rhythms that cannot be conveyed by their symbolic representation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Step the beat, clap the rhythm.\n<ul>\n<li>We returned to this basic Dalcroze exercise known as a <strong>dissociation<\/strong>. It stretches their coordination abilities, and allows them to experience the same rhythms in a new way. We\u2019ll keep coming back to these kinds of exercises each week, but without spending too much time as they can be exhausting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>When the melody goes up, walk forward; when the melody goes down, move backwards.\n<ul>\n<li>Another association. They followed the piano for a while, and they I began to sing \u201cIf You Dance,\u201d from last week. I let them discover the shape of the melody as we sang and enjoyed moving it with them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Choose a percussion instrument and play a pattern. Another will play with you, improvising freely.\n<ul>\n<li>Some young players seem naturally inclined to invent and repeat patterns, some seem more interested in generating and exploring new material. The children listened well to each other. Second players were most likely to add something repetitive to another player\u2019s pattern, which of course is a perfectly valid musical behavior (we call that a \u2018groove\u2019). If two players locked into a groove, I picked up an instrument and freely played over it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Group improvisation: all play together quietly enough so that you can hear the softest player.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This simple direction is meant to encourage closer listening, which can be challenging for any age when playing in a large group. I was curious to see whether they would fall into a recognizable beat and meter. They almost did. I am perfectly happy if they don\u2019t for right now, just as long as they are really listening to each other as they play. We ended with a group sing and play-a-long of Bim Bom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>7-9 Year-old Dalcroze; 11\/22\/16 Make a shape with curves. Make a shape with straight lines. This seemingly simple direction was first intended to be a physical warm-up. As I watched their choices, I began to play accompanying chords: towards dissonance for the curvy, and towards consonant for the straight-line shapes. After a time, I stopped [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[93,113,120],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dalcroze-reference","tag-1st-2nd-grade","tag-children","tag-single-class-documentation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9ohMj-7y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":500,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-3617\/","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":0},"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 &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":510,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-4417\/","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":1},"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. After\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":470,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-12616\/","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":2},"title":"7-9 Year-old Dalcroze: 12\/6\/16","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"December 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Back Telephone The traditional game of telephone (whisper a phrase around the circle and see if it comes back the same) only with rhythms gently tapped on the back. We tried 2 rhythms and both came back perfectly. I used the second rhythm to introduce the 4 sixteenth note rhythm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":472,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-dalcroze-121416\/","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":3},"title":"7-9 Dalcroze: 12\/14\/16","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"January 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here\u2019s what we did: All move freely; I choose one person\u2019s movement to play after which the class guesses who I was playing. This was by request. I like this game because it encourages the kids to move in their own way. Make a shape with 3 or 4 people.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":482,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/dalcroze-7-9-year-olds-2714\/","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":4},"title":"Dalcroze: 7-9-Year-olds, 2\/7\/14","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"February 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Back to my own observations... enjoy! \u00a0 Statue tag All students make a statue. One moves as long as she likes. When she stops, she makes the shape of one of the statues. That statue is free to move. This game is more fun when whoever is making someone else\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":486,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/dalcroze-7-9-year-olds-2717\/","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":5},"title":"Dalcroze: 7-9-Year-olds, 2\/14\/17","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"March 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's what we did: Statue tag All students make a statue. One moves as long as she likes. When she stops, she makes the shape of one of the statues. That statue is free to move. This game is more fun when whoever is making someone else\u2019s shape does not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions\/469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}