Dalcroze Connections, Fall 2016 by Dalcroze Society of America

IN THIS ISSUE FEATURES PLASTIQUE ANIMÉE: ART AND EDUCATION

Submission deadlines for each volume year are June 15, January 15.

BY JACK STEVENSON, DJ-D

TRIBUTE TO HERBERT HENKE

Dalcroze Connections accepts advertisements Sizes below. Contact the editor for pricing, placement availability, file preparation and delivery instructions.

VARIOUS CONTRIBUTORS

INTERVIEW WITH SYLVIA DEL BIANCO

Full Page: 7.5 x 10

BY WILLIAM BAUER

1/2 Page Vertical: 3.375 x 9

DALCROZE USA: E PLURIBUS UNUM

1/2 Page Horizontal: 7 x 4.375

BY WILLIAM BAUER

1/4 Page Vertical: 3.375 x 4.375 1/4 Page Horizontal: 7 x 2.25

DEPARTMENTS

Managing Editor Michael Joviala / editor@dalcrozeusa.org Associate Editor Aaron Butler Journal Design Emily Raively / mouseur2@yahoo.com [Cover Photo from the DSA National Conference 2012, provided by Yukiko Konishi]

The Dalcroze Society of America (DSA) publishes Dalcroze Connections to inform, inspire and educate its members. Published twice per year (Fall and Spring), the magazine seeks articles, essays and letters by DSA members of varying lengths that pertain to the history, study, practice or teaching of the Method Jaques-Dalcroze and related disciplines. Submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis and may be edited for content and length. While timely submission of articles may allow for consultation with contributors, the editor reserves the right of final editorial decisions.

FROM THE EDITOR

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

NEWS

TO THE EDITOR

SCHOLARSHIP REFLECTIONS

MEMBER’S CORNER: AN AMERICAN IN GENEVA: TALES FROM THE 2015 CONGRESS

BY MATTIE KAISER

Articles should be submitted electronically to Michael Joviala (editor@dalcrozeusa.org). Submissions to Dalcroze Connections should be no longer than 2500 words. Contributors are encouraged to submit related photographs and images. Scholarly authors are referred to the American Dalcroze Journal, the DSA’s refereed (peer reviewed) journal, published once per year. For more information, email editor@dalcrozeusa.org. The views expressed in Dalcroze Connections do not necessarily represent those of the Dalcroze Society of America.

FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to Dalcroze Connections, our newly envisioned DSA publication: a magazine “of, by, and for” members of the Dalcroze Society of America. In Dalcroze Connections you’ll find the many features you’ve come to know and love in the over forty-year publishing history of the American Dalcroze Journal (which is taking on a new life of its own – more about that coming up): articles by members related to the teaching and practice of Dalcroze, book reviews, news from local Chapters, lesson plans, songs, discussion forums for DSA policy and business. Over the coming year the editorial and design team (myself, Aaron Butler, and Emily Raively with plenty of assistance from indefatigable DSA President Bill Bauer) will be refining the look and feel of the magazine. To that end, we are pleased to welcome the newest member of the team, Weroniki Balewski, joining us as photo editor. Enthusiasts of the American Dalcroze Journal (and I am definitely one) needn’t be distressed, however. The ADJ will continue as a strictly peer-reviewed journal designed to promote the practice of Dalcroze and related fields through scholarship and inquiry. We will maintain an open call for submissions from our membership, but expect to draw heavily from the work of scholars in related fields. [We hope many of these scholars will present at the academic symposia that will precede our biennial conferences, such as the upcoming pre-conference symposium on Flow in Performance to be held on June 20 and 21 at Rider University’s Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey (see the Call for Proposals on pages 8-9 of this issue). We are deferring publication of the American Dalcroze Journal’s next issue until January 2017, which is slated to be a special double-issue issue on the same topic. We hope this recasting of our publications will allow us to serve our members’ interests with even greater depth and specificity—via Dalcroze Connections—while also reaching out to the many fields and disciplines that might fruitfully intersect with the practice of Dalcroze—via American Dalcroze Journal. While the latter will appear once a year, the publishing schedule for Dalcroze Connections will result in a fall and a spring edition. Please note that submission deadlines have been changed to allow sufficient time to prepare each issue: June 15 is the new deadline for the fall issue, and January 15 for the spring issue; we will consider submissions to American Dalcroze Journal on a rolling basis. This inaugural issue of Dalcroze Connections offers up a rich serving of material. Explore Jack Stephenson’s inimitable take on plastique animée, enjoy Institut JaquesDalcroze head Sylvia Del Blanco’s refreshingly open and forward outlook on the practice in her conversation with Bill Bauer, and learn what an ‘American in Geneva’ thought of the IJD’s 2015 International Congress in Mattie Kaiser’s offering. Finally, we have gathered reflections of the influential and unforgettable American master Dalcroze teacher Herbert Henke, who passed away this past August. Over the coming months we’ll be looking for ways to increase DSA member participation in this publication, so it truly becomes your magazine. Got an idea for a regular feature? We are all ears. The more voices we hear from and include, the more ‘connections’ we’ll be able to make for those new to the work and those with many years of experience. Pitch your idea, no matter how modest or ambitious – or offer your comments, queries and suggestions – at editor@dalcrozeusa.org. Happy reading! Michael Joviala Managing Editor

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Dear Colleagues, Though this inaugural issue arrives at your doorstep in time to ring in the New Year, Dalcroze Connections has been steadily building momentum and taking shape throughout the fall season. Consistent with its title, this incubation period has given us a chance to re-envision how the Dalcroze Society of America connects with our membership, not only via hard copy publications such as this, but also by means of a wide array of online media, from e mail newsletters to our website, as well as how we Dalcrozians connect with one another in face-to-face encounters at actual events such as workshops and conferences. More on this last item later. In Dalcroze Connections we have crafted a new vehicle for sharing our experiences— both the Dalcroze variety and others, too—since personal and interpersonal experience is so much of what we’re all about; and it gives us a whole range of ways us to enrich our connections with one another. I especially hope we’ll connect with each other via member contributions and profiles that shed light on how we each use our Dalcroze training and enjoy the enhanced capabilities it gives us in teaching, learning, performing, and other areas. The title also opens up several possibilities for exploring the many different kinds of connections we make in a Dalcroze lesson—the connection between music and movement, obviously, and the ones we inevitably explore between time, space, and energy; but also the critical mind-body connection, or the important link between soloist and supporting ensemble—even perhaps the complex connections between id, ego, and super ego (if I can slip a little Freudian reference in here). I think of our practice as an excellent tool for making these and other vital connections, and, in the process, for reintegrating ourselves into the high-performing teachers, musicians, artists, and human beings we were meant to be. So the title Dalcroze Connections holds much promise for further investigation into the inner workings and outward manifestations of our practice. I invite you to join us on this adventure and help us forge new pathways through this fruitful terrain.

At this particular time the sense of renewal that accompanies the launching of Dalcroze Connections is all the more resonant for its corresponding with not just one but two signature events in the life and history of our practice: as of this past summer, the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze has embarked on its second century as steward of Dalcroze Eurhythmics as a global practice and as the root source of authorized Dalcroze teacher training. Because many Dalcroze practitioners on this side of the Atlantic look to the IJD and its Collège for guidance and inspiration in how to advance the practice here in the USA, it is only fitting that we celebrate this milestone with our counterparts not only in Switzerland but truly the world over. This issue’s feature on Silvia Del Bianco, the IJD’s director, embodies the DSA’s vital connection to this international body. In addition, last April we also marked the 150th anniversary of the birth—in Vienna—of Emile Jaques (or Emil, as it appeared on his German language birth certificate). This past July, at the site of this historic event, attendees of the Second International Conference on Dalcroze Studies celebrated the occasion in a ceremony that featured a plastique presented in Greek attire and language, accompanied only by voice and hand percussion, and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque mounted in the square where the Jaques family was living that fateful day. Several DSA members were there to witness this remarkable street performance.

In fact, several of us had already started celebrating these milestones the preceding week at the International Congress hosted by the IJD in Geneva. It was truly heartening to see so many colleagues from here in the “Etats-Unis” taking part in this experience and representing the American contingent of the global community of practice. The Congress offered numerous opportunities not only to study with a stellar list of Dalcroze practitioners, but also to attend research presentations, lecture demonstrations, and film screenings, as well as to connect with an international gathering of colleagues and friends old and new. The Congress proper was preceded by “Journées d’études” or study days. This groundbreaking event brought together Diplomates from Dalcroze teacher training programs the world over, as well as many of the Licentiates who are currently working towards the Diplôme Supérieur, the terminal degree of the Dalcroze practice. Remarkably, until this event, the world’s leading experts in this practice had not assembled to systematically compare and contrast their respective approaches to delivering teacher training. While the organizers made a conscious effort to expose these international colleagues to diverse perspectives, the net result was to bring people together and build a stronger sense of being part of a global community. In design and execution both the symposium and the ensuing Congress projected a refreshingly contemporary orientation—an unexpected departure from the Institute’s staid reputation. This was no mere coincidence: in several ways it was clear that the Collège sought to give the whole affair an innovative, “exceptional” character. The Congress’s refreshing tone came in part from the “surprises” built into the schedule, which included, among other things, the startling improvised performance piece that concluded the opening ceremony, and a rhumba line to Pharrell William’s “Happy.” But broadcasting the event’s novelty, the event’s webpage noted that teaching in the 21st century is now characterized by “the increase of interdisciplinary work and networking.” The even’ts upbeat character also stemmed from the IJD’s wish that, by encouraging us to exchange “viewpoints with professionals from different backgrounds,” the Congress would “open us up to new perspectives in our daily practices.” Accordingly, its richness of emphasis matched the diversity of its intended audience, which encompassed “professionals and knowledgeable amateurs from Geneva and abroad, including musicians, teachers, therapists, dancers and anyone interested in eurhythmics as a teaching discipline, method, or pedagogical principle.” Hence the Congress’s forward-thinking theme: “Interactions between pedagogy, art and science and their influence on learning through and for music today and tomorrow” (emphasis added). This was clearly not meant to be your grandmother’s Congress! And yet, the Collège’s progressive vision for this event notwithstanding, its expansive breadth of scope made allowance for old perspectives, as well as new ones. I came away feeling embraced by the Institute and welcomed into this international community of practitioners to a degree I had not anticipated. Consistent with the Collège’s bold vision, the Congress featured a novel array of formats, in addition to the traditional eurhythmics, solfege, and improvisation lessons, that ranged from lecture demonstrations to research presentations, from roundtable discussions to video screenings. As advertised, the latter included presentations and practical workshops that addressed the following fields: • Interactions between art and neuroscience • Musical education: history, current practices • Applications of eurhythmics: early childhood, arts, disability, seniors

As one might expect with a gathering of such experiential, hands-on learners, the deepest impressions were made by the workshops. I only wish there had been more of these to satisfy the great demand such a gathering of teachers would inevitably stir in the assembled. Yet sheltered within the two large lecture halls of the Centre MĂŠdical Universitaire, where the Congress took place, other attendees were content to sit and listen to research presentations on any of a number of topics relevant to their own work as teachers, students, musicians, and researchers. After all, attending a full day of workshops could be exhausting, even for the most stalwart among us; so these alternative presentations gave many of us a welcome chance to catch our breath. Intent on giving their audiences an experience, rather than merely a highly informative lecture, the more inventive of the lecture hall presenters proved time and again that practically any available space can accommodate a Dalcroze exercise. Clearly there is more than one way to benefit from the pedagogy of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. As with any new format, the Congressâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s innovations generated a mixed reaction, perhaps predictably. Attendees who came the Congress seeking only to take part in workshops felt disappointed that, as with the pre-enrolled Improvisation lessons, attendance to these would also be limited, albeit not as severely. Owing to space limitations, the IJD had to cap attendance to these sessions. To its credit, the IJD quickly recognized the situationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s awkwardness. Recovering from this unanticipated complication, many attendees adapted to this system and savored the wide array of alternatives available to them. Looking forward to the summer, on June 22 to June 24, the DSA will host its national conference in Princeton, NY, at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. We have issued a call for proposals in the hope that our membership will actively participate as attendees, as presenters, and as ambassadors and spokespersons for our practice. The preceding two days, June 20 and 21 we will host a pre-conference symposium for scholarly presentations on the subject Flow in Performance: Theories/Practices. I look forward to seeing you there. Between now and then, the Board of Trustees will reach out to you by phone to find out how you regenerate your energy for your teaching and your musical performances. We hope that, by making this connection, we can ensure that the conference will help renew your connection to the practice and to the powerful factors that drove you to pursue Dalcroze training. William R. Bauer, Ph.D. President, Dalcroze Society of America

1 2

DSA NATIONAL CONFERENCE June 22-24, 2016 Westminster Choir College, Princeton NJ

Three days of Eurhythmics, SolfÃ¨ge and Improvisation with master Dalcroze teachers SPECIAL PRE-CONFERENCE SYMPOSIUM: Flow in Performance: Theories/Practices

Presentations, lectures and discussions on the topic of flow as a key element of performing arts, learning, and teaching. June 20-21, 2016

REGISTRATION BEGINS IN JANUARY

2016 National Conference Flow in Performing Arts Education: A Three-Day Atelier June 22-24, 2016 The Westminster Choir College of Rider University Princeton NJ

The Dalcroze Society of America invites Dalcroze practitioners at all levels of training to present workshops for its 2016 National Conference. This event will consist of a three-day atelier focused on an exploration of the theme Flow in Performing Arts Education. We welcome proposals from any practitioner who holds the Dalcroze Certificate, Dalcroze License, or Dalcroze Diplôme Supérieur. To give attendees a high degree of choice as to which area to explore at any given time, the conference’s innovative “atelier” format will enable them to choose from among sessions offered in each of the five branches of Dalcroze Education, or one on a special application of Dalcroze Methods and/or Principles. Presenters must therefore design their sessions to take place within the allotted 75-minute time frame. We encourage practitioners to submit more than one proposal, and to submit proposals in more than one area and participant experience level. Deadline: All proposals must be submitted by midnight, Friday January 15, 2016. We encourage presenters to propose workshops for any level of Dalcroze experience (Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced) in any of the following areas. Preference will be given to proposals that address the atelier theme: Flow in Performing Arts Education. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Methods and/or Principles. Presenters must therefore design their sessions to take place within the allotted 75-minute time frame. We encourage practitioners to submit more than one proposal, and to submit proposals in more than one area and participant experience level. Deadline: All proposals must be submitted by midnight, Friday January 15, 2016. We encourage presenters to propose workshops for any level of Dalcroze experience (Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced) in any of the following areas. Preference will be given to proposals that address the atelier theme: Flow in Performing Arts Education. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Dalcroze Eurhythmics Dalcroze Solfège Dalcroze Improvisation Dalcroze Pedagogy (including teaching demonstrations, videos, etc…) Dalcroze Plastique Animée (Live or recorded) Special Applications of Dalcroze Methods and/or Principles • Dance Education and Performance Private Lessons • Seniors The Suzuki Method • Special Needs Students • Single Line Instruments • Choral/Instrumental Rehearsal and Performance • Theater, Drama, Acting Courses • Collegiate Solfège/Theory Courses • Other

Kindly direct your proposal(s) to the attention of Jessica Schaeffer, DSA Secretary <secretary@dalcrozeusa.org> no later than midnight, Friday January 15, 2016. The Conference Proposal Review Task Force will notify candidates of their proposal’s status by February 15. All presenters will be expected to register for the conference, and only registered conference attendees will be allowed to present. Details on conference registration will be forthcoming in the months ahead. All proposals must contain the following information (we will not tender incomplete applications): 1. Name, biographical information (150 word limit), and head shot (JPEG format) 2. Description a. Title b. Abstract describing what participants can expect to get from taking the workshop (250 word limit); Plastique Animée performances should include estimated timing c. Category (from the list 1-6 above) d. Dalcroze Music/Movement subject(s) addressed in the workshop e. Participant Experience Level i. Beginner (Pre-Certificate) ii. Intermediate (Post-Certificate) iii. Advanced (Post-License) 3. Equipment needs, including technical requirements Please direct all questions regarding proposals and conference planning to Jessica Schaeffer: DSA Secretary <secretary@dalcrozeusa.org>

BY JACK STEVENSON, DJ-D1

PLASTIQUE ANIMÉE: ART AND EDUCATION

However, every effort is made to ensure that nothing overshadows the prominence of the human body or detracts from either the music or the movement, such as extraneous costumes, props, or sounds.

Plastique animée is an art form that has been central to my work for many years. As the pinnacle of Jaques-Dalcroze Education, it is not for novices. Rather, it is an outgrowth of experiences in JaquesDalcroze Education and the skills developed in the process.

THE PLASTIQUE COMPOSER/ PERFORMER This unique art form is its own discipline, requiring subtlety, maturity, and artistry that can only come with in-depth immersion in Jaques-Dalcroze Education. The process by which choreographed movement evolves is the critical difference between plastique animeé and a dance choreographer’s “music visualization.” Plastique performers create the choreography itself. By analyzing compositions theoretically, artistically and through movement as their medium, the plasticians coordinate with the sound musician(s) to create a seamless whole, marrying the music’s structure with the movement’s form. In this sense, Plastique Animée functions as an artistic interface between music and movement and works to deepen the understanding of both.

As a study, plastique animée enters the Dalcroze classroom as the culminating experience of a solfège or eurhythmics class. In this case, students study a piece of music that exemplifies the music concepts of the lesson. They work together to bring their physical understanding of music into a loosely organized, choreographic form.

This unique art form is its own discipline, requiring subtlety, maturity, and artistry that can only come with in-depth immersion in Jaques-Dalcroze Education.

Through the study of plastique, it becomes clear that the entire Dalcroze approach is rooted in music literature. Jaques-Dalcroze Education is essentially a study of music composition, interpretation and performance. In its final form, plastique animée presents the body as a musical instrument without qualification. In plastique, Dalcroze Education is more than a means to an end; it is an artistic end in itself.

As an art form, plastique animée is carried forward to the stage and performed in public. The theatrical performances may be enhanced using special lighting and stage design, carving space with blocks and levels to highlight certain aspects of the choreography in the style of Adolph Appia.

1. Special thanks to Monica Dale for her contributions as editor. 10

It must pass the two-question litmus test: “Can I watch the movement and hear the music?” and “Can I listen to the music and see the movement?”

Plasticians become able to create movement while imagining music, and conversely can create music while envisioning movement. The unity of music and movement may be imagined visually as two correlated images. The first is a picture of music notation; the other is an image of a human being or group of human beings moving through space with time and energy. Both images and their corresponding sensations are brought together first for the analysis of the score and then for its physical performance. The final product takes a choreographic form that demonstrates its origins in and reliance on music. It must pass the two-question litmus test: “Can I watch the movement and hear the music?” and “Can I listen to the music and see the movement?”

THE PLASTICIAN’S EDUCATION Through Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Solfège, and Improvisation, Dalcrozians experience the various parameters of music as physical sensations. Mind, body, and spirit merge to the point that the whole being becomes a finely tuned instrument capable of responding to musical nuance intelligently, artistically and instinctively. These sensations produce images in the brain that serve to chart the shape of any given piece of music. Once those images are refined and consciously labeled, they become the raw materials of plastique composition.

The Jaques-Dalcroze educational process must align and balance the body in the horizontal and vertical planes, while regulating the body’s nervous system and developing the technical prowess to move with agility, poise, and resistance through space both in time and on time. Furthermore, this special education must train and refine the ear so that it may provide those images of musical notation and physical movement to the brain. Dalcrozians must be able to see what they hear and to hear what they see. Only after all of this is accomplished is the Dalcrozian ready to begin serious study of plastique animèe.

The importance of the final choreography cannot be understated because the public at large sees it, and judges it. However, that product, that final plastique will not reflect the principals of movement and music nor the philosophy of the Jaques-Dalcroze Method without the authentic process. As stated earlier, the Jaques-Dalcrozian idea of movement is based on music. The process is born out of eurhythmics, solfège, and improvisation. These three principal branches work to prepare the student musically, physically, and mentally to create movement in space that depicts the form, function, and beauty of a piece of music. It is a preparation that leads to an effective choreography, one that stands alone.

PART II

For a choreography to stand alone, it must entice and excite the eye and reinforce the ear. It must be cohesive and free of distraction in its rendering. Therefore, the set design, props, lighting, and costuming must work as one unit to focus on the human body and how it depicts the musical score. But above all, the choreography must be artistic, sensual, passionate, and yet natural in its expression of human emotion and human movement. All of this is why it is so important that students have sufficient experience in Dalcroze Education before endeavoring to build choreography suitable for public scrutiny.

Plastique animée is a discipline through which one learns to apply the Jaques-Dalcroze principles, solfège subjects, eurhythmics subjects, and improvisation skills (both physical and musical) to the analytical study of music literature. The study is expressed not in theme papers, diagrams or charts, but rather through a human expression of an individual or a group of individuals moving through space. Learner becomes the performer, and analysis becomes art. Here, JaquesDalcroze Education ascends out of the learning experience toward the sophistication of an art form. This art form is unique among other forms of music and dance, having as its basis the marriage of movement and music.

It is not to say that less experienced students should not work on plastique animèe. On the contrary, the process of creating the choreography is the most valuable and rewarding experience within the entire Jaques-Dalcroze approach. How else is the

provided by the live musicians is priceless. It helps to train the plastician to remain mindful and present, to remain ready to adjust to any subtle change in tempo or dynamic nuance, and it strengthens their concentration to remain consistent throughout the performance. The involvement of the sound musicians also provides valuable feedback on structure and form, dynamics, agogic nuance, and emotional impact.

student to learn the process except through the experience? The process invites inquiry, experimentation, invention, cooperation, creativity, imagination, and coordination among peers. However, the compositions should always be chosen based on the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s physical level and the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s musical and intellectual ability to anatomize musical works. The first task in any plastique project is to find musicians who are capable and willing to rehearse and perform live in public. The sound musicians are valuable partners in the creative process. Their opinions and ideas carry the same significance as those of the movement musicians, or plasticians. There is no substitution for sound musicians who perform live at every rehearsal and every performance; the intimate involvement and spontaneity

However, no one lives in a perfect world. Concessions are always necessary no matter what the situation or circumstance. The live musicians can record the piece or pieces of music. The recording is useful for rehearsals where the sound musicians cannot be present. In any case working with larger ensembles like a choir or orchestra always presents problems with

provide an excellent way to discover meter and learn to step rhythm in time and through space. These popular dance types can expose students to the experience of musical form and symmetry, coordination and cooperation among peers, and physical balance and poise, and they are fun. However, the philosophy behind plastique animée is to have the entire group work together on developing a choreography that best demonstrates what they have already experienced, studied, and learned. The plastique rendering is a vision of what has already been experienced and absorbed. This way the movement comes out of and services the music rather than the other way around.

rehearsal and collaboration. The conductor is happier when making all the musical decisions, and therefore, a recording produced by the ensemble is often the only workable solution. This solution can also work when the live musicians or large ensemble cannot be present while on tour. In this case, it is best if an updated recording can be made prior to the tour. Using professional recordings is an alternative to using live music for rehearsal and performance. Of course, this option prohibits any discussion or exchange of ideas between the sound musicians and the movement musicians. Because this approach uses music “set in stone,” it dictates the interpretation from the outset scuttling any opportunity for discovery or experiment. Using “canned music”—where every crescendo, every diminuendo, every rubato is identical at every performance and every rehearsal—desensitizes the plastician. When doing one activity for any length of time, it is easy to become complacent, to stop listening, and go mindlessly through the motions, which can greatly diminish the emotional impact on the plastician and the audience.

When developing a plastique rendering, there are many choreographers, but only one director. Each member of the ensemble including the sound musician(s) contributes to developing the choreography. The process begins with movement improvisation to one section or one phrase of the piece at a time. After listening and improvising, the group examines the score to compare what they experienced with their minds and bodies with the score. They return to improvising with the aim of finding a specific movement or set of movements that in their opinion best suits what the music is formulating structurally and aesthetically.

At both the college, high school, and professional level, the approach to the choreography is the same. The journey begins with several eurhythmics lessons that lead to the learning of the composition. The eurhythmics and even solfège lesson exposes the musical parameters of the piece and allows the students first to explore and study them in and out of the context of the composition. It also means that the students have a clear understanding of the tonality and tonality shifts, which implies harmonic structure. Furthermore having had solfège and eurythmics lessons based on the composition assures that the students understand most of the vital components.

Now it is the director’s turn to filter through the ensemble’s work and then envision which movement idea would best suit the overall structure of the choreography. Often, the sound musicians can be helpful with this task since they are also intimately linked to the music. Once the ensemble decides on the movement, it may be necessary for a member of the movement ensemble to teach the others an exact movement or collaborate with others on a specific set of movements. The director must also carefully monitor the plasticians’ quality of movement with a discerning eye and work with the ensemble members to refine and develop the movement technique. Often a specific movement technique is accomplished by creating special exercises (always executed with improvised music) that build the strength, and skill for specific movement ideas. Some of these ideas may include contractions, spirals, jumps, skips, walks, and any other locomotor movements. Sometimes the emphasis is placed on the breath, and the use of the body’s core or skeletal alignment, and joint articulation. Other times emphasis is on resistance and release, or ease

There is a current trend where teachers use plastique animée with children who have not necessarily had a background in Jaques-Dalcroze Education or have studied the piece through eurhythmics and solfége prior to placing it into space. The process begins by first teaching a completed choreography to a specific piece of music. Often, the pieces are short, and usually they are recorded. The theory behind this approach espouses that the children will learn about the music by learning the pre-choreographed dance. The approach may be valid as a Jaques-Dalcroze experience; however, it is not plastique animée. This is an example of the historical thread of plastique animée discussed earlier. M. Jaques created many dances to many of his short piano pieces. These sketches are very similar to what many music and dance teachers call folk dances, square dances, circle dances, or country dances. These dances of the people

When developing a plastique rendering, there are many choreographers, but only one director. Each member of the ensemble including the sound musician(s) contributes to developing the choreography.

Every Dalcrozian should have a clear understanding that music and movement are one and the same art form, and the use of movement will always lead to a better intellectual, aesthetic, and physical understanding of music.

of muscular tension and the use of gravity and momentum to facilitate a specific movement artistically. This part is demanding of the director because sometimes the movement must be altered in some way so that everyone can perform it. Another option would be to decide who can do certain movements or movement sections based on their technical ability at that point in time. Once having completed the first musical section, move on to the next and then the merge the two sections together. Then render section three and merge it with sections one and two. Repeat this process until the piece is completed. Merging the various sections together places additional responsibilities on the director. It is the director who can see the movement from the audienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s point of view and simultaneously experience the movement sympathetically to verify if it matches the music and produces the desired aesthetic effect the audience will appreciate.

A Jaques-Dalcroze Educator must wear two hats, one hat labeled music and the other hat labeled movement. A complete Jaques-Dalcroze educator knows as much about movement as music and as much about music as movement. It is true that some Dalcrozians are better in some areas than others. Some have a special gift for improvisation, some for pedagogy, some for solfĂ¨ge, and others for movement. However, every Dalcrozian should have a clear understanding that music and movement are one and the same art form, and the use of movement will always lead to a better intellectual, aesthetic, and physical understanding of music. These principles are unique to Jaques-Dalcroze Education and they differentiate the Dalcroze approach from all other forms of dance and music education. Plastique animĂŠe is the perfect art form to demonstrate those principles.

This phrase-by-phrase, or section-by-section or even measureby-measure method is effective when working on homophonic music. However, when working on polyphonic music, the method must change. The first requirement is to set the movement for the various melodies, themes, and motifs and set them so that they can remain consistent throughout the composition. These various components often change key; they appear in various sequential passages, they may be inverted or even travel in retrograde. These aspects are crucial to the choreography. Alterations in the music necessitate altering the movement. The rehearsal technique will also change depending on the depth of understanding the ensemble has of the piece. However, one thing is certain: never does the director handle the choreography alone or come to the rehearsal with ideas already set and ready to teach by rote. The director is not a choreographer. The director guides, and most importantly, corrects the technique so that the ensemble better portrays through movement what the music is saying. It is undeniable that body alignment, control, and balance are essential to the plastician just as scales, arpeggios, and slurring are essential to the pianist. Although artists may disagree on specific techniques, there are correct ways to move just as there are correct ways to play the piano. Learning correct ways to move should result in a more natural form of movement, one that convinces the viewer that the movement is both artistic and authentically human. It is a good idea is to keep in mind the three principles of movement developed by Francois Delsarte: First, be sure to maintain the body in a balanced and natural posture; second, be sure to use opposed movement; and third, always move from the pelvis.

IN MEMORIUM, HERBERT HENKE 1931-2015

Dr. Jody Kerchner, former student, later colleague of Herb, now Professor & Director of Music Education at Oberlin wrote this for the Memorial Minute at Oberlin in honor of Dr. Herbert Henke.

A GENTLE FORCE DAVID FREGO SAN ANTONIO, TX I first met Herb at CMU in 1989 in a solfège class that he was leading. I should preface that it was a blistering hot summer and the air conditioning consisted of open windows and a fan in the corner of the room. But the weather didn’t make us all sweat; it was the mind-altering approach that Herb took in presenting tri-chords. I had never seen someone present such an elegant yet challenging lesson that lead us all to a deeper understanding. When we faltered, he was able to back up and gently lead us through the woods by a different route.

“Our deeds that imbue simplicity, quietude, humility, and perseverance can be so powerful as to indelibly stir those with whom we engage” To me, this says it all.

LIANGMEI LIN [LOCATION]

Yes, Herb was a gentle force and kept all of us moving forward with the goal to challenge ourselves. He always knew where he was going in any lesson, even though it might not have been revealed to us until close to the end. He also had the gift of correcting our problems in a positive light; making us want to get it right and set it in our minds and bodies for the next time.

When the news of Herb’s passing away reached us, I felt the loss so deeply. For students of the Carnegie Mellon Dalcroze Satellite Program in Taiwan, Marta, Annabelle, and Herb made up the golden triangle of teachers. Of the three of them, we didn’t see Herb so much, because he didn’t come to Taiwan very often. But for those of us who had the chance to take his lessons in Pittsburgh, it was pure enjoyment. The logical way he constructed his lessons, his gentle and humorous delivery, and his intelligence, all made him an outstanding Dalcroze teacher. One time he came to Taipei alone to do a workshop, and I was the interpreter. It was a pleasant experience working so closely with him, and I found we both loved puzzles and crosswords!

What comes to mind thinking of Herb? His quick wit, his gentle laugh, the gleam in his eyes when you were on the verge of success, and the sentences that began with “Alright! Now we’re going to…” Herb modeled teacher behaviors and helped us all to become better at our craft. We all grew with that gentle force.

Herb did not talk much, at least not to me. But just by a smile or a wink, you can feel his kindness, especially when I was so entangled with my License exams. I always felt his silent encouragement. I believe that all of us will always remember Herb with warmth and a smile.

DR. ANNABELLE JOSEPH PITTSBURGH, PA Herb Henke was a giant not only in his appearance but most importantly in his humanity. He was a treasured friend and colleague, an outstanding musician/educator, and a valued mentor.

Thank you very much for all you have done for Herb.

PETER MERRICK TORONTO, CANADA

Being with Herb was being with a force of nature. When teaching, he was the essence of a facilitator, the wizard behind the curtain. The only time I remember Herb being the center of attention was during the farewell sessions of our CMU three week workshops. Herb would quietly walk to center stage, sit down, wait for the music to begin, then, with the impeccable timing of the great silent movie comedians, perform his ‘take’ on Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca. This always elicited hysterical laughter, amazement, amusement, and sheer joy at witnessing this aspect of Herb’s persona. It is a moment forever etched in memory.

I knew Herb Henke only in his retirement, at the Dalcroze Summer Workshops at Carnegie Mellon University. It was always clear that Herb, as skilled and dedicated a Dacrozian as he was, was first and foremost a music educator, with command over the whole field and a deep understanding of all the important approaches to music education. It was in his long tenure at Oberlin, sensitively and imaginatively training generations of music teachers, that his greatest influence must surely have been felt.

Words are not sufficient to describe this complex, gentle man whose wisdom, droll sense of humor, and ability to “cut to the core” of a situation kept him above the fray. Herb was my Solomon for problem solving.

But I knew him at CMU, and in an exclusively Dalcroze context. And here his influence on me, and many others, was incalculable. When I first started teaching, it was to the games I learned from Herb that I turned most frequently, and

fluid as a pianist (he often confided in me how hard he had to work at the piano) his improvisations were worked out appropriately and logically and his voice/musical commands were impeccable. Moreover, no one in the Dalcroze work, that I have witnessed, was better at employing recorded music. Herb worked tirelessly to find just the right piece and to get the essential elements out of it—using various commands—for each class. Just when I would think I had a handle on what he was doing, Herb would present the class with a musical puzzle that left me with the feeling, I’m playing checkers while he’s playing 3-dimensional chess!

they never let me down. Of one, he said, “Whenever you do that, people always applaud, for some reason.” And this they have never failed to do. “Rhythm Machines,” one of his own creations, I believe, has always been a reliable hit with my teenaged boys, sparking delight and creativity. Anyone with even a passing acquaintance with Herb will remember his love of playing-cards, and the countless ways he had of transforming them into musical learning. Once a year my high school boys will find themselves on the floor, each with a pack of cards, intently listening to Liturgie de cristal from Messiaen’s Quatuor. Their task is to lay out cards to show the durations in the piano ostinato; every time, the process begins with deepest mystification, continues with mounting excitement, and ends with high triumph for the boy who is first to solve the puzzle. A classic Herb experience!

Finally, Herb had another side that few people knew. Very rarely he would act out or make a statement that was completely out of character. An occasional statement, in his dry fashion, would send to the floor laughing. Without any warning, in his last official class at Oberlin, he threw a foothigh, indigenous American drum at me from half way across the room (Luckily, I caught it!). Then, he said, “The torch has been passed.”

But the irony is that Herb had a rather sober, if not sombre, personality. (Privately, I always thought of him as our very own Eeyore!) But his teaching was playful, joyful, and endlessly creative. Even when students were greatly challenged, the fun was never far away. And the musical choices! Always apt, often decidedly quirky. No-one who has experienced one of Herb’s most memorable games will ever forget the Bassoon Brothers’ wondrously weird recording of Delibes’ Pizzicati.

TORU SAKAI AICHI, JAPAN

It remains only to be said that if Herb had something of Eeyore’s secret sadness, he also had that character’s immense kindness. I was once subjected to an anti-gay rant from a fellow student. Did I not agree, she asked? I replied that I didn’t, and explained why I couldn’t. Herb was within earshot, and he immediately changed seats to sit by me and chat. It was subtle and delicate, but unmistakeably a gesture of solidarity and support--one of those grace-filled actions that can leave a person grateful for a lifetime. And so I am.

I met Dr. Henke at Carnegie Mellon University’s summer workshop in 1997. He was the tallest man and had the lowest voice of anyone I had ever met in my life. I liked his many unique ideas to teach solfège. They were so different from what I learned before. He came to Taiwan, Korea and Japan to help us to expand Dalcroze in Asia. We appreciated it so much. It is so sad to lose experienced and important teachers one by one. I pray for him.

STEPHEN MOORE REDLANDS, CA

ELDA NELLY TREVIÑO FLORES MONTERREY, MÉXICO

Herb was a consummate educator. When I was first employed at Oberlin Conservatory (1998-2005), Herb was teaching his final year as a professor of eurhythmics. I had the good fortune of participating in around 50 Dalcroze classes that he taught until I replaced him the following year.

When I think of Herbert Henke, the first thing that comes to my mind is how clever he was at designing ingenious teaching strategies in his classes. I had the fortune to be one of his students at the Marta Sanchez Dalcroze Training Center at Carnegie Mellon University during my summer study to get my Certificate and License.

Herb’s diverse background was apparent in his teaching: a Voice degree, Church Choir soloist/conductor, public school music teacher, avid researcher, world traveler, interest in all types of music, and puzzle enthusiast. His musical expertise can be viewed through the prism of his interest in games and puzzles. Eurhythmics with its “games” (follow, quick reaction, replacement, and canon) was a natural home for his talents.

I first met Herb in the summer of 1997, the first time I was at CMU. At first he was somewhat intimidating to me because of his stature and deep bass voice; however, after I took the first solfège class with him, I discovered he was such a gentleman, always eager to help his students to learn in the most effective way.

When you began working in a Henke class you quickly learned you had to be at your best, mentally. The class proceeded like clockwork. Although Herb was not very

I remember his “magical suitcase” where he used to keep his large collection of cd’s with wonderful music examples for every eurhythmics or solfège class. He had a mind of a

(MSDTC) at Carnegie Mellon University in 2003. I could ask him for advice or for a critique if he had seen me teach. He was quick with a compliment or suggestion for improvement without ever being judgmental. Knowing how to help each other is not easy in this sometimes slippery slope that is Dalcroze teaching.

“detective” in search of the most unthinkable ways to make his classes attractive and creative. Of course he could not miss his poker cards to create complex and fun games with intervals and chords. Herbert had the gift of making difficult things easy for his students. His improvisation classes were perfectly structured to make the novice students feel comfortable and confident to try things out at the piano.

Certificate candidates in the summer program are required to play for a gesture as part of their exam. Herb was the faculty member who performed the gesture and he always did this so effortlessly and elegantly. The past couple of years I have performed the gesture. I realized how much Herb’s influence shaped my approach to this. I keep his example in mind, hoping to honor his memory.

In 2001 he accepted my invitation to come to Monterrey, N.L., México, my hometown, to give a workshop, which was highly successful. I remember very well how persistent he was at finding good Mexican musical examples to use in his classes. As a human being, Herb was an example of generosity, modesty, and respectfulness towards his colleagues, students, and friends. He will be always in my mind and in my heart…

M.A. GUILLERMO VILLARREAL MONTERREY, MEXICO In this world there are persons who stand out in a certain field but their personality betrays them and they become unbearable. On the other hand, there are persons with extraordinary qualities as artists who at the same time possess unique attributes as human beings. That is the case with Herbert Henke.

LESLIE UPCHURCH NEW YORK CITY, NY I first met Dr. Herb Henke when I was a senior at Carnegie Mellon University. I was finishing work on my Dalcroze certification. Herb was a professor of Music Education at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music but treated me as an equal. We even took a walk one evening to “talk shop” at one of our Dalcroze conferences. Besides Herb’s congenial manner, I was so impressed with how he went about maintaining integrity in his work. Casting aside the notion that teachers who teach teachers cannot themselves teach, he spent sabbaticals teaching school children music in various countries. He noticed trends in how singing was changing, once lecturing about this at a Dalcroze conference. I remember that he said children were singing jazz or popular chord progressions more easily in choruses than he had first encountered when teaching.

I met Herbert in 2002 when he went to Monterrey, Mexico, to give a workshop organized by my wife, and since she was very busy with the details of the event, I had the opportunity to talk to him very much. He was a very tall man with a silhouette similar to Don Quijote, the emblematic character of Miguel de Cervantes. Since the first moment I saw him teaching, I observed his high quality as a musician and teacher, taking all the students by hand to the wonderful world of Dalcroze Eurhythmics. A couple of years later in 2004 I was his student for three weeks at the CMU summer workshop. As the orchestra conductor, this experience of having Marta Sanchez, Annabelle Joseph and Herbert Henke as my teachers that summer became a landmark in my conducting career. I knew I was being taught by icons of Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Music Education in general.

Herb was a gentleman. I found him to be so charming. To this day I chuckle about the story that his wife, Sabra, fainted in his arms while dancing on their first date! We were partners-folk dancing when he shared this touching story. Herb was a great champion of Dalcroze work. His vast knowledge of music was evident in his pedagogy and interpretations of music. One example is that he taught “Frère Jacques” anacrusically, starting on beat 3 in 4/4 time. This is completely in sync with the French prosody. I recently unearthed a book “Songs and Silhouettes” by Laura Pendleton MacCartney where “Frère Jacques” was notated this way. It is ironic that this beginner’s piano book is the only time I have seen a printed version of Herb’s interpretation.

In Herb´s improvisation classes I noticed the way he got the best from his students. On one hand he was a very strict teacher, and on the other a very sweet person. I remember him as a serious man with wise judgment. He had a deep and melancholic appearance, but at any time could make a joke to make the atmosphere lighter. “Hasta la vista caballero” You have left us an example for life…

Herb was also one to share useful information. We became colleagues at the Marta Sanchez Dalcroze Training Center

BY WILLIAM BAUER

BUILDING GLOBAL CONNECTIONS

A CONVERSATION WITH SILVIA DEL BIANCO, 2015.11.09 Born and raised in Avellaneda, a port town of Buenos Aires, in 1958, Silvia Del Bianco has had a fascinating life and career in music. After earning two Diplomas in Music Education and Piano at the National Conservatory in Buenos Aires in 1979, she pursued training in Europe, earning a degree in Edgar Willems’s system of solfège in Lyon in 1986, and, in the following year, her Dalcroze Diplôme Supérieure after a mere three years’ study in Geneva. In the following decade she taught at the IJD as Professor of Rhythm and Improvisation—a position she also held at the High School of Arts in Bern, Switzerland, where she also served as the Dean of Eurhythmics until 2003. Amid the sweep of globalization transforming the planet at a breathtaking pace, Silvia faces particular challenges in bringing an institution steeped in local history and culture into the Third Millennium. Her expansive vision is enabling this institution to redefine itself in terms of several continuums defined by such polar oppositions as: Local/ Global, Traditional/Innovative, and Competitive/Cooperative. In light of some stereotypes that have clung to this surprisingly progressive institution during its century of existence, she is helping to shatter some of the persistent myths that influence people’s perceptions. I was struck by this highly accomplished professional’s humility, a feature that makes her highly approachable, as well. An anecdote she shared in another interview, available on YouTube, sheds some light on the intuitive connection she felt to this work from her first encounter with it: This is a Swiss method, but it came quite naturally to me. The first time I set foot in the Institute and saw their work, I realized that I was doing the same thing since my childhood, when I used to play the piano for my dolls and imagine them moving along with the music. I was shocked to discover that this idea actually existed in real life!

Director of L’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze since 2006, Silvia Del Bianco holds a singular position in the global community of Dalcroze practitioners. Yet, remarkably, many of us here in the United States know precious little about her or the institution she heads. So I’m excited that, for this inaugural issue of Connections, we are featuring a conversation she and I had via Skype this past November, a few short months after I saw her at the International Dalcroze Congress. Our talk gave me a chance to get to know her better. She shared with me how she envisions the role of the Institute, in relation to the international Dalcroze scene, to be sure, and also in relation to the American community of practice.

Note: Special thanks to Jimmy Mora for his English translation of this interview.

“A LANGUAGE THAT’S NOT A LANGUAGE” William Bauer: Two years after earning your Diplôme you were invited to join the College. And you were quite young still. Silvia Del Bianco: I was just thirty-one. I was extremely surprised. I was the youngest for quite a long time. I asked myself, “Why are they asking me?” At that time I didn’t have

a very strong background in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. I’m not a person who had just come from the music school in the Institute. The first time I did eurhythmics, I was twenty-six. I came with a background as a musician—when you start doing eurhythmics relatively late in your development, you ask yourself a lot of questions: Why does it work like that? Why should a musician do it? What should I change? How do I explain it so it makes sense for a musician, and for an adult, to start doing all those movements? I think that was an important element for them. Very soon after I finished my Diploma I was asked to join the school in Biel, in the canton of Bern where the Institute had a satellite program; students there could pursue their training for two years before fulfilling the residency requirement in Geneva. When I joined that team, they decided they were going to separate from the Institute. Coming from a Swiss-German background, they were interested in exploring what possibilities there were to develop other applications of eurhythmics. I found myself in a context where I was the only Dalcrozian in a group of people who were even integrating other methods. We had a Kodály teacher, Edgar Willems for the solfège, in French, and we had Orff as an elective. That experience was very interesting for me, because you need to find your place in a context that is made of different identities.

complementary. I find that, working with Suzuki people, Dalcroze can fit like a hand in a glove.

When you work in a context where we are all Dalcrozians, it’s not so necessary to explain what you’re doing; we understand us among us; we have a special language that’s not a language. I found it very interesting to work with people who came from such different backgrounds, and for them it was not so obvious why the label “Dalcroze” was so important.

I can understand. For me it was very rich to work with the Kodály people, because of the voice—the use of the voice, even the fixed “do”/not fixed “do” debate, different ways of teaching. It was very good to work with some of the people who were doing Taketina [recently, the Swiss Dalcroze practitioner Fabian Bautz shared this with us here in the USA] and others who teach rhythm by moving in place rather than through space. Once when we were preparing a demonstration with other teachers, I found it very interesting that I hadn’t realized my students could do very complex polyrhythms, three against four, etc., when they were just standing in one place and they moved focusing on the vertical impulse, like African dance, just with body percussion; but when I had them take it through space, going forward and backwards, including the horizontal impulse, and using tambourin, it was difficult for them. I discovered just how important this concept of using space is. Not just standing in one place, but using it. Because when you need to work with the weight of the body, and when you get involved in moving in the same room among other people, it brings another level of complexity. It becomes a different exercise.

I see what you mean. It makes you think about how others from different musical approaches would perceive what we do and helps to build a bridge to it. Exactly! The idea of the bridge is extremely important. We need to be very humble to see that even if, for ourselves, what we do is the best, we need to accept that it is one way to come to it, but it’s not the only way. Other people have different ways to come to this knowledge, and to the practice, and to the creativity, and to improvisation. We can come together with a specific goal, which is to help the student go further in his development and to help him find a way to be most useful to others. Yes. Going along with what you’re saying, each approach has its strengths and weaknesses, so we can be very

I found it very interesting to work with people who came from such different backgrounds, and for them it was not so obvious why the label “Dalcroze” was so important. 21

Here in the Institute we have a large population of participants, from babies five months old till seniors who are 84 or 85 and everything in between. The activities they do reveal different aspects of eurhythmics that we can convey to a large public. But there is always so much happening here, it’s difficult to convey. I wish I could make it more visible. I wish there could be more contact with the rest of the world. The possibility of working in “nets” should be developed. It would shed a light on the value of what we have here.

Yes, that’s right; you’re multitasking. Comparing it to the Brazilian approach of Lukas Ciavetta, O Passo, and John M. Feierabend and Peggy Lyman’s Move It! (which both involve moving in place), Dalcroze is the only approach I know of where you are traveling through space and dealing with balance issues. Exactly. And also interacting throughout the space… …with other students. For the group that makes a very specific goal. We put them in a situation like chamber music where you need to feel the others without talking, and be present even when you are not playing. You’re working on all those elements in eurhythmics; you become extremely good in other situations.

And I am very sensitive to the things that are being produced outside of Switzerland. There are a lot of extremely good teachers abroad. We should get involved with them and then work in a “net” situation. I’m always extremely thankful of all the things that have been done outside. Most of our colleagues don’t have the support of a group of teachers behind them, to talk, to discuss, to see what happens. And yet they do it with a lot of motivation and engagement.

I discovered just how important this concept of using space is. Not just standing in one place, but using it.

Yes, like playing in ensemble, for example.

Yes. “IT WILL DIE IF YOU DON’T MOVE”

I was one of those, too. For twenty years of my professional life I was a lone Dalcrozian in Biel; so I can be extremely sensitive to that reality. I hope that’s what I tried to do these nine years I’ve been here as director, to support a lot of the young people who come through us, the people we find in the Bachelor [equivalent to the Dalcroze Certificate], the Master [the Dalcroze License], and the Diplôme Supérieur. I’m extremely concerned about the support and the space of reflection that I could give them and I stimulate their courage to ask themselves all the time why they are doing what they are doing, and not just to repeat what they learned…

William R. Bauer: I’m curious, it sounds like, from your earlier experiences in Biel, and as you moved into your current position, you had experiences that shaped your perspective on the Dalcroze practice. The Congress gave you a chance to see so many colleagues from all over the world. I would imagine that you’re forming a vision of what you would like to see happen in the next ten or twenty years. Silvia Del Bianco: I already had the vision of how the Institute would develop before I came, and that’s why I came. Because I always thought the Institute had a very interesting role in Geneva—because it’s very specific for Geneva—in Switzerland, and in the world. For the director and other persons who are leading the Institute, it’s very important to see how these various levels of articulation come into play, how we manage to respond to the expectations of such different publics (local, European, world-wide).

Exactly …to create their own way. And to feel the responsibility they have in the method’s evolution. Because that is the most important thing.

“HARMONIZATION”

Yes. In fact, I noticed your bio mentions your interest in developing new applications of Dalcroze. And this is one thing I find fascinating about the dynamic between Geneva and America. I think because you have a physical site, a building, a fully running school with many aspects of the training operating at all times, in a way you can be more playful about the practice and explore the possibilities more freely. In America, and I think we’re like this about classical music, too, very often we get caught up in trying to preserve things from the Old World rather than develop them.

William R. Bauer: Incidentally, when you mentioned “nets” before, what did you mean? Silvia Del Bianco: When I said “nets” I meant contact among the people in the Dalcroze world. There are so many people who have been just doing these studies here and abroad. I mean, in America alone you had so many people who contributed to eurhythmics over the last century. And this is remarkable, because for much of that time there was no strong network. There was no easy way to get in touch with most of them. So we didn’t know where they were, what they were doing, what they did throughout their lives. And I think now we should use this new technology to make the construction and the history of what has been done during the century visible.

I think that’s a risk. It’s a question I ask myself very often: What should we preserve? And in what ways should we move forward? What are the essential things from our heritage? This is extremely important. Why is it still necessary to do something that was done twenty or thirty or fifty years ago? What are the aspects that we should not do just because that’s how we’ve always done things? And we need to let eurhythmics change. Because actually when Dalcroze founded this work, it was the idea of continuous movement, and I think that is not just words! That is a fundamental principle! We need to respect our heritage, but we need to take it further. Every time I have a student in front of me I’m very aware of my responsibility to that idea—just keep moving. Maybe you have arrived at one thing, one level of understanding or development; but don’t think that, just because you have that, you have everything! On the other hand, you also need to talk with others, so you are sure you are not moving too far away from the principles. But never stay in one place: It will die if you don’t move. Especially because in the next couple of years we will have students who were born in this millennium. If you don’t let the practice grow and change to meet their needs, it will feel completely irrelevant to them.

Absolutely. That’s why I wrote those articles about Hilda Schuster. I can understand.

Yeah, exactly.

She was a very important person in shaping the American legacy and the American heritage. In some ways, she has given us a certain challenge that we have to face also.

They will experience the world so differently from the way we did when we were their age.

It’s a question I ask myself very often: What should we preserve? And in what ways should we move forward?

kind of attitude would not be beneficial, and it would not help or satisfy the Diploma teachers. We need to discuss, and work together. That is the reason I organized the journée d’études this July, before the congress. There we opened up a space to sit together with the people who are responsible for the training programs in the world, and we sought out those common elements that we needed to clarify. My main goal in the time I still have at the Institute is to achieve a good articulation among the training programs at the international level. I think because of my personality and background, I can be useful in this way...

Another thing I want to do, and I’ve already done it in a way, is what I would call harmonization [said in French]. We need to create a proportion, or bring into balance, or reconcile the various forms the method has taken in different countries and different societies. Each society is so different, the local laws are different, the various curriculums in the schools are different. So they needed to change the method to fit it to their unique situation. And on the other hand, we need to have a certain amount of points that are the same for everybody. In French we have the word harmonization. Do you have something like it in English?

I agree.

Maybe “consensus.”

…because present to differences sensitive to

I think it’s that. Of course, we also have the same word in English—it’s a musical term: to harmonize, to bring the elements together.

of what I’ve gone through in my life, I can be that aspect, because I’m very sensitive to these in culture and, on the other hand, I’m also very what Dalcroze should stay or be.

You bring other things, too—you have the credibility you gained from being a performer, and a musician, and a Dalcroze teacher, and a member of the College; and to have that background and be from Argentina, which allows you to bring a different element to Geneva, I think helps people feel they can approach you.

But in the way we use it in French, perhaps consensus would work. If we are working on a project, you and I may have individual differences; but to work on the project together we need to also have common elements. If we are to construct something together, we need to find points that are good for you and that are good for me.

I hope! I would imagine that in many ways the meetings before the Congress were really groundbreaking because they gave you an opportunity to move your agenda forward.

We also use the expression “common ground.” Well, that’s one of my goals. In terms of certification in different countries, or differences between eurhythmics here, or eurhythmics in Australia, say, or eurhythmics in Mexico, what makes it recognizable as Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and what are the points where we can say, “Ok, we’re not going to make Argentinian people move like Japanese people, or like Swiss people.” And we need to have respect for that diversity. But there are some other points that we need to make extremely clear for all of us.

Exactly. It provides another source of credibility. It’s not just the head of the Institute that thinks this or that must be done, but it’s the international community of Dalcroze teachers who need this and that to be done, and who agreed to go down this or that path. There was no confrontation. The esprit, the feeling of those days was so intense and so filled with good will, with a lot of recognition of what has already been done, and a lot of desire of working together.

We have a method where we don’t have recipes. It’s not just a question of repeating. It’s a question of being conscious of what we’re doing so we understand why we’re doing it.

For instance, we have a method where we don’t have recipes. It’s not just a question of repeating. It’s a question of being conscious of what we’re doing so we understand why we’re doing it. That’s a main element. And it needs to be at the core of what it is, even though our cultures are different. I think the Institute still has a ways to go on making this point precise, and clarifying the different types of practices and training programs world-wide, and motivating the different partners to get involved in the discussion.

Several people who were there told me it was great. And I feel you have a historic moment to pull these forces together. I’m aware of that, and I’m working on that. I’m happy that Karin Greenhead, Louise Mathieu and Hélène Nicolet agreed to go further. We worked on the calendar so we can come back with more information to the people. And we are working to resolve the technical aspects of creating a platform on the Internet that will be available in 2016. That will be very helpful. We’re pulling together a lot of material, videos and things, and asking people to send us those, so we wish

Some people may think that in my role of director I could just write down a document with descriptions of the expectations in terms of teaching, programs, assessments, etc. But I am sure that

that we will have very good news to report in 2016. It’s a big project that will take four or five years. We need to go deeper into analyzing the different needs and expectations in the Dalcroze community regarding training programs and certifications. That would be helpful for everybody. Yes, it’s wonderful.

NEW PATHWAYS Silvia Del Bianco: In terms of the various projects at the Institute, and the new applications of eurhythmics, my main idea in that is to get involved in projects with the scientific world. For that we’re working closely with the Department of Neuroscience in the University of Geneva. They helped us with two projects we were working on, and we did a small research project with them as well. I think it’s very important to get involved with the medical people in terms of seniors, Alzheimers, Parkinsons and other diseases and situations where eurhythmics could be a help. Our partner in this field is the University Hospital in Geneva. I’m not considering eurhythmics as therapy. It’s well known that music and movement activities can help to maintain and improve the quality of our lives. So those could be very good applications of eurhythmics that were not so well known until now.

Absolutely. It almost creates a framework for healing to take place. Exactly. It’s really admirable that you’re cautious about this point. Obviously there are legal issues, but moreover credibility issues. There are people out in the world making all sorts of claims about causing or influencing results that they can’t support with evidence.

William R. Bauer: I agree, and I’m thinking, when you say “not therapy,” you want to be clear, we can make no claims to heal people directly.

“IT COMES TO A POINT WHERE CHANGEMENT IS NEEDED.” Silvia Del Bianco: Bill, in your email you asked me if I have specific insights or feelings to share with the American community of practitioners. I’m not somebody to give advice, so it’s not meant in that sense; but I should say I admire a lot what America has done to develop eurhythmics, in very different ways, with different…colors, I should say; because the various personalities of Dalcroze your teachers could be complementary. You have had a very long, solid history. I respect that. There is a lot of work that has been done to make it what it is now.

Exactly! We can’t heal people, but we could work together with doctors, so we can have better results. Because they have the knowledge we don’t have, and they can help us identify the type of activities that make people in this situation go further, have less pain, or be able to take fewer drugs. For us the collaboration with doctors this year was very important, because they told us immediately which Dalcroze exercises and aspects [of the practice] helped people make progress or feel more lively.

I think when problems come, as they did, when people think they want to be more free to do this thing or other, well, perhaps it’s a better solution to have two groups. That is the reality of Switzerland, too. We have a Dalcroze society and we have the German part of Switzerland that has a Eurhythmics society. In my opinion some points are essential: to have respect for what people do, not to judge them too quickly or easily and to still come together and dialogue.

What you’re talking about is supporting people’s wellbeing. Exactly. When we had the project with Alzheimers patients for a year, it’s not that we healed. We didn’t heal. But the wellbeing was at the end of every lesson. The week after, someone from the family would come and say, “She was calmer. She was more receptive. We had the feeling that she was not angry, and perhaps she could sleep better.” Those are very tiny things, but they count a lot.

William R. Bauer: I appreciate your saying that. I’ve been trying to provide a modulating influence over the development of the AES formed by David Frego and Kathy Thomsen. As you were saying about yourself, I feel I’m in the right place at the right time.

I think for the American community to read your words will be inspiring. My hope is to work with [DSA Vice President] Jeremy Dittus to build a stronger bridge with Geneva, so our younger students can travel over and get the Diplôme, and become trainers. We need those desperately, as you know.

I can imagine.

For the Diplôme, there are a lot of things that have been arranged in terms of being able to do a part of it in America with the supervision of Diplôme teachers over there. Being able to do some exams through Skype, or part of an exam through Skype. We will keep moving forward and thinking about these kinds of possibilities.

Because I’m setting a tone in the discussion that is respectful… Exactly. …but I’m also trying to help them be clear about what they are communicating. Exactly. I think these two points are very important, and make it possible to have a dialogue, to communicate, as you said. I noticed a few years ago that you gave a workshop somewhere with Reinhard Ring… Yes. …and that spoke volumes to me about your ability to build bridges across what may be difficult areas. I work a lot with the German people, who do not use the name; and it was even funny, sometimes, they said to me “I don’t think you’re Dalcrozian”; but sometimes they were against something without really knowing what it was. But it was extremely helpful to work together, to see what one person could do and what the other could do, and where each was at their best. Because, as you said, we all have our weak points and our plus fort [strong points]. It’s very important to have those kinds of relationships. If I had a wish for the Americans, it’s to consider the huge history that you have, be proud of that history and of being able to produce what you did in all those years. But perhaps to accept the situation now. It comes to a point where “changement” or evolution is needed. And to be able to work together. It doesn’t mean you do the same thing; to consider that they go in different ways, and to accept it. To see what we could do in common. And perhaps you come to the decision that it’s not possible—but it’s a reality. Also because we’re each filling different gaps in our society. Yes.

That’s exciting. Until now it has seemed like an impossibility. But when I came to Geneva this summer, I felt a breath of fresh air, in terms of what could happen. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. Thank you for the time we shared.

The Dalcroze Center at Hoff-Barthelson 2015-16 program includes: Eurhythmics, Solfège, Improvisation License Level Tuesdays, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Eurhythmics, Solfège, Improvisation Certificate Level Beginning / Intermediate Wednesdays, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM Dr. Ruth Alperson, Director Hoff-Barthelson Music School 25 School Lane, Scarsdale, NY 10583 Fall semester, 15 weeks: Tuesdays, 9:30 am—12:30. First day of classes: September 18, 2015 Tuition: $615.00 per semester, plus a one-time registration fee of $50.00 Contact Terry Wager, registrar, 914-723-1169, or twager @hbms.org

Elderhythmics A Special Class for Seniors*

∗

”Elderhythmics” classes take place at Huguenot Memorial Church, 901 Pelhamdale Ave., Pelham, NY 10803 Contact Kathryn Jones, 914-723-1169 or kjones@hbms.org

BY WILLIAM BAUER

DALCROZE USA: E PLURIBUS UNUM SOME BACKGROUND

Fiercely independent thinking.

It’s worth taking a moment to consider how we got here. In conferring the terminal degree in the practice—the Diplôme Supérieur, or simply, the Diplôme—the Institute JaquesDalcroze (IJD) in Geneva grants each of its representatives the authority to define the credentials as he or she sees fit. Therefore, each Dalcroze Diplômé has the authority to formulate a definition of the rights and privileges to which the bearer of his or her Dalcroze Certificate is entitled, and, by extension, the limitations within which that particular Dalcroze Certificate holder must operate.

It may well be a key characteristic, if not a distinguishing feature, of our DSA membership. Or should I say, more precisely, of each of its participants. I’d go so far as to suggest there are ways we might even think of the DSA as the ultimate “anti-club”: we each pursue distinctive perspectives to such a degree—and resist any tendency toward “groupthink”—that it has been challenging at times for us to reach agreement on various aspects of our practice, even some of the more fundamental aspects. Challenging, yes. But not impossible.

This state of affairs, in turn, issues from an arrangement the estate of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze has made with the IJD, whereby the former exclusively authorizes one and only one body in the world to administer teacher training in the educational practice developed by its founder: le Collège of the Institute Jaques-Dalcroze. Unlike other eurhythmics programs or societies in the United States, the DSA Board of Trustees acknowledges the authority of the Collège to administer Dalcroze Education on behalf of the JaquesDalcroze estate, and, more importantly, in the founder’s name—literally.

One might argue that, in general, people drawn to so unconventional a practice as ours would inherently derive their sense of identity more from being free thinkers than from defining themselves as members of any particular group. I’ve noticed this quality in members of other “anti-clubs.” The Society of Friends, aka Quakers, for example, or Waldorf Educators, inspired by the writings of Rudolf Steiner. I reckon it a byproduct, if not the main product of the Enlightenment. After all, it was the possibility of forming a free society envisioned by Jean Jacques Rousseau and others of his milieu that indirectly spawned the ethical, aesthetic, and epistemological ideas behind these approaches to human development, which in turn inspired Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi—the cultivator of our practice’s pedagogical roots. Our vision of the USA as a pluralistic, diverse society that not only tolerates difference, but indeed, rejoices in it, too, stems from these seeds. And we Americans have taken to individual autonomy with a vengeance!

But this admirable trait is not without its drawbacks. Recently, for example, an intriguing question came up: To what rights and privileges does the Dalcroze Certificate entitle its holder? In other words: What does this document authorize its bearers to do and claim regarding their qualifications to practice Dalcroze Education? This is not a new question, by any means; but it is significant that the DSA, thanks to the work of its Professional Development Committee (PDC), has been crafting a betterformed, more constructive answer. That said, as of now the American Dalcroze Teacher Training programs do not adhere to a single, consistent definition of the credential. But then, neither do our counterparts in the international community of practice. At least, not yet.

But with this acknowledgement comes a challenge. No doubt out of respect for each qualified Dalcroze practitioner’s personal artistry and expressiveness, the Collège embraces a surprisingly wide range of ways a Dalcroze practitioner may interpret and realize the practice’s foundational principles and values in his or her work as a teacher, musician, and artist. As IJD Director Silvia Del Biano has so aptly put in more than one interview, “We do not have recipes.”

charged by the DSA’s Board of Trustees to forge a consensus on the guidelines and criteria for Dalcroze teacher training as conducted in the USA. The work in progress has resulted in a Dalcroze Education Teacher Training Manual which the DSA just made available to the membership on the DSA website.

Such openness to divergent thinking makes Dalcroze Eurhythmics difficult to regulate uniformly, leaving the practice vulnerable to misunderstanding and, yes, misinterpretation (it is possible to stray too far afield of the premises), especially by those who have not dug deeply into the elements that make it such a highly context-sensitive practice, such as its oral traditions and tacit knowledge. In the abundance of distinctive ways each of us may implement this complex, integrated system of teaching and learning we are faced with an embarrassment of riches.

Moreover, the American Dalcroze Teacher Training Programs have begun to coalesce around the promise this manual holds for their participation in an accreditation process that the DSA endorses, with the blessing of the IJD’s and the Collège, as well as the American Diplomates, each of whom are representatives of those international bodies on these shores. Once the DSA puts such an accreditation process in place, it will be well positioned to determine what programs, or what individual educators, are or are not in compliance with the guidelines and criteria set forth in this manual.

On even the most sympathetic of allies, such breadth and depths of scope across the various practitioners and training programs offering this approach can make a manifold impression bordering on chaos. However, I personally believe that, in the final analysis, the benefits of granting a truly creative Dalcroze interpreter the freedom to infuse his or her teaching with the dynamic force of his/her individual character far outweigh the costs we bear as a community of practice. How many people share this opinion? I wonder.

Such openness to divergent thinking makes Dalcroze Eurhythmics difficult to regulate uniformly, leaving the practice vulnerable to misunderstanding and, yes, misinterpretation.

Ultimately, it is the holder of any valid Dalcroze credential who must enforce his or her own fidelity to the practice, in honor of the mentors who have passed this oral tradition and this tacit knowledge on to him or her. As authorized Dalcroze practitioners, at whatever level of teacher training, we bear the responsibility of sustaining the practice and its integrity. And there is an implicit trust that those entrusted with the responsibility of training teachers, the bearers of that tradition and knowledge, will not water the practice down by certifying individuals who are unprepared to honor it in like manner.

Regarding the Dalcroze Certificate, in answer to the questions posed earlier, the credential’s strength depends on the degree to which practitioners, teachers, institutions, and professional organizations recognize it and respect the limitations it places on its holders, as well as the powers it bestows upon them. It is of interest, then, to see how the DSA’s Professional Development Committee Dalcroze Teacher Training Manual defines this credential:

As long as there are relatively few sources for Dalcroze teacher training in the United States, this idealistic honor code might suffice (although the relative paucity of opportunities for exposure to the practice presents another problem). But one can imagine a time in the not so distant future when we will wish we had shored up our collective sense of standing together on common ground, even if we don’t speak in a unified voice. Fortunately, the DSA is actively taking measures to perform this very function for the community of practitioners here in the USA.

The Dalcroze Certificate (Level 3) • The holder of The Certificate in Dalcroze Education has passed all of the examinations pertaining to the introductory, applied, and certificate levels in Dalcroze Education. • This internationally recognized credential affirms that the holder is a Dalcroze teacher and grants the authority to offer introductory coursework in Dalcroze Education.

HOW WE MAY MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER Working on behalf of a consortium of American Dalcroze Teacher Training Programs, the DSA is developing ways to support existing and future teacher training programs in the critical functions they serve in the USA (administering examinations, conferring credentials, and defining what the holders of credentials can and cannot claim and do). The DSA’s Professional Development Committee, made up of American experts in the field of Dalcroze Education, has been

i. The Certificate in Dalcroze Education prepares a teacher to teach students of any age up to an earlyintermediate level.

ii. The Certificate in Dalcroze Education prepares the teacher to incorporate Solfège and Improvisation into a eurhythmics class rather than offer independent Solfège and Improvisation courses in Dalcroze Education.

(from the PDC Dalcroze Training Manual, 2015)

of our practice. But out of the various strands each of us contributes and embodies in our work we can certainly weave a multicolored fabric of whole cloth.

To return to my earlier point, then, it is clear that, even as it has posed challenges, our diversity has been a source of strength. And by leveraging the diversity of perspectives our membership offers to enrich our consensus, we’re moving in a healthy direction.

It’s hard to say what form the organization will take as a result of the emerging consensus about our practice. Still, we can feel some measure of comfort in knowing that, as we forge stronger connections across our differences, the framework

There are ways our new signature publication, Dalcroze Connections DSA highlights and benefits from this multidimensionality. For this reason, you will find member contributions that present a wide diversity of opinion and vantage points. And yet, as you will see from the point of view Silvia Del Bianco expresses in my conversation with her, there is room enough in this house for the building of a consensus about what we do and how we do it. Changes that are taking place here in the USA are also manifesting at the global level of articulation. In this regard, Silva’s vision is especially resonant with the DSA at this historic moment in its evolution. We may never achieve perfect unity, an elusive goal in any event, and one that would not reflect the pluralistic character

But out of the various strands each of us contributes and embodies in our work we can certainly weave a multicolored fabric of whole cloth. we’re erecting together will be robust enough to encompass our wide diversity of opinion and perspective, and empower us to benefit from the multidimensional community of which we are all a part.

NEWS

Congratulations to Lisa Parker, Diplôme Supérieur, who received the Nadia Boulanger Award for Excellence in the Art of Teaching from the Longy School of Music at Bard College. The Boulanger Award honors a music teacher who has had a remarkable career, “opening the eyes and hearts of young people to the beauty, expression, and energy of great music.” Recently retired, Lisa joined the Longy faculty in 1977. Lisa continues to head the Dalcroze Summer Institute at Longy, which is set to resume operation this summer after a year hiatus.

The Dalcroze Society of America warmly congratulates Annabelle Joseph, Diplôme Supérieur, for the recognition Carnegie Mellon University will give her this Friday. For her career contributions to the University, she richly deserves this honor. The Dalcroze Society of America takes this opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate Dr. Joseph’s career contributions to our beloved practice, and to the community we form “in and through” music.

Groundbreaking singer, choreographer, composer and performance artist Meredith Monk was a 2014 National Medal of Arts Recipient from National Endowment for the Arts for her groundbreaking career in music and movement that spans more than fifty years. Monk has spoken eloquently about the Dalcroze training she received as a child, most recently in a segment of the CBS program Sunday Morning. Born with strabismus, Monk could not fuse the vision of each eye into a single perspective. When she was three her mother enrolled her in Dalcroze Eurhythmics classes to help with coordination. Speaking of Dalcroze, Monk recalled that: “one thing that he said that was very beautiful was: ‘All musical truth resides in the body.’”

Institute for Jaques-Dalcroze Education Certificate, 2014: Dr. Su Sun Wong Steven Paszkowski Matthew Kline Jeremy Turhel Howard Spindler Certificate, 2015: Clara Org Jason Miller Institut Jaques-Dalcroze: Stephen Moore, Diplôme Supérieur The Longy School of Music of Bard College: Laura Ono, Certificate Emma Shubin, License FIER Board of Directors: Eiko Ishizuka

A hearty congratulations to those who recently earned credentials, new appointments or honors in Dalcroze Education! Dalcroze School of the Rockies: Katie Couch, License Lauren Hodgson, Certificate

Le Collège De L’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze: Jeremy Dittus

TO THE EDITOR

William Bauer’s two-part article on the life and legacy of Hilda Schuster (Enigma Variations: Who Was Hilda Schuster? Part 1 and 2; Volume 41, No. 2 and 3 ) generated the largest response of any article during my time as editor. These letters, along with the tributes to Herb Henke included in this issue offer further proof of the powerful impact a single individual can have on the practice of Dalcroze. Michael Joviala

Congratulations on such a thoughtful and clear history of Dalcroze in the United States. William Bauer has a wonderful ability to write a story out of cold data. It was indeed a page turner! I was fascinated to read about her family and early childhood, as well as the documentation that illustrates that Emile Jaques-Dalcroze “anointed” her as the primary director of Dalcroze in the US. All in all, important information on how we’ve come to be where we are today. Charles Aschbrenner Trustee, Dalcroze Society of America Vice President, Michigan Music Teachers Association Holland, Michigan

I very much enjoyed Bill Bauer’s article on Hilda Schuster in the last ADJ and felt it gave a greater degree of clarity than I’ve seen expressed before on what’s led us to our current state. I wanted to write about one detail of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze’s letter of April 25, 1946 to Schuster, which was quoted in the article. The interpretation suggested that the letter had been in response to “a correspondence he had received” from Schuster that was “calling upon [Dalcroze] to step in” to resolve a power struggle at the Dalcroze School. From my reading of the French original, it seems more likely that Dalcroze initiated the correspondence himself. Although the article cited the phrase “Je me réjouis d’avoir une réponse de toi” (translated in the article as “I am thrilled to have a response from you”) to say the letter was “making reference to a correspondence he had received,” this phrase is a

standard letter-closing formula that can be translated as, “I look forward to your response.” It does not imply that there has been any prior correspondence. Other elements of the letter also imply that Dalcroze had heard the news from someone else, and was writing Schuster before she had written him. His use of “je viens de recevoir des nouvelles” (“I’ve just received some news”) would have been, “recevoir tes nouvelles” (“received your news”) if the news had come from her. And the phrase, “Si je t’écris, c’est pour...” (“If I write, it is to…”) suggests to me he felt compelled to explain why he’d chosen to write unprompted. In any case, this doesn’t change the thrust of the article’s argument, but it suggests that Schuster did not reach out to Dalcroze to seek his assistance in resolving a power struggle, but rather that after Dalcroze had heard the news of Boepple’s departure, Dalcroze wanted to act preemptively to be sure it would be possible for the school to continue. Gregory Ristow Oberlin Conservatory Oberlin, Ohio

I just finished reading Part 2 of William Bauer’s essay on Hilda Schuster and am truly impressed with the research he has done and the way he handled the discussion. It reminded me of something Isaac Bashevis Singer once said about the Yiddish language. “As long as there is Yiddish, there will be dissertation material for PhD’s.” Surely this applies to Dalcroze as well! What Mr. Bauer has done is masterful! Annabelle Joseph Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Journal looks outstanding: professional, “meaty,” and inviting. I thoroughly enjoyed Bill’s essay on Dr. Schuster, both the first and second part! It’s wonderful to have all that clear explanation of the many facets of her work and details of how the school(s) developed. The accompanying articles were also very valuable. My hat goes off to you. It looks great! Virginia Mead Sugar Land, Texas

I would like to thank Mr. Bauer so much for his integrated and invaluable research! I was very touched. From an alumna’s perspective, I felt and saw the vivid scenes of the past. I miss her very much! But I think there is a mistake. I received my License (Full Certificate) from Dr. Schuster on August 20, 1993. So she must have retired after that, not 1992. I am currently working with recordings of Dr. Schuster’s lessons to assemble and make her wonderful lessons available to all. I have about 70 tapes and the notes of Dr. Schuster’s lessons from 1991-1993. I plan to make it my thesis for my Dalcroze Diploma in the future. At the Congress in Geneva this past summer, my presentation was based on excerpts from about six of these tapes. All the best, Mindy Shieh President, Dalcroze Society of Taiwan Taipei, Taiwan Editors note: see Mattie Kaiser’s ‘An American in Geneva’ on page 36 for a more detailed description of Mindy’s presentation at the Congress in Geneva this past summer.

2016 Dalcroze Academy Dalcroze School of the Rockies

Summer Dates: July 18-30, 2016 Experience the joy and artistry of Dalcroze Education in the heart of the Rocky Mountains! Earn the internationally recognized Dalcroze Certificate and Dalcroze License! World-class faculty, outstanding facilities, and the city of Denver await to move and inspire you!

Learn more:

www.dalcrozeschooloftherockies.com info@dalcrozeschooloftherockies.com

614.395.4722

SCHOLARSHIP REFLECTIONS FROM THE 2015 DSA RECIPIENTS Many years of classes, workshops and conferences have followed. I have learned from many great teachers, some who are no longer with us, and through it all, have gradually come to think and teach as a Dalcrozian.

Molly Porterfield Portland, Oregon Seattle Chapter My Dalcroze journey began in 1985 when I commuted from Boston to study with John Coleman in New York City. He urged me to continue the work at Longy, so I took an adult evening class with Anne Farber and was hooked!

Katie Couch Denver, Colorado Rocky Mountain Chapter

Moving back to Portland, OR in 1994 created something of an interruption in my studies. Nonetheless, I managed to attend some conferences aided by DSA scholarships as well as joining a new community of believers in Seattle. Several attempts to finish Certification failed due to various life events, leaving me discouraged and feeling guilty. I longed to be able to hang out a shingle with the correct credentials. In 2011, I attended a Tacoma workshop led by Jeremy Dittus, and a renewed sense of hope was born: I would be able to (and did) drive to Ft. Collins to the Dalcroze School of the Rockies in the summers from 2012 - 2014, again with aid from the Society.

When I reflect on the summer Dalcroze training programs I’ve attended as a scholarship recipient, I feel incredibly grateful for DSA support, both financial and educational. Without monetary assistance, the summer programs I attended (the Dalcroze School of the Rockies’ Summer Training Academy) would have been unaffordable, and I wouldn’t have had the opportunities to study with expert teachers from around the country and the world. These summer experiences, combined with my academic year study, have molded me into the teacher I am today, and will continue to shape my trajectory as a new teacher in this work. I am especially grateful for the opportunity to study with three Diplômés at the summer institutes (Jeremy Dittus, Mary Dobrea-Grindalh, and Eiko Ishizuka), who not only helped and

Jeremy’s program offers a carefully laid out curriculum and rigorous expectations, not to mention a superb faculty and students from various countries and backgrounds. He supports students via Skype lessons, which enables me to stay tuned up between summers. I must say how much I enjoy the talent and camaraderie of the other students and their spirit of encouragement and helpfulness. It is for these reasons that I managed to pass my exams this summer! I owe so much to the Dalcroze Society of America; for all the enriching experiences I’ve had and the inspiring people I’ve met, for shaping my talent and imagination for teaching, and for guidance interpreting the original sources. There is really nothing more interesting to me as a musician and teacher. With heartfelt thanks, Molly Porterfield

guided me in working towards the License, but who also gave me ideas about pursuing the Diplôme Supérieur myself one day. This year, I am using my scholarship to study towards the Diplôme entrance exams, with the intention of studying in Geneva during the 2016-2017 school year. As such, I very much value the opportunity this scholarship affords me to continue my studies with Jeremy Dittus, one of our country’s most recent Diplômés, towards reaching this goal of becoming yet another American to hold this credential. The scholarships I have received in the past have been generous and have been a crucial aspect in my training. I am so grateful for the support of the DSA in continuing my Dalcroze studies.

Skylar Bunk Looking back on my recent Dalcroze work, I am taken by the intense change in my understanding of musical gesture. Having studied the method in college, I was ready to return to the work to both better my musicianship and develop a stronger set of educational tools. However, I wasn’t prepared to uproot my own thought about teaching, performing, and even listening. My summer experience showed me the many domains in which Dalcroze can be applied, and how it can shape my personal interaction with music.

For me, my work at the Marta Sanchez Dalcroze Training Center (MSDTC) at Carnegie Mellon University was split into two branches — one musical and one philosophical. While achieving my original goals of bettering my own musicianship and teaching skills, I was at the same time challenged in my own understanding of the musical experience. I was able to understand the work not only as an educational method, but as a way to achieve an intimacy with music that I had never before been able to reach. Additionally, the benefit of working with such like minded people was a refreshing experience.

Practically, I have been able to continue my Dalcroze experience in both teaching and learning situations. I have learned some effective strategies in weaving Dalcroze principles into all aspects of my life — as a conductor, performer, teacher, private instructor, and student. I have been working hard to strengthen these skills. I plan to return to Carnegie Mellon to continue my study and, in time, earn my certification. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to study at the MSDTC this past summer; my experience has me hooked on the method. And I, for one, am thoroughly convinced that this is the way of music education.

Music for People, Inc. Improvisation Workshops for All Instruments and All Levels of Experience ADVENTURES IN IMPROVISATION Workshops: October 9-11, 2015, Stony Point Center, Stony Point, NY Feb 12-14, 2016, Immaculata University, Frazer, PA April 30 - May 1, 2016, Stony Point Center, Stony Point, NY June 24-26, 2016, Immaculata University, Frazer, PA ART OF IMPROVISATION workshop: July 31 – August 5, 2016, SUNY, Fredonia, NY

Listen. There are no wrong notes. www.musicforpeople.org or call 860-491-3763

MEMBER’S CORNER

AN AMERICAN IN GENEVA: TALES FROM THE 2015 CONGRESS BY MATTIE KAISER to attend: the IJD capped attendance at fifty people per classroom, and scores of students lined up hours in advance of each class with the hope to be allowed entry. The IJD quickly recognized the severity of the situation and sent an email after the first day of the conference encouraging everyone to explore sessions beyond the traditional Dalcroze classes.

During the week of July 20-24th 2015, Dalcroze professionals and students from around the world gathered in Geneva, Switzerland for the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze 2015 Congress to celebrate a double anniversary: The 150th birthday of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, and 100 years of the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze (IJD). The Congress is typically a quadrennial event, but it was canceled in 2011, making this the first Congress since 2007. Over 450 global participants gathered to study with Dalcroze practitioners1 and to connect with each other. The conference theme was “Interactions between pedagogy, art and science and their influence on learning through and for music today and tomorrow.” Though attendees were celebrating 100 years of the IJD, the building itself was under renovation, and all but the improvisation classes and a few special plastique animée performances were held at the Centre Médical Universitaire.

Within the Centre Médical Universitaire lecture halls, students could sit and listen to diverse presentations: Karin Greenhead (UK) described her development of “Dynamic Rehearsal,” a way of applying Dalcroze Eurhythmics as performance preparation. Using exercises wherein musicians have to step away from their instruments and show phrases with movement and props, her aim is “to enable performers to connect with their own inner hearing and inner feeling of the music and to focus on conveying how the music begins and the journey that it makes.” Eric Barnhill (US/UK) gave an exciting glimpse into how scientists can study the benefits of Dalcroze Eurhythmics at a research institute in his presentation, “Using Coordination Dynamics movement metrics to quantify the impact of a Dalcroze exercise on a functional dyadic movement,” though he himself concluded that his data was too “noisy” (not in the musical sense of the word!) and his results were inconclusive. Joan Pope (Australia) gave a visually appealing lecture that included photographers taken in the early 1900’s by Fred Boissonnas, and illustrations by Paulet Thevenaz demonstrating Dalcroze’s “Six Skips”. Even though we were seated in rows, Joan couldn’t restrain herself from having us stand up and try out skips with an arched torso versus skips with a curled torso. Bethan Habron-James’s presentation, ‘Reflecting on Reflections,’ left a particularly indelible mark on Jeremy Dittus: “I saw a wonderfully structured discussion regarding the difficulty of this work and how personal reflection on one’s teaching can be valuable. She reminded us of how vulnerability can actually be a sign of strength. Her talk made me more aware of how difficult it can be to balance compassion, empathy, and accountability with objectivity, structure, and authority in the Dalcroze classroom; this is something that we need to address in our pedagogy lessons more.” Some presenters demonstrated that a Dalcroze class is possible in any space. Faced with a lecture hall, former IJD director Madeleine Duret (Switzerland) gave an impressive rhythmic solfège demonstration where a few students participated while hundreds observed, and in a similar space Lisa Parker gave a solfège class that Adriana Ausch acclaimed as the highlight of the conference. Ausch noted Parker’s immaculate musicality and the simplicity of her sequences: “No tricks. It’s hard, but it’s beautiful, because it’s always musical; it comes from the music.”

Diplomates and Dalcroze Licentiates working towards a Diplôme were invited to attend three pre-conference “study” days (“Journées d’études”) at the IJD. According to Ruth Alperson, the study days were extremely well-organized, and the participants were sent topics for discussion in advance, including “The Professional development of the Diplômés,” “Starting up a professional training center,” “The creation of a database (videos, lessons, music, e-learning),” “The development of teaching material,” and “Promotion of the method (visibility, recruitment).” Lisa Parker said that “talking in depth to our colleagues as we did in the pre-congress was thrilling,” adding that across cultures they shared the same issues of “recognition, lack of teachers, how to adapt to the ways of the modern internet-dominated world without losing what is essential about our common roots, [and] how to spread this unique and ageless work.” The cultural diversity of the group was especially meaningful to Ruth Alperson: “In our plenary sessions, I looked around: I found the mix of people from so many different countries to be very moving.” On the first day of the Journées d’études her group consisted of Andrew Davidson (England), Liu Kai (China), Sachiko Muranaka (Japan), Bethan Habron-James (England), Adriana Ausch (U.S.), and Hélène Nicolet (Switzerland). On the second day her group included Sandra Nash (Australia), Paul Hille (Austria), Jeremy Dittus (U.S.), Mireille Weber (Switzerland), Cheng-Feng Lin (Canada), Anne-Gabrielle Chatoux-Peter (France), and Malou Hatt-Arnold (Switzerland). The congress days were broken up into hour long intervals, and unlike previous congresses that had focused primarily on experiential workshops, the IJD decided to equally emphasize lecture presentations, roundtable discussions, and videos alongside the traditional eurhythmics and solfège classes. The latter proved to be the most popular and most difficult

Dalcroze teachers and students there in Geneva and the evening we all spent together at dinner was a special delight” said Lisa Parker. While the evening was full of general merriment and camaraderie, it also gave everyone a chance to discuss the happenings of the congress, and, like most issues, the Americans were split: “The organization of the Congrès felt very different from 2007…” said Jeremy Dittus. “For some who were used to thinking of an international Dalcroze symposium as primarily an opportunity for Dalcroze workshops, this new structure came as a surprise. However, I welcomed this new format, and found the overall event stimulating and rewarding.” It was Eiko Ishizuka’s third time attending the congress, and she also welcomed the change: “I would like to applaud the Congress committees. It requires courage to make changes to adopt the needs of twenty-first century learning styles instead of keeping to past and familiar way of organizing the congress.” Others were expecting a

The large number of participants standing in line for the eurhythmics and solfège classes conveyed a strong collective desire to experience the pedagogy of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. By the second day of the congress, the IJD staff had created a system whereby they would mark each participant’s badge each time they went to an experiential class and would give priority entry to the students who had not participated in a class that day. Many of the Americans were thrilled to be able to participate in an advanced eurhythmics class taught by Ruth Gianadda (Switzerland) with increasingly difficult tasks based on groupings of 2, 3, and 4. After reading all about Dr. Hilda Schuster in the previous issue of the American Dalcroze Journal it was a delight to be able to take Mindy Shieh’s (Taiwan) class featuring recordings made at the New York Dalcroze School of Music in 1993. Students moved to Schuster’s improvisations as if they were happening in real time and Mindy interspersed the lessons with her own memories of studying with Dr. Schuster. Jeremy Dittus loved the eurhythmics class he took with Mireille Weber (Switzerland): “She taught a beautiful lesson on compound meter, and reminded us all how the principles of a Dalcroze Education can be a valuable guide in structuring a musical lesson.” Mireille’s class

DSA members taking a break from the festivities. Clockwise from left: Jeremy Dittus, Adriana Ausch, Johanna Kopp, Emma Shubin, Unidentified, Chris Della Pietra, Lisa Parker, Dawn Pratson, Aaron Butler.

training center-like experience and were disappointed by the lack of experiential classes and long lines. Aaron Butler, having attended the 2003 and 2007 congresses, described the shock at seeing “scores of students lining up to get into a class—one, two, even three hours prior—and the resultant disorder and competitiveness upon those classes opening.” Mimi Hsu remarked, “The unexpected experience was that all participants were not informed that the 2015 conference was mainly designed for panel discussions and short talks, and there was only limited space for 450 people to participate in Dalcroze core workshops. This was not the message we received when we registered.” Mimi, “disappointed by not being able to attend most workshops,” instead participated in the congress by watching historic videos, demonstrations, and short talks.

Some of “The Americans” Kathryn Jones, Johanna Kopp, William Bauer, Mimi Hsu, Aaron Butler, and Mattie Kaiser with Ruth Gianadda, Diplôme Supérieur, following her eurhythmics class.

focused primarily on the Sicilian rhythm. The class used scarves to illustrate every time the dotted-eighth-sixteenth-eighth-note pattern occurred in ‘Greensleeves.’ Though the class was taught completely in French, Mireille’s charming gestures and facial expressions aided in conveying her commands for the students that couldn’t completely understand the language. Midway through the Congress the scheduled IJD picnic was rained out so the American participants headed to a local restaurant for several hours of eating, drinking, and discussion. “It was so marvelous to have other American

dalcroze pants

wanted: DALCROZE FASHIONISTAS. HOW MANY CAN YOU IDENTIFY? Photos by Mattie Kaiser

ENDNOTES

I am compelled to add my voice to the chorus of disappointed attendees. Though it was thrilling to be around so many talented specialists, as a “first-timer” I couldn’t help but feeling frustrated at being denied access to the classes I was expecting to take. Perhaps poor marketing contributed to the confusion and disappointment of so many attendees. As the promotion manager at G. Schirmer, and a marketing consultant for the DSA, I believe the IJD made crucial errors in explaining the new conference format to its potential participants. Dalcroze education is inherently spread by word. Those wanting to know about a teacher, workshop, training center, or congress, will go to our colleagues for information. Since minimal marketing went into the IJD Congress, first timers like myself went to Geneva with expectations solely based on the previous experiences of our trusted colleagues. Very little information was listed on the IJD website and participants didn’t receive any emails about the Congress until a week before it began. If an organization is going to change a tradition, I feel it is their obligation to spread the word effectively. Website updates, emails, social media blasts, and personally spreading the word would have led to far less chaos and confusion during the 2015 congress.

1. The Diplôme Supérieur teachers presenting at the Congress were Jean-Marc Aeschimann, Ruth Alperson, Eugènia Arús, Marie-Laure Bachmann, Barbara Bernacka, Mary Brice, Pablo Cernik, Gabi Chrisman, Irène Corboz-Hausammann, Mira Daniel, Silvia Del Bianco, Jeremy Dittus, Madeleine Duret, Ruth Gianadda, Karin Greenhead, Bethan HabronJames, Paul Hille, Eri Inoue, Ava Loiacono, Akihiko Mabuchi, Louise Mathieu, Sylvie Morgenegg, Sachiko Muranaka, Kayo Nakaaki, Sanfra Nash, Hélène Nicolet, Catherine Oppliger, Lisa Parker, Joan Pope, Pascale Rochat-Martinet, Toru Sakai, Jack Stevenson, Jacqueline Vann, Magdalena von Känel, and Mireille Weber.

AUTHOR’S BIO The Dalcroze Society of America’s Marketing Consultant and Vice President of the DSA’s TriState Chapter, Heather Mattie Kaiser manages a roster of internationally acclaimed composers as the Promotion Manager for music publisher G. Schirmer, Inc. Her credits include: B.M. in Viola Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; studies with Jodi Levitz; chamber music studies at Stanford, the Meadowmount School of Music, and numerous international music festivals; founder of Classical Revolution PDX, “one of Oregon’s most important classical music institutions” (Oregon Arts Watch); visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University. She currently lives in New York City, performing with pianist Aaron Butler in a duo called Sound Narcissist, and as a cast member for Mind the Art Entertainment.

However, despite its logistical challenges, this large gathering left our American practitioners with many happy memories. “To bring our world-wide community together for such meaningful and rich exchanges has both whetted our appetites for more and also set the bar very high!” remarked Lisa Parker, while Aaron Butler found that the gathering of master teachers from around the world was “altogether impressive and instructive.” All of the participants remarked on the wonderful experience of connecting with old friends and meeting new colleagues. Jeremy Dittus was “thrilled to see so many Americans there! We all shared in one community together; several of us were represented in the international teaching community for this year’s Congress. I was humbled to be with such a group of talented and highly respected individuals!” And thus concluded the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze 2015 Congress, with all looking forward to the next global Dalcroze event.

Monocacy Manor • Bet hlehem • Pennsylvania

Institute for

Visit Our Website j-dalcroze.education

Jaques-Dalcroze

Education

TEACHER TRAINING 2016 INTENSIVE WEEKEND PROGRAM Intensive Weekend I ~ Nov 13 - 15, 2015 • Intensive Weekend II ~ Dec 18 - 20, 2015 Intensive Weekend III ~ Jan 29 -31, 2016

JAQUES-DALCROZE TEACHER CERTIFICATION THREE LEVELS - THREE WEEKS JULY 09 - JULY 30, 2016 ! ! ! New New New Basic Certification ~ Module I and II after two weeks of training Intermediate Certification ~ Module III and IV after four weeks of training Advanced Certification ~ Module V after five weeks of training & two intensive weekends For complete information and registration call, click, or email.

610-691-5544 • www.j-dalcroze.education • jack@jdalcroze.org

DALCROZE TRAINING CENTERS (Sites where candidates can earn Dalcroze credentials from qualified Dalcroze educators.)

A FULL LIST OF UPCOMING WORKSHOPS, ONGOING CLASSES AND OTHER TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES IS AVAILABLE AT DALCROZEUSA.ORG, OR BY EMAILING LAUREN HOGDSON AT ADMIN@DALCROZEUSA.ORG. COLORADO DALCROZE SCHOOL OF THE ROCKIES Dalcroze Certificate and License programs, and classes for adults, teenagers, and children. Long-distance studies, monthly weekend intensives, and Online lessons in Solfège and Improvisation are also available. Denver, CO Instructors: Dr. Jeremy Dittus, Diplôme Supérieur; Katie Couch, MM, Dalcroze License; Emma Shubin, MM, Dalcroze License; Lauren Hodgson, BM, Dalcroze Certificate Contact: jeremydittus@gmail.com www.dalcrozeschooloftherockies.com NEW YORK DALCROZE SCHOOL AT THE KAUFMAN CENTER THE DALCROZE SCHOOL AT LUCY MOSES SCHOOL at the Kaufman Center Dalcroze Certificate and License programs and classes for adults, teens and children New York, NY Anne Farber, Dalcroze School Director Cynthia Lilley, Michael Joviala and Leslie Upchurch, faculty Contact: 212-501-3360 www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org DILLER-QUAILE SCHOOL OF MUSIC Dalcroze Certification opportunities, as well as graduate credits available Ruth Alperson, Director Cynthia Lilley, Michael Joviala, faculty 24 E. 95th St. New York, NY 10128 Contact: Kirsten Morgan, Executive Director 212-369-1484 www.diller-quaile.org

HOFF-BARTHELSON MUSIC SCHOOL Dalcroze Teacher Training Course Classes taught by Dr. Ruth Alperson Classes in Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Solfege and Improvisation are necessary pre-cursors to teacher training and eventual certification. HoffBarthelson offers these three courses at the Beginning/Intermediate level. Students enrolled in the Teacher Training Course have the opportunity to observe Dalcroze classes for children. Contact: Terry Wager 25 School Lane, Scarsdale, NY 10583 914-723-1169, twager@hbms.org MASSACHUSETTS LONGY SCHOOL OF MUSIC OF BARD COLLEGE 3-YEAR DALCROZE CERTIFICATE & MASTER OF MUSIC (in performance or composition) Combined Program Eiko Ishizuka, Director Faculty: Eiko Ishizuka Contact lisaparker035@gmail.com DALCROZE SUMMER INSTITUTE Lisa Parker, Director Faculty: Lisa Parker, MM, Diplome Superieur, Eiko Ishizuka, Candidate for the Diplome Superieur, Adriana Ausch, MM, Dalcroze License, Ginny Latts, Dalcroze License, Melissa Tucker, Dalcroze License 27 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

PENNSYLVANIA CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY Marta Sanchez, Dalcroze Training Center Certificate and License Programs Summer and Academic Year Dr. Annabelle Joseph, Diplôme Supérieur, Director 5000 Forbes Avenue, CFA 105 Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 412-268-2391 music-dalcroze@andrew.cmu.edu INSTITUTE FOR JAQUES-DALCROZE EDUCATION The Institute for Jaques-Dalcroze Education, LLC is owned and operated by Monica Dale and Jack Stevenson, two internationally recognized JaquesDalcroze pedagogues. The program provides hands-on experience of the Jaques-Dalcroze method: Eurhythmics, Solfege, and Improvisation,in addition to Jaques-Dalcroze pedagogy, philosophy, and plastique anime, and prepares candidates for the examinations leading to the JaquesDalcroze Certificate. St. Francis Center for Renewal 395 Bridle Path Rd Bethlehem, PA 18017 July 2015 Faculty: Jack Stevenson, Diplôme Supérieur Contact: Jack Stevenson 610-691-5544 jack@jdalcroze.org

The Dalcroze Program at Diller-Quaile 2015-2016 DALCROZE CERTIFICATION OPPORTUNITIES Teacher Training Faculty: Ruth Alperson, Michael Joviala, Cynthia Lilley CORE SUBJECTS: EURHYTHMICS, SOLFÃ&#x2C6;GE, IMPROVISATION Three Levels of Classes for Adults: Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced DALCROZE METHODOLOGY: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES Includes observation of Dalcroze Eurhythmics classes for children and practice teaching DALCROZE CLASSES FOR STUDENTS FROM PRE-K THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL Teacher training classes have been evaluated and recommended for graduate credit by the University of the State of New York, New York State Board of Regents National College Credit Recommendation Service (National CCRS). Visit www.diller-quaile.org for information about 2015-2016 courses.

The Diller-Quaile School of Music | 24 East 95th Street | New York, NY 10128 212-369-1484 | www.diller-quaile.org Accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community & Precollegiate Arts Schools

DALCROZE CONNECTIONS Kathy Jones 25 School Lane Scarsdale, NY 10583