Looking at the Differently-Abled
In my last blog entry, I wrote about our recent online discussion on Dalcroze Eurhythmics with differently-abled bodies, and shared a couple of personal stories that arose, some from the perspective of a student with a disability, some from the perspective of a teacher working with students with disabilities. I also related my own story…
Read MoreMeet 2023 Keynote Speaker Mary Dobrea-Grindahl
The 2023 Conference is just around the corner and early registration is now open! If you know Mary and have seen her teach, you know how lucky we are to be welcoming her as our Keynote Speaker. Mary Dobrea-Grindahl, Diplôme Supérieur, Professor Emerita at Baldwin Wallace University, where she enjoyed a multi-faceted teaching and performing career for over 30…
Read MoreExecutive Director’s Letter
What’s next? As we move out of these last few years of pandemic restrictions, this is a question I often ask myself. As the executive director, one of my roles (in concert with the board of trustees) is to listen, reflect, and envision our future. Where are we—as the Dalcroze USA community—now? How did we…
Read MoreGuest Editor’s Letter
Participating in a good eurhythmics class can be a bit like watching a great movie. The director’s filmmaking technique, when it is masterful, disappears once you are swept up in the flow of the movie. It’s only when we emerge from the film that we can marvel at the way it was put together: the…
Read MoreHow Dalcroze Eurhythmics Has Transformed my Solfège and Ear Training Teaching
For twenty years I have been teaching the ear training class, also called musical language or solfège, at the Escuela Superior de Música of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura in Mexico City. When I first began to teach these classes, I did so in the same traditional way in which I had…
Read MoreA Brief History of Dalcroze Eurhythmics in Guatemala
Making Dalcroze eurhythmics visible in Guatemala is a task that invites researchers to perform deep analysis. It was not possible to confirm the presence of a music teacher in Guatemala who held official accreditation endorsed by the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva. However, the impact of this music pedagogy in the development of local musical education…
Read MoreInterview with Iramar Eustachio Rodrigues, Brazil-Switzerland
“My Dalcroze eurhythmics teaching experience in my home country, Brazil, and other Latin American countries“By Elda Nelly Treviño (México) Iramar Eustachio Rodrigues (1944–), one of the most renowned and loved Latin American specialists in Dalcroze eurhythmics, was born in Brazil, became a nationalized Swiss citizen, and retired from the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva after many…
Read MoreJaques-Dalcroze Rhythmic Solfège Courses: A Personal Experience at Costa Rica’s SINEM
Introduction Throughout my musical career, solfège (music reading and theory) has always been rather bittersweet—challenging yet fascinating. As I progressed from beginning solfège in grade school to counterpoint in college, I became frustrated with the fact that these classes were abstract, repetitive, and, ironically, not very musical. This propelled me to search for a more…
Read MoreFrom Charango to Kultrún: The Richness of Chilean Music
Mexico, my native country, is in the northern hemisphere, yet shares the same language with Chile, far away in the southern hemisphere. Although both countries are part of Latin America, they are so far apart that when one is in the middle of winter, the other enjoys a hot summer. A focus on traditional Chilean…
Read MoreLetter from the Editor
The second volume of the special edition of Dalcroze Connections dedicated to the practice of Dalcroze Eurhythmics in Latinamerica offers the DSA community a diversity of applications of the principles of Jaques-Dalcroze in different contexts. This issue makes me feel very proud because among the authors of its articles, we find former graduates of the…
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