Book Review

Available from iBooks: ($19.95).
Written by Monica Dale
Illustrations by Alyssa Koski

As Dalcroze Eurhythmics moves into the 21st century, we must realize that, to remain relevant, the method must evolve with the times. I am convinced that Emile Jaques-Dalcroze would have been overjoyed at the pedagogical possibilities that technology affords us, as long as the integrity of his method was upheld. The Dalcroze-inspired iBook presents us with an exciting new development, and Monica Dale has broken ground with her latest publication, 5 Magical Stories in Music and Dance.

The iBook begins with an introduction about how Dale developed her storybased approach to teaching music and movement. It started organically as she observed her own daughter’s budding dance skills. She states that stories appeal to the very nature of children; they are drawn to the makebelieve, magic, and examination of the human condition. Through stories, they can be easily led to explore new movement and music ideas. In the book, Dale presents five tales composed for movement. The iBook enables her to embed composed music into the story, simply by linking it to a tappable icon. She acknowledges in the introduction that Alyssa Koski’s charming illustrations do not appear on every page, but this is because the children themselves become the visual elements of the story!

The first story is a variation on a first lesson in Eurhythmics, with the objectives of starting, stopping, holding a pose, and responding freely to a variety of music. “The Mystery of the Magic Park” is told humorously, with details that I imagine have been perfected after many tellings. The children are given creative license to choose what kind of park statue they will be, and therefore what kind of movement they will do. At first the music, composed for an ensemble of timbres, encourages listeners to simply practice moving and posing, but then becomes more refined, asking them to gallop in compound meter or waltz to a meter of three.

“The Broken Metronomes” hones in more on musical subjects, focusing on beat, accelerando, and ritardando, while adding movement objectives of shape quality, and movement direction. Dale incorporates an interactive component into the story when the metronomes help “fix” each other to tick evenly instead of slowing or accelerating, thereby integrating the interpersonal aspect of a solid eurhythmics lesson.

“The Giants and the Elves” presents a “quick reaction” exercise in the form of a game for which students must step division (eighth-notes), multiple (half-notes), and beat (quarter-notes). This story has a more dramatic aspect, since the children become either an elf, giant, or troll during the story, and may only move on their specific music.

The illustrations in this story help set the scene nicely. As a teacher, I would personally appreciate a printable graphic of each character. In order to keep track of who is who in a large group, students could wear a picture of their character as a necklace. Eventually pictures could be replaced by notation, and ultimately taken away entirely, allowing students to guess who was which character, based on the movements they observed. Dale suggests adding the element of improvisation after students are familiar with the story by having the teacher play the different rhythms on a drum or rhythm sticks. This way students cannot predict the character sequence or phrase length and can experience the joy which comes from a surprising discovery.

“How Spider’s Legs Got Bent” and “The Little Pine Tree” take the previous musical and movement concepts and add melodic themes and musical form. Both ask the children to respond in movement and song to specific melodic patterns, and the story narratives are fleshed out by the rondo-variation form. Though these two tales are a bit more fixed in their lesson structure, the students still decide how the various characters will move and can add drama to their songs. Due to their complexity, these stories are ideal candidates for a class play performance. The students could learn to play rhythmic sound effects on classroom instruments, and melodic phrases on pitched instruments.

From my own experience, these are stories the children will request again and again. The iBook version allows for wider usage by non-musicians, provides an aural example on which new Eurhythmics teachers can base their own improvisation, and is convenient to seasoned music teachers who lack a piano in their teaching space. Though I am most comfortable improvising piano music for small groups in an open movement area at my school, I have recently had great success with “How Spider’s Legs Got Bent” in one special teaching situation. I have the duty of entertaining a group of 17 preschool children in a small hallway every day for 20 minutes. The class has naturally evolved into an active (as much as possible, given our space contraints) music and story time, so I believed the students were primed for a combination of those subjects. After a carefullypaced introduction on how to move in place, I was able to read them the story from my iPhone, which was hooked up to a speaker. The frequent movement kept even the youngest students engaged and happily following listening cues to dance and sing throughout the story.

This iBook could be seen as a companion to Dale’s Eurhythmics for Young Children series, since she presents versions of two stories from those books “The Broken Metronomes” and “The Giants and the Elves.” The difference is that 5 Magical Stories in Music and Dance is presented in storybook fashion with teaching suggestions and musical icons instead of a lesson plan with written notation. For those new to Eurhythmics teaching, I would recommend they consult Eurhythmics for Young Children for preparatory activities and clearly outlined pedagogical suggestions leading into the stories.

I understand that more and more teachers these days face challenges of overcrowded classrooms, too little physical outlet for children during the school day, and too little time for creativity. To remedy these issues, I can recommend the userfriendliness and adaptability of Monica Dale’s iBook to any classroom situation. I hope all preschool and lower elementary teachers, not just those trained in Dalcroze Eurhythmics, have the opportunity to discover it.