Member Spotlight
Eurhythmics As a Lifelong Discipline
Becoming an Opera Singer When I had to pick a concentration in my high school conservatory, I picked opera because I couldn’t dance. Selection day was held in the small former chapel, with dozens of other first year applicants dancing and warming up on the hard, gray carpet; flipping their long hair and box stepping.…
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 MoreUndoing Racism
This reflection was written on August 7, 2021 July 25 was our twelfth Zoom meeting, marking the one-year anniversary of our monthly sessions discussing “undoing racism in music education.” I hosted the meeting on Zoom from my AirBnB in Dallas, TX, where I was teaching and learning at the Dalcroze School of the Rockies Dalcroze…
Read MoreEiko Ishizuka in Conversation with Melissa Tucker
This interview was conducted May 11th, 2021 Melissa Tucker: In 2019 you earned the Diplôme Supérieur, the highest level of Dalcroze achievement, from L’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva, Switzerland. Along with Eri Inoue, Sachiko Muranaka and Kayo Nakaaki you are one of only four Japanese women to attain this credential. Tell me about your first experience…
Read MoreUndoing Racism, May 2021
I am writing this the day after President Biden’s first address to Congress, where he stood, for the first time in US history, in front of two women leaders of the house: Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris. I am heartened that President Biden is diversifying leadership in the government, and that his…
Read MoreUndoing Racism, March 2021
The monthly conversations on “Undoing Racism in Music Education” have continued. We’ve had three conversations since the last blogpost: one in December, one in January and one in February. I wish I could have posted something each month, but time has been speeding by faster than I expected. Our conversations have consistently been fruitful. We’ve…
Read MoreUndoing Racism, December 2020
We are in a unique time. Our conversations have the potential to bring about major cultural shifts, I believe. I hope so! But they are painful, I guess, like most growth spurts. Even the idea that one must have pain in order to grow is questionable, as my practice of the Alexander Technique posits. Yet,…
Read MoreUndoing Racism, November 2020
“The paradox of education is precisely this – that as one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.” “The purpose of education…is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions.” “Education is indoctrination…
Read MoreGetting Racism Out of Music Education: An Open Discussion
This past August and September on the last Sunday of the month the DSA has hosted informal Zoom discussions on racism in music education. These gatherings have been well attended, with over twenty participants joining from all over the world. I agreed to lead these discussions, inspired by recent events. After George Floyd was killed…
Read MoreWhat Moves You?
How do you fit a symphony orchestra onto a playground swing? Stephen Neely argues that it happens every time its musicians play together. In 2012, Stephen Neely presented at TEDxCMU a talk titled “What moves you?” It’s an overview of what Dalcroze Eurhythmics means to him and why it is important to teach in his…
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