Move Música – 2016, thanks and pics!!!

Em agosto passado, fizemos a primeira edição do “Move Música” em minha cidade natal, Rio Claro, SP.

Em 4 turmas com idade diferenciadas, pude compartilhar um pouco do Método Dalcroze e sua base de ensino musical através de movimentos corporais.

Gostaria de expressar a minha imensa gratidão à minha irmã de arte e parceira, Tatiana Leite e a todo o pessoal do Estúdio de Dança Tatiana Leite pelo apoio e espaço maravilhosos!!!

Seguem algumas fotos!

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Last August, we put together the first edition of “Move Música”, in my hometown, Rio Claro, in Brazil.

In this occasion, I could share a little bit of the Dalcroze Method and its teachings of learning music through body movements.

I would like to express my gratitude to my sister in art and partner, ballerina Tatiana Leite and everybody at “Estúdio de Dança Tatiana Leite”for all the support and beautiful space!!

Take a look at some amazing pictures!

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Turma de 3 a 5 anos/ 3 to 5 years old:

Turma de 6 a 8 anos/ 6 to 8 years old:

Turma Pre-Teen (9 a 12 anos)/ 9 to 12 years old:

Turma Adultos/ Adults:

 

Dalcroze, Arts and People – parts 3 & 4

3. Dalcroze and People 

Dalcroze´s background as a Swiss composer shows a profound understanding of the people, his surroundings and his country as a collective entity. There is a historic Swiss love for singing: “It is a singing of a happy people, with unanimous sentiment in group singing.” At his time, National Festivals, with performances in open-air and in large number of participants were very common.

Also at his school in Hellerau (1910 – 1914) one of the focal points was the concept of community, of society, where people worked and lived in harmony. As a garden city, Hellerau would be created on the “principle of togetherness, of performance as well as spirit.”

“All music was done in the solfége class. The school had no orchestra, no choir or soloists, for Dalcroze wanted none of these – only music and persons”. (Spector , I – Rhythm and Life, The work of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze)

Dalcroze, Arts and People – part 2

2. Dalcroze and Arts

 

“I look forward to a system of musical education in which the body itself shall play the role of intermediary between sounds and thought, becoming in time the direct medium of our feelings…The child will thus be taught at school not only to sing, listen carefully, and keep time, but also to move and think accurately and rhythmically. One might commence by regulating the mechanisms of walking, and from thence proceed to ally vocal movements with gestures of the whole body. That would constitute at once instruction in rhythm and education by rhythm.”

(E. J. Dalcroze – “The Place of Ear-training in Musical Education” (1898) – in Rhythm, Music and Education – pages 4 -5)

Eurhythmics

Dalcroze Eurhythmics can be defined as a method of teaching music using natural body movements with its roots based in the work developed by Swiss music educator Emile Jaques-Dalcroze in the beginning of the 20^th century. In essence, this method derives from the concept that the human body possesses all the ingredients necessary to understand the musical phenomena; the natural movements, as a reaction to the listening activities, are the basis for the study of rhythm and the connections that occur between body and mind can help one better understand music theory.

As a student of the Dalcroze method, and while participating in, and observing eurhythmics classes, I can clearly see the results accomplished by this work.  The basic organic movement of walking, for example, is transformed into the concept of

Dalcroze, Arts and People – part 1

“No art is nearer to life than music.

One can say that music is life itself.”

E. Jaques-Dalcroze

(Spector , Irwin – Rhythm and Life, The work of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Dance and Music Series, n. 3 – Pendragon Press, Stuyvesant, NY, 1990)

 

1.    Introduction: A personal history

 

I came across the Dalcroze Method of music education while talking to a very good friend at a Music College in Brazil. We were both members of a female vocal sextet and we were talking about how nice it would be to have music and movement combined together. She was a Conducting Major at the time and said that I should learn about Dalcroze and his method of teaching music through movement.

That idea fascinated me at the time. I had taken some courses in music education, and some of them talked about using the body movements for some activities but nothing specific involving the use of the body to understand music.

I started researching the Dalcroze Method on the Internet, since in Brazil we did not have Dalcroze classes available. As I kept reading and researching, I became more and more intrigued by it. However, in my readings, I could not find a totally

Experiencing Dalcroze

“Step the beat!” “Move to the music!” These commands are examples of what one may hear during the first couple of minutes of a Eurhythmics lesson. While they may seem a bit strange for a music student trained in a more conventional tradition, these simple instructions can make a huge difference for aspiring musicians.

To an outsider, a Eurhythmics class may look like a dance lesson. Students are barefoot, stepping, skipping running, moving their arms up in the air, making gestures, and clapping – everything happening while someone plays the piano. But don’t fool yourself; the movement is all about the music!

The teacher improvises on the piano so the students can move to a pattern, meter, phrase or other element in the music – it’s all part of a plan to help students fully experience and understand a musical subject. At a given point, both the teacher and the students discuss the theory behind the exercises, and the proper musical notation is written. Through body movement, the mind learns, analyses and understands. From basic movement such as walking, participants learn about the weight transfer found in the concept of beats. More “complicated” movement, such as skipping or waltzing, bring compound meter to life.