Dalcroze in Action
Quick Reactions with a Dalcroze Teacher
This is the inaugural edition of “Quick Reactions with a Dalcroze Teacher”, a new regular feature of the DSA blog. Each month I’ll interview a different Dalcroze teacher. For the premier, I interviewed myself! Q: Give your “Dalcroze Origin Story” in 50 words or less. A: My girlfriend (now wife!) was taking classes with Bob…
Read MoreSabbatical in Switzerland: Institut Jaques-Dalcroze (Part 1)
This article first appeared in The Orff Echo, Volume XVIII, No. 4, Summer 1986. ©1986 American Orff-Schulwerk Association, Mayfield Heights, OH. Used by permission. Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, composer, pianist, and professor of harmony at the Conservatory of Geneva, developed his method of music education over an extended period from about 1900 to the 1920s. He was the greatest exponent…
Read MoreThe ICDS Heads to Luxembourg
The International Conference of Dalcroze Studies (ICDS), in its 11 years of existence, has blossomed into an exciting new major event in the Dalcroze world. It attracts Dalcroze, Dalcroze-adjacent and Dalcroze-curious participants from around the globe, enabling practitioners to mix fruitfully with world-renowned performers, clinicians, and scholars in fields from music education to neuroscience. Last…
Read MoreInterview with Rebecca Penneys
Rebecca Penneys is a recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist, educator, and adjudicator.For over six decades she has been hailed as a pianist of prodigious talent, has concertizedthroughout all the continents north of Antarctica, and represented the USA in Information ServiceState Department Cultural Tours over a ten-year period. She made her recital debut at age 9…
Read MoreAural Reactions #1
The 21st century Dalcroze teacher often uses current technology in the classroom to connect with students in a contemporary manner. Such technology includes the use of recordings. While the use of recorded music versus improvised music can be a topic of hot debate, it is no secret that recorded music has a definite place in…
Read MorePlastique Animée: The Importance of the Embodiment of Musical Expression and Communication
This essay considers the benefits of approaching musical expression and performance using the mindset and practices of a plastician, and how this can provide insight for instrumentalists, audiences, and music students. A personal account of the author’s first hand experience of performing Plastique Animée, it discusses the process and enlightenment from the point of view…
Read More“Learn to Improvise:” A Journey in Writing this Book
Editor’s Note: Leslie Purcell Upchurch has recently released a book on improvisation; this post contains her reflections on the writing and design process. Links to find the book are at the end of the article! Origins… During the 1990s, I was teaching at a piano school where the faculty were asked to write a semester-long…
Read MoreICDS6: a Review
The International Conference of Dalcroze Studies at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Wednesday- Saturday, August 2-5, 2023 Pittsburgh gave us four sunny days for the annual International Conference of Dalcroze Studies, the academic/research arm of Dalcroze education worldwide. This year’s theme “Ecologies of Practice in Music and Movement,” entailed exploring Dalcroze practice as…
Read More6th International Conference for Dalcroze Studies
“Ecologies of Practice in Music and Movement” Interested in research and practice of Dalcroze Eurhythmics and related fields? Save the date for a unique summer learning and sharing experience at the 6th International Conference for Dalcroze Studies to be held for the first time in the USA at the Marta Sanchez Dalcroze Training Center of…
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 More