Moving Up Little by Little: Expanding Dalcroze Eurhythmics Awareness in México Iris and Margarita Ramírez Talavera (México)
We, the authors of this article, belong to the first group of teachers who earned the Dalcroze certificate from a recognized training center in México. The Dalcroze training program at the Conservatorio de las Rosas in Morelia, Michoacán (lasting from 2012–2016) was the first Latin American center validated by the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva. Since Dalcroze pedagogy is not widely used in musical training in México, we were concerned about whether the financial investment we were making to be trained in Dalcroze eurhythmics was going to benefit us both professionally and economically. Furthermore, even though the tuition established by the training center was very low compared to other centers outside México, it was high in our country, considering the average income of a music teacher, particularly in central and south México. Most of our concerns are related to the current status of music education in Morelia, Michoacán. Even though interest has been increasing, the truth is there is little understanding of the different musical education methodologies to the extent that there are places where it would not matter if a person indicated that they are Dalcroze certified or that they have a diplôme supérieur. Against this background, we decided to begin including Dalcrozian principles in our various works, despite the fact that in most of our workplaces, more traditional ways of teaching music prevailed.
Uncharted Waters As the first group of certificate holders in Latin America (Mexico, 2014), our vision of music and music teaching underwent radical change. Dalcroze eurhythmics transformed our way of listening to and living music. As expected, the first forays into the classroom using this pedagogy were not always successful, since a “new school” was just being structured in which music was considered an essential subject for basic education in preschool, elementary school, and junior high. Dalcroze education contrasted greatly with the generic “art education,” where students played flute, guitar, or sang in a choir, and all the arts were folded into the same curriculum. Even though music finally had its own class time in the curriculum (as an extracurricular subject), the same program of years ago is still used now. The challenge was to make changes in the pre-established music program in the educational institutions where we worked.
Alliances Fortunately, we have found various allies, and we have never been in situations devoid of any support. For example, former colleagues from the certificate program, former classmates, and we ourselves have been instrumental in being able to continue on this path. After completing the certificate, the graduates went different ways. Some decided to continue exploring the various musical teaching methodologies. Those of us who focused on Dalcroze eurhythmics made a kind of support group by giving references of our work and thus generated more interest and attention in eurhythmics. Thanks to this community, we were able to place ourselves in institutions committed to this pedagogy.
Graduation first group of certificate holders in Latin America in 2014. Irisol Sandoval Castro
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Additionally, because Dalcroze is a pedagogy in constant movement, we continue to attend various workshops coordinated by different Dalcroze license holders and diplômes, some of whom were our own teachers in our certification program in 2014: Elda Nelly Treviño, Pablo Cernik, and Manuel Zazueta. With the latter, we even had the opportunity
DALCROZE CONNECTIONS • SPRING 2022 VOL.6, NO.2 • WWW.DALCROZEUSA.ORG • LATIN AMERICAN ISSUE, PART 2 (ENGLISH)
