Improv 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 MoreEurhythmics 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 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 More2023 National Conference Reflection
The 2023 Dalcroze Conference at Baldwin Wallace University was uplifting and expansive. As I walked into each room, meeting others from across the country and reconnecting with a few familiar faces, I found the teaching modality that has been missing in my instruction for years. Moving with ease and beauty, while learning about the importance…
Read MoreIncitation and Inhibition: A Means to Internalize
by Jeremy Dittus and Eiko Ishizuka The Dalcrozian strategy/technique of incitation and inhibition exists in virtually every reaction exercise we do in eurhythmics, solfège, and improvisation. Simply put, incitation describes the desire to do something while inhibition describes the feeling of suppressing or denying that desire. Because of their symbiotic nature, incitation and inhibition typically…
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 MoreCanons in the Dalcroze Classroom
When I was 8 or 9 years old, my mother had me listen to Franck’s Violin and Piano Sonata – she had just bought the LP and she thought I’d be interested in the 4th movement. We were the sort of family that was always singing rounds, but this was the first time I’d heard a…
Read More