Posts by Katie Couch
Dalcroze Education for Youth: Subcommittee Update
Current Work The Dalcroze Education for Youth Subcommittee is comprised of members of the DSA’s Professional Development Committee. We (Adriana Ausch, Jeremy Dittus, Leslie Upchurch, and myself) have been meeting to discuss and organize common goals for Dalcroze students in the 4-7 year old age range. While our meetings began a few years ago with…
Read MoreRemembering Lisa Parker (part 2)
On October 7, 2022, we lost an extremely valuable and inspirational member of our community, Lisa Parker. Many people from around the country and the world have special memories of their time with Lisa, as her work touched many of us. Earlier this year, the DSA called for memories of Lisa to be shared with…
Read MoreImprov Exchange: Aaron Morrison
Welcome to the Improv Exchange, a new regular feature in Dalcroze Connections, the official magazine of the DSA. In this column, you’ll find inspiration to help kick-start your own improvisations at home or in class. The upcoming issue of Dalcroze Connections (vol. 7, no. 2; to be released digitally on May 9, 2023 and in…
Read MoreShared Improvisations
Hello Dalcroze USA community, A few months ago, we published a blog with improvisation inspiration in the form of a randomized dice game. Although you can go back and read about the game here, the guidelines were basically to use a set of practice dice to assign musical parameters, such as tonality, meter, tempo, and…
Read MoreImprov Exchange: Aaron Taylor
Welcome to the Improv Exchange, a new regular feature in Dalcroze Connections. In it, we’ll provide inspiration to help kickstart your own improvisations at home or in class. Composer Aaron Taylor Our inaugural column features the work of Aaron Taylor, whom Publications Committee member and editor-extraordinaire Michelle Li met during the 2022 CMU Marta Sanchez…
Read MoreCall for Submissions: Remembering Lisa Parker
On October 7, 2022, we lost an extremely valuable and inspirational member of our community, Lisa Parker. Many people from around the country and the world have special memories of their time with Lisa, as her work touched many of us. Below is a memoriam written by two of Lisa’s former students, Jeremy Dittus and…
Read MoreImprovisation Dice Game
Ever feel stuck in an ‘improvisation rut’? We all depend on well-learned chord progressions and patterns, but sometimes Dalcrozians (and improvising musicians in general) need a little inspiration to find their way to something new. One remedy is by listening to others play. One of the great benefits of the recent National Conference (January 13–15,…
Read MoreIntroducing: “Dalcroze Education for Youth”
Designed for New Dalcroze Teachers Have you ever taught a Dalcroze class to children ages 4-6? Or perhaps you are working on the pedagogy requirements towards Dalcroze certification and plan to do your practice teaching with this age group? Maybe you are thinking of creating a new course for 4-6 year olds in the near…
Read More