President’s Message

Dear Colleagues,

Though this inaugural issue arrives at your doorstep in time to ring in the New Year, Dalcroze Connections has been steadily building momentum and taking shape throughout the fall season. Consistent with its title, this incubation period has given us a chance to re-envision how the Dalcroze Society of America connects with our membership, not only via hard copy publications such as this, but also by means of a wide array of online media, from e mail newsletters to our website, as well as how we Dalcrozians connect with one another in face-to-face encounters at actual events such as workshops and conferences. More on this last item later.

In Dalcroze Connections we have crafted a new vehicle for sharing our experiences— both the Dalcroze variety and others, too—since personal and interpersonal experience is so much of what we’re all about; and it gives us a whole range of ways us to enrich our connections with one another. I especially hope we’ll connect with each other via member contributions and profiles that shed light on how we each use our Dalcroze training and enjoy the enhanced capabilities it gives us in teaching, learning, performing, and other areas. The title also opens up several possibilities for exploring the many different kinds of connections we make in a Dalcroze lesson—the connection between music and movement, obviously, and the ones we inevitably explore between time, space, and energy; but also the critical mind-body connection, or the important link between soloist and supporting ensemble—even perhaps the complex connections between id, ego, and super ego (if I can slip a little Freudian reference in here). I think of our practice as an excellent tool for making these and other vital connections, and, in the process, for reintegrating ourselves into the high-performing teachers, musicians, artists, and human beings we were meant to be. So the title Dalcroze Connections holds much promise for further investigation into the inner workings and outward manifestations of our practice. I invite you to join us on this adventure and help us forge new pathways through this fruitful terrain.

At this particular time the sense of renewal that accompanies the launching of Dalcroze Connections is all the more resonant for its corresponding with not just one but two signature events in the life and history of our practice: as of this past summer, the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze has embarked on its second century as steward of Dalcroze Eurhythmics as a global practice and as the root source of authorized Dalcroze teacher training. Because many Dalcroze practitioners on this side of the Atlantic look to the IJD and its Collège for guidance and inspiration in how to advance the practice here in the USA, it is only fitting that we celebrate this milestone with our counterparts not only in Switzerland but truly the world over. This issue’s feature on Silvia Del Bianco, the IJD’s director, embodies the DSA’s vital connection to this international body.

In addition, last April we also marked the 150th anniversary of the birth—in Vienna—of Emile Jaques (or Emil, as it appeared on his German language birth certificate). This past July, at the site of this historic event, attendees of the Second International Conference on Dalcroze Studies celebrated the occasion in a ceremony that featured a plastique presented in Greek attire and language, accompanied only by voice and hand percussion, and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque mounted in the square where the Jaques family was living that fateful day. Several DSA members were there to witness this remarkable street performance.

In fact, several of us had already started celebrating these milestones the preceding week at the International Congress hosted by the IJD in Geneva. It was truly heartening to see so many colleagues from here in the “Etats-Unis” taking part in this experience and representing the American contingent of the global community of practice. The Congress offered numerous opportunities not only to study with a stellar list of Dalcroze practitioners, but also to attend research presentations, lecture demonstrations, and film screenings, as well as to connect with an international gathering of colleagues and friends old and new.

The Congress proper was preceded by “Journées d’études” or study days. This groundbreaking event brought together Diplomates from Dalcroze teacher training programs the world over, as well as many of the Licentiates who are currently working towards the Diplôme Supérieur, the terminal degree of the Dalcroze practice. Remarkably, until this event, the world’s leading experts in this practice had not assembled to systematically compare and contrast their respective approaches to delivering teacher training. While the organizers made a conscious effort to expose these international colleagues to diverse perspectives, the net result was to bring people together and build a stronger sense of being part of a global community.

In design and execution both the symposium and the ensuing Congress projected a refreshingly contemporary orientation—an unexpected departure from the Institute’s staid reputation. This was no mere coincidence: in several ways it was clear that the Collège sought to give the whole affair an innovative, “exceptional” character. The Congress’s refreshing tone came in part from the “surprises” built into the schedule, which included, among other things, the startling improvised performance piece that concluded the opening ceremony, and a rhumba line to Pharrell William’s “Happy.” But broadcasting the event’s novelty, the event’s webpage noted that teaching in the 21st century is now characterized by “the increase of interdisciplinary work and networking.” The even’ts upbeat character also stemmed from the IJD’s wish that, by encouraging us to exchange “viewpoints with professionals from different backgrounds,” the Congress would “open us up to new perspectives in our daily practices.” Accordingly, its richness of emphasis matched the diversity of its intended audience, which encompassed “professionals and knowledgeable amateurs from Geneva and abroad, including musicians, teachers, therapists, dancers and anyone interested in eurhythmics as a teaching discipline, method, or pedagogical principle.” Hence the Congress’s forward-thinking theme: “Interactions between pedagogy, art and science and their influence on learning through and for music today and tomorrow” (emphasis added). This was clearly not meant to be your grandmother’s Congress! And yet, the Collège’s progressive vision for this event notwithstanding, its expansive breadth of scope made allowance for old perspectives, as well as new ones. I came away feeling embraced by the Institute and welcomed into this international community of practitioners to a degree I had not anticipated.

Consistent with the Collège’s bold vision, the Congress featured a novel array of formats, in addition to the traditional eurhythmics, solfege, and improvisation lessons, that ranged from lecture demonstrations to research presentations, from roundtable discussions to video screenings. As advertised, the latter included presentations and practical workshops that addressed the following fields:

• Interactions between art and neuroscience
• Musical education: history, current practices
• Applications of eurhythmics: early childhood, arts, disability, seniors

As one might expect with a gathering of such experiential, hands-on learners, the deepest impressions were made by the workshops. I only wish there had been more of these to satisfy the great demand such a gathering of teachers would inevitably stir in the assembled. Yet sheltered within the two large lecture halls of the Centre Médical Universitaire, where the Congress took place, other attendees were content to sit and listen to research presentations on any of a number of topics relevant to their own work as teachers, students, musicians, and researchers. After all, attending a full day of workshops could be exhausting, even for the most stalwart among us; so these alternative presentations gave many of us a welcome chance to catch our breath. Intent on giving their audiences an experience, rather than merely a highly informative lecture, the more inventive of the lecture hall presenters proved time and again that practically any available space can accommodate a Dalcroze exercise. Clearly there is more than one way to benefit from the pedagogy of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze.

As with any new format, the Congress’s innovations generated a mixed reaction, perhaps predictably. Attendees who came the Congress seeking only to take part in workshops felt disappointed that, as with the pre-enrolled Improvisation lessons, attendance to these would also be limited, albeit not as severely. Owing to space limitations, the IJD had to cap attendance to these sessions. To its credit, the IJD quickly recognized the situation’s awkwardness. Recovering from this unanticipated complication, many attendees adapted to this system and savored the wide array of alternatives available to them.

Looking forward to the summer, on June 22 to June 24, the DSA will host its national conference in Princeton, NY, at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. We have issued a call for proposals in the hope that our membership will actively participate as attendees, as presenters, and as ambassadors and spokespersons for our practice. The preceding two days, June 20 and 21 we will host a pre-conference symposium for scholarly presentations on the subject Flow in Performance: Theories/Practices. I look forward to seeing you there. Between now and then, the Board of Trustees will reach out to you by phone to find out how you regenerate your energy for your teaching and your musical performances. We hope that, by making this connection, we can ensure that the conference will help renew your connection to the practice and to the powerful factors that drove you to pursue Dalcroze training.