Eurhythmics
Encyclopedia
Dalcroze Eurhythmics, also known as the Dalcroze Method or simply Eurhythmics, is one of several developmental approaches including the Kodaly Method
, Orff Schulwerk
, Simply Music
and Suzuki Method
used to teach music education
to students. Eurhythmics was developed in the early 20th century by Swiss musician and educator Émile Jaques-Dalcroze
. Dalcroze Eurhythmics teaches concepts of rhythm, structure, and musical expression using movement, and is the concept for which Dalcroze is best known. It focuses on allowing the student to gain physical awareness and experience of music through training that takes place through all of the senses, particularly kinesthetic.
spent a year as a conductor in Algiers, where he was exposed to a rhythmic complexity that helped influence him to pay special attention to rhythmic aspects of music.
Jaques-Dalcroze also had an important friendship with Édouard Claparède
, the renowned psychologist. In particular, this collaboration resulted in Eurhythmics often employing games of change and quick reaction in order to focus attention and increase learning.
It is hard to find empirical data on Eurhythmics, never mind compare it, since the styles that teachers use differ greatly.
Kodály Method
The Kodály Method, also referred to as the Kodály Concept, is an approach to music education developed in Hungary during the mid-twentieth century by Zoltán Kodály...
, Orff Schulwerk
Orff Schulwerk
The Orff Schulwerk, or simply the Orff Approach, is one of several developmental approaches including the Kodaly Method, Simply Music and Suzuki Method used to teach music education to students. It combines music, movement, drama, and speech into lessons that are similar to child's world of play...
, Simply Music
Simply Music
Simply Music is a playing-based music education institution. The program is primarily based on creating, developing and presenting playing-based piano and keyboard programs. The organization licenses its proprietary, Australian-developed programs to trained Simply Music Educators, and currently the...
and Suzuki Method
Suzuki method
The Suzuki method is a method of teaching music that emerged in the mid-20th century.-Background:The Suzuki Method was conceived in the mid-20th century by Shin'ichi Suzuki, a Japanese violinist who desired to bring beauty to the lives of children in his country after the devastation of World War II...
used to teach music education
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
to students. Eurhythmics was developed in the early 20th century by Swiss musician and educator Émile Jaques-Dalcroze
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze , was a Swiss composer, musician and music educator who developed eurhythmics, a method of learning and experiencing music through movement...
. Dalcroze Eurhythmics teaches concepts of rhythm, structure, and musical expression using movement, and is the concept for which Dalcroze is best known. It focuses on allowing the student to gain physical awareness and experience of music through training that takes place through all of the senses, particularly kinesthetic.
Important Influences on the development of Eurhythmics
Before taking a post teaching theory, Émile Jaques-DalcrozeÉmile Jaques-Dalcroze
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze , was a Swiss composer, musician and music educator who developed eurhythmics, a method of learning and experiencing music through movement...
spent a year as a conductor in Algiers, where he was exposed to a rhythmic complexity that helped influence him to pay special attention to rhythmic aspects of music.
Jaques-Dalcroze also had an important friendship with Édouard Claparède
Édouard Claparède
Édouard Claparède was a Swiss neurologist and child psychologist.Studies of science and medicine, later of psychology under Théodore Flournoy; 1897 MD from the University of Geneva; 1897-98 at La Salpêtrière hospital in Paris; 1901 foundation of the Archives de psychologie with Flournoy, which he...
, the renowned psychologist. In particular, this collaboration resulted in Eurhythmics often employing games of change and quick reaction in order to focus attention and increase learning.
Effectiveness of Dalcroze Eurhythmics
A group of 72 pre-school children were tested on their rhythmic ability; half of the children had free-play (35-40 min.) twice a week for a 10-week period while the other half had rhythmic movement classes for the same amount of time. The group that had classes (experimental group) did significantly better than the group that just had free-play (control group). The experiment group scored four or more points better in every area tested than the control group in the final test. This shows that eurhythmic classes can benefit a child’s sense of rhythm (Zachopoulou, Evridiki).It is hard to find empirical data on Eurhythmics, never mind compare it, since the styles that teachers use differ greatly.
See also
- Rhythmic gymnasticsRhythmic gymnasticsRhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which individuals or teams of competitors manipulate one or two pieces of apparatus: rope, clubs, hoop, ball, ribbon and Free . An individual athlete only manipulates 1 apparatus at a time...
- EurythmyEurythmyEurythmy is an expressive movement art originated by Rudolf Steiner in conjunction with Marie von Sivers in the early 20th century. Primarily a performance art, it is also used in education — especially in Waldorf schools - and as a movement therapy....
, the art of articulating movement originated by Marie von Sivers and Rudolf SteinerRudolf SteinerRudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
in the early 20th century. The word derives from Greek roots meaning beautiful or harmonious rhythm. - Gurdjieff movements, a system of movement developed by G. I. GurdjieffG. I. GurdjieffGeorge Ivanovich Gurdjieff according to Gurdjieff's principles and instructions, or the "Fourth Way."At one point he described his teaching as "esoteric Christianity."...
and Jeanne de SalzmannJeanne de SalzmannJeanne Matignon de Salzmann born Jeanne Allemand often addressed as Madame de Salzmann was a close pupil of G. I. Gurdjieff, recognized as his deputy by many of Gurdjieff's other pupils...
in the early to the late 20th century.
External links
- Dalcroze Society of America
- Dalcroze Council of Australia
- Musikinesis has a few pieces of music by Jaques-Dalcroze that can be freely downloaded in PDF format
- Dalcroze Society UK