While teaching at the Geneva Conservatory, Swiss composer and pianist Émile Jacques-Dalcroze (1865-1950) began to develop his system of rhythmic gymnastics. In the early 1900's an Institute was built for Jacques-Dalcroze near Dresden and in 1915 he founded the l'Institut Jacques-Dalcroze in Geneva. Soon Dalcroze Eurythmics schools opened in London, throughout the British Empire, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and New York.

He composed more than 1,000 songs for Eurhythmic classes as well as solfège (ear training and sight singing) exercises.

Features

• premise - the human body is the source of all musical ideas and human movement affects musical perception
• Eurhythmics (means "good rhythm") allows us to gain physical awareness and experience of music so training must take place through all the senses (including the kinesthetic / body movement) , not just focussed on the mind
• The Dalcroze approach encourages cross-fertilization between art forms
• Three-part structure - Rhythmics, Solfège, and Improvisation
• Importance of developing musical sensitivity to the expressive elements of music - "feel first, express afterwards"
• Experience before intellectual, theory must follow practice
• Four steps
  • reacting, feeling and understanding
  • imagining, reproducing and improvising
  • identifying, describing or writing down
  • composing or creating
• long and rigorous teacher training. Teachers must make decisions about exercises as they go along ensuring that students are making conscious links between listening and moving.

Publications:

(1920). Le Rythme, la musique et l'éducation
(1930). Eurhythmics, Art and Education

Conferences: See Music Conferences.

Information and Organizations:

Dalcroze Society of America
c/o Terry Boyarsky, Treasurer
2812 Fairmount Boulevard
Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118-4020
e-mail: touizers@aol.com
http://www.dalcrozeusa.org/

• Institut Jaques-Dalcroze
• Dalcroze Council of Australia

Updated July 18, 2000