Imprint
Le Rythme is edited by FIER
(Fédération Internationale des Enseignantes de Rythmique)
Domicile: 44, Terrassière, CH-1207 Genève
www.fier.com
The views expressed in Le Rythme do not necessarily represent those of FIER.
Copyright remains the property of the individual author.
Members of the FIER committee
Paul Hille, president
Fabian Bautz, vice-president
Mary Brice, treasurer
Hélène Nicolet, secretary
Michèle de Bouyalski
Pablo Cernik
Eiko Ishizuka
Dorothea Weise
Cover picture: Anna Petzer
Layout: Claudia Schacher
Print: Druckerei Berger, HornPreface

Paul Hille, Fabian Bautz, Dorothea Weise

With Le Rythme 2019 we focus on approaches to the evolution of theory
in eurhythmics. Earlier issues of the journal have presented valuable
contributions concerning theoretical and scientific fundamentals. We havedecided to intensify this emphasis. Happily, we received a great response to
our request for theoretically-based professional articles, enabling us to offer
a multifaceted spectrum of authors from Canada, the US, China, Finland,
Sweden, Argentina, Mexico, UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
All of the contributions are in English. Hopefully, this will facilitate
understanding within theoretical discourses in the eurhythmics community.
Articles can also be found in their original languages on the FIER website(see documents/publications). In the printed issue this is indicated with a
QR code at the end of each article; in the PDF version there is a link.
Historic, scientific and theoretical perspectives in the articles arecomplemented by the chapter Artistic Research. Here various artistic processes
in eurhythmics are reflected upon discursively. The resulting ideas generate
new insights in the intersection between theory and practice. These kinds

of approaches which create artistic and theoretical knowledge are extremely
valuable for eurhythmics and should definitely be expanded further.
The spectrum of theoretical subjects in eurhythmics is as wide as
eurhythmics practice itself. For this reason, this edition contains a numberof abstracts of several larger scientific research projects. In order to include
a younger generation of eurhythmics practitioners with their theoretical
approaches and intriguing topics, we especially encouraged eurhythmics
graduates to submit abstracts of their academic papers. We are delighted to
be able to present here nine excerpts from bachelor’s and master’s theses.
Most of the full versions of these papers are available online in their original
languages and can be retrieved by link or QR-Code.
We offer our heartfelt thanks to Claudine C.C. Elian and Michael Schnackfor enormous help with the translations.
We wish you inspiring reading!
Wien, Luzern, Berlin, April 2019
Paul Hille
Fabian Bautz
Dorothea WeiseHistoric Perspectives
Selma Landen Odom
Researching Elsa Findlay: Dalcroze Teacher,
Choreographer, Writer

11

Karin Greenhead
Hidden in Plain Sight?
Challenges to the Understanding of Dalcroze Eurhythmics Today

23

Lilia Beatriz Sánchez
So Far, so Close
Rebuilding bridges through artistic research from Argentina

35

Theoretic Perspectives
Marja-Leena Juntunen
Dalcroze Eurhythmics – a Method, an Approach,a Pedagogy, or a Philosophy?

49

Andrew Goldman
The Link Between Audiation, Embodiment, and Improvisation
Theoretical and experimental approaches

60

Françoise Lombard
Inner Listening – Foundation of all pedagogies

70

William R. Bauer
Expanding Our Bodies of Knowledge

80

John Habron
Dalcroze and Disciplinarity

90

Wolfgang Mastnak
Eurhythmics and the Brain.
A Neuroscientific Perspective

103

Eckart Altenmüller
Brain Mechanisms of Motor Control in Musicians

116

Cheng Xie
Eurhythmics goes China
Thoughts on Culture-Sensitive Eurhythmics in China

127

Artistic Research
Diane Daly
A Dance of Shadows through Arts Practice Research

141

Hilde Kappes
Opera Instincta – An Invention and a Finding151

Susanne Jaresand, Maria Calissendorff
Beauty/Schönheit/Skönhet
An artistic research project in music and dance

161

Abstracts of Academic Papers
and Research Projects
Lisa Baeyens
Synaesthetic Perception Processes in the Mediationof Experimental Music

175

Anna Großberger
Evaluating the Phenomenon Flow in Eurhythmics
Education for Adults

177

Patricia Hofmann
Eurhythmics Improves Seniors’ Gait Safety –Even After Several Years of Eurhythmics Lessons

179

Tabea Kohler
Discipline Related Conflicts in Eurhythmics Classes –with Preschool and Elementary School Children
A solution approach based on space, time, energy and form

182

Klara Kramer
Intra-Orchestral Interaction

184

Barbara Krepcik
Rhythm and the Body
An analysis of the perception and effect of musical rhythmwith a focus on the significance of music and rhythm education

186

Mo LiEurhythmics as a New Approach in School Music
Teaching in China

188

Elisabeth Pelz, Bettina Rollwagen
Phrasing

190

Andrea Schär
Dance Along ... a Learning Platform for Music andMovement Teachers

192

Anne-Laure Schlaubitz Garin
Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics for People Affected with
Parkinson’s Disease194

Eva Schorndanner
The Event of Attention in Movement Improvisation
A study of Nancy Stark Smith’s “Underscore”, based on
Bernhard Waldenfels’ phenomenology of attention

196

Elda Nelly Treviño
The Effects of Dalcroze Eurhythmics on Psychologicaland Physical Variables

198

Una Minou Wiplinger
Striving for Connectedness
The principle of emotional resonance according to
Barbara Gindl with special consideration of pedagogicalapproaches of Eurhythmics/Music and Movement Education200

Historic Perspectives

11

Researching Elsa
Findlay: Dalcroze Teacher,
Choreographer, Writer
Selma Landen Odom

Dr. Selma Landen Odom is a dance historian
with degrees in English literature, theatre history,
and dance studies. She was founding director of
the York University MA and PhD programs in Danceand Dance Studies, the first offered in Canada.
Now Professor Emerita, she is an Adjunct with theCentre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studiesof the University of Toronto. She has publishedarticles and reviews, contributed to conferences andorganizations, curated exhibitions, and produced
videos. Her choreography for Gluck’s Orpheus andEurydice based on the staging by Adolphe Appia andÉmile Jaques-Dalcroze at Hellerau, Germany waspresented in collaboration with Richard Beacham
and Karin Greenhead at Warwick University in
1991. She co-edited the anthology Canadian Dance:
Visions and Stories (2004) and co-authored Practical
Idealists: Founders of the London School of Dalcroze
Eurhythmics (2013). Her continuing research
focuses on sources, practices, and influences ofDalcroze music and movement education.

12This article combines archival research and fieldwork in a microhistory of how
Elsa Findlay (1892-1975) shaped her multi-faceted career. One of the firststudents to train with Jaques-Dalcroze, she influenced countless musicians,
dancers, actors, teachers, students, and children after moving to the UnitedStates from England in 1921. She left traces of her teaching in Rhythm andMovement: Applications of Dalcroze Eurhythmics (1971), a classic text thatremains in print and is now an e-book. My approach uses Findlay’s publishedand unpublished writings, along with close reading of many related documents,
to focus on her practices and interactions with students, colleagues, and broader
networks. I also incorporate what I learned from meeting her and watching her
teach, and from interviews and conversations with others who knew her.

Bruce Frumker, Elsa Findlay Collection, Cleveland Institute of Music

Findlay was the first Dalcroze teacher I saw in action. When she invited me tovisit her at the Cleveland Institute of Music in November 1966, she was in her
mid-seventies, a tiny woman with ponytail and quick, protruding eyes. I was
twenty-three, a student embarking on research in theatre history. I watched
her teach three classes one Saturday. The children, led by her improvisation
at the piano, played games such as walking or running to follow the music;
singing, clapping, and playing hand drums to match her rhythms; using balls
to feel the beat; jumping over sticks in time to her cues, or conversely they
jumped and she played their timing. They devised movement individually,
yet they learned as part of the group situation. Recognizing and writing
notation came easily – they already knew what they were doing. In an
atmosphere of artistry and irresistible fun, Findlay imparted the elements,
forms, and values of Western classical and folk music.

13

We spent Sunday afternoon together at her apartment looking at books
and photographs of the Bildungsanstalt Jaques-Dalcroze in Hellerau, Germany,
where she studied from 1911 to 1914. She told about “exhilarating” lessons
with Jaques-Dalcroze and her struggle to learn piano improvisation. She
recalled Annie Beck’s choreography for the school festival productions of
Gluck’s Orpheus, standing up to move and gesture. This first open-ended
interview mapped out the Dalcroze world for me and set the course for whatbecame a decades-long project. Findlay provided addresses for colleagues she
thought I should meet, and generously lent photographs, journals, and a draftof her own book. Her enthusiasm propelled me to go beyond documents tofind the living practice. We corresponded from then on, and I took her advice
to meet people, observe lessons, and study eurhythmics myself.
Experiences in the field brought many opportunities to recover andinterpret activities from the past. Gradually I collected the stories ofoverlapping careers and networks, circles of relationship that rippled out
through time. Retrieving specific people in working situations inspired me
to make a series of microhistories, starting with an article on Mary Wigman
at Hellerau, written the year of her birth centenary (1986). Like a detective,
I connected details from archives and human sources with research by other
scholars to construct focused studies of teachers, students, and supporters.
These intersecting narratives provide multiple entry points into the interplayof people, practice, and place in the culture of Dalcroze education. Drawing
on the research process she inspired, I follow Elsa Findlay’s journey withinthat larger story.

Hellerau and Manchester: learning and teaching
Findlay’s training and apprenticeship occurred in Europe, where shebenefited from exceptional role models. She was the daughter of Joseph
John Findlay, Professor of Education at Manchester University, a prolific
writer who championed progressivism, and Charlotte Ann Denne Findlay,a labour reformer and activist in the Liberal Women’s Suffrage League.
After she was denied admission to a physical education college for being
too small, her father read about Hellerau and suggested she apply. Almost
nineteen, she arrived when the purpose-built campus north of Dresden first
opened in 1911.

14

Photographer unknown, Elsa Findlay Collection, Cleveland Institute of Music

Findlay flourished in the international learning community of Hellerau. She
worked hard in the solfège and improvisation courses of the core curriculum
to overcome her lack of musical background, but she loved movement,
especially participating in demonstrations and Gluck’s Orpheus in 1912 and1913. Years later Findlay evoked the workshop atmosphere (1973):
One hour a week the whole student body, about 150 of us, met in
the large central Hall and M. Jaques would carry out his ideas. All
these were so strange and exciting for me and I expect for everyone
there. Sometimes these ideas led to full size dances and here Annie
Beck developed her ideas in choreography.... The whole Hall was hungwith heavy, white material, even the ceiling. Behind these drapes were
thousands of light bulbs which were controlled by a switch board. It
was an unbelievable experience, movement, music and light (p. 138).
Findlay remembered, “It was quite impossible to sit still” when JaquesDalcroze improvised: “He enjoyed his students and, perhaps best of all,he had a wonderful sense of humour and fun” (ibid. p. 137). From him
she learned the art of interactive teaching and giving demonstrations. Herteachers Suzanne Perrottet, Myriam Ramberg (the future Marie Rambert),
and Annie Beck shared her interest in movement invention. She absorbed
modern design and lighting directly by working in the studio-theatreof Adolphe Appia and Alexander von Salzmann. Students, faculty, and15visitors – everyone could find fresh ways to create, perform, organize, andcommunicate at Hellerau. Transformed by these experiences, Findlay left
for Geneva in the spring of 1914 to help teach the movement choirs for theFête de juin, a lakeside pageant composed by Jaques-Dalcroze.
When World War I began that summer she returned to Manchester.
Although Findlay worked in the war effort, she focused on becoming a teacher
and artist. She taught eurhythmics in several schools in the Manchester andLiverpool areas, and on her own she choreographed and presented midday dance recitals with local musicians. She appeared in many of the same
venues as dancer Madge Atkinson, who established her School of Natural
Movement in Manchester in 1918. Possibly they connected, but in any caseboth contributed to a lively cultural scene in which they danced barefoot andcrafted original dance works. Findlay’s music ranged from Bach to Debussy
to the new piano idyll Sea Sheen by Eric Fogg, a Manchester composer stillin his teens.
Findlay’s eurhythmics demonstrations were informative and enjoyable,according to newspaper accounts she kept from 1919 to 1921 (Elsa Findlay
Collection). She often collaborated with her father, one of the foremost
British “educationists” to support Dalcroze work through lecturing andwriting. When he introduced a program in Huddersfield, “The Professor,
explaining the aims and principles of eurhythmics, said that in ordinary
dancing more attention was paid to the dance than to the quality of the music,
but by the Dalcroze method they got a great deal more out of dancing, fortheir movements became the expression of thought suggested by the music”(unidentified clipping). The writer next described the demonstration: “Theyounger children, about twenty in number, took part first. Their interpretationof the music played by Miss Findlay was remarkable for its beauty andsimplicity, and for the intelligence which characterised the setting of themusic to motion.” Through an unusual partnership, J. J. Findlay helped his
daughter reach the public and build her professional identity as a teacher.

New York: teaching and choreographing
One day Findlay heard from Clara Brooke, her friend at Hellerau, whowanted to leave her teaching post at the Bennett School for girls in upstate
New York. Findlay leapt at the chance to replace her. She arrived in the
United States in September 1921, gave a demonstration at Columbia
University Teachers College the following March, and soon Peter Dykema,
Chair of Music Education, invited her to teach there. As a qualified Dalcroze
teacher in New York City, Findlay was much in demand. Energetic andorganized, she juggled part-time positions in multiple settings over the next
twenty years. A partial list shows that she taught eurhythmics to students
and teachers at Columbia from 1925 to 1940; adults and children at the
Dalcroze School of Music from 1923 to 1931; college students at Hunter

16

and Vassar; actors and singers at the American Laboratory Theatre, which
introduced the Stanislavsky method in America; and dancers at Denishawn,
the school founded by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn in Los Angeles that
had relocated to New York.
Findlay gained colleagues and students with links to theatre and opera,
dance, music, education, and the press, and through them she foundopportunities for creative work. She made her reputation by directing thechorus movement and ballets for the 1926 production of Gluck’s Orpheus at
the Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich Village, which was acclaimed bymusic critics and revived twice. She described it as an intimate version of the
production she had performed at Hellerau. She staged movement for several
Greek plays, and in 1934 she choreographed George Antheil’s avant-garde
opera Helen Retires and the American premiere of Sean O’Casey’s Within theGates, with incidental music by Lehman Engel.
In her private studio at 264 Fifth Avenue, Findlay offered adult andrecreational Dalcroze classes and a professional course including plastic
movement, body technique, and pantomime. Her brochure titled “Rhythm”(Elsa Findlay Collection) states, “She has spent the last five years working out
her theories of expressive movement and has specialized in the applicationof the principles of eurhythmics to the art of the actor, the dancer, thesinger. Her theories have been developed from actual experiments madein the classroom” (p. 10). The studio was perfect for collaboration. Soichi
Sunami, known for his striking images of Martha Graham and other dancers,
photographed groups of Findlay’s students working on the Appia-style stairs
she used. She attracted young dancers and musicians from Denishawn andfrom the company of Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, who separated
from Denishawn in 1928. Findlay presented them in her program Dance
Compositions for Ensemble, with music by Ravel, Scriabin, and Beethoven,and Three Studies in Abstract Design to percussion, in April 1929 at theAmerican Laboratory Theatre (Elsa Findlay Collection). Her group shared
the evening with Swedish dancer Ronny Johansson and dance critic John
Martin, who directed a parody called Madonnas at Play. She had met Martin
at “the Lab” and already recommended him to the New York Times for thepost he held from 1927 to 1962.
The high point was Findlay’s Men and Machines, performed by fifteen
dancers with piano music “especially composed for this occasion” by Henry
Cowell. The dance juxtaposed six “machines” repeating arm and step
patterns in quintuple time, going faster and faster up and down stairs inthe background, with a circle of nine “humans” moving more slowly andvariously in the foreground. Sharp dynamic contrasts marked the work’s
evolving sections, according to Cowell’s holograph score (Library of Congress
Music Division).

17

Soichi Sunami, Elsa Findlay Collection, Cleveland Institute of MusicJohn Martin wrote (1936) that her Men and Machines “was unquestionably
the best of all the dances on the theme of mechanism, for the simple reason
that it was not merely an arbitrary imitation of mechanistic motion but
identified itself with the life about it” (p. 275).
Her signature work was performed often by changing casts, usually
including John Colman, the future Dalcroze master teacher, who told me
about the movement and costumes when we met in 1983. Miriam Catheron
McCollum recalled (1975):
These were exciting times, when the Modern Dance was coming into
being, and Fin was a leader in the struggle to give dance its proper
place in the artistic and theatrical world. To be in her studio then was
to be in a state of constant ferment, rehearsing new dances for concerts
and for her highly successful production of Gluck’s Orpheus, meeting
actors and other dancers working to repeal the Sunday Blue Laws
against dance, but most of all, trying to keep up with her galloping
mind and ebullient spirit (pp. 4-5).
Among those who studied with Findlay in New York were Martha Hill, cofounder of the Bennington Dance Festival and director of the Juilliard Dance
Division; Marion Chace, dance therapy pioneer; Gertrude Prokosch Kurath,18

dance ethnologist; and Beryl McBurnie, founder of The Little Carib Theatrein Trinidad.
Findlay’s group shared programs with José Limón and others during the
1930s, but eventually she stopped renting theatres in favor of producing
new work where she taught. At the 92nd Street YMHA in 1936, she directed
the Drama Workshop in a program that included her Dance of the Yemenites,
Ernst Toller’s Man and the Masses, and a mimed version of Poor People, a songby Marc Blitzstein. Findlay remained active in dance and Dalcroze circles,
serving on committees for the National Dance Congress and Festival in 1936,
giving practical sessions for Dance Section conferences of the American
Physical Education Association, and organizing a Rhythm Symposium for
the Association of Dalcroze Teachers in America in 1940. That year her
father died and she lost the position she had held longest, when Columbia
Teachers College dismissed all but its full-time professors. Teachers College hadsustained her on several levels, by attracting excellent students, supporting
her teaching experiments and productions, and stimulating her to study
creative writing. She must have lost other positions, too, for there are few
traces of what she did during World War II.

California and Cleveland: writing and teaching
Findlay moved to the West Coast and taught eurhythmics at the Universityof Southern California in the late 1940s. From working on the musicalcomedy An Angel Comes to Brooklyn (1945), she learned that film was not
her medium for choreography. In New York the collaborative process andlive performance were what had compelled her. What could she do on her
own? She had published occasional newspaper and magazine articles, andshe steadily wrote promotional material for her studio and concerts plus
reports and advocacy letters for organizations. In the early 1950s she madea serious effort to write screen plays and television programs. Even though
success as a writer in Hollywood eluded her, the challenge of composingwith words remained. While continuing to teach part-time, she drafted atext book for music educators.
In 1956 Findlay was appointed head of the eurhythmics program at
the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), one of the most distinguishedconservatories in the United States. Founded in 1920, CIM’s first music
director was Ernest Bloch, who as a teenaged violinist in the 1890s studiedcomposition with Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva. Bloch brought Jean Binet,
who also studied with Jaques-Dalcroze, to introduce eurhythmics at CIM in
1921; Gladys Wells, a graduate of the London School of Dalcroze Eurhythmics,
and three others taught there before Findlay arrived (Becknell, 1970, pp.
52-59). At last, for fifteen years, she held a single, stable position in a school
where eurhythmics was central to the curriculum.

19

Findlay’s teaching encompassed the eurhythmics courses required of all
CIM degree and certificate students in their first two years; classes in thechildren’s preparatory program; and workshops and summer courses formusic, elementary, and physical education teachers. Artistically, Cleveland
was heaven because she could stage works such as Hänsel and Gretel andNoye’s Fludde and, with CIM composer Donald Erb, create new plays forchildren. In 1966 Dean William Kurzban and Findlay developed a four-year
degree program with a major in eurhythmics, the first offered in the UnitedStates. Dalcroze specialists John Colman and Loma Roberts Lombardo
commuted from New York to teach in the first years. Eminent pianists andimprovisers, they both had performed decades earlier in Findlay’s Men andMachines. David Neal Brown began to teach alongside this remarkable
team while completing his double major in organ and eurhythmics; from1972, after Findlay stepped down, Brown moved the CIM program forward
until he retired in 2009. His former student Brian Sweigart and colleagues
continue the lineage today.

Bruce Frumker, Elsa Findlay Collection, Cleveland
Institute of MusicThe other main achievement of Findlay’s time at CIM was the refinement andpublication of Rhythm and Movement: Applications of Dalcroze Eurhythmics

20(1971). Her book is a crystallization of wisdom gained from her long careerof practical work. Engaging illustrations, musical examples, and conciselydescribed activities suggest a multitude of ways to explore the key topics oftempo, dynamics, duration, metrical patterns, speech and rhythm patterns,
phrase and form, pitch and melody, and creative expression. She concludes
with insightful chapters on teaching and working with improvised music,
percussion, and repertoire. Five appendices add ideas for movement inspace, physical and dramatic exercises, games with balls, action songs, andmusic, including several compositions by Findlay.
Recently I became curious about the book’s 22 photographs and 16
drawings, which contribute such precision and vitality to the written text.
Through internet searching, I managed to find photographer Bruce Frumker
and artist Brant Gebhart. I was delighted to learn from telephone interviews
that both had studied eurhythmics with Findlay at CIM. Aha! I thought, that
explains why their illustrations are so extraordinary. They knew what she
wanted to show. For Frumker the sense of freedom was “the real magic”
in her teaching. He shot “lots and lots” of fast-film photos while seated on
the floor, anticipating action to capture exact moments in time. Gebhart’s
drawings, by contrast, depicted the feeling of actions such as swings
unfolding through time and space. How prescient of Findlay to understandthat her book needed photographs and drawings to picture eurhythmics.
When I met Findlay in 1966 she was frustrated about not being able tofind a publisher. She knew, from frequent guest teaching in universities andat conferences, that people wanted such books. Finally, one of her workshop
participants in Oregon connected her with Summy-Birchard, who published
Rhythm and Movement. Findlay’s book is now held by almost 600 libraries
worldwide and has been translated into German, Chinese, and Japanese.
The current publisher, Alfred Music, confirmed that “given this edition has
been in print continuously for almost 50 years it may certainly be consideredan evergreen resource for early childhood music education” (Jodi Anderson
email, 8 October 2018).
Implicit throughout Findlay’s book are the traits that characterized herworking life: her love of movement and music, her commitment to interactive
practice, her creativity, her energy and enthusiasm, her resourcefulness. In
these traits she exemplifies many others who have traveled the pathways of
Dalcroze teaching and learning. Findlay built on her strengths in movement,
and she addressed her perceived weaknesses in musicianship by striving forthe best improvisational skill she could attain and by gladly collaborating withmore expert musical colleagues. She functioned independently, coordinatedcomplex responsibilities, adapted to diverse working conditions, and tookrisks such as choosing new music. Here I have tried to interweave the storyof how Findlay shaped her career with reflections on what she gave – directly
to her students and colleagues, to strangers she encouraged like me, and to
her readers, the future.

21

Archival materials and personal communications
The Elsa Findlay Collection at the Cleveland Institute of Music includes
clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, programs, correspondence, andunpublished writings. I also consulted materials in the Jerome Lawrence
and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute at Ohio State University,
Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library, and theMusic Division of the Library of Congress.
Elsa Findlay and I met 19-20 November 1966 and corresponded until
1972. Between 1967 and 2018, I had interviews and conversations about
Findlay with Robert Abramson, Bonnie Bird, David Brown, John Colman,
Bruce Frumker, Brant Gebhart, Martha Hill, Donald Himes, Gertrude
Prokosch Kurath, Madeleine Boss Lasserre, Ruth Murray, Hilda Schuster,Irwin Spector, Nathalie Tingey, and Jean F. Wilmouth, Jr.
Thanks for research help to Jodi Anderson, Yuan-Mei Hsieh, Eiko Ishizuka,
David F. Martin, Elizabeth Smigel, and John R. Stevenson.

References
Becknell, A. F., Jr. (1970). A history of the development of Dalcroze Eurhythmics
in the United States and its influence on the public school music program(Doctoral dissertation). University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Conner, L. (1997). Spreading the gospel of the modern dance: Newspaper
dance criticism in the United States, 1850-1934. Pittsburgh: University ofPittsburgh Press.
Findlay, E. (1927). Rhythmic practice. Theatre Arts Monthly 11 (9), 710-714.
Findlay, E. (1965). Lessons with Monsieur Jaques. Dance Magazine 39 (8),40-45.
Findlay, E. (1971). Rhythm and movement: Applications of Dalcroze
Eurhythmics. Evanston: Summy-Birchard (original publisher). Van Nuys:
Alfred Music (current publisher).
Findlay, E. (1973). Elsa Findlay: Certificate Hellerau 1914. In N. Tingey(Comp.), Émile Jaques-Dalcroze: A record of the London School of Dalcroze
Eurhythmics and its graduates at home and overseas (pp. 137-140). 19131973 plus a Supplement, London: A Dalcroze Book.
Findlay, E. (1987a). Memories of Hellerau as told to Laura Taxel. American
Dalcroze Journal 14 (3), 6-7.
Findlay, E. (1987b). Memories of Monsieur Jaques as told to Laura Taxel.
American Dalcroze Journal 15 (1), 5-6.
Graff, E. (1997). Stepping left: Dance and politics in New York City, 19281942. Durham: Duke University Press.
King, E. (1978). Transformations: A memoir by Eleanor King: The HumphreyWeidman era. Brooklyn: Dance Horizons.
Martin, D. F. (2018). Invocation of beauty: The life and photography of Soichi
Sunami. Edmonds: Cascadia Art Museum.

22

Martin, J. (1936). America dancing: The background and personalities of themodern dance. New York: Dodge Publishing Company.
McCollum, M. C. (1975). Elsa Findlay. In J. F. Wilmouth, Jr. (Comp.), Elsa
Findlay October 9, 1892 - April 21, 1975, Pittsburgh: Dalcroze Society ofAmerica, 4-5.
Odom, S. L. (1986). Wigman at Hellerau. Ballet Review 14 (2), 41-53.
Odom, S. L. (1995). Dalcroze Eurhythmics as an oral tradition. In La
Memòria de la dansa, Barcelona: Association Européenne des Historiensde la Danse, 31-38.
Odom, S. L. & Pope, J. (2013). Practical idealists: Founders of the London
School of Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Coventry: Coventry University.
Soares, J.M. (2009). Martha Hill and the making of American dance.
Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
Spector, I. (1990). Rhythm and life: The work of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze.
Stuyvesant: Pendragon Press.
Teck, K. (2011). Making music for modern dance: Collaboration in theformative years of a new American art. New York: Oxford University Press.

23

Hidden in Plain Sight?

Challenges to the Understanding of
Dalcroze Eurhythmics Today

Karin Greenhead

Karin Greenhead works regularly withprofessional musicians, dancers and those training
to teach Dalcroze Eurhythmics in the UK and very
widely internationally. Based on her training at
the Royal College of Music, London, the Institut
Jaques-Dalcroze, Geneva and her experience as aperformer and teacher, she developed dynamic
rehearsal techniques for improving musicalinterpretation and performance. She is a memberof the scientific committee for the International
Conference in Dalcroze Studies (ICDS) and was a
keynote presenter for ICDS3, Québec, 2017. As amember of the Collège de l’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze,
Geneva, Switzerland and Co-Director of Studies forthe Dalcroze Eurhythmics International Examination
Board (DEIEB), she has been much involved incurriculum development and assessment and iscurrently completing a PhD (a phenomenologicalinvestigation into her own practice), presents at
conferences and has authored and co-authoredarticles and book chapters in a range of academic
and instructional publications.

24

A survey of recent conference presentations and publications shows that Dalcroze
Eurhythmics (DE) attracts lively attention from Dalcroze practitioners andfrom a wide range of those interested in music teaching and training, theatre,
wellbeing and therapy, history, and neuroscience. At the same time, confusion
concerning its nature range from the seemingly entirely fluid to notions of its
rigidity and a need for its re-definition and reform.
If it is to live and maintain relevance, any practice bearing the name
Dalcroze, while relating to the thought and practice of the owner of that name,must remain useful; it must be applied and developed in response to changing
and current needs. It will always require review and recalibration in orderto maintain a good balance between its essential nature, the intentions andpurposes behind its practices and the ways in which it is applied or taught. The
practice of DE has traditionally been handed on from teacher to pupil and little
has been written about the underlying thinking that informs how it is taught.
Based on the origins of its development and the writings and practice of Emile
Jaques-Dalcroze, this article considers the essential nature of DE and makes
links with its practice today. It looks at why assumptions, misunderstandings
and distortions easily occur and how they could be minimised. Dalcroze
practioners are encouraged to inform themselves concerning the nature of theirprofession and to situate their work in current contexts that clearly need what
DE offers. The fundamentally ethical nature of Dalcroze pedagogy is considered,especially when teaching the core of the method: rhythmics.

First of all we must admit that we will never be able to say all that we
think about Eurhythmics because it is not an intellectual, aesthetic,
moral or any other kind of domain but an impenetrable web of thought,reflection, art, physical pleasure and aesthetic feeling linked with manyother things such as admiration, affection, memories, undertakings,
and to try to analyse all that would be as useless as trying to square
the circle…even more so. But, we still need to be able to explain if weare to justify ourselves. So then, let’s try a little clarification (Martin,
1933/1995).1
Frank Martin’s words are a reminder of the memories and strong emotions
that those who participate in Dalcroze Eurhythmics (DE) classes often haveabout them and also of the difficulty of arriving at an adequate descriptionof the essential nature of the method created by Émile Jaques-Dalcroze. It ischallenging to maintain a balance between the three interrelated disciplinesthat form the basis of DE: Rhythmics, Solfège and Improvisation with theirapplications in Plastique Animée (Collège de l’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze [CIJD],
2011). It takes many years to acquire and to make one’s own the essential
range of complex, personal, musical and movement-related skills together
1

All translations, K. Greenhead

25

with a good understanding of the underlying principles and practices required
to teach them, and to use them expertly in diverse teaching situations. As canbe seen from publications ranging from its application to early years, special
needs, therapy, music education and training, performers in music and dance,therapy and seniors,2 DE can and does offer a wide range of beneficial outcomesfor its students. It goes deep and is not a ‘quick fix’ as far as teacher training isconcerned. The difficulty in fitting a thorough Dalcroze training into current
conventional university courses and teacher training programmes3 may havemore to do with their structures and the contact time permitted than any fault in
professional Dalcroze training as such. The question of whether “rhythmician”
is indeed a profession4 has been raised. In essence, the well-trained Dalcroze
professional is an expert in music-movement relationships who applies thatexpertise in chosen fields of his/her interest. Teachers of DE are not ordinaryteachers who know a few Dalcroze techniques that they can apply in lessons:they are, or should be, highly trained professional rhythmicians who identify
themselves as such, taking a pride in that field, its knowledge and practices
and in the professional community to which they belong. In a field of often
fluid boundaries and many commonalities, those whose training does not
use the name “Dalcroze” as a descriptor may practice their profession with aslightly different emphasis or orientation. For the purposes of this article I will
focus my attention on the Dalcroze practice. To understand DE it is useful tolook first at the origins of the method, the reasons for its development and theinfluences upon Jaques-Dalcroze that resulted in his method being what it is.

The origins of Dalcroze Eurhythmics
There was no Dalcroze method until Jaques-Dalcroze started teachingharmony and later solfège at the Conservatoire de Genève beginning in
1892 since it was his dissatisfaction with the competences of his students
that led him to look, not to theories but to his own experience, for ways ofhelping them. He noted that while some of the students had an academic
knowledge of music and were technically brilliant, they could not improvise
or modulate and had no musical feeling, while others with more sense oftone quality and colour had no rhythmic or metrical sense. These defects
appeared more serious in those coming from wealthier families. He felt thatan analytical habit of mind had de-rhythmicised Geneva society and set
about “correcting constitutional faults and developing the natural qualities
of future musicians” (Berchtold, 2000, p. 48).
2
3
4

See Mathieu’s scoping reviews, (2013; 2017); conference presentations (The International
Conference of Dalcroze Studies (ICDS), 2013; 2015; 2017) and the centenary Congress of theInstitut Jaques-Dalcroze, Geneva (2015).
Most of those who apply for private courses in Dalcroze training in the UK are already qualified
teachers with some years of experience.
A profession is “a vocation or calling, especially one that involves some branch of advanced
learning or science” (The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 9th ed. 1995).

26

The turn of the 20th century was a time of social and political reform.
The winds of change produced many developments in politics, the arts,
education, science, medicine and psychology. These included John Dewey’s‘learning by doing’, the Olympic, scout and Garden City movements focussing
on the health and wellbeing of citizens and an emphasis on more personal,
individual forms of expression in all the arts. Jaques-Dalcroze trained in
Paris, Vienna, and Geneva at various times, in both theatre and music andwas familiar with Delsarte’s theories of expression. He worked in cabaret
and theatre, as a composer, conductor and accompanist. He had studied
and performed with great musicians. As accompanist to the great virtuoso
violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, he witnessed and participated in his unusual
rehearsal techniques (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1942), which included running andjumping in his room in an effort, he said, to get the Polonaise of Vieuxtemps
into his body (Christen, 1947). He was inspired by the virtuosity in rhythm
and movement of Arab musicians and dancers in Algeria. He composed ina variety of styles including songs for children and composed and put onlarge festivals in which the public participated. All these experiences werebrought to bear on the development of his method, and to them he added
the insights of his favourite teachers, especially Mathis Lussy’s theories
concerning rhythm and musical expression.
Not all teachers are as concerned about their pupils’ development as
was Dalcroze. His mother was a teacher much influenced by the ideasof Pestalozzi and as a prodigious child in Vienna his creativity had been
allowed full rein. There, he had been praised and indulged but when thefamily returned to Switzerland life became more restricted and he records
having been an unhappy student at the Collège Jean Calvin. Reflecting on
his life in old age, he wrote:
When I think of my life as a child at school, I realise that it is thememories of my childhood and adolescence that set me on the path ofpedagogical study. From our early years at college, most of the teachers
imposed tasks on us without ever explaining the reason for them and– with a few exceptions – they made no effort to get to know us, to beinterested in us or to help us. They showed no interest in our hearts oreven our minds, their only concerns being the obedience of their little
servants and the filling up of our memories. (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1948,
p. 195).
The combination of rich and positive experiences in learning and performing
and childhood hurts seem to have provided the spur to a core element of theDalcroze method: the ethical concern for the individual. Jaques-Dalcrozesought to address the whole person, to give him a sense of himself, his
creativity and his own wishes and will. He thought that when these werevalued and encouraged the student would experience joy and a love of27

learning (Bachmann, 1991; Berchtold, 2005; Jaques-Dalcroze, 1921/1967;1948). To the end of his life he remained concerned with the difficultyof attending sufficiently to each student while teaching the entire group(Jaques-Dalcroze, 1948).

Into ‘the impenetrable web’: Gaining an understanding of Dalcroze
Eurhythmics
It is difficult to find opportunities to watch classes in DE and as a result
observers’ ideas of what DE is may be based on watching one teacher andonly one lesson. Observers need to see many classes in all the branches ofthe method taught at different levels. Owing to the range, depth and variety
of its application, it is important to experience DE practised in different
ways by different teachers with different kinds of students if one is to gain agood understanding of it. Similarly, professional students need to study withseveral, different teachers during their training.5
With the passage of time, a number of views have grown up concerning
what is or is not properly part of a Dalcroze practice. Some of the morecommon of these are summarized in Table 1 below. It is clear from thisthat Jaques-Dalcroze’s own writing and his practice should be studied anddiscussed. Since most of the writings by or about him are only available
in French there is an urgent need for translation and the collection andpublication of (possibly annotated) articles.
Table 1. Contradictions between some commonly held beliefs about Dalcroze Eurhythmics(DE) and Jaques-Dalcroze’s own views and practices.

Misunderstandings and erroneous
beliefs about DE
The piano is the only instrument thatshould be used in playing for rhythmics
lessons.
Body movement alone withoutmaterials (objects) should be used inlessons.
The notion of sustained continuous
movement is not a Dalcroze concept.

Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (EJD)
EJD was interested in and encouraged
the use of other instruments while
recognising the importance of the
piano (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1948).
EJD, his colleagues, and students
regularly used materials in lessons.

EJD wrote an essay on it (1930) anddevised exercises requiring it and forteaching it.
The study of contemporary music is not EJD stated that it should be included
essential for training in DE.
(a number of places); engaged withthe contemporary music of his timeand composed original music himself.
5This is a condition of the use of the name Jaques-Dalcroze (or Dalcroze).

28

Teachers should stick to traditional
exercises.

EJD stated that teachers must makehis method their own and develop
their own exercises based on theirprinciples of the method. He said that
he himself had only begun this workand that others would complete it(Jaques-Dalcroze, 1948; Berchtold,
2000 and elsewhere).
Traditional exercises are old-fashioned, EJD insisted on the importanceprescriptive, and no longer useful.
of various exercises (various
publications).
The study of space, movement
EJD considered them essential to his
technique and Plastique Animée are not method and in Hellerau and Geneva
central to DE.
engaged spcialist teachers (some ofwhom were also rhythmicians) to help
in training students in movement.

The identity of Dalcroze Eurhythmics
A comprehensive account of the Dalcroze identity is offered in “The
Dalcroze Identity/L’identité dalcrozienne (Le Collège de l’Institut JaquesDalcroze [CIJD], 2011; 2nd ed. In press) and freely available online at www.
dalcroze.ch. This document focuses on the training of professional Dalcroze
practitioners and describes the content, principles and practices proper tothe method when training them. Since it addresses the most advanced levelsof training, a good knowledge of this publication could inspire and guidecourse and lesson development more generally.
DE is often described as one of several active ways of teaching basic
musicianship (usually to children). This includes pulse, beat, metre, form andliteracy. Usually no reference is made to the roots of the method in musicaland theatrical performance or to Jaques-Dalcroze’s knowledge and love of
the great repertoire of classical music and yet it is precisely the art of music
and theatre that are the life-blood of DE, the teaching of which has often
become too focused on notation. Notation consists of symbols intended toconvey certain aspects of music to those who can read it, but what is written
depends on the effect the composer desires and the instrument it is writtenfor. Tone dies on the piano. If a composer wants to keep the tone up or makea crescendo on a single note he must write trills or tremolos or use someother device, maybe in the accompaniment, to ensure that listeners andplayers experience a crescendo. The interpreter has to understand what ismeant by what is written. Poor plastique interpretations too closely attached
to notation have sometimes had a bad effect on how DE is viewed. Students,
performers and audiences need to experience music, not writing.

29

Two problems need addressing here. The first is the whole concept ofrhythm and that of metre. Rhythm is not beat, it is the entire flow of music
through time and space including its kinetic, energetic, gestural, phrasal
and structural elements. The second is art.
Jaques-Dalcroze experimented with many different ways of describing his
method. In relation to art he described moving plastic as “a complete art”
(Jaques-Dalcroze, 1919, in Jaques-Dalcroze 1921/1967, p. 147, fn.) and on
the same page “Eurhythmics exercises…constitute in themselves a complete
art in touch with life and movement”. According to Bachmann, in 1924
eurhythmics becomes “not an art but ‘a preparation for art’” (Jaques-Dalcroze,
in Bachmann, 1991, p. 213). Without art DE risks becoming useful exercises
but not a source of inspiration. The artistic and performance aspects of DE,
usually first found in the often misunderstood Plastique Animée and in the
study and creation of musical repertoire and other works of art, sometimes
seem to have got lost. Largely owing to the heavy criticism his work received
in Paris, Jaques-Dalcroze lost confidence in Plastique Animée and in what it
could be and bring to students (Greenhead, 2009). A clear understanding of
how to teach an appropriate movement vocabulary and expressive movementin the context of DE and the various forms in which Plastique Animée can be
explored and its potential, is essential to modern training.
The teacher’s actions and attitudes are often difficult for lay observers toperceive since so much depends on how the teacher uses musical improvisationin order to create a dialogue with the class, and where instructions are often
given musically rather than verbally. It may appear that a series of exercises
or games are being performed and that an interested teacher could simply
learn them and teach them. The observer may easily miss what lies behindthese activities: the intentions, the means of achieving them, the flexibility
with which they are applied and the effects they have on learners. While
DE can be considered essentially a process and a teaching method of great
range and flexibility rather than an art-form in itself, art must be brought tothe teaching of it and that teaching is a craft6 that is both demanding andrewarding for the teacher. As a practice, DE is always applied and therefore
is known in its application rather than theoretically.

The application of Dalcroze Eurhythmics
Today, DE is taught at every level of education from pre-school throughprimary and secondary school and in tertiary education at university. It isalso applied in the context of Special Needs education, dance, theatre andtherapy training, teacher training and in conservatoires of music to elite
6Chambers Dictionary 10th ed. (2006) defines craft n. as “art; creative, artistic activity involving
construction, carving, weaving, sewing” and vt. to create or construct esp. with careful skill(from Ger. Kraft power). Crafty adj cunning; wily. The connection between ‘craft’ and ‘crafty’suggests that craftsmanship requires cunning, an ability to disguise technique and effort as a
magician does: we see the result without being fully aware of the process of achieving it.

30

performers and all who want careers as performing musicians. Although in
one sense DE is always DE, the way it is applied is always in question. As theresources the teacher can draw on and the ways in which they can be used
are immense, each teacher must craft the lesson or training according to
the needs and interests of those who are to receive it. Many of the exercises
may be or look similar from one context to another but the reason for doing
them, any repertoire used, the explanations given and the way they are built
into the lesson will vary if the teacher is to address the class. Addressing
the particular group of people in front of one and the individuals within
it at that time and in that place is a cardinal principle of DE teaching: it ispersonal (Berchtold, 2000). DE is situated action in time and space.
In teaching a lesson on phrase and phrasing to dancers, musicians orteachers, the teacher of each of these groups must consider the differencesin their basic training and their interests. Musicians are unused to using
movement and space; many dancers are unused to listening and responding
to sound with their own movement as opposed to set steps; teachers are
generally concerned with pedagogical processes, a repertoire of exercises
and in how to connect music and movement in their own lessons rather
than self-development. In all cases it will be important to include the finedetail and precision of the art of music, movement and performance andthe need for improvisation. The teacher models the art of dialogical musicalimprovisation as communication (Driver, 1933; Vanderspar, 1984) andthrough this and the use of good repertoire in lessons, opens an artist’s wayof thinking to the student. Teachers must be artists, craftsmen and women,
makers, with a real interest in other people who bring play and creative
exploration to their lessons. In this way students are brought into contact
with art and the artists within themselves.
In exercises of the “follow the music” type students respond to what they
hear in improvised movement and the teacher, in turn, responds to what
they do. This improvised dialogue, with given parameters and aims, is acore element of Dalcroze teaching. When students notice that the teacher
not only uses improvised music to initiate their response in movement but
also improvises responses to their actions, they know they are seen andresponded to. This is essential to the whole teaching-learning process andcontributes to its inherently ethical dimension.
One teacher cannot be simultaneously a therapist for the blind, deaf orthose with special needs and the teacher for dancers, actors, musicians andthe trainer of other teachers and the one who works with seniors – DE iscapable of addressing more areas and needs than a basic training in themethod can cover. There is room for a discussion about the essential training
in DE and professional development in its applications.7
7

The Institut Jaques-Dalcroze’s program for training qualified eurhythmics practitioners to workwith seniors is a good example of a professional development program in applying DE to a
specific population.

31

Teaching and learning today
In 2018 as in 1892 conservatoires still produce graduates who cannot
improvise or modulate with confidence, technicians who do not communicate
well with co-performers and audiences and those with serious weaknesses
in rhythm and coordination. Pressure to perform frequently and at a high,technical level can result in musculoskeletal problems and performanceanxiety (Greenhead, 2016; Kenny, 2011; Kingsbury, 1998; Steptoe, 2001).
Musicianship is still often taught in an academic rather than a practical way.
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze developed his method experimentally as I did
mine when developing Dynamic Rehearsal, for applying DE to the rehearsal
and performance of concert repertoire (Greenhead, 2016; 2017; Greenhead,
Habron & Mathieu, 2016). Every “Dalcrozian” must make the Dalcroze
practice his or her own – it is designed to inspire original, creative work –but to do so it has to be fed from the springs and principles that brought DE
into existence in the first place. These can be summarised as focussing on:• Uniting the senses with emotional feeling and intellectual understanding(developing somatosensory-kinesthetic consciousness combined withemotional feeling and reflection) through the exploratory experience of
movement-music relationships.
• Rhythmicising these experiences8.
• Fostering the development of acute, sensory, especially aural, perception
and musical understanding through the use of movement, improvisationand space.
• Developing an ability to improvise musically alone, with others and in
relation to movement; using improvisation as a tool for teaching andlearning.
• Using the traditional canon of Dalcroze exercises including: following themusic; quick response; exercises for the development of automatisms andof memory (for example, canon); exercises in use of space, gravity anddynamics; polyrhythm and coordination etc.
• Fostering in teachers a capacity to respond to events and needs as theyarise and to create original exercises, and in students a capacity forcreative experimentation.
• Developing body-awareness and movement technique: centre, alignmentand balance; use of feet; rotation and sustained continuous movement.
Points of departure and arrival; co-ordination; use of space and weight.
• Being aware of addressing each student personally as well as the groupas a whole. Using solo, pair and group-work to assist students’ social
development.

8

A discussion of the place and importance of rhythm in these experiences will need covering inanother article.

32

The need for today
Today’s musicians and teachers need DE as much as, if not more than before
owing to the effects of educational, business and social practices that do notprioritise bodily-based knowledge, practical skills, or personal interaction.
There is a growing body of research in neuroscience and in psychology that
supports the notion that musical participation is an important activity forhuman beings and that body-movement plays an important part in this. In
addition to the specifically Dalcroze-related studies mentioned earlier there is
the work of Altenmüller, Grandjean, Jeannerod, Phillips-Silver, Schiavio andmany others in neuroscience and that of Bowman, Dewey, Gendlin, Polanyi,
Sheets-Johnstone, Stern and Trevarthen, among others, in philosophy andpsychology. All these researchers offer much to DE in foregrounding theimportance of personal, bodily and cognitive knowledge acquired throughinteraction and movement. They show that human beings rely on active
bodily experience in the construction of meaning, the development of asense of self and in building practical knowledge for living and relating.
Unfortunately, it seems that research papers are rarely read by governments
and educationalists and rather than looking at the strengths and limitationsof a given method properly taught. they often see methods as competingwith one another. In education, the current fashion is to recommend a ‘pickand-mix’ approach to teaching methods rather than to offer training focusedon one method that is enriching, creative, rigorous and has commonalities
with other, somatic, movement and musical practices. Those advancing thecause of DE need to be aware of current thinking and to be ready to situate
their work in the current context – perhaps showing how it can enhance,
link to or complete educational aims.
Music has a unique ability to bring people into close contact with theirown feelings of all kinds as Gabrielsson’s study of Strong Experiences withMusic (SEM) demonstrates (Gabrielsson 2011). Only 19% of participants inthis study were performers of music. In DE everyone is performing music,
acting in relation to music in some way. The processes of DE open up the
potential for music-related, transformative experiences that connect students
to themselves and to the external world including other people.
In an often virtual world, the strengths of DE lie, not in utopian visions
but in its groundedness in concrete experience and an experiential feedback
system (Jaques-Dalcroze called it a quick, effective and light network) that is
actually the source of its effectiveness. Experiencing personal connectedness
brings transformative experience, the feeling that things make sense and thatI, as an individual am able to make sense of them and to create my own work.
This sense of agency is very empowering: to echo Heidegger, Polanyi, Gendlin,
Sheets-Johnstone: I can, I act therefore I am. There is no need to reinvent the
Dalcroze wheel but there is a need for a better understanding, knowledge and33articulation of DE on the part of its practitioners and for the dissemination ofthis knowledge through discussion and publication of all kinds.

References		Bachmann, M.-L. (1991). Dalcroze today: An education through and intomusic. D. Parlett (trans.)
Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Berchtold, A. (2000). Émile Jaques-Dalcroze et son temps. Lausanne: Éditions
L’Age d’Homme. Chambers Dictionary (2006) 10th ed. Edinburgh:
Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.
Christen, E. (1947). Ysaÿe (2nd ed.) Genève: Labor et Fides.
Driver, A. (1936). Music and Movement. London: Oxford University Press.
Le Collège de l’Institut 30 (2011). L’identité Dalcrozienne: Théorie et pratiquede la rythmique Jaques-Dalcroze/The Dalcroze identity: Theory andpractice of Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Genève: Editions Papillon.
Gabrielsson, A. (2011). Strong experiences with music: Music is much morethan just music. R. Bradbury (trans.). Original Swedish edition, 2008.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Greenhead, Karin (2017). Applying Dalcroze principles to the rehearsal andperformance of musical repertoire: a brief account of dynamic rehearsal
and its origins. Pédagogie, art et science: l’apprentissage par et pour lamusique selon la méthode Jaques-Dalcroze. Actes du congrés de l’Institut
Jaques-Dalcroze, 2015. Genève: Droz. Haute école de musique de Genève,
pp. 153-164. ISBN: 978-2-600-05824-7
Greenhead, Karin (2016). Becoming music: reflections on transformative
experience and the development of agency through Dynamic Rehearsal.
A&HHE Peer reviewed Digital Special Issue, August 2016.
Greenhead, K. (2009). Plastique Animée: yesterday, today and tomorrow? Le
Rythme 2009, Fédération Internationale des Enseignants de Rythmique,Genève, Suisse.
Greenhead, K., Habron, J. & Mathieu, L. (2016) Dalcroze Eurhythmics:
bridging the gap between the academic and practical through creative
teaching and learning. Creative Teaching for Creative Learning in Higher
Music Education. Routledge: Abingdon. Oxon. pp. 211-226. ISBN: 9781-472-45591-8 (hbk), ISBN: 978-1-315-57471-4 (ebk)
Jaques-Dalcroze, É. (1921). Rhythm, Music and Education, H. F. Rubinstein(trans.) Republished 1967. London: Chatto & Windus.
Jaques-Dalcroze, É. (1930). Eurhythmics, art and education, F. Rothwell(trans.) London: Chatto & Windus.
Jaques-Dalcroze, E. (1942). Souvenirs, notes et critiques. Neuchâtel: Editions
Victor Attinger.
Jaques-Dalcroze, É. (1948). Notes bariolées. Genève: Edition J.-H. Jeheber S. A.
Kenny, D.T. (2011) The psychology of music performance anxiety. Oxford
University Press.

34

Kingsbury, H. (1988) Music, talent and performance: a conservatory cultural
system. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Martin, F. (1933/1995). Écrits sur la rythmique et pour les rythmiciens lespédagogues les musiciens. Genève: Editions Papillon, pp. 21-24.
Mathieu, L. (2013). Dalcroze Eurhythmics in the 21st century: issues, trends
and perspectives. First International Conference of Dalcroze Studies,
Coventry University, 24-26 July. Oral presentation.
Mathieu, L. (2017). La rythmique Jaques-Dalcroze au XXIe siècle. Pédagogie,
art et science: l’apprentissage par et pour la musique selon la méthode
Jaques-Dalcroze: Actes du congrès de l’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze, 2015
(pp.197-214). Genève: Droz. Haute École de Musique de Genève.
Steptoe A. (2001). Negative emotions in music making: the problem ofmusic performance anxiety. Juslin P.N. and Sloboda J.A. (Eds.) Musicand emotion: theory and research. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.
291-307.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1995). D. Thompson (Ed.), 9th ed. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
Vanderspar, E. (1984). Teaching Rhythmics. Woking: Dalcroze Society.

35

So Far, so Close

Rebuilding bridges throughartistic research from Argentina

Lilia Beatriz Sánchez

Lilia Beatriz Sánchez is Professor for pianoand Dalcroze Eurhythmics and graduated fromthe Conservatorio Nacional de Música of Buenos
Aires. Degree in musical arts from the Universidad
Nacional de las Artes (UNA). She studiedcomposition at the Conservatorio Superior deMúsica Manuel de Falla. She has worked teachingfor more than 30 years in music education (preprimary, primary and special), piano, solfège andeurhythmics for children and in artistic-professional
training of musicians, dancers and actors.
Nowadays, she is a professor of music at teacher’s
training schools; tenured professor of eurhythmics
at the dramatic arts department of the UNA;
professor of eurhythmics and improvisation at the
postgraduate course in Jaques-Dalcroze eurhythmics
directed by Pablo Cernik and coordinator of themusic-and-body program at the musical and soundarts department of the same university. Argentiniandelegate for AJDAR at the FIER.

36

Since 1939, when professor Lia Sirouyan, a pupil of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze in
Geneva, came to Buenos Aires, until her death in 2000, she developed an intenseand passionate work for the sake of spreading the principles and practices ofher Maestro, for training eurhythmics professors and for the inclusion of thediscipline in high academic level institutions, among others, the Conservatorios
Nacionales de Música y Arte Dramático Buenos Aires. However, with almost
no means of communication at her disposal during the war and afterwards,
her work remained anonymous and in the isolation of the Jaques-Dalcroze
Institute and centers of eurhythmics activity all over the world.
Today, with the return to our country in 2013 of the Argentinean holderof the Diplôme Supérieur Pablo Cernik, the creating of the first postgraduate
course of professional training in eurhythmics directed by him and recognizedby the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze, renews the hope of rebuilding the bridge thatonce before united us and that the disappearance of Madame - as we lovingly
called professor Sirouyan - would leave truncated. In a globalized world andwith the development of new technologies, the relativity of physical distances,
times and idiomatic barriers, invite us to build another bridge. The one of
a common thought about that Jaques-Dalcroze and his innovating work ofartistic-pedagogical investigation, who had anticipated more than a century
to what in our days, in the field of cognitive sciences and music education, is
known and researched as embodied cognition of music.
In 1983, when I was a student at the piano higher teacher training course of
the Conservatorio Nacional de Música Buenos Aires, I had the chance to takepart in my first eurhythmics class. Professor Lía Sirouyan, née Nercessian,
who had studied with Émile Jaques-Dalcroze at Geneva and resided inArgentina since 1939, invited me to take off my shoes and move to themusic she improvised on the piano. I accepted her invitation, but I had acertain prejudice as to how useful would be for a pianist to move anythingelse but their fingers on the piano. From that day onwards, I have never put
my shoes back; metaphorically speaking, of course.
Since her arrival to our country, ‘Madame’ –as we lovingly used to callher– developed an intense teaching work with children in educational andneuropsychiatric institutions, with artists in fine arts schools and musiccolleges among others, and in 1951 introduced eurhythmics in the trainingof actors at the Conservatorio Nacional de Arte Dramático that continues until
today. Finally, she achieved her most precious goal in 1987, by creating the“Eurhythmics Higher Teacher Training Course” at the Conservatorio Nacionalde Música. It included an application bureau dedicated to pedagogicalpractice. This office involved around 300 children taking classes of rhythmics,
solfège and instrument.

37

Professor Lia Sirouyan. * Bakú, Azerbaijan,
February 12, 1908 – † Buenos Aires,
Argentina, December 10, 2000.

Many years went by during which the only news relating to eurhythmics
in the world came to us through letters exchanged by Madame with someold colleagues of the Jaques-Dalcroze Institute. The bibliography was rather
scarce, always in foreign languages, until the time when we happily received
the Spanish edition of ‘La Rythmique Jaques-Dalcroze. Une éducation par lamusique et pour la musique’ of Marie Laure Bachmann in 1998.

Letter from Jaques Dalcroze to Madame Sirouyan.
May 28, 1943.

38

Jaques Dalcroze´s institute was very far away; our economy, always unstable,
made it difficult for us to ‘saltar el charco’ (cross the pond), an expression
widely used by Argentineans in an attempt to minimize the vastness of theocean separating us geographically, historically and idiomatically from Europe.
The Geneva Congress in 1992, a week attending classes at the Institutein 1995 and a few, though very valuable, visits of Silvia Del Bianco andIramar Rodríguez to Buenos Aires, were the only opportunities we had tolive other experiences in eurhythmics and become aware of the existenceof other centers in the world where this discipline was also practiced. But
all of them were always very far away. In 1998, upon the integration of thehigher education institutions of arts into the present Universidad Nacional delas Artes (UNA), the eurhythmics teacher training course and its application
bureau were closed. And in 2000, Madame passed away. There were only
two options left for my few colleagues and me: to accept the challenge ofsustaining eurhythmics spaces that had been created in music schools forchildren, in private and public drama schools, and as the only remaining
subject of rhythm and movement at the university teacher training course
on musical arts, or…to give up.
Since then and until the return to our country in 2013 of Pablo Cernik,
holder of a Diplôme of the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze, all those years wereplenty of lonely searches, anonymous experiences, uncertainty and the heavy
weight of trying to be faithful to the principles of a discipline that ‘Madame’
had transmitted to us with all her passion and loyalty to her ’Maestro’.
And with the little acknowledgement by professionals of institutions thatconsidered eurhythmics something of other times or for spaces limited tochildren’s musical education. Paradoxically, as one door closed when theuniversity eliminated the eurhythmics teacher training course, another one
opened; and this is what this article is about.

Getting closer
Research was one of the activities up to that time unknown in the sphereof tertiary-level artistic education that was strongly introduced in theuniversity. The long tradition of university research in the scientific andhumanistic fields, caused researches in the artistic world to adopt formats,discourses and methodologies of this type of abstract, predicative andconceptual knowledge. Even though a certain type of artistic knowledge –both theoretical and humanistic– could be more easily adapted, some othertypes of knowledge, in their own nature, resisted such adaptation.
This is so because “The [artistic] object [of study] has a tacit knowledge[…]. It has a ‘sensorial density with a high information content of embedded
knowledge leading to spaces where science often finds it difficult to captureand describe’ (Brix, 2008) […]. It is non-verbal knowledge, with a particular

39

corporeal coherence, where emotional, analogical and intuitive aspects playa fundamental role.” (López Cano, 2015, p. 9)
The old intellectualistic paradigm and the mind-body duality have beenquestioned by a broad spectrum of disciplines – philosophy, psychology,
neurosciences, cognitive sciences – which concluded to agree that, based ona model of embodied knowing, it was no longer possible to consider “thebody” as a material condition of our existence, but to consider ”my body”
as a physical, emotional, intellectual, social and cultural identity, which isbuilt throughout one’s life of experiences with multiple meanings. From thepoint of view of the phenomenology of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, the lived
body is that which ”fuses and confuses nature and culture” (Pelinski, 2005,nn); so that …”the conscience is not originally a question of ‘I think’ butrather one of ‘I can’ ” (Merleau-Ponty, 1945, p. 160); from neurosciences,“rationality can’t function without being coordinated with the ‘lower’ levelsof perception, emotion and ‘all that weak, fleshy stuff’ ” (Damasio, 1994,
p. 128), and for neurophenomenology “The brain shapes the contents ofour sensorial and perceptive processes, and it is so introduced as a tool ofknowing embodied in our body.” (Delannoy, 2011, p. 69) Such perspectives
imposed the need of “[…] abandoning the idea of clear partition lines
between perception, cognition and action; […] and, especially, abandoning
the research methods artificially separating thought from bodily action.”(Clark, 1999, p. 33)
In the field of music cognition sciences, “understanding the music as abody activity implies that the sound game is linked to a particular senseof time and place (space)” (Duby, 2015, p. 13). In Pelinski’s view ”theimmediacy, the phenomenal reality and the spatiotemporal situatedness ofembodied perception are traits of a musical experience whose privilege it
is to precede and found a musical knowledge in its rationality as well as
in its functionality.” (Pelinski, 2005, nn) Acknowledging that the “capacity
to understand musical contents through body movement stems from theconviction of a corporeal-kinetic-audio seamless unity.” (Shifres, 2013, p. 44),and therefore, “the bodily commitment, the movement and the emotional
responses to music are currently considered to be cognition modalities.”(Shifres, 2013, p. 45). Thus, “human corporeal experience is a constitutive
and indispensable dimension of all music: heard or played” (Bowman &Powell, 2007, p. 1094).
Notions such as empathy or motor induction whereby music arouses
in us certain motor images (López Cano, Reybrouck (2005); the analysisof sensory-motor processes entailed in instrumental practice; the studyof theories on affordances (Oliveira, Clarke, Reybrouck, López Cano),contingent action-perception relationships and metaphorical projectionsof image-schema in relation to musical perception and practice and theirepistemic actions, are the bases for the relevance of the role of corporeal
nature in musical experiences taking into account the non-dissociated mind-

40

body connection in action with the environment – of which music is a part– as the way to build musical meanings.
The foregoing was intended to be a more than brief summary of someof the many thoughts, theories and studies of this broad field of knowledge
which I found more relevant with respect to embodied knowing. However,as I kept on going deeper in this field, images of experiences lived as a
student, and later on as eurhythmics teacher with my own pupils, constantly
appeared, and a recurring thought kept coming to my mind: all these authors
were making reference, in a quiet and tacit way, to Jaques-Dalcroze’s ideas
and practices!!!
The revalorization of the body in relation to music and with it (the body),of its actions, feelings, emotions, cognitive and creative capabilities, could not
keep me indifferent when facing the lack of knowing or at least the omissionof Jaques-Dalcroze´s name within this wide campus of investigation: fromthe beginning of his searches to solve the difficulties he observed in his
students, his major aim was to recover the integration of all the capabilities
of a human being in their psychophysical unity for art and for the life itself. It
was very rewarding to discover these words of Karin Greenhead that I deeply
felt identified with: “His understanding of the music-movement connection
is now the subject of research in philosophy, psychology, anthropology andother related fields, even where the name of Dalcroze is little known or not
mentioned” (Greenhead, 2015, p. 20).

So close
The silent presence of Jaques-Dalcroze’s ideas in all these papers led me toresearch – in the beginning to prepare the dissertation to obtain my degree
in musical arts - the link between music cognition theories and Dalcroze’s
practices, to support the reasons why eurhythmics learning may constitute a
bridge between discourses and reflections of researchers in music cognitive
sciences and the so desired union between music and body that for JaquesDalcroze in the past and for us at present, continues to be a challenge to be
implemented in the professional training of musicians.
To help me in seeking such objective, I found the already known ideasof Jaques-Dalcroze and of Marie-Laure Bachmann, and also the ideas ofother professionals who, like Greenhead, shared in the distance and in otherlanguages, the same reasoning, acknowledging the importance of Dalcroze’s
principles and practices nowadays. “In music, all of its major elements –melody, melodic contour, rhythm and phrasing, cadence points, accents,
micro-variations in timing and dynamics, and harmony, among others – areinformed by, and draw on, bodily processes. That is why Dalcroze’s seminal
understanding of the role of the body and movement in music and musicalpedagogy is so important to musicians, musical educators, and psychologists
today.” (Seitz, 2005, p. 431)

41

The valuable discovery made by Jaques-Dalcroze was the relationshipbetween music and movement considering the specific and common
features both have – time, space, energy – which became the core of thisdiscipline, turning it, among others, into the musical method of formationthat “most clearly articulates the role of the body in music pedagogy andmusical expression.” (Seitz, 2005, p. 422) He developed a long path ofpedagogical and artistic research – and how it must be considered even when
not formalized in the terms of research understood as a specific academic
activity –, in search for learning situations where students are involvedin their whole corporeal capacity through exercises combining listening,
movement, singing, improvisation and creation, in which cognitive aspects
are deeply involved; an endless variety of invitations to action in mind andbody, thus considering the musician’s body as the first musical instrument
to be trained.
Learning, the contents of which are transversely addressed in the areas ofrhythmics, solfège and improvisation, is given through a path of explorationof musical sensation and musical knowledge together through bodily
movement. “Thus, in the exercises, sensing, action, feelings and thinking
interact” (Juntunen, 2005, p. 26); because for Jaques Dalcroze, “Eurhythmics
is »a bodily way of being-in-sound«” (Juntunen, 2004, Abstract).
From the first conviction Dalcroze’s over this “bodily way of being-insound”, and that in the perspective of embodied knowing we could consider
as a “bodily way of thinking-in-sound”, there we find how Dalcrozian ideas
and strategies acquire new relevance and are highly topical in view ofrecently developed research. Here, I will state some of the connections I
found between practices in eurhythmics and notions and theories of musicalcognition related to piano performance.
• Jaques-Dalcroze noted the power of music to arouse motor images. These
capabilities of motor empathy or induction are conceived as “forces andenergies inherent in musical structure that in turn account for our perception
and imagination of tension, resolution and movement” (Reybrouck, 2005,
nn). And provided there is movement, there is also time and space. Thanks
to this capacity, bodily movement finds its bonds with music: musical time,
space and energy find a vehicle to express themselves through a bodyinstrument that integrates not only aural perceptions, but also visual, haptic
and kinesthetic perceptions. These musical forces and energies embodied
in actions of the body, enhance a body language that we may consider a“music of the body” that, in agreement with Chion, “is gesture even before
producing the gesture (sound gesture)” and therefore “the sound becomesa certain extension of the body […] a sign of its presence […] in the toolof expression” (Chion, 1980, p. 34) when it is projected beyond it andthrough the acoustic instrument.

42• According to the theory of metaphor, sensory-motor experiences are thesource domain of abstract structures - image schema - enabling us, throughmetaphorization whose role is the making of meanings, to understandand conceptualize aspects of another abstract domain, in our case, music.
“Our bodily experience from the physical world (source domain) to
the world of music (abstract domain) results in metaphorized musicalnotions of musical space, musical time, musical force and musical shape.”(Brower, 2000, p. 327). Dalcroze’s practices in their particular connection
between music and movement, multiply metaphorization processes inorder to understand musical concepts.
For those who still today believe that eurhythmics is restricted to children’s
education, neuroscientists have proved that the “effects of plasticity [ofthe brain] are not restricted to a critical period in early life, but also
modulate functional auditory organization in adults” (Altenmüller,
2015, p. 76). In addition, “[…] it has been demonstrated that visualand rhythmic perception are shaped by body movements in both infants
and adults” (Altenmüller, 2015, p. 78), and specifically image – schema“would present here as a real possibility of connection between earlybodily activity and the world that continues throughout life, incorporated
to the perception-action cycle” (Jaquier & Leiva, 2013, p. 60).
Translating sounds into movement in the area of eurhythmics, or movement
into sound in the area of improvisation, are modes of metaphoricalprojection from one domain to the other in a double direction. Moreover:to understand both domains and project one on the other, the imageschema would structure how we perceive, how we think and what we dowhile we move - in the physical space or in the space of the instrument- in relation to music. These Dalcrozian practices offer the possibility ofmultiple projections into several senses and of building new meanings.
• López Cano quotes Volli, that affordances are “invitations to action“(López
Cano, p. 59). They “are present in the morphology of objects by meansof which they communicate their functions” (López Cano, 2014, p. 59).
He proposes the concept of “musical affordances as a set of motor andbodily actions manifest or hidden, that the music offers us” (López Cano,
2014, p. 69). They “are placed in the middle of effective bodily action
and tacit corporeal-motor knowledge. They demonstrate that musicalcompetence is a non-centered knowing distributed between mind andenvironment. They build a continuous path between the ‘outside’ andthe ‘inside’ where the body serves as connection point.” (López Cano,
2014, 70). Through recurrent perceptive experiences we elaborate
representations of aspects of music to which we recur in the formof affordances to use them cognitively in new musical situations. The
motor aspects strongly tied up to the genesis of these features, but unlike
images-schema, they operate at a more conscious level, since “perceiving
and not recognizing is tantamount to not understanding and, therefore,

43

not to unchain the necessary or appropriate motor action” (Clark, 1999,
p. 100). The connection between perception-action-cognition present all
the time in a eurhythmics class, offers recurring perceptive experiences of
one’s body in action through intentional connections with music, where
the student is involved with his entire body resulting, in turn, perceiving
subject and perceptible object, enhancing the affordances through active
and conscious perception of the qualities of music and of the qualities of
their own body.
• Sensory-motor contingencies are defined as structures abstracted fromperceptive experiences based on the relationship between the movementof our bodies and the changes in sensorial information. They operate
at consciousness level, even though “it is consciousness related more toknow how to do, than know how to explain” (Peñalba, 2008, p. 115). This
type of cognition, closely associated with the connection between soundand bodily movement studied by Peñalba in instrumental performance, isa constant feature in eurhythmics practice. The mechanism of feedback
loop between perception of the music and of actions of the body facilitates
exploration, correction, improvement, automation and adaptationof movements during each exercise. This is extremely important formusicians, because like in global or partial movement of the body, thecorrection of errors, the development of skills and the search for expressive
quality in musical performance occur through auditive, visual, tactile andproprioceptive feedback.
So far, these are some of the relationships found that, in my opinion, support
the idea that embodied knowing is the soul of Jaques-Dalcroze´s artisticpedagogical experiences. Thanks to it, corporality implied in experiences
lived in the relationship music – movement in eurhythmics classes, builds
bridges towards experiences in the relationship body – instrument. These
bridges are neither brief nor temporary, and they are not interrupted in
the physical space where movements take place; conversely, they project
beyond and through the musician´s body to make of it, the instrument ofexpression of the music that lives in it.

Far or closed, but together
The return to Argentina of Pablo Cernik, who has made it possible to have forthe first time in our country a university postgraduate course in eurhythmics
validated by the Jaques-Dalcroze Institute, with the participation of Silvia delBianco and María Eugenia Arús Leita, resulted in renewed hopes to rebuild
the bridge left unfinished upon Madame’s departure, and to shorten the
distances that have been keeping us apart for so many years. But in addition,
the questions that have not been answered yet in the area of artistic research
and musical education, enable us to build a new bridge.

44

How to evade “the Descartes’s vengeance […]“ when acknowledging
that we are “insistently and convincingly stating the inexorable unity of two
entities that, paradoxically, we continue to name and think as two different
instances: mind and body?” (López Cano, 2013, p. 11). How is it possible
to succeed in a deep and genuine transformation of learning practices
by integrating all the abilities of human beings for their personal andprofessional formation as an artist? I am sure that eurhythmics followers allaround the world, whether they are far or close, will all agree to a common
thought; but dear readers, to conclude, please let me express it in my own
language: la Rítmica Jaques Dalcroze, conoce desde hace mucho tiempo, las
respuestas a estas preguntas.1
Note: All translations from Spanish into English by the author.
For reading the article in Spanish: http://fier.com/documents?filter=3

References
Altenmüller, E. (2015). Émile Jaques-Dalcroze as a Visionary of Modern
Brain Sciences. Le Rythme 2015, FIER, 70-81.
Bachmann, M. (1984). La Rythmique Jaques-Dalcroze. Une éducation par lamusique et pour la musique. Neuchâtel: A La Baconnière.
Bowman, W & y Powell, K. (2007). The Body in a State of Music, InInternational Handbook of Research in Arts Education, 2. USA. Liora
Bresler (Ed), University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 1087-1106.
Brix, A. (2008) In López Cano, R. (2015). Educar para la investigación: áreas
de trabajo, tipos de conocimiento y problemas de implementación. A
contratiempo, 9. http://www.musigrafia.org/acontratiempo/?ediciones/
revista-25.html
Brower, C. (2000). A Cognitive theory of musical meaning. Journal ofMusic Theory 44, 2. 323-379. http://www.academia.edu/2229997/A_
cognitive_theory_of_musical_meaning
Chion, M. (1980) In Girault, H. (2012). La place du corps dans l´apprentissage
sonore. Recherche en Education Musicale, 29, Faculté de Musique.
Université Laval. Québec, 29-46.https://www.mus.ulaval.ca/reem/
sommaire_no_29.htm
Clark, A. (1999). Estar ahí. Cerebro, cuerpo y mundo en la nueva ciencia
cognitiva. (1st ed.). Barcelona: Paidós.
Clark, A. (1999) in: Peñalba, A. (2008) El Cuerpo en la interpretación Musical.
Un mode lo teórico basado en las propiocepciones en la interpretación deinstrumentos acústicos, hiperinstrumentos e instrumentos alternativos.
Ph.D. thesis (n.p) Universidad de Valladolid. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras.
Departamento de Didáctica de la Expresión Musical, Plástica y Corporal.
1

Jaques-Dalcroze´s eurhythmics found the answers to all these questions a long time ago.

45

Damasio, A. (1994). Descartes’ Error. Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain.
(1st ed.) New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Grossetl Putnam Books.
Delannoy, L. (2011). Consciencia musical y neuroartes. Prometeica. Revista
de Filosofía y Ciencias, II (5), 63-73.
Duby, M.(2015) Música, metáfora y cuerpo: Perspectivas desde la filosofía
y la neurociencia. In Cascudo, T. (Eds.), Música y cuerpo. Estudios
Musicológicos. (pp. 1-24). Logroño: Calanda Ediciones Musicales.
Greenhead, K. (2015). Drawing threads together. Le Rythme 2015, FIER,
Geneva, 12-23.
Jaquier, M. & Callejas Leiva, D. (2013). Teoría de la metáfora y cognición
corporeizada ¿Cómo se introduce la teoría de la metáfora conceptualen los estudios musicales? Epistemus, 2, 51-88. Revista de la Sociedad
Argentina para las Ciencias Cognitivas de la Música.
Juntunen, M.L. (2004). Embodiment in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. PhD thesis.
Faculty of Education, Depart-ment of Education Sciences and Teacher
Education. University of Oulo. Finland.
Juntunen, M.L. (2005) What makes Eurythmics Dalcroze Eurythmics? Le
Rythme 2005, FIER, Geneva, 26-29.
López Cano, R. (2013). El error de Descartes y las tres venganzas de René.
Epistemus, 2. Revista de la Sociedad Argentina para las Ciencias Cognitivasde la Música, 9-22. https://doi.org/10.21932/e- pistemus.2.0
López Cano, R. (2014) Música, mente y cuerpo. De la semiótica de larepresentación a una semiótica de la performatividad. In De cerca, de lejos.
Miradas actuales en Musicología de/sobre América Latina. Montevideo.
Marita Fornaro (Ed) Universidad de la República, Comisión Sectorial de
Educación Permanente/Escuela Universitaria de Música, 41-78.
López Cano, R. (2015). Educar para la investigación: áreas de trabajo, tipos
de conocimiento y problemas de implementación. A contratiempo, 25.
http://www.musigrafia.org/acontratiempo/?ediciones revista-25.html
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945). Phénomenologie de la perception. Paris: Gal.
Peñalba, A. (2008) El Cuerpo en la interpretación Musical. Un modelo
teórico basado en las propiocepciones en la interpretación de instrumentos
acústicos, hiperinstrumentos e instrumentos alternativos. Ph.D. thesis (n.p)
Universidad de Valladolid. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Departamento
de Didáctica de la Expresión Musical, Plástica y Corporal.
Pelinski, R. (2005). Embodiment and Musical Experience. In Revista
Transcultural de Música 9. López Cano, R. (Ed.) https://www.sibetrans.
com/trans/article/178/embodiment-and-musical-experience
Reybrouck, M. (2005) Body, mind and music: musical semantics between
experiential cognition and cognitive economy. In: Revista transculturalde Música 9. Ed. López Cano. https://www.sibetrans.com/trans/
articulo/180/body-mind-and-music-musical-semantics-betweenexperiential-cognition-and-cognitive-economy

46

Seitz, J. (2005). Dalcroze, the body, movement and musicality. In Psychologyof Music 33 (4) Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research,
419-435.
Shifres, F. (2013). Introducción a la Educación Auditiva. In: Shifres & Burcet(coord.) Escuchar y pensar música: bases teóricas y metodológicas (1st ed.)La Plata: SeDICI, Universidad Nacional de la Plata, 1-65.
Volli (2000), in: López Cano, R. (2014) Música, mente y cuerpo. De lasemiótica de la representación a una semiótica de la performatividad.
In: De cerca, de lejos. Miradas actuales en Musicología de/ sobre América
Latina. Marita Fornaro (Ed), Montevideo: Universidad de la República,
Comisión Sectorial de Educación Permanente/Escuela Universitaria deMúsica, 41-78.

Theoretic
Perspectives

49

Dalcroze Eurhythmics –a Method, an Approach, aPedagogy, or a Philosophy?
Marja-Leena Juntunen

Dr. Marja-Leena Juntunen (PhD, musiceducation) is Professor of Music Education at theSibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki,
Finland. She holds a Dalcroze Licence from
Carnegie Mellon University. She has taught Dalcroze
pedagogy in Finland and the United States andgiven Dalcroze workshops and lectures around theworld. Also, a big part of her research focuses on
Dalcroze, especially on perspectives of embodiment.
Her other research interest areas include school
and instrumental music education, music teacher
education, higher music education, assessment,
narrative inquiry, and equality. Juntunen hasedited books on music education and publishedseveral monographs, book chapters, and articles ininternational and Finnish research journals, as wellas teaching materials and textbooks. She serves as areview reader for several journals.

50

In my keynote presentation in the second International Conference of Dalcroze
Studies in Vienna 2015, I argued that Dalcroze Eurhythmics is not a method.
This aroused several opposite opinions and many interesting discussions. In
this article, I want to continue the discussion and consider what using theword method implies, and what the other options of talking about Dalcroze
Eurhythmics are, based on my previous studies. I will also discuss how amethod, an approach, or any similar such system or framework should beapplied according to the current understanding of teaching as reflective
practice. Moreover, I will address the recent scholarly debate and critique inmusic education regarding so-called teaching methods, such as Dalcroze.

Dalcroze as a method or an approach
When considering whether Dalcroze Eurhythmics is a method or not, it
is important to define what “a method” means. According to Carlos Abril(2016, p. 17), a method can be described as a set of detailed, sequential, anddeliberate series of steps that are designed, systematized, recommended, orused to reach specific learning goals. It focuses on what to teach, how toteach, and when to teach it. It can either mean ‘a codified system to teaching
and learning that has been described in great detail and practiced by many’(like Kodály) or ‘the deliberate pattern of behaviors a teacher employs…
to guide students from one point to another over the short and long term.’
Often a method ‘provides a linear framework for teaching and a step-by-stepguide along a predictable path to success.’
Jaques-Dalcroze himself used the word ‘method’ when describing hispedagogical ideas (Jaques-Dalcroze 1906; 1923; 1935) - although he also
concurrently denied that his ideas would constitute ‘a method’. He felt he
was rather ‘offering a guide for teachers and students to use as they wished’(Spector, 1990, p. 115), albeit presented within the framework of his mainmusical and pedagogical principles (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1935). As JaquesDalcroze did not provide instructions for teachers as to how to create andpresent exercises, or how to improvise them, he left the doors open for thedevelopment of a variety of ways to teach and apply his ideas (Juntunen,
2002). In fact, he encouraged variety and change through individual decisionand creative choice by teachers (Alperson, 1994, pp. 235–236). Accordingly,
from this perspective there is no one way to teach or assess learning(Juntunen & Eisenreich, in print). As Sally Stone (1985, p. 9f ) notes, there
seems to be as many variations in the approach to teaching Dalcroze as there
are teachers, and no manual or handbook exists in which one prescribedmethod is outlined. Each teacher can apply the main Dalcroze principles
in one’s own personal way. Currently, both the teaching practices and also
the areas in which Dalcroze principles are applied are broadly diverse, andinclude - in addition to the field of music - theater, dance, cinema, somatic
education, special education, therapy, and gerontology (Mathieu, 2010).

51

Still, most Dalcroze teaching practices share several pedagogical principles,such as the belief that students should not be taught rules before they havean experience of them, in accordance with Jaques-Dalcroze’s own ideas(Jaques-Dalcroze 1920/1965, 59–60).
There are several other reasons to argue that Dalcroze is not a method. As
stated above, a typical characteristic of a method is that it is used to reachspecific learning goals. In Dalcroze, learning takes place in interactional
processes and through subjective and transformative experiences (Juntunen& Westerlund, 2001). Therefore, the learning outcomes cannot be predicted
beforehand. Even when teaching focuses on predefined musical or nonmusical topics, and aims at specific learning outcomes, each participant’s
experience, earlier knowledge, background, and so forth shape and influencelearning in unpredictable ways. A teaching method proceeds according to asequential series of steps, whereas Dalcroze teaching is learner centered andsituated; Jaques-Dalcroze (1921/1980, pp. 195–199) argued, for example,
that the personal and cultural differences of students should be recognizedin teaching and learning, and that education should not predominate overthe characteristic qualities of each culture (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1935).
Still, today Dalcroze is often presented as a method (e.g., Comas Rubi etal., 2014; Greenhead, 2016; Southcott, 2004; Wang, 2008), and the word
is widely featured in the literature of the field. There are other frequently
used definitions as well. For example, the former director of the Institute
Jaques-Dalcroze, Marie-Laure Bachmann, prefers terms such as process,experience, or approach over that of a method (Bachmann 1984, 37; 1991,
24). Likewise, in other writings Dalcroze is often referred to as an approach(e.g. Anderson, 2012; Frego et al., 2004; Johnson, 1993; Juntunen, 2016;
Odom, 1991; Seitz, 2005).
An approach implies a broad theoretical and practical framework that’organizes knowledge, beliefs, values, and experiences for the purposeof guiding practice. Unlike a method, an approach is not defined by alinear explanation or step-by-step guide for what to do, when to do it,
and for how long. Instead, it is a philosophical underpinning and/or atheory of some short that can guide and provide a frame of mind forplanning and decision making in the classroom.’ (Abril, 2016, p. 17)
Cathy Benedict (2016, p. 349) asserts that ‘approaches are used to establish
a language and grammar as to how we organize our teaching.’

Dalcroze Eurhythmics as a philosophy, a principle, or a vision ofembodied music learning
In today’s terminology, it could be said that the understanding of the humanbeing that underpins the pedagogical views of Dalcroze Eurhythmics is holistic(Westerlund & Juntunen, 2005); Jaques-Dalcroze stressed that the body and52

the mind were inseparable. As Galvao and Kemp (1999, p.133) note, it was
the supreme aim of his approach to fuse the thinking person (involving things
such as intelligence, imagination, emotion, and soul) with the physical person(body, senses and action) (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1921/1980, p.x; 1930/1985,
pp. vii, 108). Jaques-Dalcroze wanted to resolve the imbalance caused by
the intellectualization of musical knowledge and the tendency towards
abstractions without practical or bodily connections in learning practices. He
wanted the whole human organism to be involved in musical activity. Hence,
the basic cornerstone of the Dalcroze approach can be seen as an early critiqueof the Cartesian tradition within music education (Juntunen & Westerlund,2011). The Cartesian view includes the dualistic conception of the subject
that separates the mind from the body, and understands knowing as being
predominantly gained through the visual sense and intellectual thinking,instead of through hearing, feeling, touching, or doing. Jaques-Dalcroze’s
pedagogical reflection therefore concentrated on searching for ways tocombine thinking, sensing, feeling, and bodily action by linking listening andbody movement, by making students both bodily and mentally active, andby making his students experience things for themselves (Juntunen 2004;
Westerlund & Juntunen, 2005). From this perspective, Dalcroze Eurhythmics
can be viewed more as a music education philosophy, philosophic principle,
or a philosophical-practical vision than a method.
In my studies, I have approached Dalcroze Eurhythmics from the perspectiveof the phenomenological philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty (Juntunen,
2004; 2016). The phenomenological notion of human reality arises from a
criticism of the dualistic conception of the subject. Phenomenologists, suchas Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, argue that the division is in fact an artificial
creation of philosophical reflection rather than something based on reality.
At the core of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy is the argument that perception
and lived experiences play a foundational role in understanding the world.
For him, the human body is the primary site of knowing the world. It is not amachine guided by the mind, but an active sensitive entity, oriented towards
perceiving and experiencing potential meaning in its world. The body is ina permanent condition of experience, and the primacy of perception signifies
the primacy of experience.
In my understanding, Jaques-Dalcroze’s philosophic-practical vision is inline with Merleau-Ponty’s philosophical arguments. Merleau-Ponty (1962)
seems to have struggled with the same challenges in a theoretical way
within philosophy that Jaques-Dalcroze did in a practical way within musiceducation. Merleau-Ponty’s work can be interpreted as an effort to unify theworld and our experience of it, and to turn our attention to the importanceof embodied, pre-reflective experience. Jaques-Dalcroze identifies thedisembodied nature of musical experience and looks for ways to promote
embodied musical learning aiming to resolve the imbalance caused by theintellectualization of musical knowledge. Jaques-Dalcroze suggested an

53idea that the body is not only an instrument through which musical thinking
takes place, but can also be taken as a conscious and explicit object oftransformation, and therefore of better musicianship – a view that seems tohave been in many ways ahead of his time (Juntunen & Westerlund, 2001).
For me, Dalcroze pedagogy’s most valuable aim was to highlight theembodiment of the human being and the embodied ways of learning
within music education (Juntunen, 2004). As Odom (1991, p. 10) puts
it: ‘He initiated a way of teaching based on direct experience, which took
the nonverbal, intuitive knowledge of the body seriously.’ In its historicalcontext, it can even be read as an early, almost postmodern attempt tobreak the rise of the modern, rationalistic conception of the human self inmusic and music education - or as a counternarrative (Peters & Lankshear,1995) in its working against the disembodied epistemology that emphasizes
reading skills as well as a rational and distanced analytical approach tomusic (Juntunen & Westerlund, 2011). As a counternarrative of its own
time, Jaques-Dalcroze offered transformative ideas, which rejected technicalconceptions of teaching and learning and challenged educators to seek out
the students’ lived, embodied experiences.

Dalcroze as a pedagogy that applies body movementin music teaching and learning
Dalcroze Eurhythmics not only focuses attention on and promotes theunderstanding of embodiment in music education, but it also offers
pedagogical solutions and exercises to promote embodied musical learning,for example through the use of body movement. Therefore, Dalcroze can be
regarded as a pedagogy. In Dalcroze pedagogy, incorporating meaningful
body movement experience into the music learning processes is regarded as
facilitating and reinforcing musical perception, understanding, expression,and a sense of self, as well as developing bodily and social skills and fosteringawareness of the physical dimensions and demands of an artistic performance(Juntunen, 2016). One interpretation of the role of body movement is thatit develops above all a bodily knowing of music; that is, a non-linguistic andnon-propositional mode of cognition that forms the basis for all knowing,
without which conceptual knowing remains mechanical and thin (Juntunen& Hyvönen, 2004).
The belief in the close relationship between music and human-bodymovement persists, and continues to be noted by scholars. Currently, there isa considerable and growing body of research that examines the role of body
movement in music education, in support of Jaques-Dalcroze’s ideas. A great
deal of recent arguments, not only from music education but also, for example,
from cognitive and neurosciences, support the close connection between music,
body, and movement - and thus also support the pedagogical ideas of applying
body movement to music teaching and learning (Juntunen, 2016).

54

The current critique towards methods
Over the past decades, established music teaching methods have been
critiqued and new discourses promoting musical pluralism and authentic
learning environments have been offered in return. In the current
discussions within music education, some scholars are questioning the roleand relevance of so-called music education methods, such as Kodály, Orff,and Dalcroze. In these critiques, sequential and systematic methods areseen as predetermining not only teaching but also learning, which should
be situated, creative, and practice-based (Bowman, 2002). For instance,
Thomas Regelski (2002) has argued that with prescribed methods, there
is a danger of ending up teaching the method instead of music – the tools
themselves become the curriculum. He maintains (Regelski 2005) that themethods ‘take for granted that they automatically bring about good results’… and, ‘in any case, results are not even noted because full faith is placedin good methods.’ According to Regelski (2002), the uncritical acceptanceof a method ensues the blind faith that ‘technical skill alone produces takenfor-granted ends.’ When this occurs, he continues, ‘good teaching is simply
a matter of the standard use of a ‘good method’ that lacks personal andethical responsibility for reflective professional practice. John Dewey (1938,
p. 22) also warned educationalists that ‘… an educational philosophy … canbecome as dogmatic as ever was the traditional education which is reacted
against. For any theory and set of practices is dogmatic which is not based
on upon critical examination of its own underlying principles.’Method as stories suggesting an ideal path for musical growth
Indeed, purely following a method uncritically, without applying pedagogicalwisdom, can imply such threats. Although teaching methods as such can beproblematic in current music education, various methods or pedagogicalapproaches can, however, be viewed differently. For example, teaching
methods can be approached as stories that legitimize a particular versionof ‘educational truths’ and ends, as suggested in my study with Heidi
Westerlund (Juntunen & Westerlund 2011). These stories suggest, implicitly
or explicitly, ’an ideal story of success’ and a direction of growth for themusic-learner self. Through rereading and gaining an understanding of amethod, and what specific problems related to musical growth it identifies
and aims to solve, we can test its power. Jaques-Dalcroze identified music
students’ poor musical expression as one of these major problems. As apartial solution to this, he developed exercises that offered holistic bodily
experiences of music.
In our article (Juntunen & Westerlund 2011), we analyze Jaques-Dalcroze’s
texts as articulating ideals of how human competencies are developed throughmusic and within music education. Furthermore, we suggest that methods as55stories can be used in today’s teacher education in order to develop teachers’cultural metacognition and lead future teachers towards reflective practices.
Methods may function ‘as heterogeneous and rich intellectual material for
cultural consciousness, constant critical discussion, practical testing of ideas,
and, above all, for future teachers’ learning’ (ibid., p. 56). As Abril and Gault(2016, p. 2) note: ‘Knowledge of pedagogical practices and approaches is
extremely valuable to teachers, insofar as they are examined with thought,
intent, and a reflective frame of mind.’
The critique towards methods undermines the fundamental fact thatteachers always have working methods, and that our current methods alsosuggest larger philosophical and educational frames of reference for theteacher’s conscious practical decisions (Juntunen & Westerlund, 2011).
Similarly, any music education approach alludes to something in the cultureof education: it singles out a perspective and points out a possible problem
that is meant to be avoided through the systematic use of the given method.
Thus, a method is not transparent or irrelevant in learning, but is rather
developed within the experience itself. A relevant critique should therefore
not be concerned simply with the predefined nature of music education
practices, but also with their possibly limited nature when their biases are
unreflectively taken for granted, celebrated, and carried out.
This is where engaging in reflection, which has become a commonly
recognized element in the professional growth of Western teachers andteaching practices, shows its relevance. Reflection aims at encouraging
teachers to take responsibility for their own professional growth and actions,and at making it easier for them to develop their own theories of educational
practice, so that they can take a more active role in educational decisionmaking (Calderhead & Gates, 1995, p. 2). Or, as Loughran writes: “Reflection
is effective when it leads the teacher to make meaning from the situationin ways that enhance understanding so that she or he becomes to see andunderstand the practice setting from a variety of viewpoints” (2002, p. 36).
Reflection, however, often looks like the reflector. Teacher reflection can
aim at strengthening earlier habits, at becoming explicit regarding one’s
already established personal story of good teaching. Hence, the challenge
in reflection is to give up the belief in and the search for absolutely rightviewpoints, and the unreflective reliance on custom, convention, andtradition. Instead, reflection encourages constantly responding to newsituations and changing conditions (Westerlund & Juntunen, 2011). In(Dalcroze) teacher education, reflective practice is related to the recognitionof power, and thus to the ethical responsibility of individual teachers.
Teachers also need after-the-fact ‘reflection-on-action’ (Schön, 1987) within
a wider critical and socio-cultural frame of reference, which asserts itself inreflecting on the reasons behind actions, assumptions, values, and the cultureof education: i.e., the ethics of teaching (Juntunen & Westerlund, 2011).
The meta-narratives of music education methods can function as frames of56

reference for this kind of reflection. In order to reflect on Dalcroze pedagogy
and music education in general from a wider perspective, one therefore
needs to grow into adopting a critical stance towards one’s own work - into
challenging one’s own fundamental beliefs and practices concerning musiceducation (Westerlund & Juntunen, 2011).

Conclusion
In this article I have argued that, rather than a systematic method setting theorder of and rules for sequenced teaching phases with predetermined ends,
Dalcroze Eurhythmics can be considered a meta-narrative that legitimizes aparticular version of ‘educational truths’, suggesting a direction for musicalgrowth; a philosophy or a philosophic attitude that draws attention to aholistic view of the human being and embodied learning and knowing
in music; and/or a pedagogy or an approach that points to the role andrelevance of the body and body movement in musical action and learning,
and includes certain pedagogical principles. Although Jaques-Dalcroze’s
educational ideas remain relevant in music education and in related fields
today, the Dalcroze approach (or any other approach) in itself does notguarantee good teaching, experience, or results – the quality of teaching
and learning is always dependent on a spectrum of variables, such asteacher quality, lesson design, and so forth. What really matters is how thepedagogical ideas are applied. A problem arises if a teacher chooses to utilize
Dalcroze, or indeed any approach, blindly, without carefully considering its
relation to the curriculum and its potential to meaningfully engage learners
in a specific context (Abril & Gault, 2016, p.1). As Kohn (1993) suggests(cited in ibid.): “it is a good idea to challenge ourselves…about anything wehave come to take for granted; the more habitual, the more valuable thisline of inquiry”.
Benedict (2016) reminds us that whether something is a method or an
approach (or something else) is “depended on the context and the usage” (p.
349) and that there is not nothing wrong with method until it becomes sotaken for granted that we forget to question what, how, and why we do what
we do. We as Dalcroze practitioners should always keep asking why we aredoing what we are doing, and not only be satisfied if something just seems to‘work’ or ‘entertain’ (see, Abril, 2016). Teaching and learning should always
be relevant and meaningful for whom the pedagogy was developed: thatis, the students or other participants. It has become ever more evident thatmusic education needs to better recognize the students’ own viewpoints,
their freedom to decide on the whats and hows of learning (Green, 2008).
This idea challenges the earlier consensus that better teaching, meaning
clearer ideas on the whats and hows of teaching, is the key to higher student
learning and achievement (Westerlund & Juntu- nen, 2011).

57

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The Link Between
Audiation, Embodiment,
and Improvisation
Theoretical and experimental
approaches

Andrew Goldman

Andrew Goldman is a music theorist andcognitive scientist. His work principally concerns thescience of improvisation. He also works on musicand embodied cognition. Andrew received his PhDfrom the University of Cambridge in 2015 under
the supervision of Prof. Ian Cross at the Centre forMusic and Science. After graduating, he worked
at Columbia University as a Presidential Scholar
in Society and Neuroscience with mentors Prof.
George Lewis, Prof. Paul Sajda, and Prof. Daphna
Shohamy, and as an adjunct assistant professor in
the music department. His research at Columbia
used electroencephalography to investigate theneuroscience of music and dance improvisation.
Currently, Andrew is a Postdoctoral Associate atWestern University working with Prof. Jonathan De
Souza on the university’s Music, Cognition, andthe Brain Initiative. Andrew is also a composer.
His original musical, “Science! The Musical”, waspremiered in Cambridge in 2014 and revived in
New York City in 2018.

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In Dalcroze pedagogy, improvisation exercises are meant to improve audiationand embodiment skills. Improvisation is also a way for students to demonstrate
their mastery of these skills. The link between audiation, embodiment, andimprovisation may be evident to Dalcroze practitioners and pedagogues throughtheir first-hand experience, but why this link should be so deserves further
consideration. In this article, I argue that understanding this link can actually
help define what musical improvisation is in the first place. In turn, this shift intheoretical perspective can motivate a different line of empirical inquiry that isbetter able to contribute to explanations of how people improvise than studies
that focus on novelty and spontaneity. I explain the relevant experimental workthat has been done to support this approach, and outline future empiricalsteps that could further advance this understanding. Finally, I comment on theongoing relationship between cognitive-scientific research and the real-worldmusical practices to which such inquiry is inextricably linked.
There is more than one way to be a successful musician. Émile JaquesDalcroze’s contemporaries were perfectly able to enjoy successful careers
as performers, but as Anderson (2011) notes, after Dalcroze noticed that“…many of his students were able to write harmonies and rhythms but not
perform them with their body or voice, he became interested in finding a new
way of educating them” (p. 27). Dalcroze sensed something was lacking in
his students’ development. He reconsidered what constituted musicianship,and developed appropriate pedagogical methods to impart these ideals andskills on students.
In particular, Dalcrozian musicianship entails understanding the bodythrough eurhythmic exercises (Greenhead & Habron, 2015), using thefull body to understand and communicate musical structure, particularly
with regard to the embodiment of rhythm (Seitz, 2005), developing strong
audiation skills so that mental hearing can precede playing (Anderson,2011), focusing on becoming familiar with musical experiences before
learning explicit formally defined rules (Juntunen & Westerlund, 2001),
and other similar goals that aim to unite mental and bodily aspects ofmusical experience. Importantly, in Dalcroze studies, these audiation andembodiment skills are linked with the ability to improvise: through practicing
improvisation one can improve them, and improvisation is a demonstrationof one’s mastery of them (Juntunen, 2016).
But taking a step back, why should practicing embodiment and audiation
skills facilitate the ability to improvise? Why should the ability to improvise
be evidence of having mastered these skills? It is conceivable that such skills
would only aid other aspects of musicianship (such as performing written
works) without necessarily improving improvisation abilities as well, yet theconnection is central in Dalcroze’s teachings.
The reason for such a link may be clear to those who have practiced
and taught these methods, having seen it in oneself and in one’s students

62

firsthand. Nevertheless, further considering the nature of this link can beproductive for two principal reasons:
1. Understanding the relationship between audiation, embodiment, andimprovisation may actually help us understand better what it means to“improvise” in the first place. It may lead us to a new definition of theterm.
2. Framing questions about improvisation in relation to embodimentand audiation provides a set of empirical hypotheses. Scientificallyinvestigating improvisation in this way is arguably more tractable thaninvestigating improvisation in terms of novelty and spontaneity, as
many past experimental studies have done.
There are many perspectives from which to engage with such questions ofDalcrozian musicianship, including technical, experiential, and spiritual(van der Merwe & Habron, 2018). Here I am interested in the psychologicaland cognitive dimensions. In psychological terms, audiation concerns themental generation of auditory images without the presence of exogenous
sound stimulation. Embodiment has many meanings, but for these purposes
here, I use the term in its reference to how the motor system and theauditory system interact to co-represent musical structures. As I argue
below, cognitive-scientific theories and experimental frameworks can link
the concept of improvisation with audiation and embodiment and enrich anunderstanding of what improvisation is and how people do it, but only if thequestions that are brought into the laboratory are properly critically situated.
Engaging with the insights from Dalcroze studies can help accomplish this.
Altenmüller (2015) noted that Dalcroze studies readily align with modern
cognitive science, and I believe this is also true for cognitive-scientific studiesof improvisation in particular.
In what follows, I will consider the link between audiation, embodiment,
and improvisation from a theoretical perspective, asking how these abilities
are linked in principle and how the link can help us better understand what
it means to improvise in the first place. Then, I will show how cognitivescientific experiments can contribute to this line of research, emphasizing
the importance and difficulty of asking the right questions in the laboratory.

Theoretical links
Understanding how audiation, embodiment, and improvisation are linked
requires questioning what improvisation is. The term has a familiar colloquial
meaning: to improvise is to generate novel music spontaneously, in thecourse of real-time performance. While a definition like this one is intuitive,
formalizing a definition is much harder. Terms like novelty and spontaneity
are often used to define improvisation, but are themselves quite difficult todefine. Does a performance really have to be novel for it to be improvised?

63

Novel in what sense? After all, the specific content of an improvisation(or, at least very similar content) may have been played and heard before.
Does it even need to be the first time that the individual performer everplayed something like it? That would exclude a lot of the performances wewould otherwise be inclined to call improvisatory. Is improvisation really
spontaneous? How spontaneous? After all, skilled improvisers are highly
practiced and experienced, and may have improvised similar things before.
Even spontaneous performance is predicated on significant prior experienceand possibly even specific planning that occurred prior to a particularperformance. In the face of these ambiguities, some define improvisation
as a continuum, asking instead to what degree a particular performanceis improvised by trying to quantify the novelty and spontaneity. However,this approach has its own difficulties. Different analysts might disagree on
how to measure a performance, which bases the definition more on music
analysis than a characterization of what the performer did in the first place.
Given these difficulties, another approach is to define improvisation asa process, as a particular way of making music, regardless of how novel or
spontaneous an analyst might subsequently measure the music to be. Dittus
and Bauer (2015), for example, distinguish between musical products andmusical processes. This distinction is helpful in defining improvisation, too.
An extremely accurate performance of a transcription of a jazz solo is adifferent process than the original one that first produced that solo. The
initial performance process was improvisatory whereas the reproduction
performance was not, even though the resultant musical product is very
similar. But what about the process makes it an improvisatory one?
This is where the link between Dalcrozian embodiment, audiation, andimprovisation can be made clear. At the foundation of Dalcroze’s motivation toreconsider the values of musicianship is a powerful idea: musicians can know
about music in different ways. Different musicians may appear to have similarskills as assessed by their ability to perform works or analyze musical scores.
However, the processes by which they organize and execute their movements
and their internal experiences and understanding of the sounds may be quite
different. For instance, some musicians may be performing with a foundationof Dalcrozian audiation and embodiment while others may not; audiationand embodiment may change how a musician recalls, combines, manipulates,
produces, and perceives musical structures. While such differences may not be
obvious under certain performance conditions, they may appear more obvious
under others, such as listening to the quality of improvisations or assessing a
musician’s performance on a musicianship test (or, indeed, their performanceon cognitive-scientific experiments specifically designed to highlight suchdifferences, as described in the next section).
I have elsewhere described this issue as differences between musicians’
ways of knowing (Goldman, 2016), theorizing that improvisatory abilities
are predicated on certain ways of knowing musical structures (like a chord,

64

scale, rhythm). For example, musicians may vary in their ability to link thesound of a chord with its proprioceptive feel, or in how they categorize
musical structures. Some ways of knowing facilitate the ability to do what isnormatively known as improvising. This allows us to frame questions about
improvisation in terms of differences across musicians in how they learn andknow about musical structures.
So, Dalcrozian ways of knowing that emphasize audiation and embodiment
would appear to be improvisatory ways of knowing in that the pedagogy
facilitates the ability to do what is normatively called “improvisation.” It is
not that audiation and embodiment aid the ability to improvise; rather, thoseskills may be part of the improvisatory process. The particular way improvisers
represent, manipulate, and recall musical structures—or, from an extended
cognition standpoint, the particular processes by which performers interact
with their instruments—may necessarily require audiation and embodimentas part of the improvisatory process of producing music.
All of this being said, explaining how this process works is still hard to do. The
reason this theoretical approach contributes something is because it reframes
how we can ask cognitive-scientific questions about improvisation. Insteadof asking how performers produce novel works spontaneously, we can ask inwhat ways audiation and embodiment are part of improvisatory processes of
producing music. That these processes are linked may seem obvious to Dalcroze
practitioners, but it is not typically how questions are formulated about
improvisation in the cognitive sciences, as I will describe below. This shift in thedefinition of improvisation allows other, productive questions to be asked thatlaboratory experiments are able to meaningfully investigate.
In what follows I will describe the current state of cognitive-scientificexperimental work with improvisation, but before doing so, I should note
why a cognitive-scientific approach is a valuable one to consider. Explaining
the link between audiation, embodiment, and improvisation could be donein many ways within many different theoretical frameworks. Dalcroze
himself had his own explanations:[Improvisation’s] function is to develop rapidity of decision andinterpretation, effortless concentration, the immediate conception ofplans, and to set up direct communications between the soul that feels,the brain that imagines and co-ordinates, and the fingers, arms andhands that interpret… (Jaques-Dalcroze & Rothwell, 1932, p. 371)
Dalcroze already highlights the importance of “direct communications”
between feeling, imagination, and the auditory-motor systems that realize
these abstractions. Statements like this are quite compatible with cognitivescientific inquiry, which can attempt to make evident Dalcroze’s theoreticalclaims about this coordination between the mind and body. Again, there could
be many ways to make such a thing evident. Success in the classroom is perfectly

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well evidence that this is the case. The reason cognitive science in particular
can contribute something valuable here is because its theories and methods
are well equipped to explain and distinguish between thought processes.
It can thus be used to investigate the role of audiation and embodimentin thought processes of improvisation, and help show how they may differ
between people with and without improvisation experience. In what follows,
I will discuss how this link has been treated to date in the cognitive-scientific
literature, and use the theoretical approach described in this section to suggest
how empirical research might productively move forward.

Experimental links
Audiation and embodiment are prominent and related topics in music
psychology today. Many researchers are interested in the relationshipbetween auditory images and movement, as well as how these links arise(for reviews, see Maes, Leman, Palmer, & Wanderley, 2014; Novembre& Keller, 2014). Many studies have shown the existence of these links intrained musicians, however few have linked the findings to explanations of
the ability to improvise.
Instead, psychological, cognitive-scientific, and neuroscientific studies on
improvisation often adopt within-group approaches. Researchers compare
the same group of musicians performing under different conditions—suchas improvisation vs. rehearsed performance—and examine what differs
between these conditions either in terms of something physiological (likebrain activity) or something behavioral (like how certain features of theirmusical performance differ). For example, Limb and Braun (2008) usedfunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)—a technique that canmeasure which parts of the brain are active during experimental tasks—tolook for differences in brain activity between pianists while they improvised
compared with while they played rehearsed passages, and in a behavioral
study, Keller, Weber, and Engel (2011) found that pianists played with greater
variety of key stroke intensities while improvising compared to playing backthose same improvisations after rehearsing them.
The theoretical approach described in the previous section, however,highlights the importance of conducting between-group studies that compare
experienced with inexperienced improvisers. It is important to consider
variation in audiation and embodiment across groups of musicians whovary in their amount and type of improvisation experience. Music scientists
often quantify various dimensions of musical experience (Müllensiefen,
Gingras, Musil, & Stewart, 2014) in order to show how experience changes
perception and performance, but as a general trend many studies are notas sensitive to the type of experience or pedagogy, at least with regard to
improvisation. Improvisation experience may be related to differences inaudiation and embodiment processes that could not only help characterize

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the cognitive processes of improvisation, but may bear on other topics inmusic psychology as well.
The theoretical approach defined above also highlights the importanceof considering differences in how musicians perceive, not just how they
produce music. Differences in perception show differences in musicalcognitive processes; different ways of knowing and thinking can be madeevident, for example, by considering whether certain musicians are moresensitive to certain perceptual features of stimuli, and trying to explain which
ones, and why. By observing differences in how improvisers perceive certain
features of music, the characteristics of improvisatory ways of knowing canbe further understood, and the link between audiation, embodiment, andimprovisatory processes can be examined.
Few studies have examined these links, though there are some. Watson(2010) found that jazz improvisation instruction methods requiring aural
imitation led to significantly greater gains in performance achievement(as assessed by expert raters) than notation-based methods of instruction.
This suggests a special role of audiation and embodiment abilities aspart of improvisatory processes. Harris and de Jong (2015) used fMRI to
examine differences between “score-dependent” and improvising musicians.
They found evidence that improvising musicians engaged brain areas that
subserved the mental permutation of musical structures more so than scoredependent musicians. Similarly, Pinho, de Manzano, Fransson, Eriksson,
and Ullén (2014) used fMRI to find that experienced improvisers differedin the functional connectivity between frontal brain areas, suggesting more
efficient communication between the various kinds of knowledge associatedwith musical structures. Finally, in my own neuroscientific work (Goldman,
Jackson, & Sajda, 2018), my colleagues and I found evidence that moreexperienced improvisers are more prone to categorize musical structuresby their function; that is, different exemplars of a particular functionalclass of harmonies (e.g., two different voicings of a subdominant chord)
were perceived to be more similar to each other than chords in different
functional classes (e.g., a subdominant vs. a dominant chord). For lessexperienced improvisers (but who otherwise had similar amounts of musicaltraining), this categorical effect was absent (i.e., the fact that two chords
were within a functional category did not make them sound more similar).
These differences in perception were apparent in the brain signal within a
few hundred milliseconds of hearing the chords.
This work is still somewhat scarce, but the studies I have just cited can beinterpreted together to begin to form a coherent, if speculative, narrative. Partof what allows musicians to improvise is recognizing similarities in function
across musical structures (e.g., understanding two different voicings of a
subdominant harmony to be the same kind of thing). This categorization is not
merely music-theoretical (most trained musicians would be able to identify
this similarity on a written music theory exam), but rather with regard to how

67these structures are perceived, as evidenced by the fact that these differences
in categorization can be shown through very fast perceptual processes. This
resonates with Watson’s work on the efficacy of aural training: part of what
aural training may provide performers is the experience necessary to makethese auditory-motor categorizations. It also resonates with Harris & de Jong’s
work showing improvisers ability to mentally manipulate the structures, andPinho et al’s work showing the increased connections between the kinds ofknowledge associated with musical structures. Connections between soundand movement may be at the foundation of this fluent communication andcategorization, enabling the ability to fluently manipulate, recall, and execute
variations on musical structures; this is what one would hope to explain witha scientific theory of improvisation. Note that none of these narrative needs todirectly engage concepts like novelty and spontaneity, at least for the purposesof cognitive-scientific inquiry; of course, these concepts are still important toconsider in the broader discourse on improvisation. Again, this narrative is
speculative, but it gestures towards the possibility of cognitive-scientific work
to make progress towards explaining links between audiation, embodiment,
and improvisation.
There are many more answerable questions that could fill in more detailsof this narrative. For example, many of the paradigms used to identify
the presence of auditory-motor coupling in musicians in general could bereapplied to improvisers to test whether the effects are stronger for them(e.g., measuring how susceptible musicians are to the priming effects ofsound on movement). Neuroscientific methods could further investigate
how experienced improvisers represent musical structures. Existing work
has shown that improvisers categorize musical structures in characteristic
ways. With neuroimaging methods, it could be shown whether thesecategorizations are explained by auditory-motor brain activity. Finally,in addition to these answerable questions, it must be noted that actuallyconducting such experiments will inevitably lead to more questions because
the explanation of improvisatory processes will gradually change its focus in
response to findings, in turn motivating new experiments.

Conclusions
In this article I have raised questions about why it should be that embodiment,
audiation, and improvisation are related processes. This question ismotivated by Dalcroze studies, and cognitive-scientific approaches cancontribute insights into the link between these abilities. I have outlined a way
to conceptualize improvisation in a way that is compatible with cognitivescientific experimental methods, I have shown what kinds of questions canbe asked experimentally to advance such an understanding, I have offereda narrative connecting existing studies on the topic, and I suggested how
future studies could advance this understanding.

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Finally, the value of close collaboration between scientists, practitioners,
and pedagogues must be emphasized. The ideas presented in this article
would not have been possible without the insights that experienced teachersand musicians provide, including my own first-hand experience as aperformer and student of Dalcroze’s methods. Often, the theoretical insights
do not happen solely because of empirical findings, but also from reflection
on experience with real-world musical behaviors. This is not to say thatexperiments do not also advance or improve this understanding, but rather
that both are important towards the goal of understanding improvisation.

References
Altenmüller, E. (2015). Émile Jaques-Dalcroze as a Visionary of Modern
Brain Sciences. Le Rythme, 70–81.
Anderson, W. T. (2011). The Dalcroze Approach to Music Education: Theory
and Applications. General Music Today, 26(1), 27–33.
Dittus, J., & Bauer, W. R. (2015). Notes Inégales: On Product and Process in
Dalcroze Pedagogy. Le Rythme, 48–59.
Goldman, A. (2016). Improvisation as a way of knowing. Music Theory
Online, 22(4).
Goldman, A., Jackson, T., & Sajda, P. (2018). Improvisation experience predicts
how musicians categorize musical structures. Psychology of Music.
Greenhead, K., & Habron, J. (2015). The touch of sound: Dalcroze
Eurhythmics as a somatic practice. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices,7(1), 93–112.
Harris, R., & de Jong, B. M. (2015). Differential parietal and temporalcontributions to music perception in improvising and score-dependent
musicians, an fMRI study. Brain Research, 1624, 253-264.
Jaques-Dalcroze, É., & Rothwell, F. (1932). Rhythmics and Pianoforte
Improvisation. Music & Letters, 13(4), 371–380.
Juntunen, M.-L. (2016). The Dalcroze Approach: Experiencing and Knowing
Music throug the Embodied Exploration. In C. R. Abril & B. Gault (Eds.),
Approaches to Teaching General Music: Methods, Issues, and Viewpoints(pp. 141–167): Oxford University Press.
Juntunen, M. L., & Westerlund, H. (2001). Digging Dalcroze, or, Dissolving
the Mind-Body Dualism: Philosophical and practical remarks on themusical body in action. Music Education Research, 3(2), 203–214.
Keller, P. E., Weber, A., & Engel, A. (2011). Practice Makes Too Perfect:
Fluctuations in Loudness Indicate Spontaneity in Musical Improvisation.
Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 29(1), 109-114.
Limb, C. J., & Braun, A. R. (2008). Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Musical
Performance: An fMRI Study of Jazz Improvisation. PLoS ONE, 3(2).
Maes, P.-J., Leman, M., Palmer, C., & Wanderley, M. M. (2014). Action-based
effects on music perception. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(1008), 1-14.

69

Müllensiefen, D., Gingras, B., Musil, J., & Stewart, L. (2014). The Musicalityof Non-Musicians: An Index for Assessing Musical Sophistication in the
General Population. PLoS ONE, 9(2).
Novembre, G., & Keller, P. E. (2014). A conceptual review on action-perception
coupling in the musicians’ brain: what is it good for? Frontiers in Human
Neuroscience, 8, 1-11.
Pinho, A. L., de Manzano, Ö., Fransson, P., Eriksson, H., & Ullén, F. (2014).
Connecting to Create: Expertise in Musical Improvisation Is Associatedwith Increased Functional Connectivity between Premotor and Prefrontal
Areas. The Journal of Neuroscience, 34(18), 6156-6163.
Seitz, J. A. (2005). Dalcroze, the body, movement and musicality. Psychologyof Music, 33(4), 419–435.
van der Merwe, L., & Habron, J. (2018). Exploring lived experiences ofspirituality amongst five Dalcroze teachers. Psychology of Music, 1–19.
doi: 10.1177/0305735618785011
Watson, K. E. (2010). The Effects of Aural Versus Notated Instructional
Materials on Achievement and Self-Efficacy in Jazz Improvisation.
Journal of Research in Music Education, 58(3), 240–259.

70

Inner Listening
Foundation of all
pedagogies
Françoise Lombard

Françoise Lombard is a musician and a teacher
of both eurhythmics and the ‘Art of Listening’. Having
gained the Diplôme of the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze
and graduated from the Geneva Conservatoire(piano, solfège and harmony), she began to trainteachers of eurhythmics in Bienne (Switzerland). She
then undertook training in the ‘Art of Listening’ (themethod of François Louche), which she adapted toher own pedagogical teaching for artists, teachers
and therapists in Europe and Quebec. She lives inMontreal and divides her professional life between
eurhythmics (Canada, USA, Switzerland, Italy),‘Art of Listening’ and composition. Together withthe singer, composer and video director Michel
Comeau, Françoise Lombard signed the creation of
3 CDs: “resonance” (osteophonic voices a cappella),“mon livre à moi” (book-cd for children), “lullabies”(piano/voices without words).
Read more - in english - and watch the videos:www.francoise-lombard.com

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The Dalcrozian universe is characterized by the association of body movementwith music, and by the development of creativity in relationship to others.
Recent research in neuroscience and in the science of emotions has stimulated
my curiosity and fulfilled my need to find complementary paths towards musicaleducation and artistic expression, particularly with regard to LISTENING. This
vast field that involves the person in their entirety is still little known. The Art
of Listening uses the sound of the voice to put the individual in direct relation
with their inner world and that of the universe of music within their own
body. This approach enriches Eurhythmics and the links that can be establishedbetween the two are infinite. Here are some ideas for reflection, followed byexamples of exercises.
Dalcroze Eurhythmics has accompanied me since my childhood in a powerfulemotional connection. At the Geneva Institute, I felt myself to be part of alarge family that was evolving in a world of music, body movement andcreativity so natural and integrated into my life, that it took me some time
to realize the uniqueness of all that this Dalcrozian universe had printed in
my DNA as a musician and teacher. I was very lucky to benefit from such asource of fulfillment.
Nevertheless, one day I had to take a step back in order to discoverother horizons and other ways of approaching the music and the humanbeing to enrich my research. Throughout all my training as a musician andpedagogue, I have constantly sought to integrate more fully the dimensionof listening, foundation of all forms of communication; a conscious listening,present and always in movement.

The movement of listening
In the Pedagogy of Listening, I found concrete tools to know myself
better and to work in a tangible way on my listening. I had understoodfrom interpersonal experience what a listening in movement is and thedetermining place that it occupies in all pedagogy and in life in general.
A living and present listening is by definition a listening in movement. Itmeans that it collects and connects the physical and psychologicalfeelings, through the emotions and thoughts of the moment. Thanks tothe semicircular canals of the inner ear, we pick up sounds and noises
throughout the space. Ideally, the listening is thus moving and free,
ensuring a permanent exchange between the interior world and the outside
world. However, we all carry a history and memories that conditioned it: it
has often been blocked by fears or traumatic events, frozen in reflexesof protection or anticipation, confined in habits, prejudices or otherbarriers. As a result, our listening has lost some of its mobility, for various
reasons specific to each human being, depriving us of what is the most

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precious: its presence. Without this quality of presence, the conscious andglobal contact with the body disappears.
Thus, in a solfege class, it can happen that at the beginning of the dictation,
the student only picks up the first sounds, because there suddenly arises a
concern about the rhythm, which prevents him from being receptive to thesounds that follow. The blockage sometimes appears from the beginningof the dictation, because the student is convinced that he lacks the musicaltalent to hear successfully and then write what he has heard. This canhappen even after singing many melodies, walking and clapping rhythms
and doing various rhythmic exercises on musical pieces.
Listening therefore needs to regain its capacity for freedom. This requires
taking the time to reclaim one’s bodily sensations to inhabit the body andregain self-confidence. A listening in movement gives a simultaneous
sensation of openness and availability in oneself and around oneself. It
generates pleasure and well-being.

Putting listening into motion
Here is an exercise designed to develop the motion of listening: Standing ina circle, we start by producing a unison sound that lasts the time necessary to
install a good quality of listening to oneself and to the group. Each personlets his voice modulate at will. There is only one instruction: listen to oneself
and listen to the others. We can move with the eyes open or closed, to seek
contact; enjoy the freedom to join the sound of someone else momentarily, tocreate a dissonance or a consonance, and all this according to our desire,participating without constraint in this soundscape. We let ourselves be
guided by what does us good. One always remains attentive to the sensationof the vibration of one’s voice and those of others which also resonate inus. With the mouth open, in a nuance varying from pianissimo to forte, one
gradually tames the phenomenon of a blank page on which unfolds a lively
collective composition guided by a common listening. We do not give
instructions regarding the end of the exercise: it is the listening of all thatdefines it spontaneously.
Testimonials are often very rich: professional musicians frequently
experience a sensation of freedom. The lack of guidance and constraints (scoreor other) brings the individual back to his body and its sensations and opens
the ears. Without any particular expectation of results, one becomes freeof fear of the gaze of others and without psychological barriers, listening
regains confidence and mobility. Exercises of this type need to be repeatedregularly. Each time they will be experienced differently, as the temporaland relational context is never the same.

73

Between teacher and students
Because each new situation is different, together we encounter the
unknown, with the fragility that it implies. I like to ask my students
questions about the effect of the various exercises proposed; the humanbeing is complex and the ways of learning are personal to each one. Theiranswers, sometimes unexpected, often varied, enlighten me. To foster the
emergence, development and expression of the inner world of the students,
the teacher has the responsibility to create a safe environment in which thestudent will be invited to take his place, in his own way. We must establish
a relationship of trust with our students, knowing that the opening of theirlistening depends on it. This framework must also be adapted to the needsof the teacher who must ensure his comfort to feel at ease in his teaching.

The place of listening in Dalcrozian pedagogy
Dalcroze’s pedagogy evolves in different spheres, but whatever the direction,
listening is always the basis. The variety of approaches and the place given
to the creativity of Dalcroze teachers offer to each one diversified gateways
towards both musical and corporal language. It is a fertile educational fieldthat offers students the possibility of resonating, each in his own uniqueway. For it is a question of allowing already existing riches or talents toresonate while generating and developing dormant possibilities.
In eurythmics, we can notice that putting the body in motion is notnecessarily enough to embody the music. If muscle movement associatedwith music can enhance the feeling of space and musical movement, it does
not guarantee that the student will feel touched by the music and that music
will genuinely vibrate within him. Did he have enough space and time forlistening to live the music in his body? Can he really feel the music deeply if
it could not resonate consciously in him?
In solfège, we see that singing the sounds of the scale included in aninterval – to recognize it more easily – does not guarantee that one will
physically feel the real distance separating the two sounds; this sometimes
leaves doubts in voice sight-singing or dictation.
In harmony, the relation between the sounds of a chord or the relation
between several successive chords is a world to discover in resonance with
one’s inner space. When we let the sounds of chords vibrate throughout
the body, we experience musical harmony as a succession of impressions
and sensations that make us travel in interior landscapes with rich reliefsof emotions, nuances or contrasts. Here again, everyone feels them andexperiences them in his own way. The setting in motion of the sensitivity(emovere lat. to move) will spontaneously create the meaning of phrasing.
Theese immersions in sound provide the ear with safe body markers and are
an important prelude to harmonic analysis. Without this inner awakening,

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successions of chords may appear more neutral or theoretical. This evolution
towards bioacoustics, neuropsychology and the sciences of affectivity is, inmy opinion, a logical continuation of what Dalcroze developed.

A solfège grounded in the bodyI have already had occasion in various articles to speak of the links that canbe established between Dalcroze Eurhythmics and the Pedagogy of Listening,
and the importance of the affective dimension in the teaching as well as
in any form of learning. Today, I would like to suggest some exercises that
one can easily integrate into the Dalcroze universe. Here is a progression of
exercises that can be done in groups or in pairs, to recognize the pitch ofsounds and the relationship between them:
1. “Make the elevator”, that is to say to slide the voice from the lowest to
the highest pitch and vice versa, the mouth closed – to clearly feel the
movement of sound in the body – and then the mouth open. Do it ina single breath in one direction, or take a breath in the middle of thepath if necessary; we insist on listening to the sensation of sound thatmoves in a continuous movement along the spine. We try not to “skipfloors”.
2. With the mouth closed, the whole group emits the same sound; thenhalf of the group follows the teacher on another sound (start with the
5th or the 3rd) while the other half stays on the first sound. Make eachsound last (we take a breath when we need it, without ever forcing
the length of the expiration) to feel what happens. What sensation isconnected to this unison? To the interval? Do the sounds of others also
vibrate in my body? The sensory and relational experience of unison
is not the same as that of two distinct sounds and most of the time,
everyone agrees on this point.
As for the interval, it gives two distinct sensations of different heights inthe body as well as a sensation of the distance that separates them. By
repeating this type of experiment many times, the bodily perception ofthese landmarks becomes a more and more reliable support for the ear. We
can do the same experiment with all the intervals: start in unison, create theinterval and come back in unison. Make both groups experience each of theroles: to remain on the fundamental sound and that to create the interval
and return to the base. Invite students to talk about their experiences to help
them become aware of what they are going through and make it their own.

75

3. Keep a vocal pedal of a fundamental sound to build tricords, tetracords,
pentacords and complete scales, as well as to sing simple songs without
modulations. The horizontal connection of the sounds of the melody isenriched by the vertical relationship with the tonic, which consolidates
the intonation. We accept the friction of the seconds (which often comesback when we leave and return to the tonic in a scalewise movement)
and we develop the habit of relying on bodily sensations as much as on
the ear. This active participation of the body gives a new foundationand often creates a lot of joy for the person who feels or regains acertain power and a confidence in his abilities.

4. Create three groups from which two will hold a sound (fundamental
and 5th) and the third will sing half or whole tones between the two,
under the teacher’s or the student’s direction; rotate between groups sothat everyone experiences it in all forms.

Then, make one group only keep the bottom sound (later the medium or the
top one), and make the other two voices move simultaneously with half orwhole tones.

Finally make the three voices move in semitones or tones. The instruction is
to stay on the sound as long as you have not received the indication to let it
ascend or descend.

76This exercise brings to life the close relationship between the resonance ofsounds and the resonance amongst people. Harmonic landscape changes are
all the more touching when we live them and share them with our whole being.

The influence of our listening on the listening of our students
In order to be fully invested in their own listening, our students need to get
in touch with our presence. My piano teacher at the Geneva Conservatory Louis
Hiltbrand noted: “Conducting implies availability; it means seeing the
movement of life (the relation between sounds) within ourselves as well as
without. Look, listen, feel.” (Hiltbrand, 1990, p. 113) There is a notion of
space and calm to be found in oneself; an availability to welcome the other in
his particularities and in his difference; a confidence in one’s listening to stayinternally in motion, to let oneself be touched by what is happening in theclass and at the same time manage each situation adequately. Louis Hiltbrandalso said: “To listen is to speak to silence.” (ibid., p. 141) He had told me thatas a little child he would stand in front of his piano, listen to the silence, playa sound and then listen to it return to silence.
It is not easy to find silence in oneself. Our often noisy and agitatedthoughts are cumbersome. Most students (except perhaps toddlers) arrivewith a listening disposition already conditioned by various types of learningand life contexts, and we are there with our own teaching habits. It turns
out that the listening exercises we offer in teaching make us participate asmuch as our students and also help us to cultivate this inner space.

Build links and find one’s place
Standing or sitting in a circle, each in turn (starting by the teacher) makes
one sound with the mouth open, addressing it to the group. The person
repeats it several times to give himself time to listen to his voice, to recognize
himself in his person, to feel the caress of the vibration in his body and toappreciate the feeling of interior and exterior space that this sound revealshim. You can change your sound if the first is not comfortable. The important
thing is not to anticipate anything by mentally deciding what you want to do
but to let the sound come spontaneously, with the mouth well open. Oncethe sound is finished, the group responds to the person by making the same
sound, like an echo. The aim is to listen to each other without judging
or evaluating oneself, to dare to take one’s place and to become familiar

77

being heard by a group (we do not make a sound for ourselves, as if wewere in a bubble). The echo gives the opportunity to develop the sense ofreceptivity: do I really let myself be touched by the response that the groupsends me? This response often has a very confirming effect for the person
and makes him feel part of the group. It underlines the importance of being
recognized first of all for who we are rather than for what we do. This kindof experience then needs time to gather feedback from each other.

The awareness of space by listening
I often propose to the students, distributed throughout the room, tomake contact with the ambient space while remaining motionless, withclosed eyes, and emitting sounds, one or two with the expiration; I favor
this simplicity in order to stay close to oneself. As the sounds belong to the360° of space, we can very well perceive the volume that surrounds us byfollowing the diffusion of the sounds all around us. Back to silence, wemove elsewhere and we start again with other sounds, always together. We
do not look for specific consonances or musical harmonies with thegroup. We let the sounds come spontaneously and welcome whatever comes
out, without assessment, censure nor judgment. This freedom from thought
enables us to concentrate on the feel of outer space, the feel of the space
available within the body, on our quality of presence and on the presence ofthe other people around us.
We are already trying to combine several elements in a global listening.
To summarize what I personally experience in such a situation, I would
say: “In listening to the exchanges between my interior self and the outside
world, I put them consciously in relationship. This inner gesture requires me
to set my listening in motion. By often repeating this experience, I’ll become
gradually familiar with listening to space, wherever it is: between me andthe others, between me and the walls and ceiling, between the sounds,
between sentences (have you ever heard that music is between the notes?), insilence. I will perceive the external space and all that lives in it in my way,
because it resonates with my own inner world.”

Relationship and phrasing
The phrasing is always present in the spoken language and is modified
according to the intention and the direction that one gives to it. In thesame way, when one approaches the musical line and its articulation in therelation, for example by addressing sounds without words to an interlocutor,
it generates a natural phrasing, varied and not dissected by too muchanalysis. This awakening is often provoked by words: I remember certain
songs of Jaques-Dalcroze that touched me profoundly when I was young and78

of which I would say today that it is my heart that spontaneously expressed
the phrasing.

Feeling the rhythm and the pulsation
All that prevails regarding voice, intonation and the quality of melodic
expression also prevails for rhythm and pulsation. Even if the movementof the body helps the stability of a pulse or the realization of a rhythm, theaddition of proprioception – which grounds the person in his body – willconsiderably participate in internalizing a tempo or in giving life to a rhythm.  

Some ingredients to foster inner listening
The power of simplicity
Simplicity is neither emptiness nor absence. On the contrary, it offers aspace of freedom favorable to listening, encounter and authenticity. It often
generates a proliferation of sensations of all that lives between sounds,
everything that brings us close to ourselves and to the world. Simplicity
requests presence. Limit the instructions: these can invade this space andhide a lack of presence.
Slowness and repetition
Living the present changes our relation to the time: it is no longer theslowness synonymous with boredom that prevails, but the slowness thatbrings together in a whole the different strata of the human being. Repeating
an exercise or an experience becomes a valuable way to register vibrant andstrong imprints that generate pleasure and confidence. Avoid being in ahurry. Time is required for the learnings to take root in a human vibratory
bioacoustic soil.
Deconstruction
To access the simplicity of the world of sensations, we must go in the opposite
direction of what we have known. We need to let go of the desire to dowell and the fear of disappointing, abandon the reflex of learning throughwillpower and let go of the markers of tensions (old habits to which we aresometimes unconciously attached) so as to discover the pleasure of what
is simpler, more comfortable, broader and more accurate. For example,
reproducing sounds by singing IN the body, without thinking about theintervals or the name of the notes gives a new self-perception, a confidence
in one’s own listening and in one’s body; it’s a good preparation for analysis.

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In conclusion
To experience listening and to talk about it are two different worlds. No theory
will ever replace the real-life feeling of it. Only experience brings a deep
understanding, and therefore a better self-knowledge. Arousing sensitivity,
curiosity and the creative impulse of the individual, while addressing the totalityof his being, allows him to reveal himself through his authentic and spontaneousmusical expression. Dalcroze has opened an extensive and inspiring way whose
many developments are yet to be discovered and explored.
My warmest thanks to Mary Brice for the English translation.
For reading the article in French: http://fier.com/documents?filter=3

References
Hiltbrand-Andrade, E. (1990). Louis Hiltbrand. Geneva: Limited private edition.
Lombard, F. (2000). Conscious Listening: Reflecting on a new approach toteaching. Chanter, La Revue du chant choral au Québec. Available on
www.francoise-lombard.com
Lombard, F. (1995). Singing in Tune: the Ear has an Accomplice. Chanter, La
Revue du chant choral au Québec. Available on www.francoise-lombard.
com
Lombard, F. (2018) Dalcroze Eurhythmics, an Evolving Pedagogy. Being Music,
Dalcroze Canada. Available on www.francoise-lombard.com

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Expanding Our Bodies ofKnowledge

William R. Bauer

Dr. William R. Bauer earned the Dalcroze
License and Certificate in studies with Robert
Abramson and Ruth Alperson. He teaches fulltime at the City University of New York’s Collegeof Staten Island, where he also directs theInterdisciplinary Program in American Studies.
He studied composition with Robert Starer at
the CUNY Graduate Center, where he earned his
Ph.D., and with Fred Lerdahl and Jack Beeson
at Columbia University, where he earned his MA.
He is currently the Dalcroze Society of America’s
Executive Director, having served as its President
from 2012 to 2018. An experienced and compelling
Dalcroze clinician, Dr. Bauer is a candidate for the
Diplôme supérieur at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in
Geneva and actively promotes Dalcroze Education
across the globe, leading classes and workshops
for students at all ages and levels. His research in
Dalcroze Education and in jazz studies has gainedinternational recognition since more than ten years.

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In recent decades neuroscientific research has sparked a revolution in cognitive
science. Data emerging from this research are giving us more and more insight
into specific ways the motor system influences how we hear and interpretsound. It is becoming increasingly clear that, as music students develop thephysical skills necessary for performing music, they are also advancing their
cognitive development. These and related conclusions suggest that research into
the neurological basis for embodied music cognition holds special relevancefor Dalcroze teachers. This discussion of recent neuroscientific research intosuch phenomena as perception-action coupling, common coding theory, andsensory-motor association sheds light on how Dalcroze teachers take advantageof these phenomena, often intuitively, to help students form robust internal
models of their acoustical environment and their physical movements. These
internal models serve as the basis for musical expression and communication.
As we come to understand just how much our physical actions shape ourperceptions of music and, by extension, our musical understanding—in otherwords, just how embodied our musical minds really are—it makes sense thatmusic teachers’ pedagogical methods should incorporate more improvisation;
not just improvised music, but also improvised movement.

Neuroscience and Dalcroze Eurhythmics: transforming musiceducation
Recent breakthroughs in neurobiology and cognitive science hold greatvalue for Dalcroze teachers. Scientists in these and other fields, using
technological tools developed just in the past several decades, have beengathering and analyzing previously inaccessible data in order to understandhow the human central and peripheral nervous systems work. A dynamic,
complex vision of human cognition is now emerging, revealing the criticalrole that embodied cognition plays in such highly skilled activities as athleticand musical performance.
It seems that with each new day, neuroscientific investigations are
exposing more and more proof that the human motor system plays a key rolein the way we hear and interpret sound. It is becoming increasingly clear
that, as students develop the physical skills they need in order to performmusic, they are also advancing their cognitive development. Going further,
revealing just how much our actions shape our perceptions of music and,by extension, our musical understanding—in other words, in revealing justhow embodied our musical minds really are—the research confirms a key
intuition of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950): Incorporating improvised
physical movement in students’ musical studies literally and figuratively
expands their bodies of knowledge.
Largely on the basis of his sound judgment and astute observation ofhuman behavior, Jaques-Dalcroze anticipated several of the scientifictheories now gaining recognition when he founded his innovative approach82

to teaching and learning ”in and by music” over a century ago. This approach,
now called la rythmique or eurhythmics, challenged many educational
conventions of his day. No doubt Jaques-Dalcroze would be disappointed tosee that, in the training of young musicians and in the way music is taught
in the conservatory today, those same conventions still exert a powerful
influence; but I imagine him taking heart at the unfolding revolution incognitive science that is rendering those conventions obsolete.
In many ways Jaques-Dalcroze was also boldly challenging a static,
oversimplified vision of human cognition that has prevailed until recently,
limited as it was by the kinds of data scientists could then gather about
the brain in action and how it functions in relation to the rest of the body.
As computers, fMRIs, and other instruments enable researchers to surpass
these hurdles, the theories scientists are developing can now account forsuch dynamic, multidimensional human behavior as music making andmusic learning. The time has come for the conservatory to embrace JaquesDalcroze’s pedagogical methods wholeheartedly.
These breakthroughs are clearly meaningful for all music educators;
but how do they apply to teachers who use Jaques-Dalcroze’s pedagogicalmethods? The literature does not make the answer to this question obvious,
as scientists necessarily report on their discoveries using the language of
specialists. I make no claims to expertise in these fields, and the literature
has grown too quickly for me to keep up with it. Still, I do what I can tofollow the latest developments. In this essay, I share some of my reflections
on the news coming to us from our colleagues in neuroscience and cognitive
psychology, in the hope that the information may shed light on the principles
that inform the theory and practice of Dalcroze education.

Toward an ecological understanding of subjective experience
Twenty-five years ago I was thrilled to encounter the work of Antonio
Damasio. His eloquent writing made then current neurological research
relevant not only to cognitive scientists, but also to theorists and practitioners
in many other fields—including ours. Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason,and the Human Brain (Damasio, 1994) poses a viable alternative to thedisembodied, computational model of human cognition that continues toexert a powerful influence on the way music is studied in the academy.
Damasio’s research substantiates the body’s critical role in neuroplasticity(the brain’s capacity to change). What’s more, it reveals specific ways ouremotions and motivations enable us to make sense of our lived experienceand the world around us.
As he considers the factors that allow consciousness to emerge from ourneural circuitry, Damasio finds the human mind manifested in the discrete
neurochemical steps that unfold between stimulus and response, mediating
between our sensory perceptions and our physical responses to them.

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Initially, he locates the mind in our ability to “display images internally” and”order those images in a process called thought” (Damasio, 1994, p. 89). In
his discussion of the greater neural complexity a physical action requires,
however, Damasio hints at less obvious factors having to do with theintermediate processing that must take place between the stimulus neuron
and the response neuron. He concludes that, just because an organism
has a complicated neurobiological structure, it does not follow that it will
experience conscious awareness.
Four years later, in The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in
the Making of Consciousness (Damasio, 1999), Damasio enriches our picture
further, presenting an ecological understanding of mind. According to thisview, consciousness stems from the ways we interact with our environment,
and how those interactions affect us. In coming to see the human mind notjust in terms of a perceiving organism and/or a perceived object (a sound,for example), but rather in terms of the relationship that develops between thetwo, we begin to grasp how our conscious awareness may stem from the actof forming two interrelated impressions at once: I am relating to this object
before me here and now, and my encounter with this object is causing me tochange. (Damasio, 1999, p. 133). Here lie the seeds of a richer understandingof how students’ musical perceptions may influence their learning; but I get
ahead of myself.
This relationship comes into play in his discussion of subjectivity. Damasio
goes beyond identifying subjectivity as a function of consciousness to assertthat it also stems from the body’s role in shaping experience. Urging thereader to think of what happens when we view a favorite landscape, hefleshes out this idea:
As knowledge pertinent to the landscape is activated internally from
dispositional representations in those various brain areas,1 the rest of
the body participates in the process (emphasis added). Sooner or later,
the viscera are made to react to the images you are seeing, and to theimages your memory is generating internally, relative to what you see.
(Damasio, 1994, pp. 224-225).
The key point here is that, to interface with its environment as smoothly as
possible, the organism must actively modify itself (Damasio, 1994, p. 225).
In other words, to survive, we must learn and grow.
In the ensuing decades, neurobiological research has confirmed
Damasio’s ideas by providing more detail about perception and action, and,in particular, about the ways we couple these two functions to facilitate
the environmental interfacing Damasio describes. Some of this research is1

Such “dispositional representations,” which consist of patterns of neurological activity thatpredispose the organism to react to stimuli in particular ways, figure in the formation of habits
and automatisms.

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driven by the quest to generate computer simulations of human behavior.
But how does it apply to music and the ways we learn and teach it?

Shaping music perception: action, reaction, and interaction
I base what follows on an important essay entitled “Action-based effects onmusic perception,” neuroscientists Pieter-Jan Maes, Marc Leman, Caroline
Palmer, and Marcelo M. Wanderley, which gives us an excellent survey ofrecent developments in neuroscience and the relevance these developments
hold for music cognition (Pieter-Jan Maes, Marc Leman, et al, 2014). The
authors’ account of embodied music cognition builds on complex dynamic
systems theory, which has enabled researchers to transcend the limitations
the reductive, static model placed on our theoretical understanding of sports
and the performing arts.
Indeed, several features of music that once made it too complex toinvestigate with any subtlety—its expressiveness, the participants’ subjectivity(encompassing their affective qualities, reflections, motivations, intentions,and metacognitions) and their interpersonal interactions—now make it an
ideal area for exploring how embodied cognition works. Because Dalcroze
teachers exploit these very features of music to enable their students to
produce particular musical and physical results—specifically by increasing
their capacity for coupling perception and action—the Dalcroze classroom
gives researchers a ready-made laboratory for the study of embodied
cognition in action. I imagine a neuroscientist would find it fascinating tosee how quick reaction games leverage students’ capacity for responsive
listening to integrate their cognitive growth with their sensory-motor skill
development.
Pieter-Jan Maes, Marc Leman, et al, 2014 concur with Damasio’s ecologicalview of the mind: our bodies are central to our cognitive processing precisely
because of the ways we integrate our perceptual and motor systems in
our interactions with the world. And they stress the crucial roles action,
perception, introspection, and social interaction play in the dynamic processof embodied music cognition. Going beyond Damasio’s account of theneurological processes that enable us to perceive and act, they assert thatthese processes are so closely intertwined, they exert a mutual, reciprocal
influence on each other.
Expanding on Damasio’s definition of mind, which includes not only
attention, but also intentions, moods, and feelings, etc. Maes, Leman, etal. (ibid.) supports a premise fundamental to Dalcroze education: Without
using words, music notation, or other symbolic representations (i.e., the stuff
of explicit, declarative memory), we can gain access to a listener’s mind justthrough his or her body movements. The authors cite numerous studies thatshow specifically how a listener’s movements can reflect his or her mood, or
certain aspects of the music’s melody, harmony, rhythm and timbre, as well

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as movements the performer made while performing the music and “fromwhich the music originated.”
For our purposes it is significant that these features of musical behavior
result from the subliminal processing of experience that takes place beneaththe level of our conscious awareness. None of these conclusions will comeas a surprise to Dalcroze teachers, who already recognize the critical rolein music cognition played by our implicit, procedural memory (including
muscle memory or motor representations, internal auditory and kinesthetic
models, intuitions and feelings that lie beyond easy reach of words). The
conventional model for teaching musical concepts (i.e. music theory)
generally fails to account for this critical component of music learning
because it is largely dependent on explicit, declarative memory (in otherwords, talking and reading about music, and doing written assignments).
Recent studies also show particular ways the human motor system andthe actions it enables us to generate shape the musical mind. Specifically, thecommon coding theory and a related theory of internal models give us thetheoretical framework for understanding the action-based effects on music
perception the authors refer to in the article’s title (Maes, Leman, et al.,2014). These theories postulate that, by recruiting both sensory and motor
brain areas—a phenomenon known as “perception-action coupling”—werepresent in our brains both “the planning or execution of an action and theperception of the (multi)sensory consequences of that action.” To those of
us who are involved in teaching and learning highly skilled sensory-motor
activities such as sports and music making, the theories hold particularinterest because they advance our understanding of kinesthesia—a mode ofperception that enables us to sense our own bodily motion from within ourown bodies—and the related mechanisms of proprioception.
To grasp the significance of these developments we need to consider themin light of neuroscientists’ account of sensory perception. Neurologists referto the pathways of the peripheral nervous system that transmit neural signals
from sensory organs to the brain as “afferent.” This description applies toall modes of exteroception, such as auditory perception (i.e., hearing). In
contrast, they refer to neural pathways that carry signals outward from thebrain to the muscles as ”efferent” (whether or not we are consciously awareof them).
How do neuroscientists account for our ability to sense and control
our own bodily movements? Through an interoceptive mechanism called“reafference.” Unlike exteroceptions, which bring sensations we receivefrom the outside world to the brain, interoceptive pathways transmit thesignals for sensations from within our own bodies (such as internal pain) tothe brain. But there’s more to proprioception than the sensory feedback that
reafference gives us about our own actions; it also provides us with criticalfeed-forward representations that enable us to anticipate and predict theconsequences of actions we’re about to perform. Common coding theory

86“provides a general framework for developing more detailed and testable
explanatory models”; but, being still relatively new, the authors acknowledge
that, in its present state of development the theory “is not readily falsifiable.”
Reaching beyond the established perspective on embodied cognition,
the newly emerging understanding described in Maes, Leman, et al. (2014)
accounts for the vital role the human body plays in music cognition byfocusing on forward modeling processes: “it is not [just] about how the bodyresonates with the music, but rather about how predicted sensory outcomes ofplanned or performed actions can be projected onto the perceived music” [myemphasis]. The “corporeal mirroring process” entailing “inverse modeling”
that the authors describe accounts for listeners’ tendency to ascribe
intentions, inner feelings, etc. to music. In other contexts, I have used theterm “surrogate kinesthesia” to refer to features of performed music thatenable us to hear it evoke movement qualities and the emotions driving
someone’s evolving actions. Similarly, I use the term “surrogate prosody” torefer to musical features that enable us to hear qualities and emotions that
inflect our speech with non-verbal qualities of vocal expression. Improvisers
harness both surrogate prosody and surrogate kinesthesia to make theirmusic speak directly to, and move their listeners.
A key mechanism underlying musicians’ formation of internal models
is a process the authors refer to as “sensory-motor association learning.”
Musical instrument training offers a special case of this mode of learning,which harnesses action-based effects on auditory perception. One of thecentral ways our actions influence our perceptions is through our ability to
predict the auditory consequences of our actions, an ability that depends on
sensory-motor associations we have built up over time. The ways performers
anticipate, then listen and react to the sounds that result from their playing
of a musical instrument serve as a special, but highly illustrative instance of
this process. But so, too, do the ways our spontaneous movement responses
in a Dalcroze lesson influence our auditory perceptions of the music. When
we perform movements to enact a metric transformation of 6/8 rhythms,
for example, converting them to 3/4 rhythms, the new movement qualities
alter how we hear the same rhythmic values.
This factor also concerns the way Dalcroze teachers adjust theirimprovisations for movement. Such improvisations create an acoustic
landscape for students to move through; so it is critical that we attune
ourselves to the ways our touch produces subtle inflections of phrasing,articulation, and accentuation, which students in turn need to react to andreflect in their movements. “An action becomes automatically activated (or,primed) as a result of the mere perception of the auditory consequences
normally associated with that action” (Maes, Leman, et al, 2014). Dalcroze
students and teachers alike reap the benefits of such embodied cognitive
priming when the lesson culminates in an activity that crystallizes thevarious component skills the students have been acquiring, as automatisms,

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into a cohesive skill set, such as those that enable them to improvise with
their voices or instrumentals.
A growing body of empirical evidence supports the idea that our auditory
perceptions are influenced by “motor resonance”, a phenomenon that stems
from the ways reafferent feedback models link up with the predictions
proprioceptive “feed-forward” models let us generate. For example,
problems in the motor system can negatively affect auditory perception.
When performing dissociations on the spot, Dalcroze students confront
the conflicts created when the music they’re hearing at any given moment
does not confirm their expectations. In such instances, the “quick reaction”
game forces them to constantly remap their motor resonances of the music’s
surrogate kinesthesia while managing multiple levels of motor activity inreal time.
How do action and perception become integrated or “coupled”? Via theprocess Maes, Leman, et al., 2014 refers to as associative learning. “Throughsystematically repeated experiences, sensory events [such as sounds] areassociated with particular motor acts and excitatory links between both are
created, resulting in the development of ‘internal models’.” While inverse
modeling automatically co-activates the corresponding motor representation,
the mere planning or execution of the corresponding sensory representation
is automatically co-activated via forward modeling. Both modeling processes
can contribute to action-based effects on auditory perception. This analysis
helps us to understand a key factor differentiating listening to music fromlearning to produce music with the voice or on an instrument. In the latter
case, the practicing that goes into producing meaningful musical utterancesalters the way we hear and understand the music we’re singing or playing.
Similarly, Dalcroze students intensify their listening comprehension of themusic they are hearing when they learn how to pronounce and sing it with
their whole bodies.
I find the language we now use to discuss the elusive phenomenon
these authors call a “motor representation” unsatisfactory. The subjective
character of kinesthetic sensations makes them impossible to represent toanyone but ourselves. Could this factor explain why dancers, athletes, andDalcroze teachers can sound inarticulate when they talk about what they
do? In an effort to get a handle on this essentially non-verbal phenomenon,others have wrestled with the limited verbal tools available to us using suchwords as “motor image,” “muscle memory,” or “body knowledge.” But what
are we to call it?2
Personally, I think we can get a better grasp of these sensations with
the neologism propriocept. Using a single word to honor our proprioceptive
experience gives the concept sufficient gravitas to hold it up to theprivileged phenomenon we refer to with the name “concept.” Whereas it
2

In English translations of Jaques-Dalcroze’s writings we encounter the term “Motor apparatus”(see Jaques-Dalcroze, 1930, p. 364).

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is possible to convey our understanding of a concept through its verbal or
symbolic representation, it is much harder to articulate the significance ofa propriocept, a unit of knowledge that most people know so deeply, they
don’t even know that they know it! Just as we “conceive” a unit of conscious
awareness by thinking a thought, so too can we proprioceive a unit ofproprioceptive sensation by willing an action. In Maes, Leman, et al. (2014)
we learn that, even though a kinesthetic sensation lies just beyond the reachof words, this experience has as sound a neurological basis as any concept.
The noun propriocept gives us a way to point to that ineffable “feeling ofwhat happens” that Antonio Damasio has shed fresh light on and that we
Dalcroze teachers strive to prompt in our students through our design ofaudiosomatic (music-movement or “sound body”) environments.

Prescient observations and conclusions
When we consider Jaques-Dalcroze’s own ideas about movement and musicin light of the current neuroscientific research, we can see ways that heanticipated current developments in cognitive science. He writes that thegoal of eurhythmics exercises is to effect a “permeation of the intellectual by
the irrational” and “the unconscious by the conscious,” and to “instill into
the whole life more of naturalness and of abandon [while] at the same timestrengthening clarity of vision and developing the will” (Jaques-Dalcroze,
1930, p. 364). Elsewhere he writes that the eurhythmics proceeds outwards“from within,” adding that it exerts its influence on the whole body: “Itsexercises arouse the muscular sensibility and regulate the relations between
the two poles of our being, the physical and the intellectual” (JaquesDalcroze, 1930, p. 362). Later he writes that improvisation serves:
To develop rapidity of decision and interpretation, effortlessconcentration, the immediate conception of plans, and to set up directcommunication between the soul that feels, the brain that imagines
and co-ordinates, and the fingers, arms and hands that interpret; andall this, thanks to the education of the nervous sensibility which unites
into one organic whole all particular sensibilities—whether auditory,
muscular, or constructive faculties—in time, energy, and space (JaquesDalcroze, 1932, p. 371).
In light of the dramatic impact that new technology for gathering previously
inaccessible neurological data is having on cognitive science, we can lookforward to further confirmation of the principles Jaques-Dalcroze intuitedwhen he both conceived and proprioceived the practice that bears his name.
I wish to thank the several colleagues who read and commented on early drafts ofthis essay, including Andrew Goldman, Eric Barnhill, Michael Joviala, Christopher

89

Della Pietra, Kathy Arizmendi; as well as Marie-Laure Bachmann for her insights
into Jaques-Dalcroze’s writings. I take full responsibility for any errors.

References
Bachman, M. (1993). Dalcroze Today: An Education Through and Into Music(D. Parlett trans.). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Damasio, A. (1994). Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human
Brain. New York: Putnam.
Damasio, A. (1999). The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the
Making of Conscious-ness. New York: Harcourt Brace and Co.
Jaques-Dalcroze, É. (1967) [1921]. Rhythm, Music and Education. Translatedby H. Rubinstein. London: The Dalcroze Society.
Jaques-Dalcroze, É. (1930). Eurhythmics and its Implications (Rothwell, F.
Translator). The Musical Quar-terly 16, 358-365.
Jaques-Dalcroze, É. (1932). Rhythmics and Pianoforte Improvisation.
(Rothwell, R., Translator). Music and Letters 13, 371-380.
Juntunen, M. (2002). Practical Applications of Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Nordic
Research In Music Education Yearbook 6, 75-92.
Juntunen, M., & Hyvönen, L. (2004). Embodiment in Musical Knowing:
How Body Movement Facilitates Learning with Dalcroze Eurhythmics.
British Journal of Music Education 21 (2), 199–214.
Juntunen, M. (2016). The Dalcroze Approach: Experiencing and Knowing
Music through the Embodied Exploration. In C. R Abril & B. Gault (Eds.)
Approaches to Teaching General Music: Methods, Issues, and Viewpoints.
New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 141–167.
Maes, P., Leman, M., Palmer, C. & Wanderley, M. (2014). Action-based
effects on music perception. Frontiers in Psychology. [www.frontiersin.
org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.01008/full]

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Dalcroze andDisciplinarity

John Habron

Dr John Habron is Head of Music Education at
the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester,
UK and Senior Research Fellow in the MASARA(Musical Arts in South Africa: Resources andApplications) research group at North-West
University, South Africa. He researches andteaches across the areas of music education andmusic therapy, with particular interests in thepractical, theoretical and historical connections
between music, movement and wellbeing. His
research has appeared in Psychology of Music,
the Journal of Research in Music Education andthe International Journal of Music Education. In
2016, John guest-edited a special issue (‘Dalcroze
Eurhythmics in Music Therapy and Special Music
Education’) for Approaches: An Interdisciplinary
Journal of Music Therapy. He is currently on theeditorial boards of the International Journal ofMusic Education and the Journal of Dance andSomatic Practices. John has chaired the ScientificCommittee of the International Conference ofDalcroze Studies (ICDS) since its founding in 2013.

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How do Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Dalcroze studies relate, as practices anddisciplines? This article reflects on the nature of inter- and transdisciplinarity
in Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Dalcroze studies, using three examples of current
and historical Dalcroze practice: (i) the participation of seniors in Dalcroze
Eurhythmics; (ii) Dalcroze practice on BBC radio in the 1930s-60s; (iii) andthe use of critical philosophy in Dalcroze studies. In discussing theory frominterdisciplinary studies, it also examines the relationship between practicesof pedagogy and research, and considers what can be gained through working
between, or transcending, disciplinary boundaries. Personal reflections on myown journey as a music educator, music therapist and researcher allow me to
explore the role of hybridity, improvisation and collaboration in inter- andtransdisciplinary research. The article also outlines potential future directions
for Dalcroze studies, as an evolving field of transdisciplinary practice.

I dwell in possibility…
Emily Dickinson1

Thresholds
Thresholds are places where we pass from one space to another, one timeto another, even one reality to another. They signal change. This can be inacoustic, temperature, comfort, like when we leave our house and walkout into the cold and wind. We can cross the same threshold so many times
in one day, we hardly notice it. Whereas another, such as walking into anamazing building for the first time, can make us stop and stare in wonder.
They are places of opportunity. They offer the promise, perhaps sometimes
elusive, that a new experience awaits us. In the art gallery, each new room
is a new beginning.
Thresholds can represent struggle and achievement, such as crossing fromstudent to graduate, or interviewee to employee. In such cases, there can be
anxiety, even if we have been on that threshold before. It is never the same
twice. They are liminal spaces, where – if one dwells – one is neither on one
side or the other. They are therefore places of transition and becoming. They
are the in-between. Thresholds are places of unknowing, of coming to know,
perhaps – we could say – of knowledge in motion.
Finally, thresholds can be places of choice. Sometimes we are compelled
to cross, when we leave the womb, or go to school for the first time. At
others, we can decide whether we want to cross. We can decide how far wewant to explore. And we can decide to cross back where we came from, or tostay. Choice, change, opportunity, struggle and achievement, liminality andunknowing, are what face us as educators and researchers, when we standon the threshold of inter- and transdisciplinary practice.
1

Poem 657, in Johnson, T. E. (Ed.) (1975). Emily Dickinson: The complete poems. London: Faber
and Faber, p.327.

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Crossing thresholds is an everyday activity, a phenomenon with which weare all familiar. As someone who began his musical journey as a percussionist
and a composer, I have found myself crossing many disciplinary thresholds.
Such crossings have led me into the worlds of pedagogy, therapy andresearch. And where these overlap is perhaps where I feel most at home. It
is also where I situate my current research focus: Dalcroze studies.
Before discussing Dalcroze studies, this article will consider aspects of
Dalcroze Eurhythmics and some definitions of inter- and transdisciplinary
practice. Using personal reflections and theory, I hope to promote reflectionin our community about these topics, and I end with some thoughts on
possible future directions for Dalcroze studies.

Dalcroze Eurhythmics and disciplinarity
Jaques-Dalcroze was himself aware of the interdisciplinarity of his method(Jaques-Dalcroze, 1906). He spoke of the five fingers of eurhythmics:“music, movement, the theatre, arts in education and therapy” (Tingey,
1973, p. 60). This interdisciplinarity derives from Jaques-Dalcroze’s own
background and breadth of interests. His early pedagogical experiments
at the Geneva conservatoire connected his studies in theatre (diction,breathing, gesture), music (piano, composition, conducting and solfège)and “anatomy, physiology and psychology” (Odom, 1998, p. 594). Then,in 1910, the ‘Big Bang’ of Dalcroze Eurhythmics (Bachmann, 2015, p. 54)
ushered in a short-lived, but extremely fertile, period of experimentation
which interwove holistic pedagogy and the performing arts. This took place
at Hellerau in Germany, a garden city at the centre of which was a speciallydesigned school and theatre, where cross-arts collaborations resulted in new
ways to imagine teaching, learning and performance. Several authors notethe interdisciplinarity of Dalcroze Eurhythmics in this period, including its
connections to modern art, theatre, dance and architecture (Huxley & Burt,
2014; Kuschnig & Pellois, 2015; Loach, 2018). Del Bianco (2017) notes thecontinued interdisciplinarity of Dalcroze practice, placing emphasis on its
therapeutic and social potential (Del Bianco, 2015, p. 184). Therefore, we
could say that interdisciplinarity is in the DNA of Dalcroze.

Inter- and transdisciplinarity (ITD)
According to Moran, interdisciplinarity is “any form of dialogue or interaction
between two or more disciplines” (2010, p. 14). This makes it a very flexible
and indeterminate term, and for Moran, this is where its value lies (2010, p.
14). This allows for “the level, type, purpose and effect of this interaction”(Moran, 2010, p. 14) to be examined in each individual case.
Darbellay (2015a, pp. 165-166) distinguishes between the multi-, interand transdisciplinary as follows:93• Multi-disciplinary; two or more individuals or teams work on a problem“in succession and isolation without any real interaction between them”;• Interdisciplinary: there is dynamic interaction between the parties, orwithin the individual scholar’s work, which integrates different disciplinary
viewpoints; here “the issues and problems treated [fall] ‘between’ (inter)
existing disciplines”; for example, sociology and linguistics combine in
the discipline of socio-linguistics;• Transdisciplinary; this “process of knowing trans-cends disciplinary
boundaries, and entails a major re-configuring of disciplinary divisions”;
dialogue between scientific cultures can also be described as transdisciplinary,such as the integration of medicine and the arts.
In what follows I focus on the inter- and transdisciplinary, or ITD, exploringsome examples of integration and dialogue between two or more disciplines
within Dalcroze studies. I have chosen examples from three perspectives:current practice, historical practice and critical narratology.

Three examples
The first example is the participation of seniors in Dalcroze Eurhythmics
and the work of researchers who study its effects. Since 2005, researchat the university hospitals in Geneva has shown that long- and short-term
participation in Dalcroze Eurhythmics for seniors can significantly improve
gait variability, balance and reduce their likelihood of falling (Kressig,
Allali & Beauchet, 2005; Trombetti et al., 2011). These gains in qualityof life and health outcomes indicate Dalcroze Eurhythmics as a means topromote healthy ageing, making this one of the major developments incontemporary Dalcroze practice. As an interdisciplinary dialogue between
Dalcroze specialists, scientists and older adults, it is an example of figuring
out “how to relate disciplinary expertise to the needs of the community”(Frodeman, 2017, p. 7). Dalcroze practitioners, such as Ruth Gianadda,
use their expertise for the wellbeing of others. Researchers, such as Reto
Kressig, use their expertise to help society at large understand the outcomesof the work. According to Darbellay, ITD research also represents “a certain
rupture within disciplinary routines” (Darbellay, 2015a, p. 167). In the caseof Dalcroze for seniors, one can understand the rupture as a new directionin practice and a new form of collaboration.
An earlier example of a rupture within the disciplinary routines of Dalcroze
Eurhythmics was Ann Driver’s decision to broadcast Dalcroze lessons on
BBC radio in the 1930s-60s. The ‘Music and Movement’ radio programmes
gave thousands of school-children access to Dalcroze pedagogy. Driver
had been a pupil of Jaques-Dalcroze and was one of the most important
Dalcroze teachers in England at that time. Yet, her radio programmes caused

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controversy, drawing Jaques-Dalcroze himself into the debate (Odom & Pope,
2013; Pope, 2007). This centred on the fact that Driver could not see thechildren; she recorded herself in the studio and her lessons were broadcast
later. Furthermore, the connection between the children and Driver was not
the improvised interaction of a live setting. Nevertheless, as they followed
the music, the children were called on to use their imagination, spatialawareness and a wide movement repertoire. The project integrated musiceducation, physical education and radio technology. It certainly transcended
a disciplinary threshold, if not transgressed it. In developing the possibilities
of distance learning, it has a modern echo in current online learning guided
by Dalcroze practitioners (Habron-James, 2017).
My third example is the work of Marja-Leena Juntunen and Heidi
Westerlund, who use critical narratology to examine Dalcroze Eurhythmics,
one of the Grand Methods of 20th-century music education (Westerlund &Juntunen, 2011; Juntunen & Westerlund, 2011). They show how stories ofmusic education motivate practice and theory. In other words, the ways wedescribe how we teach and how students learn can reinforce our assumptions
about what is ‘ideal’ in education. With a view to developing reflective musiceducators, they argue that “By analysing the stories that research brings forthand by colliding different stories with each other, it may be possible… todevelop such critical mindsets in student-teachers” (Westerlund & Juntunen,
2011, no page). Identifying such ‘storied perspectives’ or ‘metanarratives’
within Dalcroze practice and theory could be another example of a rupture
within a disciplinary routine. In terms of interdisciplinarity, here we have a
dialogue between Dalcroze practice and critical philosophy.
With these three examples, we can therefore consider ruptures within
the disciplinary routines of those who teach, practice, theorise and research
Dalcroze Eurhythmics. In our context, ‘interdisciplinary practice’ refers bothto the practices of Dalcroze teachers and to research practices in Dalcroze
studies. As such, the distinction between practitioners and researchers
becomes problematic. What is research, if not another practice? Interviewing,archival work and data analysis are just three examples of the practicalskills of research, which include elements of art, science and craft. Theseskills can be taught and learnt, and developed through critical reflection,
experimentation and innovation. In discussing ‘research into Dalcroze
practice’, we can bear in mind that researchers are also practitioners. Thisis supported by the ‘practice turn’ in political science, in which practice isconsidered as the smallest unit of analysis (Bueger, 2014, p. 383). Everything
we do is ultimately a practice of some kind.

Personal reflection 1
I did not set out to become a researcher, though exploration and discovery
have always excited me. I knew nothing of Dalcroze Eurhythmics until I

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was almost 30 years old, though I loved rhythm, singing and moving tomusic from an early age. Thus, the last decade has been something of anadventure and, with hindsight, seems like an outgrowth of existing potential.
During this time, I have been a student of Eurhythmics, have trained andpracticed as a music therapist and have become a researcher, supervisor andresearch leader. My first qualitative research project was called Moving into
Composition. It investigated the experiences of student composers who took
a series of Dalcroze Eurhythmics classes and composed music in responseto their learning. I undertook this with my wife (Bethan Habron-James),a Dalcroze practitioner and teacher trainer. The Moving into Composition
report appeared in 2012 (Habron, Jesusthasan & Bourne, 2012).
In the same year, I became aware that 2013 would be the centenary of
the founding of the London School of Dalcroze Eurhythmics. To celebrate
this, and to bring together other researchers working in similar areas, I
formed a conference committee with a group of international colleagues.
Looking back, I was still rather at the edges of the Dalcroze community, yetthrough my time as a student, my marriage and my first research project,
I began to engage in a wider network, an example of legitimate peripheral
participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991). The first conference took place atCoventry University, UK, in 2013. It was not only a risk for me, but also a step
into the unknown for the whole committee. Yet it attracted more than 130
delegates. The International Conference of Dalcroze Studies subsequently
became known as ICDS and travelled to Austria and Canada. It is now in its
fourth iteration (it takes place in Katowice, Poland in 2019).2

Dalcroze studies
The notion of ‘Dalcroze studies’ raises the question of disciplinary names.
This label was chosen to demarcate an open field, focused on Dalcroze
Eurhythmics, yet connected to many others. ICDS literature often uses thephrase ‘Dalcroze and related fields’. To take a counter-example, it would nothave worked to call it the ‘International Conference of Dalcroze Education’,as not all work in the field of rhythmics/eurhythmics is education focussed;
some is artistic, some is therapeutic or community based. In other words,
the absence of a disciplinary qualifier is intentional.
Nor did we consider ‘International Conference of Jaques-Dalcroze Studies’(as one might, if inspired by ‘Shakespeare studies’, or ‘Jane Austen studies’);the history, practice, theory and philosophy of Dalcroze Eurhythmics andrelated practices has far more potential than a focus on an individual would
allow. Rather, we intended to name a “thematic field of interdisciplinary
studies that… cuts across several disciplines or sub-disciplines” (Darbellay
2015b, p. 204). The suffix ‘studies’ allows us to do this, as it does for cultural2

www.dalcroze-studies.com

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studies, gender studies, migration studies and visual studies, to name a few
similar examples.
The first call for proposals, for the 2013 conference, stated that theconference “seeks to promote interdisciplinary dialogue between researchers
into Dalcroze Eurhythmics and those from a wide field of related disciplines
and practices... We also welcome related presentations on music, movement
and the body from a range of disciplines and perspectives” (Habron et al., 2018,p. 30). This, along with the inclusion of keynote speakers from the fields ofmusic neuroscience (Katie Overy), phenomenology (Maxine Sheets-Johnstone)
and Dalcroze practice – both historical and pedagogical perspectives (Louise
Mathieu, Selma Odom and Joan Pope) – clearly signalled an ITD ethos fromthe outset. We could argue that the conference organisers made an “explicit
claim to adopting an interdisciplinary approach without presenting a single preestablished disciplinary identity” (Darbellay 2015b, p. 204).
The second conference welcomed “presentations on music, movement
and the body from a broad range of disciplines (and all their sub-disciplines)”(Habron et al., 2018, p. 31). The third and fourth calls confidently declare that“ICDS is a global, transdisciplinary forum” (Habron et al., 2018, pp. 31-32),
which is “open to viewpoints from education, the arts and humanities, and thesocial, natural, health and life sciences” (ICDS, 2018b). Therefore, we see that
we need the language of disciplinarity to talk about inter- and transdisciplinarity.

The need for disciplines
If inter- and transdisciplinary research questions disciplinary boundaries,
it can only do so if there are disciplines to question. This is the central
paradox: “the very idea of interdisciplinarity can only be understood in a
disciplinary context” (Moran, 2010, p. ix). Therefore, disciplines are vital.
“The inter- and transdisciplinary style… works on the boundaries of thedisciplinary norm while constantly reconfiguring it… it is both continuity
and transformation (Darbellay, 2015a, pp. 172-173). Yet, some people
cling to the idea that a discipline has solid roots or a pure form. They resist
ITD, or see it as ‘dilution’. Rather, for me at least, ITD work feels similar
to an improvisational process. Whilst improvising, we respond to change
and possibility, moving within different flows, being spontaneous andcommunicating with others. In research terms, we sometimes talk about‘playing with’ or ‘riffing on’ ideas. We can be playful and creative with ourdisciplines too. ITD is ultimately a social and improvisational activity.

Personal reflection 2
Darbellay writes that although researchers are “distancing themselves fromthe security of the discipline”, the majority still identify with a “home”
discipline (Darbellay, 2015b, p. 202). This prompted me to ask: what is

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my home discipline? What information can I use to answer this question?
I would like to share some thoughts on this, in case it might help others toreflect on their relationship with the discipline(s) in which they work.
As defined by training, I am a musician, composer and music therapist, so
my home disciplines would seem to be at least two: music and music therapy.
As defined by current professional activity, my disciplines are pedagogy,
research, management and leadership. As defined broadly by the types ofresearch I do and the methods I use, I work with models from healthcare(music therapy), social science (music education, music psychology) andthe humanities (history, musicology). As defined by the vocabularies andconcepts I use, I could enumerate several other disciplines.
Another way to consider disciplinarity would be to look at one’s
publications. I have published articles on Dalcroze Eurhythmics in journals
of music therapy, music education, music psychology and dance (Habron
2016; Greenhead & Habron, 2015; Habron & Van der Merwe, 2017; Van
der Merwe & Habron, 2018). Two articles have appeared in journals that
explicitly promote ITD research: TD: The journal for transdisciplinary researchin Southern Africa (Habron, 2014) and Approaches: An interdisciplinary
journal of music therapy (Habron, 2016).
Finally, collaborations may also hold a clue. I have undertaken researchwith occupational therapists, health psychologists, Dalcroze practitioners andother music education researchers, who specialise in qualitative and historicalresearch. Therefore, once one begins to reflect on one’s “home” discipline,
complexity can emerge, leaving one to wonder if one has a home at all. I
have a hybrid identity and seem to be a researcher who allows “their thematic
focus of interest to direct their research, teaching and publication activities”(Darbellay, 2015b, p. 204), rather than a single academic discipline.
If we can derive evidence of transdisciplinarity from symbolic (qualifications,publications), social (collaborations) and intellectual (research interests,
vocabularies and concepts) perspectives, then one more might be thepsychological. As someone attracted to collaboration and communicating withothers in different fields, I identify with Darbellay when he writes: “the interand transdisciplinary researcher is not a lawless hoodlum but the scientificcitizen of the world who is moved by the values of information-sharing, passion,pleasure and the circulation of knowledge outside of the logics of hierarchicalpower” (Darbellay, 2015a, p. 173). This certainly resonates with my personal
motivation for promoting the International Conference of Dalcroze Studies toa wide variety of others.
Whilst it is nice to think of oneself as a “scientific citizen of the world”, beinga disciplinary edge-walker can feel otherwise. Thresholds can be strange
places, where one sometimes feels unsure of oneself or misunderstood byothers. For example, studying spiritual experience in Dalcroze Eurhythmics,
as I have done over the last five years (Habron & Van der Merwe, 2017; Van
der Merwe & Habron, 2018; Habron & Van der Merwe, in review; Van der

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Merwe & Habron, in review), may show “creative marginality” (Darbellay,
2015a, p. 172), but critical reaction to this work has sometimes placed meat the edge of what others in the discipline of Dalcroze studies seem to feelis acceptable. This is the risk one takes in doing ITD research.

Possible future directions for Dalcroze studies
Dalcroze studies is an evolving transdisciplinary field that includes the practicesof pedagogy, therapy, performance and research itself. Related disciplines,
such as music technology (Nijs, 2018), music psychology (Seitz, 2005),
health musicking (Navarro Wagner, 2016), music therapy (Habron, 2014)
and neurologic music therapy (Altenmüller & Scholz, 2016) have recently
been connected to Dalcroze Eurhythmics, often by researchers not writingfrom the perspective of a Dalcroze practitioner. These few examples alone
provide many tools and perspectives for us to understand how phenomena
such as entrainment, metaphor, embodied music interaction and non-verbal
communication operate in Dalcroze practice. They also leave open thepossibility of integrating tools from other disciplines, such as anthropology,
ethnomusicology, sociology and the digital humanities, and even generating
an interdisciplinary theoretical framework for Dalcroze Studies.
In terms of research topics, previously unexplored aspects of humanexperience are being investigated. These include multiculturalism (Shin &Mathieu, 2017), communities of practice (Pretorius, 2018), online learning(Habron-James, 2017) and spirituality (Van der Merwe & Habron, 2018).
These are all healthy signs for the interdisciplinary future of Dalcroze
studies. But what potential remains? I would like to consider briefly somefuture directions for Dalcroze studies from the perspective of methodology.
Empirical research in Dalcroze studies has used many strategies, including
randomized controlled trial (Trombetti et al., 2011), narrative enquiry(Juntunen, 2002; Habron & Van der Merwe, in review), phenomenology(Van der Merwe, 2015), interpretative phenomenological analysis (Van der
Merwe & Habron, 2018), case study (Habron-James, 2013; Pretorius, 2018)
and document analysis (Habron & Van der Merwe, 2017). There are many
examples of historical research to choose from, such as Kuschnig and Pellois(2015), Odom and Pope (2013) and Nash (2011). The same could be said of
philosophical studies (Juntunen & Hyvönen, 2004; Juntunen & Westerlund,
2001, 2011; Westerlund & Juntunen, 2011). Finally, some methodologicaltools, such as ethnography and autoethnography, are currently being applied
for the first time.3 However, to my knowledge, other modes of enquiry, suchas action research, arts-based educational research (ABER) and practice-as3

This refers to: (i) a project being undertaken at North-West University, South Africa (Dalcrozeinspired activities at a care facility for older adults: An ethnography) by Liesl van der Merwe,
Janelize van der Merwe and Catrien Wentink; and (ii) the ongoing autoethnographic doctoral
research of Diane Daly (Ireland) and Bethan Habron-James (UK).

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research, remain untapped. The latter would consider Dalcroze practice itself as
a form of research and this could open up many new avenues of investigation.
The topics available to researchers in Dalcroze studies are limitless. Yet
it is also possible to replicate existing studies and to develop current topics.
For example, the success of the seniors work in Geneva, as disseminated
via researchers, the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze and the media, has helped tospread this application of Dalcroze practice internationally. Researchers
in the countries concerned have responded by investigating this work anddeveloping its status as evidence-based practice (Treviño & Bermudez, 2016;
Ferguson-Stegall et al., 2017). As social prescribing (referring patients tonon-clinical interventions in the community) becomes ever more widelypracticed (Bickerdike et al., 2017) and life expectancy increases (WHO,2018), there will be more opportunities for work with seniors. This isperhaps a gift for Dalcroze and related eurhythmics practices, given they
are social activities that bring tangible wellbeing outcomes.

Coda
As Darbellay writes, “the threshold of disciplinarity should be developed;
however, it should be simultaneously reflected on and exceeded” (Darbellay,
2015b, p. 203). This is both the opportunity and challenge of ITD research.
Thresholds are made to define boundaries, but they are also made forcrossing. They are made for movement. As I hope to have shown, the edgesof disciplines or thought styles are liminal places, marked not only bycomplexity and unknowing, but also by opportunity and curiosity. We candwell on these edges and in the in-between. We can dwell in possibility.

Note
This article is an abbreviated version of a keynote address given at I CongresoInternacional de Docentes: Interdisciplinareidad y Sostenibilidad a través delas Artes, Universitat Jaume I, Castelló de la Plana, Spain (06 November, 2018).

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Eurhythmics andthe Brain.
A Neuroscientific
Perspective
Wolfgang Mastnak

Wolfgang Mastnak is director of Bejing Normal
University Research Centre for Arts Therapies,
president of the Austrian Heart Association andchair of Music Education at the University of Music
Munich. Being full member of the New York Academyof Sciences and the European Academy of Sciences
and Arts, he specializes in neurosciences, music
therapy, long-term cardiac rehabilitation, sports
medicine, body-oriented therapies, and the theoryof science. Holding several doctoral degrees inmusic and arts-related therapies, mathematics, andmedical and educational sciences, he has publishednumerous papers and several books. He wasawarded one of the “2000 Outstanding Intellectualsof the 21st Century” by the International BiographicalCentre Cambridge and one of the “Great Minds ofthe 21st Century” by the American BiographicalInstitute. Being a pianist, Mastnak specializes in themusic of the Viennese classicism, the 20th century,
and contemporary music.

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Statements about educational/developmental effects and benefits of eurhythmics
are mostly derived from Jacques-Dalcroze’s seminal ideas and associatedprinciples and/or are based on heuristic considerations. The present paper
explores eurhythmics from a neuroscientific perspective and suggests hence acomplementary theoretical framework. Focusing on music and body movement,
this involves particularly (i) neuroplasticity as an underlying mechanism oflearning and personal growth, (ii) the Default Mode Network (DFM) as aneural basis of creativity and self-reference, (iii) epigenetics as (the study of)modalities to influence gene-expression by cultural activities, (iv) the reward
system as a eurhythmics-sensitive structure that generates pleasure and positive
emotional traits, (v) neuroaesthetics as a scientific way to explore the experienceof beauty, and (vi) quantum consciousness as the most profound fusion of music
and mind. Taking these aspects into account, the article points out that they
only serve as an epistemological means to better understand central-nervous
processes of eurythmics, but and does not jeopardize the pole position of artistic
activities that form the intangible core of this school of thought.
It is common knowledge that Émile Jacques-Dalcroze had the strong
impression his pupils would need kinaesthetic and body-related experience
to disclose the miraculous nature of music. This discovery was the source of
his seminal work that spread all over the world and greatly contributed tothe development of creativity, body-awareness, and inner balance.
What is subsumed under the umbrella term ‘eurhythmics’ proved to be ofhigh advantage for individuals—of course, not only children—and a wealthof experiences witness how this way of artistic experience and personal
empowerment is in harmony with human nature and the principles of theorganic evolution of culture.
Eurhythmics convinces through practice. However, the more it gets involvedin domains of developmental psychology, public health, and preventative
medicine, the more scientific approaches are called into play. According
to today’s standards, these comprise evidence based medicine, researchon neuroscientific and genetic backgrounds—i.e., the so called underlying
mechanisms—and studies on health-associated socio-cultural networks.
There are plausible arguments that eurhythmics are about to open up
new areas that require interdisciplinary approaches. In a nutshell: Figuring
in new fields needs to know the ropes. In this context, the present article
tries to shed light on central nervous processes and principles that are linked
to eurhythmics.

Neuroplasticity
How can we learn? How can we grow? How can we acquire cultural
techniques? How can we become unique individuals? From a neuroscientificperspective, these processes go hand in hand with what is called

105‘neuroplasticity’ (Costandi, 2016), i.e. the brain’s ability to learn and to reorganise itself by forming neural connections—the synapses—and thus tobuild highly individualised neural networks—the ‘hardware’ of our selves.
Brain plasticity—which is an alternative term for neuroplasticity—can beseen as a giftedness that makes a difference between the human mind andthe intelligence of machines. Owing to still undiscovered, mystical principles,the evolution seems to have used specific DNA-codes as a carrier of vital
information for neuroplasticity (McClung & Nestler, 2008). Genetics, brain
plasticity, and the biological evolution of mankind are closely interrelated andpoint out that culture is not just an appendix or an add-on phenomenon of the‘homo sapiens’, but an inseparable feature of our inner nature (Wexler, 2011).
In this context and with high relevance to the theory of eurhythmics, brain
research revealed a close connection between music, movement, and brain
plasticity. Herholz and Zatorre (2012) from McGill University, Montreal,
reviewed EEG- and fMRI-studies on brain plasticity induced throughmusical training. Results are compatible with Groussard et al. (2014) who
highlighted the power of music to increase structural brain changes, hence‘brain maturation’. In this regard, Jäncke (2009) cuts to the chase: “Musicdrives brain plasticity“.
Moreover, Schlaug (2015) from Harvard Medical School highlights music
and motor actions as a joint booster of brain plasticity. Accordingly, several
studies emphasise brain plasticity promoting effects of dance (Karpati et al.,2015) and stress the benefits of physical exercise for neuroplasticity andcognition (Hötting & Röder, 2013).
These studies provide convincing arguments recommending eurhythmics
as powerful way to support brain maturation, personal growth, and learning
abilities. In this context, researchers also shed light on the interplay between
improvisation, creativity, and brain plasticity (Duffau, 2014; Beaty, 2015).
Additionally, they consider music making a vital tool for promoting brain plasticity
across the life span (Wan & Schlaug) and provide—although unintendedly—
health-related arguments for generation-spanning eurhythmics.

Default mode network
Creativity is a main feature of human beings and a necessary prerequisite
for socio-cultural dynamics and progress (c.f., Pope, 2005). Moreover,creativity has always played a crucial role for eurhythmics (Hall, 1925).
From a neuro-sciencific perspective, creativity has to be classified as oneof the most complex human qualities and cannot be assigned to a singularbrain area such as, e.g., the primary generation of a visual image, i.e. thetransformation of neural information into a sensory representation in the
primary visual cortex of the occipital lobe.
Broadly speaking, the phenomenon of creativity is based on complex,
dynamic interactivities of various brain regions that form the so called106

default (mode) network (Beaty et al., 2014), shortly DMN. This comprises
units such as the posterior cingulate cortex, the precuneus, the medial
prefrontal cortex, the angular gyrus, and the hippocampus (Ramirez, 2015)
and is closely inter-related with self-reference, self-relevant imaginations,and emotion-processing, and modulates the interplay between creative
processes and executive functions (Heinonen et al., 2016).
With high relevance to eurhythmics, a study from the University of New
Mexico (Bashwiner et al., 2016) showed “that musically creative people ...
have greater cortical surface area or volume in a) regions associated withdomain-specific higher-cognitive motor activity and sound processing ..., b)domain-general creative-ideation regions associated with the default mode
network ... and c) emotion-related regions ... These findings suggest thatdomain-specific musical expertise, default mode cognitive processing style,and intensity of emotional experience might all coordinate to motivate andfacilitate the drive to create music“.
In a nutshell: the default mode network is a neural system that greatly
modulates our selves, can be regarded as a form of inner intelligence,vision, and creativity, and is obviously highly music-sensitive. While Westernschool systems strongly focus on cognitive tasks and the acquisition of predesigned algorithmic thinking, activities such as in eurhythmics can provide
an adequate counterbalance to facilitate a holistic individual developmentthat matches the human nature.

Evolutionary creativity
Evolution is creative. Of course, this may be considered just a well-sounding
slogan without any scientific significance. Nonetheless, what higher ideas
have led to the phenomenon that we can experience joy or find the soundof a harp beautiful? Certainly, we can talk about random variation andselection—but how got the criteria for selection determined? On the one
hand such questions involve religions and myths, on the other, however,they inspire ideas of the evolution as a creative player ‘who’ invented things
such as the DNA and the beautifully coloured fish in the deep see that nevercan delight a spectator’s eyes as there is no light in such depths. Creativity
seems to be a leading principle of evolution and not just an ornament ofleisure time hobbies.
Closely related to such thoughts, we have to realise that without
creativity human culture would have been impossible. Moreover, studies
on the evolution of mankind criticise that “creativity has remained largely
unexplored as the dynamic underpinning of cultural evolution’“ and propose“a dynamic theory of creativity into models of cultural evolution” (Fogarty
et al., 2015). Taking into consideration that human beings are equippedwith a creative disposition that needs appropriate support to blossom andbloom calls scientifically based criticism of educational systems into play. As

107discussed above, algorithmic tasks and repetition of pre-defined cognitive
patterns rather will inhibit creativity that needs environments that give way
to the discovery of body-movements, vocal expressions, symbols, and beauty.
Vice versa, the human biological system is not only the material basis
for creativity but also modulated by creative acts. In other words: culture
shapes the human genome (Laland et al., 2010). In this context a Finish study(Portin, 2015) speaks of the still continuing co-evolution of genes and culture.
Such findings let us assume a circular process of mutual imprints: a creativeinterplay of culture and genes. On that basis, eurhythmics has to be regarded
as a means to modulate the interdependency between biological and cultural
evolution. This leads us to further issues of creativity and epigenetics.

Epigenetics, music, and movement
The DNA determines our somatic disposition to hear, to invent, to enjoy,
to empathetically understand others—simply, the total our personality, lifestyles, and cultural living space. And yet, this is not a one-way principle. As
mentioned above, also culture has an impact on the human genome. BothDNA and culture are not invariant entities but rather subject to dynamicchanges and alterations, through dissimilar modes though.
This phenomenon greatly involves what is called ‘epigenetics’—simply
speaking, inheritable changes in gene function that do not involve DNAmodifications. Biochemically, epigenetics have much to do with DNA
methylation and histone modification, states, that determine the gene
expression, i.e., the mechanisms that allow genes to form certain phenomena.
As the term ‘epigenetics’ covers a wide range of genetically relevant topics,
distinct definitions gain momentum (Deans & Maggert, 2015):
It has become clear, however, that different investigators ascribe
different definitions to the term. Some employ epigenetics to explainchanges in gene expression, others use it to refer to transgenerational
effects and/or inherited expression states.
Studies on epigenetics suggest a brisk interplay between music andepigenetic mechanisms such as (Brigati, 2012) “how communicationand emotion, prime hallmarks of music, can be linked to transmissible,
biochemical change“. Surprisingly, this Italian study involves three core
topics of Eurythmics: music, communication, and emotion. In this context,
particularly recent trends in Chinese eurhythmics emphasised the vital
importance of interactivity—in Chinese language—hu dong—and criticised
Eastern Asian practices of Orff-education that replace inner worlds andcreativity by imitation and drill.
Epigenetic structures were even used to generate musical patterns,
namely (Brocks, 2015)

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a method that transforms methylation patterns into music. The
resulting musical pieces show decent complexity and allow the
audible recognition between music and underlying methylation state.
This approach might therefore facilitate the recognition of complex
methylation patterns and increase awareness for epigenetic regulationin the general public.
Whereas creative body expression and dance are obviously underrepresented
in the field of epigenetic research, particularly health-oriented physicalexercise seems to have become a topic of interest in epigenetic circles(Denham et al., 2014):
The emerging field of exercise epigenomics is expected to prosper
and additional studies may elucidate the clinical relevance of miRNAs[micro Ribonucleic acids] and epigenetic modifications, and delineate
mechanisms by which exercise confers a healthier phenotype andimproves performance.
Synthesising translational epigenetic findings yields a promising framework
for epigenetics and eurhythmics, a novel, sense-making perspective inanthropologically and biochemically oriented cultural pedagogy.

Pleasure & reward system
The World of Hinduism calls it ‘Diwali’—the festival of lights that stands
for the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. By contrast,‘our’ world is overshadowed by inner darkness and a loss of happiness.
Kerri Smith (2014) states that “depression is a major human blight“ andinternational health-statistics indicate an average prevalence of about 5%,
Switzerland, e.g., ranking at 6,16%. Physiologically, being in low spirits,
negative emotions, and depressive states have closely to do with low levelsof serotonin and hyperactivities of the Amygdala, those almond-shaped
kernels in the temporal lobes that greatly modulate emotions.
In stark contrast to these functions, there is a complex structure in thebrain that generates pleasure, good mood, and positive emotions. Moreover,
it is closely associated with operant reinforcement and incentive salience,
hence its importance to learning and the acquisition of cultural techniques.
This so called ‘reward system’ comprises several functional units such as—probably most characteristically—the nucleus accumbens and the ventral
tegmental area. In general, the reward system is considered a dopaminergic
complex that also involves other neurotransmitters such as GABA.
Neuroimaging studies showed that pleasure we derive from music is closelyinterrelated with activities of the reward system. Based on comparative literaturestudies, Zatorre (2015, p. 202) pointed out that specifically “the dorsal and109

ventral striatum release dopamine when listening to pleasurable music, andactivity in these structures also codes the reward value of musical experts.“
Congruent with the standpoint of the author of this article, various studies
consider (Mavridis, 2015) “the nucleus accumbens ... the most important
pleasure centre of the brain“ and—in a literally poetic style—call it the‘king of neurosciences’ and dopamine its ‘crown’. With distinct relevanceto eurhythmics, that study concludes that “music stimuli can significantly
increase extracellular DA [dopamine] levels in the NA [nucleus accumbens].“
Traditionally, eurhythmics focus on an inner, artistic, aspect, and anouter one that concerns the promotion of personal growth and learning
abilities. In this context, findings of a Spanish study (Ferreri & RodriguezFornells, 2017) “shed new light on the relationship between music, reward
and memory, showing ... that music-driven reward responses are directly
implicated in higher cognitive functions and can account for ... differencesin memory performance“.
From a neuropsychological perspective, there are good arguments thateurhythmics not only creates good mood on the spot, but contributes toa positive emotional trait and a welcoming attitude that can serve—as acertain add-on value—as a viable means to prevent depressive and negative
emotional states.

Neuroaesthetics
There have always been two miraculous areas that seemed untouchable
by neurosciences: creativity and aesthetics. Both are so closely intertwinedwith the essence of human being, and both have so much to do with thescientifically intangible arts that a realistic and sense-making approach seemed
to be beyond reach. Neuroscientific aspects have been touched upon above.
Applying neuroscientific methods to explore aesthetics eventually resulted in
the novel discipline of neuroaesthetics (Chatterjee & Vartanian, 2014):
Neuroaesthetics is an emerging discipline within cognitive neurosciencethat is concerned with understanding the biological basis of aesthetic
experiences ... aesthetic experiences emerge from interaction between
sensory-motor, emotion-valuation, and meaning-knowledge neuralsystems. Neuroaesthetics draws from and informs traditional areasof cognitive neuroscience including perception, emotion, semantics,
attention, and decision-making.
Referring to topics such as the default mode network, research focusedon the interrelation between creativity and music-associated processes.
Neuroaesthetics, however, seems to rather feel attracted by the visual arts
(Kranjec, 2015; Marin, 2015) and literature, particularly prose fiction(Burke, 2015).

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Concerning music, Brattico and Pearce (2013) studied neural mechanisms
and structures involved in perceptual, affective, and cognitive processes that“generate the three principal aesthetic responses: emotions, judgement, andpreference“. Highlighting that “much is known about the frontotemporalbrain mechanisms underlying perceptual and cognitive musical processes,
and about the limbic and paralimbic networks responsible for musicalaffect“, the authors qualified that “there is a great deal of work to be done inunderstanding the neural chronometry and structures determining aesthetic
responses to music.“ This opinion applies analogously to neurophysiologicalissues of eurhythmics.
With relevance to eurhythmics, Calvo-Merino et al. (2008) stressed
brain functions, namely bilateral activity in the occipital cortices and in theright premotor cortex, that can elucidate the anthropological significanceof dance: “This sensorimotor response may explain why dance is widely
appreciated in so many cultures.“ This study provides first aspects, albeit itconcerns the perception of dance and not the self-active movement itself.
Concerning active rhythmic motor-performance and using Positron
Emission Tomography, Brown et al. (2006, p. 1157) reported, e.g., thatmovement to regular, metric rhythm, compared to an irregular rhythm,
implicated he right putamen in the voluntary of metric motion. Spatial
navigation of leg movement during dance, when controlling the muscle
contraction, activated the medial superior parietal lobule, reflecting
proprioceptive and somatosensory contributions to spatial cognition
in dance.
Obviously, these elements also occur in eurhythmics. Further studies that
explicitly referred to the neuroaesthetics of dance spoke of activation within
a broad network of mirror system regions and the involvement of striatal
and cerebellar components, particularly when more complex rhythmic
sequences were performed. Nevertheless, due to the fact that gaining
neurophysiological data about perception is easier than investigating brain
activities during body movement, most studies focus on the sensory side of
the coin (c.f., Cross & Ticini, 2012).
On the one hand future neurophysiological and neuroaesthetic
investigations on eurythmics in vivo are most likely to provide new insights
into associated mechanisms and benefits. On the other hand we have tobe aware that these approaches only yield data about correlated centralnervous activities and underlying mechanisms, but do not at all replace theessence and the aesthetic nature of the educational and artistic practice ineurhythmics.

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Quantum consciousness
Particularly neurosciences and neuropsychology consider consciousness aphenomenon emerging from central nervous processes, hence the proposition
that the brain serves as hardware of our consciousness. Nonetheless, since thefamous discussion between Karl Popper and John Eccles about the transition
from matter to mind, this ‘interface’ has posed myriads of questions and is—particularly to sciences related to—a tough nut to crack.
As literally all attempts to discover a direct transformation from matter tomind failed, ideas came up whether scientists had posed the right question
and if solutions had rather to be found below biological strata. Today, suchconsiderations go hand in hand with quantum consciousness. Reviewing therelevant literature, Baars and Edelman (2012, p. 285) explained:
Penrose and Hameroff have proposed that consciousness may beviewed as a fundamental problem in quantum physics. Specificallytheir ‘orchestred objective reduction’ (Orch-OR) hypothesis posits that
conscious states arise from quantum computations in the microtubulesof neuron ... Current quantum-level proposals do not explain theprominent empirical features of consciousness. Notably, they do not
distinguish between closely matched conscious and unconscious brain
events, as cognitive-biological theories must.
These approaches implicitly criticise the dominant role of the allegedly
rational cognition in educational systems and indicate that—from a‘quantum psychological’ perspective—the human mind is much morethan the ability to apply acquired algorithms, know facts, and form logic
arguments. Broadly speaking: the theory of quantum consciousness seems tocoincide with principles of eurhythmics, highlighting that the consciousnessof aesthetic senses and artistic creativity can be regarded as a vital principleof the human nature.
In a certain proximity to these theories, Mastnak (2013) speaks ofsubatomic consciousness and suggests a theoretical framework that focuseson qualitative transitions between clear-cut strata, namely the systemic(organism), the biological (e.g., mitochondria), the molecular (e.g. histones),
the atomic, and the quantum level. Criticising that sciences widely ignore thequalitative changes between these levels he suggests an ‘inspired quantum
field’ being the most profound entity that is omnipresent and neither matternor mind.
Similarities between these assumptions and medical theories from othercultures such as the Chinese Qi 气 could inspire new approaches towards thehuman phenomenon. Moreover, in this ultimate sphere the essence of mind,
body, and sound seem to merge. Such views, that greatly support the humanvalue of eurhythmics, greatly require interdisciplinary approaches comprisingcultural anthropology, bio-medicine, physics, philosophy, aesthetics, and112

the arts. This emphatically calls for robust and interdisciplinary theories of
eurhythmics.

Discussion
There are still no realistic means to directly measure central-nervous effects ofeurhythmics and thus to provide an immediate verification of the neural andneuropsychological benefits referred to. But there are—also comparable torecent ways in medical research—promising possibilities of meta-syntheses
that are designed to yield novel theoretical frameworks. In plain English:
there are enough robust singular studies upon music, movement, individual
growth, and neural processes to construct a plausible theory of what is goingon in the brain while performing eurhythmics. The present article can beseen as an attempt in this direction.
At the same time we have to be cautious to avoid the common mistake ofoverestimating natural sciences. For instance, merely biologically oriented
psychiatry tended to replace the actual person with a physiological model of
his/her disease, a mode with highly devastating and personality-destructive
consequences for the individual. The proposed framework is not more thana means to elucidate physiological processes that can be understood as aneural counterpart of artistic activities in eurhythmics.
These views strongly encourage interdisciplinary approaches thatcomprise domains such as neurosciences, psychology, cultural anthropology,
ethnology, and aesthetics. The essence is the actual creative and aesthetic
moment and not the scientific model that is just a means to mirror theseprocesses on a theoretical basis. Nonetheless, there is a certain trend toclaim the rationale behind educational and artistic practices.
The thoughts and concepts of Jacques-Dalcroze were as ingenious as,e.g., Freud’s theories of the subconscious. With the passing of time, however,such seminal ideas risk to turn into ideologies and lose their innovative
spirit. Similar to reforms in psychoanalysis that made an effort to embed
its essential ideas in relevant sciences, eurhythmics are also called to go infor scientific research to strengthen experience-based opinions and heuristicreflections. We are probably at an exciting turning point of eurhythmics
where best practice is about to turn into science based best practice.

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Central nervous functional units can be assigned to core topics of eurhythmics.

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Brain Mechanisms ofMotor Control in Musicians

Eckart Altenmüller

Eckart Altenmüller (MD, MA) is full Professor
and Director of the Institute of Music Physiology
and Musicians Medicine and the University of Musicand Drama, Hanover, Germany. After graduatingin Medicine and in Flute Performance he held apostdoctoral position in the department of Clinical
Neurophysiology in Freiburg where he carriedout research into brain activation during auditory
processing of music and learning of fine motor
skills. Later, he received his clinical training in
Neurology at the Department of Neurology at the
University of Tübingen. Since 1994 he is a chair anddirector of the Institute of Music Physiology andMusicians’ Medicine. He continues research into
movement disorders in musicians and into motorand sensory learning as well as in the effects ofmusic on emotions.
Dr. Altenmüller is Member of the prestigious
Göttingen Academy of Sciences since 2005. In 2013,
he received the science award of the country ofLower Saxony, since 2015 he is vice-president of the
University of Music, Drama and Media, Hannover.

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In this article, brain mechanisms of motor control in musicians are reviewed.
First, I briefly summarize the effects of musical training on brain function,
brain connectivity and brain structure. Here, I address factors inducing andcontinuously driving brain plasticity in dedicated musicians, arguing that
prolonged goal-directed practice, multi-sensory-motor integration, higharousal, and emotional and social rewards contribute to these plasticityinduced brain adaptations. Subsequently, I briefly review the neuroanatomy
and neurophysiology underpinning musical activities by focusing on motor
planning and motor control. Finally, I review the literature on changes inbrain structure along with the acquisition of musical skills. These structural
adaptions in the gray matter of the brain and in fiber-tract density associatedwith music learning are critically discussed. In a short final paragraph I will
relate these findings to the Dalcrozian ideas of eurhythmic studies.
Performing music at a professional level is one of the most demanding andfascinating human experiences. Singing and playing an instrument involves
the precise execution of very fast and, in many instances, extremely complex
movements that must be structured and coordinated with continuous
auditory, somatosensory and visual feedback. Furthermore, it requires
retrieval of musical, motor, and multi-sensory information from both shortterm and long-term memory and relies on continuous planning of an ongoing performance in working memory. The consequences of motor actions
have to be anticipated, monitored and adjusted almost in real-time (Brown
et al., 2015). At the same time, music should be expressive, requiring theperformance to be enriched with a complex set of innate and acculturated
emotional gestures.
Practice is required to develop all of these skills and to execute thesecomplex tasks. Ericsson and colleagues (1993) studied practice behaviors
and considered not only time invested in practice but also quality of practice.
They proposed the concept of ”deliberate practice” as a prerequisite forattaining excellence. Deliberate practice combines goal-oriented, structured
and effortful practicing with motivation, resources and focused attention.
Ericsson and colleagues argued that a major distinction between professional
and amateur musicians, and generally between more successful versus lesssuccessful learners, is the amount of deliberate practice undertaken during
the many years required to develop instrumental skills to a high level(Ericsson & Lehmann, 1996). Extraordinarily skilled musicians therefore
exert a great deal more effort and concentration during their practice thanless skilled musicians, and are more likely to plan, imagine, monitor andcontrol their playing by focusing their attention on what they are practicing
and how it can be improved. Furthermore, they can be eager to build up a
network of supportive peers, frequently involving family and friends.
The concept of deliberate practice has been refined since it became clearthat not only the amount of deliberate practice, but also the point in life at

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which intense goal-directed practice begins are important variables. In thesensory-motor domain, early practice before age 7 years leads to optimized
and more stable motor programs (Furuya et al., 2014) and to smaller yet
more efficient neuronal networks, compared to practice commencing later inlife (Vaquero et al., 2016). This means that for specific sensory-motor skills,
such as fast and independent finger movements, sensitive periods exist during
development and maturation of the central nervous system, comparable tothose for auditory and somatosensory skills (Ragert et al., 2003).
Performing music at a professional level relies on a range of sub-skills,
which are represented in different, though overlapping brain networks.
Auditory skills such as sensitivity to timing variations (e.g. “groove”) and to
micro-pitches (e.g. tuning of a violin), or auditory long-term memory (e.g.
memorizing a 12-tone series), are mainly processed in the temporal lobes ofboth hemispheres with a right hemisphere bias (Zatorre, 2001). However,signs of auditory and musical expertise can already be detected in theascending auditory pathway at the brainstem level (Skoe & Kraus, 2013).
Sensory-motor skills, such as low two-point discrimination thresholds (theability to discern that two nearby objects touching the skin are two distinct
points) and high tactile sensitivity (e.g. left fifth finger in professional
violinists), bimanual or quadrupedal coordination (e.g. for piano and organ
playing), fast finger movements (e.g. right hand arpeggios on the classicalguitar) or complex hand postures (e.g. left hand on the electric guitar),are represented in premotor, motor and parietal cortical areas, and in
subcortical brain structures such as the basal ganglia and the cerebellum(Altenmüller & Furuya, 2015). Emotional and performance skills aresupported by individualized prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortical regions andin the limbic system. Self-monitoring, anticipation of consequences of one’s
actions, motivation and focusing attention (all contributing to goal-directed“deliberate” practice), recruit a highly diverse network, including lateralprefrontal cortices, parietal cortices, limbic structures, and particularly
motivational pathways, including the accumbens nucleus, and memory
structures such as the hippocampus (Zatorre & Salimpoor, 2013). All of theseregions and the interconnecting nerve fibers are subject to modifications infunction and structure in association with musical practice, a phenomenon
which is based on brain plasticity.

119Fig. 1. Brain regions involved in sensory and motor music processing. (The abbreviation“a” stands for “area.”) Left hemisphere is shown in the foreground (lower right); righthemisphere in the background (upper left). The numbers relate to the respective Brodmann’sareas, a labelling of cortical regions according to the fine structure of the nervous tissue.

Brain plasticity denotes the general ability of our central nervous system toadapt throughout the life span to changing environmental conditions, body
biomechanics and new tasks. Brain plasticity is most typically observed forcomplex tasks with high behavioural relevance activating circuits involved inemotion, motivation and reward. The continued activities of accomplishedmusicians are ideal for providing the prerequisites of brain plasticity (fora review see Schlaug, 2015). In musical expertise, the above-mentioned
processes are accompanied by changes in the function of the brain’s
neuronal networks, as a result of a strengthening of synaptic connections,and in changes of its gross structure. With respect to mechanisms andmicrostructural effects of plasticity, our understanding of the molecular andcellular processes underlying these adaptations is far from complete. Brain
plasticity may occur on different time scales. For example, the efficiency andsize of synapses may be modified in a time window of seconds to minutes,
while the growth of new synapses and dendrites may require hours to days.
An increase in gray matter density, which mainly reflects an enlargement ofneurons due to increased metabolism, needs at least several weeks. White
matter density also increases as a consequence of musical training. Thiseffect is primarily due to an enlargement of myelin cells which wrap aroundthe nerve fibres (axons) and dendrites, greatly contributing to the velocityof the electrical impulses travelling along them. Under conditions requiring
rapid information transfer and high temporal precision these myelin cells
adapt by growing, and as a consequence nerve conduction velocity increases.
Finally, brain regions involved in specific tasks may be enlarged after longterm training due to the growth of structures supporting nervous function,

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for example, in the blood vessels that are necessary for oxygen and glucose
transportation (for a comprehensive review see Taubert et al., 2012).

The effects of musical training on brain structure
Since the age of phrenology, neuroscientists have tried to relate extraordinary
skills to changes in brain anatomy. For example, at the beginning of thetwentieth century, Auerbach (1906) reported that the middle and posterior
thirds of the superior temporal gyrus were larger than normal in several
postmortem studies of the brains of famous musicians. Modern brainimaging techniques such as high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), voxel based morphometry (VBM), and tensor based morphometry(TBM) allow precise determination of gray and white matter volume inpredefined brain regions. A relatively new technique that can be used to study
differences in fiber tract volume and direction is diffusion tensor imaging(DTI). This provides information about white matter microstructures bymeasuring diffusion properties of water molecules that move preferentiallyalong the myelin sheets of axons. The degree of diffusivity is quantified as
fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure allowing the assessment of orientationand direction of axons and their degree of myelination (Bandettini, 2009).
In the sensory-motor domain, extensive musical practice duringchildhood and adolescence might have a strong effect on the maturation andthe development of brain structures involved. Keyboard players have beena preferred group to study structural brain changes due to a high demandon bimanual dexterity and the possibility of assessing behavior such as
speed and regularity of finger movements with MIDI-technology (Amunts etal., 1997; Bangert et al., 2006). In the first study that examined structuraldifferences between musicians and non-musicians, Schlaug and collaborators(1995) showed that professional musicians (pianists and string-players) hada larger middle section of the corpus callosum compared to a non-musician
control group. This finding was ascribed to an increase in myelination in
the crossing fibers of the hand areas of both hemispheres, related to thehigh demands on bimanual coordination. Different research groups using a
range of methodological approaches have replicated this finding (Steele etal., 2013, Gärtner et al., 2013).
A causal relationship between piano training and enlargement of the
corpus callosum was established in the longitudinal study by Hyde et al.
(2009). Other fiber tracts have been investigated in musicians: in a diffusion
tensor imaging (DTI) study with pianists, Bengtsson and colleagues (2005)
found that the size of several white matter tracts correlated with theestimated amount of musical practice during childhood. These structures
included the posterior limb of the internal capsule, a part of the corticospinal
tract descending from the motor cortex to the spinal cord, and fiber tracts
connecting the temporal and frontal lobes. Although the total number of121practice hours during childhood was lower than in adolescence and adulthood,these adaptations support the idea that the central nervous system exhibits
greater plastic capacities during early stages of development and maturation
periods. However, some studies have reported lower fractional anisotropy
in musicians in the corticospinal tract connecting primary motor areas withthe spinal cord (Imfeld et al., 2009), and in the arcuate fasciculus, the fiber
tract connecting auditory and pre-motor regions (Halwani et al., 2011).
According to Schlaug (2015) these discrepant results may be explained by
the fact that these fiber tracts are aligned in a less parallel manner thanin non-musicians due to increased axonal sprouting and more branchingof axons. In future, imaging technologies may provide a more fine-grained
picture of nervous tissues.
Concerning the size of primary motor cortex, various findings have beenreported. In pianists, the depth of the central sulcus, often used as a marker
of primary motor cortex size, was larger in both hemispheres but compared
to non-musicians more pronounced on the right hemisphere, corresponding
to the non-dominant left hand function (Amunts et al., 1997; Schlaug, 2001).
It was argued that years of manual motor practice of the non-dominant left
hand produced this effect on the right hemisphere. For the dominant righthand and left hemisphere this effect was believed to be masked, since it
undergoes some form of fine-motor training in everyone who writes andperforms other skilled sensory-motor tasks with that hand. As was observed
for the corpus callosum, there was a positive correlation between the sizeof the primary motor cortex and the onset of instrumental musical training.
Again, a causal relationship was established in the above-mentioned
longitudinal study in child piano novices, with an increase in gray matter
density in the right motor hand area associated with 15 months of pianotraining (Hyde et al., 2009). A recent investigation into middle-aged pianists
revealed some interesting details concerning the effect of ongoing expertiseon life-long plasticity (Gärtner et al., 2013). Pianists who continued to give
concerts and practice for a minimum of three hours a day showed not only
larger motor hand areas, but also larger foot areas in the sensory-motor
cortices of both hemispheres than pedagogues who had majored in piano
performance, but who had practiced for less than two hours a day over thelast ten years. This result relates to the important role of pedaling in piano
performance. Pedaling is a highly refined skill requiring spatiotemporalcontrol in the range of millimeters and milliseconds in order to adaptively
modulate color, expressivity and loudness of the music.
It is now well established that along with increasing expertise, not only
enlargement but also reduction of neural structure can be observed. Thiswas first established in a study of pianists targeting the middle putamen in
the basal ganglia; a brain region involved in automation of motor programs.
Granert and colleagues (2011) measured the skill level of piano playing
via temporal accuracy in a scale-playing task. These authors found that the122higher the level of piano playing, the smaller the volume of gray matter inthe right putamen. This reduction was ascribed to an optimization process ofneuronal networks within the putamen, leading to fewer, but more efficientand stable dendritic and axonal connections in this area of the motor basal
ganglia loop.
Until recently, it remained an open question, the degree to which thesestructural and functional brain changes are influenced by age at onset ofmusical activity and by cumulative practice hours over particular periodsof life. These factors have often been confounded and it was generally
believed that early commencement of musical activity, along with increased
life practice time, resulted in enlarged neural representations underpinning
auditory or sensory-motor skills. Steele and colleagues (2013) were the first
to investigate the morphology of the corpus callosum such that they could
compare its white-matter organization in early- and late-trained musicians
who had been matched for years of training and experience. They foundthat early-trained musicians had greater connectivity in the posterior partof the corpus callosum and that fractional anisotropy in this region was
related both to age at onset of training and to sensory-motor synchronization
performance. They concluded that training before the age of 7 years resulted
in changes in white-matter connectivity that may serve as a scaffold uponwhich ongoing experience can build.
Inspired by this work, and since in this study neither gray matter density
nor the size of specific brain areas were analyzed, we designed a similar brain
morphometry study in a group of 36 award-winning professional pianists(Vaquero et al. 2016). We kept cumulative life practice time constant, but
split the group into 21 pianists who had started their musical training before
age seven, and another group of 15 who had started after that age. We
compared brain anatomy between these groups, and between musicians
and age-matched medical students who were non-musicians. In addition,
28 pianists from the sample completed a scale-playing task, in order for
us to obtain an objective measure of their pianistic abilities and temporal
precision. Compared with non-musicians, pianists showed more gray matterin regions associated with learning (hippocampus), sensory and motor
control and processing (putamen and thalamus), emotional processing andthe reward system (amygdala), and with auditory and language processing(left superior temporal cortex). However, they also showed less gray matterin regions involved in sensory and motor control (postcentral gyrus) andprocessing of musical stimuli (right superior temporal cortex), as well as
structures that have been related to music-score reading (supramarginal
gyrus). Moreover, among the pianists it was observed that the size of theright putamen correlated significantly with the age at which music training
began: the earlier they started to play the piano, the smaller the volume ofgray matter in the right putamen (see Fig. 2).

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In keeping with the interpretation of the results of Granert et al. (2011)
reported above, pianists who started earlier in life optimized functionalityof neural structures involved in sensory-motor processing, motor learningand motor memory. This is reflected in the behavioral task: those pianists
who had started their musical training before age seven played with higher
regularity than those who started after that age, even though all of the
pianists practiced for the same number of hours around the time of thestudy and had achieved the same level of proficiency. This is an importantscientific proof of common knowledge, expressed in proverbs such as “atree must bend while it is young.“ With respect to brain sciences, it is aninteresting phenomenon, showing that even for highly complex motor tasks,
sensitive periods in the nervous system exist (Furuya et al. 2014). However,as we have seen, such windows of opportunity can depend on domain,
genetics and continuing training.

Fig. 2. Summary of the results of the study on pianists by Vaquero et al. (2016). Courtesyof Lucia Vaquero and Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells (with permission). Explanations are givenin the figure and text.

Brain plasticity as prerequisite and result of expert performance inmusicians
In the preceding paragraphs, I have demonstrated how musical activities,
such as learning to master an instrument and to perform in public, induce
brain plasticity. These central nervous adaptations are in most cases

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beneficial but in some circumstances may be detrimental, as illustrated inmusician’s dystonia. Age at commencement of practice, amount and qualityof practice, genetic predisposition, and accompanying conditions, such as
stressors or muscular overuse, determine the quality and nature (adaptive
or maladaptive) of these brain changes. Furthermore, the brain’s “sensitive
periods”, when it is best shaped, seem not only to depend on hereditary
factors but also to vary in different sensory, motor and cognitive domains. I
propose the concept of metaplasticity, conceptualized above with a scaffold
metaphor: intense musical training in childhood can bring about lifelongchange in both structure and functions of auditory, sensory-motor, andemotional systems. These not only enhance musical skill acquisition andguard against disorders triggered by extensive training, but also serve as
ingredients for better shaping life-long neuronal development.
I would like to conclude this article with a general remark related toeurhythmic studies and the Dalcrozian approach. At the core of many ofÉmile Jaques-Dalcroze ideas was his strong believe in the interrelatedness,or unity, of auditory perception, somatosensory and visual experience andmovement structuring. In order to facilitate this process of multisensorymotor integration, Dalcroze developed techniques that combined hearing
with physical movements transferring auditory perception into a holistic
bodily experience. This means he was directly addressing brain plasticity,
acting on increased connectivity between auditory, sensory-motor, visualand emotional areas. His main goal was to develop the inner ear tofacilitate musical thinking, reading and writing music without the help of an
instrument. In neuroscience, such a capability could be termed audiation,
describing the ability to think in sound, i.e. to recognize, remember andmanipulate complex musical patterns mentally. Finally, probably his most
revolutionary contribution to brain-science is his pedagogical approachto teaching students to trust in their instrument, the body by increasing
mental and emotional awareness. Here again, the plasticity of the nervous
system is a prerequisite. In modern terminology, we could say Dalcroze
Eurhythmics aim at creating a stable embodiment of the outer world, throughmultisensory-motor integration and through audiation. With respect to theindirectly quoted ideas of Dalcoze, I refer here to a selection of Dalcroze
works, specifically “Le rythme, la musique et l‘éducation”, Paris 1920; 1935
[Rhythmus, Musik und Erziehung. Benno Schwabe, Basel 1921]

Acknowledgments
This work was in part supported by the DYSTRACT-grant, awarded from the
BMBF to the author

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Eurhythmics goes China
Thoughts on Culture-Sensitive
Eurhythmics in China

Cheng Xie

Cheng Xie was born in 1988 in Hanzhong,China. After working for two years as a musicteacher at a secondary school in Xi´an, he continued
his studies in music education and eurhythmics
at University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar,
Germany. 2015 he won an award at Internationales
Rhythmikfestival, Remscheid, Germany, presenting
his performance “Taiji”. In October 2015, Prof.
DDDr Wolfgang Mastnak at University of Musicand Performing Arts, Munich, Germany accepted
him as doctoral student in music education. His
research focused on eurhythmics in music educationin China. His doctorate he received in 2018, wasawarded with Kulturpreis Bayern 2018 in Munich,Germany. He has attended workshops in musiceducation and eurhythmics, and presented at the
ISME world conferences in Glasgow (2016) andBaku (2018). Since 2018 he is working as a lecturer
at Beijing Dance Academy in Beijing, China.

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Eurhythmics is recognized worldwide. From the beginning there was aninternational imprinting. To point out, what is to be understood by “culturesensitive” the term has to be differentiated from pure adaption, frominterculturality and from enculturation. Summarising, culture sensitive means
the cautious imbedding of a pedagogical concept into a certain cultural setting.
Central aim is to present the main results of the research project of the author
in Munich and China. Research issue was to figure out, whether culturesensitive eurhythmics will be accepted in China and how it can be used there.
The evaluation of the expert interviews made clear that there are good future
development opportunities for its application. There is also a look at suitableelements of Chinese culture to be used in a culture-sensitive way of teaching.
The research focused on Peking-Opera, especially its colours, costumes anddecorations, masks, movements and percussion instruments. Finally, somesocial and cultural particularities of China are discussed.

Chinese Music Education
Development of Chinese music education until 1978
Chinese music pedagogy has unfolded as a reflection of the country’s
economic and political development, that is, it either accepted influences or,in turn, succumbed to stagnation. Music and music education also played an
important role in ancient China. In addition to the schools for the trainingof junior staff of high officials, there were also country schools for boys,
which were mostly carried by extended families, and in which simple songs
and dances were practiced (Nolte & Weyer 2011, p. 144 ff.). In the schools
for higher official juniors, instrumental play and music theory were part of
the training, the singing lessons were part of the language education (Nolte& Weyer, 2011, p. 150). As with ancient rituals, the connection between
poetry and music and between language and dance has been important(Bauer, 2017, p. 71). Fundamentally important was the Confucian ideaof an educationally oriented musical instruction (Nolte & Weyer, 2011, p.
167). However, music education in the modern sense did not develop until
the end of the 19th century, the time of the last Chinese imperial dynasty,
Western colonial powers than brought their school system to China alongside
their culture, notably in mission schools (Hong Jiang, 2015, p. 126 ff.).
During the period of the Republic of China (since 1912), the country opened
strongly to Western art such as opera and ballet. At the same time, the firstmusic associations and educational institutions were founded, which were
the basis for later music academies and colleges. The education of musicteachers in today’s comprehensive sense, however, was not yet seen as
important, because what was mainly done by teachers in school was singing
or playing the piano or organ. The education system was based on the129

models of Japan and Germany. During the period of the Japanese invasion(1937-1945), the development of music education stagnated due to the war.
After the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the People’s Republic of China wasfounded. Initially, efforts in the country were focused on reconstruction of
the country. However, the state educational system was reformed, especiallyafter 1958. Music as a subject was included in what students had to learn.
Chinese folk music became important, but “classical” European music also
enjoyed a high reputation. The cultural revolution of 1966, however, covered
the entire cultural, scholastic and university fields and ended the renewal
movement. Intellectuals in particular were sent to work in the countryside,and singing at school only served propaganda purposes. As a combinationof traditional and political renewal the “model opera” emerged as a special
form of music theater.
Music education in China since 1978
After the end of the Cultural Revolution, since 1978, China has opened
to the world. An orderly school system was set up and the efforts werealso aimed at a more sophisticated education of music teachers at generaleducation schools. The “Singing Lesson” developed to “Music Lesson”(Zhonghua Zheng, 1993, p. 160). New teaching methods were based on
the model of Western countries. Already in the 1980s, Chinese professor
Liao Naixiong met Carl Orff and spread his ‘Orff Schulwerk’ in China. After
studying in Japan, Ms. Miu Li brought the Dalcroze method (“Rhythmik”,
known as Eurhythmics in the English-speaking world) to China. Due to theeconomic reforms, the country opened up further and further. As a resultof globalization, Western pop culture has also become present in China. In
universities, the exchange with lecturers from other countries, especiallyfrom Europe and North America, has become very common.
“New System” can be mentioned as a special example of China’s openness
to the ideas of Eurhythmics. “New System” is a faculty of Music Education
at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, which was created by the
special efforts of Professor Gao Jianjin. Teachers trained in Europe makean attempt to change the Chinese system of teaching music in school anddevelop a music-pedagogical system for China’s schools. Special emphasis isplaced on the practice of teaching – which is not common in China.
The current state of eurhythmics in China
The current state of adoption of Western music-pedagogical concepts, suchas eurhythmics, into the Chinese educational system is sobering: Western
lecturers, often university lecturers, are enthusiastically received in China’s
universities and conservatories and present their ideas and methods inspecial courses. Such courses, as well as the courses of private training

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institutes, provide an introduction and cover some basics of the subject,but it usually does not go any deeper than that. There are some (Western)
textbooks dealing with elementary music practice (mostly the OrffSchulwerk), which were translated into Chinese and are used to a limited
extent. An adaptation that takes fully into account the special characteristicsof China does not exist yet. The transfer of eurhythmics to China seems to bea one-sided affair. Very rarely Chinese people add some of their own thinking
and culture to the concept of eurhythmics. There is a lack of really welleducated Chinese teacher who creatively teach eurhythmics in conjunction
with Chinese music culture. Traditional and contemporary Chinese culture
remains largely ignored as a medium or work tool (Vogel-Steinmann 1979:
p. 32) for teaching eurhythmics in China. Following these considerations,
it was obvious to ask if this one-way street could be changed to a meeting
place. In this context, the idea of a “culture-sensitive eurhythmics” for China
emerged (Cheng Xie, 2018 p. 2).

Cultural Sensitivity
Cultural sensitivity and adaptation
Culture-sensitive in this context means that a music pedagogical concept
is carefully embedded in a specific environment. This goes far beyond justmaking certain adjustments to the application of the concept as they alreadycan be found: For example, in a music book, songs that belong to typical
Christian festivals (Christmas, Easter), are sometimes replaced by songs thatare typical for festivals of the other country (e.g. Chinese Spring Festival).
Culture-sensitive here means that the entire philosophical background,pedagogical conditions and cultural peculiarities of a country are taken into
account in the development and implementation of a pedagogical conceptof music and movement.

Culture-sensitive and intercultural
A culture-sensitive approach differs from intercultural music education. The
latter is already being practiced in the multicultural societies of the West inconnection with the education of pupils with migrant backgrounds (Merkt,
1993, p. 141 ff.) or in connection with a polyaesthetic education (Krakauer
1993: p. 29 ff.). However, there are certain similarities between the culturesensitive and the intercultural approach: Both want to draw attention to
the possibilities of mutual cultural enrichment and promote understanding
and tolerance in the context of cultural encounters (Schatt, 2007, p.
108). But a culture-sensitive lesson is not primarily aimed at integrating
elements of a “foreign” culture into the classroom so that it can be better
understood. Rather, it is about fitting a (new) music pedagogical concept
into the educational and cultural framework conditions either by teachers

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of one’s own country or by culture-sensitive teachers from abroad, so thatneither the teaching methods as such, nor the lesson content seems to be“compelled from outside”. Getting to know the local cultural conditions isof great importance. These can be taken into account, getting accepted andreflected.

Culture sensitivity and enculturation
As a by-product in China`s special situation, a culture-sensitive approach
can attract attention to cultural expressions, which are in danger of being
forgotten soon. Pupils who spend their spare time almost exclusively on
Western pop culture can, on the one hand, experience new facets of popularand improvised music in their lessons. On the other hand, their interest in
traditional Chinese culture can be reawakened with the help of a “modern”
pedagogical method, with careful and appropriate means. Such traditional
Chinese forms of expression include, in particular, movements, music
and objects from the so-called “Beijing Opera” (JingJu). JingJu is not an“Opera from Bejing”, but a form of traditional Chinese music theater thathas emerged since the end of the 18th century as a fusion of various local
forms of musical theater. A culture-sensitive approach in this context canbe understood as a form of supporting enculturation (Callo, 2002, p. 63)
for young Chinese people, thus helping them to reestablish a relationshipwith regional culture. This, therefore, is not about the question whether
Western or Chinese culture and cultural expression are „more valuable“,
but to reduce aversion, shyness and possibly even shame and feelings ofinferiority in relation to certain traditional forms of expression. Therefore,a Chinese student does not have to identify himself just on basis of theWestern pop culture, but is able to develop something new and own by
dealing with traditional art forms.

Culture-sensitive and “Glocalisation”
The ideas just sketched correspond in a certain way to a form of«glocalization», what is, culturally speaking, a combination of «global»
and «local» thinking, meaning a sort of return to the own identity whileconsidering local peculiarities. The term «glocalization» (Robertson, 1998,
p. 197), which Robertson made known in Japanese business jargon, isalso a form of cosmopolitanism in which all cultures are recognized andrespected as well. Nevertheless, local and regional roots are important.
To my understanding, this can be transferred to the extent that not only
contemporary localities (see the example of hip-hop: Klein, 2003, p. 89),
but also traditional localities in a globalized environment is preserved, sothat cultural diversity still remains intact.

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RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE ACCEPTANCE OF EURHYTHMICS
IN CHINAMy research project addressed the fundamental question of whether
culture-sensitive eurhythmics in China would meet acceptance and could
be applied. In addition, it was to be investigated which elements of Chinese
culture could be used for culture-sensitive Eurhythmics. It was therefore notprimarily a task to develop a concept which can be used directly in everyday
teaching. However, with regards to specific characteristics of the Chinese
education system, there are some suggestions for teaching eurhythmics.

Course of the research project
To answer the research question, the main source of knowledge wereexpert interviews. Seventeen experts from China were interviewed basedon a structured guideline interview. The chosen experts are cross-section
representatives of Chinas music education sector: Principally university
professors of different ages and from different Chinese provinces, and in
addition experts from the music-teaching practice in school, the music
publishing area and the private education sector. The interviews wereconducted and transcribed in Chinese (Mandarin). Anonymized summariesof the interview contents were prepared in German, whereby the choice ofcontent of the summaries was ensured by peer review. Finally, with the help of
appropriate specialized software, an analysis was carried out using previously
created codes. A separate part of the interviews was a questionnaire, which
all experts should fill out; the evaluation led to revealing data visualized inpie charts.

Results of the research project
The evaluation of the interviews has revealed that the experts viewed
critically the current state of Chinese music education. Experts repeatedly
complained about the dominance of Western influences and criticized thelack of an own music education system. In the training of music teachers,
too much emphasis is placed on pure “playing techniques” (singing, piano),
while the concepts of teaching practice are neglected. Strikingly an expert
quoted a popular aphorism according to which Abin (a well-known artist
on the instrument of the erhu), Liu Tianhua (a popular composer) and Mei
Lanfang (one of the most eminent Jing-Ju-actors) today would possibly notpass the entrance examination at university. Experts also reported about
actual conditions of the school system: Passive learning is predominant,courses are overcrowded and there is a lack of space for developing creativity
and interaction.

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Based on these findings, the experts see a real need and good development
opportunities for the three pedagogical concepts of Orff, Kodály and Dalcroze
in China. They justified this with slowly emerging innovative guidelines
in the national curricula. In addition to the publishing industry and theincreasing university offers, the organizations already founded (for example
the Orff Society) and also the «New System» impulses for innovative music
lessons, reflect national interests. The current development also includes
a state pilot project «Bring XiQu to school» («XiQu» is the Chinese music
theatre). It is planned to develop and carry out various offers, which shallprovide space for Eurhythmics contents and methods in connection with
the Chinese music theatre. In addition to the academic interest, according
to the evaluation of the expert interviews, there is also a certain economic
incentive. Private training institutions noticed a keen interest, training
offers are constantly increasing, and the number of participants is high. Theinternational exchange is also a factor. The esteem that music pedagogicalconcepts as Eurhythmics enjoy in the academic field is described by one
expert in an impressive way: “An experiential learning alters to the traditional
forms of teaching, in which only singing and following the instructions of theteacher had been important; it makes the lessons livelier, so that the students
show more interest!” Another expert said self-critically that he had spent too
much time in piano and vocal techniques, although after graduation it weremore important to know how to teach and to motivate students.
However, the experts also pointed out problems. They lamented thelack of skilled workers, the lack of in-depth understanding of the concepts(especially regarding Dalcroze) and a lack of adaptation. So far, pedagogicalconcepts like eurhythmics were often practiced in a way of pure imitation,
without consideration of Chinese culture. In addition, the inadequate spacecapacities and the too large teaching groups were mentioned.
Based on this, the experts almost always endorsed the establishment of
culture-sensitive eurhythmics. They also considered the connection between
JingJu (Peking Opera) and the fundamental ideas of eurhythmics to be
fruitful and openly revealed. The artistic elements of this traditional Chinesemusic theater could be included in Eurhythmics lessons. Even though someexperts emphasized that traditional Chinese culture should not be distorted
in the context of eurhythmics lessons, most experts, however, saw more
opportunities than risks.
Of special note is that the experts pointed out commonalities between
traditional Chinese culture and the basic idea of eurhythmics with its
combination of music and movement: Chinese culture has always been aunity of poetry, music and dance. An interesting Chinese aphorism proves
this in an impressive way: “If the language cannot express a feeling, then one
sighs; if the sigh cannot express the feeling, then one sings; if even singing
cannot express the feeling, then one moves involuntarily!” The researchquestion could therefore be answered that culture-sensitive eurhythmics,

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integrating certain elements of JingJu, especially movements, rhythm,
masks, costumes and colors, are considered to be useful and accepted in
China. It should therefore be implemented in practical teaching concepts.
The evaluation of the questionnaires yielded the result that out of thegeneral goals of eurhythmics (Danuser-Zogg, 2013, p. 49) the promotionof perception skills, the development of social competences as well as thetraining of movement and coordination was considered particularly important.
Therefore, following and extending the known description of tools and goalsof eurhythmics (in particular, Danuser-Zogg, 2013, p. 51), a model of culturesensitive eurhythmics can be presented, which puts the human being and his
culture in the center what at the same time enriches eurhythmics.

Culture-sensitive eurhythmics and characteristics of China
Suitable elements of JingJu (Peking Opera)
JingJu (Peking Opera) is a multimedia art form that integrates various
artistic expressions. In addition to the music, presented on various traditionalmusical instruments, and the vocals, a variety of movements that include
acrobatics and martial arts play a major role, but are by no means limited
to them. Besides, the masks, costumes and other decorative items of the
traditional figures on stage have a great importance. Finally, the speechsounds (Luo Gu Jing) are very interesting.
The music of the JingJu, especially the vocals, often sounds “strange”
to today’s audiences, even in China. Therefore, the artistic elements of the
JingJu that are suitable for eurhythmics lessons must be selected carefully.
They should meet two requirements: On the one hand they must represent
the Chinese culture, on the other hand they must be relatively easy torealize and to understand. Therefore, it is a good idea to use masks anddecorative objects in their typical color scheme. But it is also a good idea
to take a closer look at the JingJu movement vocabulary. Although often
found in ways of stylization, the execution of movements provides space forcreativity and improvisation with personal expressions. This applies to theparticularly differentiated hand movements and to the steps and gestures,
which tell the connoisseur of JingJu important things about the roles andthe action. Finally, the use of a diverse percussion instruments is interesting.
Those instruments are particularly important for the events on stage. In
this context, the typical speech sounds (Luo Gu Jing) can be presented andpracticed in a simple way. In accordance with the spirit of Eurhythmics,
to promote the perception skills, it is possible to learn how to connect therhythm of music, embodied by the Luo Gu Jing, with movements on stage.

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Social and cultural characteristics
For culture-sensitive eurhythmic lessons in China it is important to lookat some more specialties, because the practice must fit the situation andconditions of the country, or at least be based on those. In particular, these
are the following circumstances:
Chinese students are under enormous pressure to perform. The school
system is very performance and exam orientated. Cognitive skills, especiallysubjects as mathematics, are, even more than in the West, of considerable
importance in national school leaving exams which determine the future
life of each student. As consequence, studying is paramount throughout theentire school life. Physical exercises are greatly neglected. Only very slowly
it becomes clear, that this is an unhealthy and one-sided burden. For thepractice in eurhythmic lessons, this means that, in the first place, the skills
for movement and coordination must be improved again very carefully.
It is interesting that the Chinese philosophy, similar to eurhythmics(Feudel, 1965, p. 28 ff.), has a unifying view on body, mind and soul. The“union of heaven and men” can generally be regarded as the basic idea ofclassic Chinese philosophy. The YinYang sign expresses the balance of thepolarities. This sign - as an early proof of a connection between Eurhythmics
and Chinese philosophy - can also be found in the first printed works by
Jaques-Dalcroze and at the festival building in Hellerau (Xie, 2015, p. 27).
Eurhythmic education in Western countries, especially outside school, isideally done in small groups (Bankl, Mayr & Witoszynskyj, 2009, p. 32).
However, this is not possible (at least for the time being) in school lessons
in China. The usual class size in China is about fifty students. Music lessons
are still based on a lecturing teaching approach. These two factors need tobe handled creatively. Unless new special classrooms are built, the existing
spaces must at least be reorganized to create room. In addition, the teacher
must be proactive and develop ideas so that culture-sensitive Eurhythmic
lessons can take place in various small groups. These small groups could
have related tasks. The use of modern media (such as videos) should not
be spared. In addition to piano and voice improvisation, the eurhythmic
lessons can be enriched by a variety of Chinese percussion instruments used
for simple improvisation.
Finally, the meaning of “demonstration” and “imitation” in Chinese pedagogy
must be handled with care. In the West a common prejudice about China is,that Chinese are only able to “copy” and not to be creative themselves. Thisis partly due to ignorance of Chinese educational culture. Demonstration andimitation are, according to traditional Chinese understanding, rather seen
as essential parts of the teacher-student relationship (Brandl, 2007, p. 32).
Imitation does not mean “copying”, but ideally triggers one’s own creative
process. Perhaps this can be compared with mimetic processes that bring
images to life for the recipient, which he himself develops based on his own

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personal experience (Gebauer & Wulf, 1995, p. 171). In China, there is therevealing remark: “to suggest from one example to three other examples”.
According to this understanding, students should reflect on an example given
and establish their own references. Properly understood, such a process
implies in turn that also the teacher responds to the thoughts developedby the student. This pedagogical idea can therefore be made fruitful in thedevelopment of creative processes and improvisations in eurhythmics.
In general, the culture-sensitive eurhythmics presented, is an open
concept, which not only allows further developments but also considers themas desirable. Culture-sensitive Eurhythmics can find its own special way toChina, where it will be combined with the characteristics and peculiaritiesof this great nation and culture.

Note
This article is a translation of the German article published in SteffenWittek, M., Weise, D. & Zaiser, D. (2019). Rhythmik – Musik und Bewegung.
Transdisziplinäre Perspektiven. Bielefeld: transcript (in print).

References
Bankl, I., Mayr, M. & Witoszynskyj, E. (2009). Lebendiges Lernen durch Musik,
Bewegung, Sprache. Wien: G & G Kinder- und Jugendbuch.
Bauer, K. (2017). Musik, Mythen und Riten alter und moderner Gesellschaften.
Hamburg: disserta.
Brandl, R. M. (2007). Einführung in das Kunqu. Die klassische Oper des 16. –19. Jahrhunderts. Göttingen: Cuvillier.
Callo, C. (2002). Modelle des Erziehungsbegriffs. München/Wien: R. Oldenbourg.
Danuser-Zogg, E. (2013). Musik und Bewegung, 3. Aufl. Sankt Augustin:
Academia.
Feudel, E. (1965). Durchbruch zum Rhythmischen in der Erziehung. Stuttgart:
Klett.
Gebauer, G. & Wulf, C. (1995). »Mimesis und Visualität«. Internationale Zeitschrift
für Historische Anthropologie, volume 4, 1995, issue 1, pp. 163- 172.
Jiang, H. (2015). Vergleich der gegenwärtigen Musiklehrerausbildung fürdas Lehramt Musik zwischen Deutschland und China, Dissertation,
Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät der Universität Köln, from http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/6380.
Leiser, H. (1994). »Rhythmik«. In: C. Richter (Eds.), Handbuch derMusikpädagogik. Instrumental- und Vokalpädagogik 2. Einzelfächer (pp.
62-93), Kassel, Basel, London: Bärenreiter.
Klein, G. (2003). Is this real? Die Kultur des HipHop. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
Krakauer, P. (1993). »Das dialogische Prinzip als Chance einer interkulturellen
Integration«. In R. Böhle (Eds.), Möglichkeiten der InterkulturellenÄsthetischen Erziehung in Theorie und Praxis (pp. 29-46), Frankfurt: IKO.

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Nolte, E. & Weyer, R. (2011). Musikalische Unterweisung im Altertum.
Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Merkt, I. (1993). »Das Eigene und das Fremde. Aspekte einer interkulturellen
Musikpädagogik«. In R. Böhle (Eds.), Möglichkeiten der InterkulturellenÄsthetischen Erziehung in Theorie und Praxis (pp. 141-151), Frankfurt: IKO.
Ring, R. & Steinmann, B. (1997). Lexikon der Rhythmik. Kassel: Gustav
Bosse Verlag.
Robertson, R. (1998). »Glokalisierung: Homogenität und Heterogenität
in Raum und Zeit«. In U. Beck (Eds.), Perspektiven der Weltgesellschaft(pp.197-230), Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Schatt, P. W. (2007). Einführung in die Musikpädagogik. Darmstadt: WBG(Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft).
Vogel-Steinmann, B. (1979). Was ist Rhythmik. Regensburg: Bosse.
Wedemeyer-Kolwe, B. (2004). Der neue Mensch«. Körperkultur im Kaiserreich
und in der Weimarer Republik. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann.
Xie, C. (2015). »Rhythmik im Wandel. Die Bedeutung von ›YinYang‹ für JaquesDalcroze«. In Fachzeitschrift Rhythmik Schweiz, 2015, issue 27, pp. 26-29.
Xie, C. (2018). Kultursensible Rhythmik und JingJu (»Peking-Oper«) – Einmusik- und bewegungspädagogisches Konzept für China. Mainz: SchottCampus (to be published in 2019).
Zheng, Z. H. (1993). »Chinesische Musikerziehung und europäische Kultur«.
In R. Böhle (Eds.), Möglichkeiten der Interkulturellen Ästhetischen
Erziehung in Theorie und Praxis (pp. 152-161), Frankfurt: IKO.

Artistic Research

141

A Dance of Shadows
through Arts PracticeResearch
Diane Daly

Diane Daly is a violinist and chamber musician.
She has been a member of the Irish Chamber
Orchestra since 1998 and has toured the world withmany prestigious ensembles including the Academyof St. Martin in the Fields. She is in huge demand as achamber musician, performing at major international
festivals. In other genres she has performed
alongside and recorded with Sir Paul McCartney,
Rod Stewart, The Corrs, Bono, Shania Twain, Katie
Melua and plays in her own gypsy jazz trio. She
is currently undertaking an Arts Practice PhD andis the recipient of a scholarship from the Irish
Research Council. She is Course Director of the MA
in Classical String Performance at the Universityof Limerick where she also teaches Dalcroze, Kodály
and improvisation. Based in Co. Clare, she works
extensively as an animateur, coach and workshop
leader and directs, from the violin, the Irish Chamber
Orchestra Academy international string ensemble.

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Photo: Lucy Dawson

This article is inspired by the PhD research I am engaged in, relating to thepotential effects of Dalcrozian preparation techniques on my professional
performance practice. I shall explore the Arts Practice paradigm I have used
for this research. and then describe how these elements combined, in the
preparation for a performance of Ysaÿe’s Second Solo Violin sonata.

An arts practice research journey
In 2015, and in the midst of a rich and varied career as a classical violinist,
I embarked on a research journey. The destination was unknown, but thesense of quest driving it was tangible. I was seeking what I felt was my lostmusicianship and I had enlisted a guide - Émile Jaques-Dalcroze.
My career has been built through an application of the conventional
approaches to practicing the violin: technique building combined with thelearning and memorising of classical repertoire. However, I have long beenhaunted by a suspicion that my focused training as a violinist operated
to the detriment of my development as a musician. I was first introduced
to the ideas of Dalcroze as a student many years ago and have used his
methods as a teacher throughout my career. However, I never applied his
ideas to my own professional practice, although I realized early on, that mytraining in musical performance was dominated by intellectualism, theory
and traditional practices of the very same kind that Dalcroze observed inconservatoire students who were evidently technically gifted yet musicallyhidebound (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1945, p.140).
As part of a process of expanding my musical self, I embarked upon PhD
research in which I aimed to apply the philosophy and methodologies of theDalcroze method to my own practice as an elite performer. The Universityof Limerick, Ireland, offers a PhD in Arts Practice that suited my interests
as it is specially designed for performers to reflect on their performance

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practice (Nelson, 2013). If I wished to understand the value Dalcroze hasfor my practice as a violin performer, then I needed to perform. In order todocument the value of an experiential ‘music education through movement’
method, then I needed to move and experience. Only then can it bedemonstrated ‘that practice as research not only produces knowledge that
may be applied in multiple contexts, but also has the capacity to promote a
more profound understanding of how knowledge is revealed, acquired andexpressed’ (Barrett & Bolt, 2010, foreward).
Arts Practice research is an experiential, subjective approach in which
the researcher’s feelings and intuition are the subject of study and source ofdata. Any quest for objective truth is replaced by an acceptance of shifting,subjective realities. This model fits well within the whole experiential
ethos behind the work of Jaques-Dalcroze. As painter Paul Perrelet said,‘It is not possible to form an opinion on Eurhythmics without having taken
part in it’ (Dutoit, 1965, 11). Arts Practice research is a model in which
hard facts and empirical truths are impossible. Instead there is a sense of“liquid knowledge”, something that “runs through your system” (Abramovic
in Nelson, 2013, p. 52). This has been, and still is, a most extraordinary
journey, in which my preconceived ideas of ‘linear’ learning have beenchallenged almost every day. My practice is extremely broad and varied, but
this investigation embraces it in its entirety.
Arts Practice research requires a variety of documentary methods, all ofwhich need to reflect the qualitative and subjective nature of the processof inquiry (Creswell, 2013; Denzin & Lincoln, 2018). My chosen methods
are autoethnography (Bartleet & Ellis, 2009; Chang, 2008) and arts based
methods (Leavy, 2009; Bochner & Ellis, 2003). I have used journaling,
poetry and other forms of artistic expression alongside data gathered fromothers, through interviews, focus groups and by inviting written inputs. In
an unprocessed form, this data may not resemble the data of traditional
research. It does not look to many, like research data ‘should’. It takes theform of poems and journal entries. There is no filter and frequently no
structure. I write from the first person, weaving between my narrative andtheoretical voices (Clandinin & Connolly, 2000). The result I am aiming for,is what Pelias described as “emotionally vulnerable, linguistically evocative,
and sensuously poetic” (Pelias, 2004, p. 1).
For example, my poems contain information relevant to research not justin their direct meaning but in their structure. The rhythm and the flow of
my words represent how I hear music. They contain repetition, contrast,
accent, silence and timing - all from Dalcroze’s list of ‘subjects’, elements
we experience in the course of our daily lives and in the arts (Le Collège del’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze, 2011). In the words of Barbour, “I look for words
that do more than communicate abstract ideas. I want to use sensory-rich
images in hopes that a reader can feel the words and not just see them on
the page” (Barbour, 2011, p. 49).

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By following this approach, I hope to create a space for myself within mypractice in which I can search for, and document epistemic knowledge. This
space is vital for creativity and inspiration. Professional classical orchestraland chamber musicians rarely have enough time to find such a space and as
a result often end up losing the very joy and essence that initially broughtthem to a career in music. I am fortunate to have this opportunity and I hopethat my research will generate findings that although personal to me, may
inspire and resonate with other fellow musicians.

The performance
Performance lies at the heart of the Structured Arts Practice PhD programme
at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick,in the form of two concerts which provide a place for the researcher to aim
for, test ideas and gather feedback and data from themselves, collaborators
and audience members. From the very first day of my doctoral studies I
had been planning the angle I would take in approaching my first major
performance. I had mulled many ideas over, searching for the one thatwould feel just right. I knew it needed to include certain basic elements:
1. Playing the violin
2. Incorporating the Dalcroze method
3. Connecting the threads of my investigationYsaÿe’s Second Sonata for solo violin Opus 27 by Belgian violin virtuoso
Eugene Ysaÿe fulfilled all three criteria, made even more significant because of
the deep and significant relationship between Ysaÿe and Dalcroze (Christen,1946). Dalcroze had been developing his method for around five years when
he met the violinist and composer, whereupon he described himself “seducedby his vitality, the strength of his convictions, his scorn for conventions, and by
the ardor of his feelings” (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1942, p. 42). As he was engaged
as piano accompanist to Ysaÿe, he was able to witness first-hand how Ysaÿe
used his body to interpret and practice the music he was learning (1942).
“He liked to work his technique in darkness or with closed eyes, to better—he said—go back to the source of the physical movements…..And I often
surprised him . . .in his room delivering himself of an expressive mime putting
his entire body into motion, rhythmically and plastically, while the right arm
and fingers maintained all their lightness for the performance of the virtuoso
strokes” (p. 44). “The sound vibrations,» he (Ysaÿe) said, «must penetrate us
entirely right down to our viscera, and the rhythmic movement must enliven
all our muscular system, without resistance or exaggeration.” (p. 44). Anotherwonderful anecdote is where Dalcroze enters Ysaÿes’ room, concerned at thegrunting noises coming from within. He is surprised to see Ysaÿe hitting the
air with his fists, rising up on every blow as trying to break open the ceiling.

145“I’m studying the Polonaise of Vieuxtemps” said Ysaÿe, “it has to get insideme” (Christen, 1946, p. 78, footnote).
Having selected a piece with direct association to Monsieur Jaques, I used
a number of Dalcrozian learning strategies to prepare for my performance. I
spent many hours in the practice room ‘practicing presence’, as I believe it is
one of the main factors connecting my Dalcroze work to my violin playing.
I simply cannot ‘do Dalcroze’ without being fully present and engaged. It
demands full unification of my mind and body, a state of being I am neither
accustomed to nor can achieve easily. I can quite happily play the violin forhours and not be present at all. I believe that performance anxiety can stemfrom this lack of presence when practicing, because at the moment when
you stand in the spotlight with all eyes upon you, you are “caught in theheadlights”, compelled to recognize your own presence. If this presence waspart of the usual condition when playing, the transition from practice room
to concert hall would not be so alarming. I designed a specific warm up
routine that I incorporated into my daily practice to enhance my physical,
mental and spiritual connection. This included stretching with breathing,T’ai Chi and Yoga exercises, mindfulness practice and a gentle but firm
determination to eliminate distraction and to not engage with the endlessnegative chitter chatter inside my head.
A second element involved preparing for this performance by working
on the music physically. I hoped this would result in a different kind of
performance experience. This involved many hours of creative rehearsal
experimentation, including exploring ‘Dynamic Rehearsal’, devised by Karin
Greenhead (2016). This included, using a ball to represent the way themusic moved, showing the intensity, the line, the phrasing and the harmonic
structure. I also worked intensively with the Italian Dalcroze Diplômée, Ava
Loiacono, over a period of five months. This wonderful collaboration brought
the work and principles of Jaques-Dalcroze to the heart of my preparation
and resulted in a multi-modal performance on the 6th February 2018.
Another aspect concerned memorisation. Playing from memory forms
part and parcel of the typical training of Western Classical musicians, but
the focus is on cerebral memory, at the expense of the holistic. As a child,
I was forced to practice the same piece over and over again, and it became
easy for me to play automatically without the music. It was never a problem
for me to memorise large works. I could see in my head exactly where I wasin the music. Since I entered the professional world of a chamber musician,over 20 years ago, my score has always been there, on my stand and I havelost this automatic ability. When I perform from memory now, I have to makemore effort to concentrate on it. Through my journaling I saw a connection
between this ‘performing from memory’ element, and two of my current
areas of investigation: performance anxiety and disembodiment.
As I usually learn music from memory through my visual sense and themuscular sense in my fingers, I have wondered where else in my body this146

memory might reside. In an interview with Prof. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin(2018) we discussed whether as a classical musician I have lost an element ofsomatic learning by being so dependent on the printed notation. I therefore
tried more holistic Dalcroze-infused techniques. I played passages frommy feet, and from my armpits, simply by directing attention and sending
specific signals. I played sections focusing on releasing my torso. I put down
my violin and moved sections. I used scarves on the beach and sang one
line while stepping with the other. These techniques had a profound effecton releasing nuance and subtlety in the music I had neglected, due to mypreoccupation with the technical playing of the violin. Dynamic contrasts
and colours became more vivid to me. I worked on the concept of ‘sing andplay’, singing each note of a chord one by one, before ‘allowing’ the finger
to ‘find’ the note. I would then play the note, matching the tuning and thesound quality. By allowing the connection between my ear and fingers todevelop, I could trust my fingers to feel their way rather than me ‘putting’
them into a particular chord cluster. This was significant for me. First of all
because Dalcroze wrote at great length on the subject of building neuralconnections between the ear and the body, but also because of the ways
in which it changed how I practiced. I turned one of the sections into aplastique animée, mapping out my emotional responses to each phrase, so
I could see where the moments of tension and release were, and expressing
this insight in movement. I explored the architecture of my phrases throughmovement and the concept of ‘one phrase, one breath’.
I wished to explore how ‘showing the movement of the music’ physicallywhile playing, would affect my sound and music making. Would theincorporation of the time-space -energy elements of my Dalcroze work, into
both my violin playing and body movement on stage, enhance or detractfrom the performance experience for me or for my audience? There wasonly one way to find out. I devoted many hours improvising in movement
while playing each section, sometimes spending as much as a whole day on
a single bar. Gradually I was able to develop a ‘movement map’ that helped
me to connect my body, my violin and bow, and my sense of what I wanted
the music to say. The effect of combining all these techniques was thatmemorising the music became less of an anxiety, as I was now developing astronger sense of inhabiting the music from within.

New realms of performance production
Another significant fact in creating the performance was presentation. WhenI read about Dalcroze’s huge scale theatrical productions I was inspired
to incorporate production elements, not normally factored into classicalperformances.
With Ava Loiacono’s encouragement, into the performance, I incorporated
a complex lighting element, my own movement while playing, elements

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of puppetry and a large, tensioned screen of elastane lycra cloth, behind
which thematic motifs were brought to life and actualized by Ava’s body
movement. Together, we worked on exploring different colours for eachmovement, constantly reflecting on how this exploration of subtleties
affected our interpretation of the music. We tackled the issues of how to put
light on me, but not on the screen and vice versa, and how to create lightingthat brought out the meaning in the music. It was an extremely rewarding,challenging and inspiring experience.

Photo: Lucy Dawson

This reflected Dalcroze’s view of art in its grand holistic sense, from thesmallest muscles in the performers’ bodies to the relationships between
the stage managers and lighting technicians. Every tiny detail was myresponsibility, and everything had to be thought through meticulously
from printing programmes, to inviting an audience. The greatest sourceof problems for me came from the need to work in areas where I had noexperience or expertise, namely, the realm of production and lighting. I
believe that this engagement with every detail and concept of the overall
production enhanced my embodiment of the music and brought me closer
to Jaques-Dalcroze’s world. Every decision-making process brought me evercloser to a deeper connection with the piece.

Performance 6th Feb 2018 Theatre 1 Irish World Academy of Musicand Dance
The performance itself passed in a blur of energy – my own but also that of
the audience. As part of the research I had included a data collection element
for after the performance. Remaining true to the principles of arts practicerather than a set questionnaire, I provided paper and art materials for people
to be able to express their feedback however they wished. Audio recorders

148

were also on hand for those who wished to express themselves in that way
and a specialist focus group took place directly after the performance. I will
not end this article with a tidy summation of that which was learned or what
it meant. Instead I shall close with an expression from myself, a poem, andsome of the feedback from members of the audience.
Here is an excerpt from a poem I wrote about the performance shortly
afterwards.
‘Dance of Shadows’
It’s time to go on. I panic.
I feel I am not the slightest bit ready.
I go on, give my presentation, feeling strange but calm.
The lights go off, my cue to start.
This strange calmness is really unusual. What does it mean?
Am I embodied?
I SEE the theme. We are connected.
I am dancing with death here. Ava and I are one.
Am I nervous? NO!!! don’t ask that.
Second movement, I love this bit. I let my body take over.
Death theme, Whoops, slipper sock is falling off.
Doesn’t phase me. All part of the story.
Is this feeling embodied, or does thinking that, mean I am not?
The shadow movement. Am feeling the ‘lonely’ variation, the ‘plea for
help’ variation, the ‘intimate’ variation, the ‘shadow has got me’ variation,the ‘I tease you’ variation, oh my God, I just did the ‘chase’ and yes, now
it’s the ‘proud’, joyous victorious theme. YES, I am proud and victorious.
This is great. I am connected. I am feeling. I am present.
It’s now Hell. It’s all red. The light and movement is leading me. It feels
wonderful. I can feel the Furies.
No memory lapses yet. AAGH don’t think that. Breathe.
Oh no, I’ve got a cramp in my right hand.
What the hell? That’s never happened before.
Don’t panic Diane!
‘Soft hand, soft hand, soft hand, soft hand’ I instruct gently but firmly.
Whew, it’s gone. Am nearly there.
I feel really powerful and overwhelmed by the emotion of the music. I
know this piece SO well. My emotions are playing it for me. The final
theme, is part of me. I feel the anger, the sadness, the conversation withdeath.

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The coda, I feel the character behind the screen. I walk away from it, I
feel confident.
It’s over. I breathe out 3 times.
I feel relieved.
I feel sad.
Is that it?

Voices from the audienceYour performance opened a door to a new way of experiencing soloist work.
Bringing narrative and imagination to triggering empathy in your audience.
The personal engagement gives a different dimension to your performance. Youchange the focus on what was important to be shown. It was not about you
playing, but about you sensing, telling, giving, exploring and feeling the music.
By doing that you engage in a different dimension and so does the audience.
Jazmin Chiodi, Dancer, choreographer and festival director
I think this is amazing. I think this should be practiced a lot, this sort ofthing for all sorts of audiences, from kids … to experienced. Because I think
it really, really can enhance the music and … especially to get rid of thissort of distance people might have towards classical music … you know,
immediately drawn in because … your other senses are working also. And
makes it clearer and makes it accessible.
Joachim Roewer, Principal violist, ICO
I think she’s working on a fantastically exciting part of music and I feel that’s
she’s on the cusp of doing something incredible… and that’s what reallyinteresting about this PhD… which is about reexamining how music connects,
how you use visuals to do it. It’s a really exciting project and she’s the only
person on this island that I know of, pursing this kind of research … so it’sfantastically brilliant.
Brian Irvine, Composer
Three minutes edit of the performance on video: https://www.youtube.
com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=wW_pH5ao0Nw&app=desktop

150

References
Barbour, K. (2011). Dancing across the page. Bristol: Intellect Books.
Barrett, E. & Bolt, B., eds. (2010). Practice as Research: Approaches to Creative
Arts Enquiry, London and New York: I.B. Tauris.
Bartleet, B & Ellis, C.,eds (2009). Music Ethnographies: Making
Autoethnography Sing/Making Music Personal, Sydney: AustralianAcademic Press.
Bochner, A.& Ellis, C. (2003). ‘An Introduction to the Arts and Narrative
Research: Art as Inquiry’, Qualitative Inquiry Vol. 9, p.506 available:
http://qix.sagepub.com/content/9 /4/506 (accessed Nov 30. 2018).
Chang, H. (2008). Autoethnography as Method, Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast
Press.
Clandinin, D. & Connelly, F. (2000). Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Storyin Qualitative Research, San Francisco: Jossy-Bass.
Christen, E. (1946). Ysaÿe. Genève: Labor et Fides.
Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design. Choosing aming
the five approaches. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Denzin, N.K. & Lincoln, Y.S., eds. (2018). The Sage handbook of qualitative
research (5th ed). Los Angeles: Sage.
Dutoit, C.L. (1971). Music movement therapy. London: The Dalcroze Society.
Greenhead, Karin (2016). Becoming music: reflections on transformative
experience and the development of agency through Dynamic Rehearsal.
In A&HHE Peer reviewed Digital Special Issue, August 2016.
Jaques-Dalcroze, É. (1942). Souvenirs, notes et critiques/Memories, notes andreflections. Neuchâtel: Éditions Victor Attinger.
Jaques-Dalcroze, É. (1945). La Musique et Nous, (Geneva: Perret-Gentil).
(Repr. 1981 by Slatkine, Geneva).
Leavy, P. (2009). Method Meets Art, New York + London: The Guildford Press.
Le Collège de L’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze. (2011). L’identité Dalcrozienne:
Théorie et pratique de la rythmique Jaques-Dalcroze/The Dalcroze
Identity: Theory and Practice of Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Geneva: Institut
Jaques-Dalcroze.
Nelson, R. (2013). Practice as research in the arts: principles, protocols,
pedagogies, resistances. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pelias, R. (2004). A Methodology of the Heart: evoking academic and daily
life. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

151

Opera Instincta – AnInvention and a Finding

A transdisciplinary work for 5-12
nervous systems, voice & movement,
language & music
Hilde Kappes

Hilde Kappes is a singer and musician, graduate
in eurhythmics, film-music and radio-play composer,
author, and a Somatic Experience Practitioner after
Peter Levine. Since 2007 she teaches the fields ofvoice and movement, performance and presenceat universities and colleges in Germany, Austria,
Switzerland, Spain and China, and gives seminars
such as “The Art of Moving Music”, “The Humorof Voice”, “The Song of the Elements” or “ Rhythmof the Nervous System”. The coaching of choirs
and bands, ensembles of all genres and solo artists
is also part of her field of activity. She has been
performing nationally and internationally with her
own solo and band programs for 25 years. Most
recently in Buenos Aires and Uruguay with the
Voice & Body Rhythm group “Bande Cuerpo”. She
received several awards, including the Rhoner Sur
Prizes / Bolzano and the Prix Pantheon / Bonn forher solo performance. In 2016 she founded thework and method of ’Opera Instincta’.
www.operainstincta.com / www.hildekappes.de152

Opera Instincta is an artistic project founded by Hilde Kappes in 2015 withthe aim to explore processes in the nervous system, especially the functionsof the so-called Social Engagement System (Porges, 2010), within the artistic
process. In doing so, it strives for a form that is able to permanently change
and transform itself.
According to the methodology of the subject eurhythmics/music andmovement, supplemented with elements from theatre pedagogy, the participants
are working with voice, movement, music (text, language, visual arts, film)
in an interdisciplinary and multidimensional way. By means of the fivecreative instruments: intuition, interaction, improvisation, imitation, andidentification, a method is developed which focuses on the topics ENCOUNTER– RELATIONSHIP – CONTACT – COMMUNICATION. In this way, the effect on
the outside and back on the inside, that is to say: on the audience and backon the acting artists, the continuous activity of the mirror neurons, and thepermanently changing and pulsating resonance between human beings become
the main aspect of spontaneous action and elaboration of creative material.
The actors are developing a vocal and performance repertoire that focuses on
instinctive reactions. Clichés, role models, or creative constraints are examinedartistically or extended ad absurdum. The continuum of feeling, of physicaland mental awareness of change and presence, as well as the concentration on
processes in the nervous system as self-transferring phenomena, (based on Peter
Levine’s method of Somatic Experiencing) are here of primary importance andmanifest themselves as the artistic intention of the Opera Instincta.
[…] for he whose heart is full of feeling,
it urges him, according to his means of expression,
to communicate it also to others.
(Jaques-Dalcroze, 1920, transl. by Patrick Pohlman)
As a eurhythmics teacher, a performance and vocal artist, and due to myadditional training in Somatic Experiencing (SE), I came across fundamental
possibilities to deepen my work with music, voice, and movement. The
training of SE (Somatic Experiencing/trauma healing) by Peter Levine
deals with the regulation of processes in the autonomous nervous systemthat involve our voluntary and involuntary reactions. The awareness ofphysical sensations and the search for resources ensuring the greatest
possible security, orientation and the development of healthy boundaries is
extremely important for a feeling and creative (artistic) person. This induced
me to develop a stage work concept which, at the same time, functions as ateaching principle as well as a form of education.
The Opera Instincta delves into the phenomenological aspects ofeurhythmics, exploring what is happening physiologically-biologically whencontact, relation and resonance are triggered by the interaction of improvisedor arranged music, movement, and voice. It’s a performative field which, at
the moment of the event, is able to create expression and regulation for all

153participants and which deals with the topic areas of instinct and intuition.
The occurrence of resonance and its effects between artists and observers
are explicit topics of the Opera Instincta. Hereafter, I’d like to summarize
shortly the three different methods which I’m using:• As the basis of the Opera Instincta, eurhythmics which was foundedby Émile Jaques-Dalcroze at the end of the 19th century ensures theinteraction of various fields and means (Konrad, 1984; Schaefer, 1992)
like tools/material for voice, movement and music within the parametersof time, dynamics, space and form.
• The theatre pedagogical work of Jacques Lecoq enables the identification
with elements by means of neutral masks. Due to the resulting new
facets of expression in movement and, later, also in the voice, the acting
repertoire can be extended (for further information see list of references).
• Somatic Experiencing (SE) after Peter Levine and the integrated
instrument of Focusing (Gendlin, 2007), in particular in connection withthe so-called Felt Sense, are used to experience consciously sympathetic
and parasympathetic regulation, to hold contact, to consciously build
borders and to detect, to hold, but not to reinforce “active fields”.
The neuropsychological findings of the polyvagal theory by Dr. Stephen Porges(2018), which play a major role in the training of Somatic Experiencing,have been my point of departure to sound out and deepen the potential of
eurhythmics in the Opera Instincta, a constantly changing process which isanticipated and adapted to the space, its history and energy as well as thehistory and capabilities of the people involved.
The interaction of voice and movement, and the effects of music, soundand rhythm on the vocal expression of the individual, are important parts of
the research, as well as the fact that contact, communication, relationshipand resonance have a strong effect on voice and singing.
As a teacher, I’m often confronted with a sense of shame and shyness, aswell as an immense pressure, which the singers are imposing on themselves
while improvising because of their idea how it should be. On the other
hand, I regularly witness a great liberation when the voice is coupled withmovement in space. When the individual singers are at their places again,
confusion often arises partly caused by the uncertainty of having to combine
their knowledge from the classical singing lessons with that which they learn
in the improvisation class.
The flexibility of the voice is closely tied with the feeling in space and theconnection with the group. As a very particular instrument, the voice has tobe trained differently than any other musical instrument. It is coupled withreactions of the nervous system and especially with the complex phenomenaof resonance. The latter is not only generated by the observer, but everythingin and around the singer has an effect on them: space, time, temperature,154

odor, incidents before and after, muscle tone, flexibility, grounding andconfidence, mental condition et cetera. On the other hand, we are not onlyat the resonance’s mercy, but we are also able to participate in it and (re-)
gain control where it is necessary. However, this is hardly possible without
the active involvement of our body. It needs confidence and security on
a biological level to obtain an embodied presence. Without this, it often
requires an enormous strength to present the whole range of oneself or to
speak and sing in front of an audience.

Essentials for a regulated nervous system
Eurhythmics initiates personal and artistic processes. In conjunction withSE, these can be deepened even further. This concerns in particular thestrengthening of the social engagement system. This system is active if wepossess enough liveliness (sympathetic nervous system) for our activity
and enough tranquility (parasympathetic nervous system) for our overview
and access to our potential. The building of resources, the strengthening of
capacities, the increase of resilience, the dissolution of defense strategies
and over-activations, the decrease of embarrassment and shyness, thebuilding of Containment (after the British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion), as
well as reorientation, security and promotion of social responsibility within
the artistic events, all this can be effected by eurhythmics due to connectionsof various fields and means.
Also the theatre teachings of Jacques Lecoq, which I use to extend
expression, impinges on the nervous system in a regulating way. However,there is one restriction: processes which cannot be communicated consciously,
and do not have the necessary duration to become actually internalized, will
not be entirely effective. The Opera Instincta approach tries to give more
attention to the highly effective neurological processes in time and space
without losing the spontaneity of expression.

Contact – orientation – security
The theory of Stephen Porges explains why, in the case of intense
incidents (traumata), the ventral vagus, the slightly younger branch of
the parasympathetic nervous system, will largely prevent contact channels
or limit them to a solely mechanical function. As a result of Somatic
Experiencing, which concentrates on processes of the nervous system, adischarge of bound energy effects the revitalization of the system of theventral vagus, which leads to a ‘renegotiation’ of orientation with the otherperson, as well as an activation of the capability to show binding behavior.
This results in an improvement of orientation in space and towards oneself,
as well as of physical sensation. Therefore, a reorientation becomes possible,

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which often causes a strong emotional, physical and mental vitality: the socalled positive reactivation of the social engagement system.
If the ventral vagus does not function properly, in other words, if thenervous system is over-activated or in ‘shut down mode’, in most cases, thecontact with the sensory organs is also restricted. This has consequences forthe whole physical system of the affected person. The sensory responses of
the affected person, such as perception of space and time, the capability tobuild healthy structures, the assessment of his needs, feeling secure in groupcontexts, et cetera, will operate in a state of uncertainty which has to bepermanently compensated for. This leads either to a high arousal level or aspontaneous and enduring heaviness, tiredness et cetera. Also, permanentchanges between being highly activated and being very tired are possible.
To feel the coherence of closeness and distance, and to be able to deal
consciously with tempi and time, is not self-evident. Small children in thephase where they are wary of strangers give a vivid example of this: theirsteps, through which they slowly develop confidence, can be characterizedas “dose adapted” (analogous to Somatic Experiencing, see below): they
stay in safety, then dare a small step ahead and return to the safe place, theirmother/father, if they consider it necessary; sometimes they also scream.
In this way, they are oscillating with their nervous systems. This kind of
pendulum is also used by Levine (2010) for his Somatic Experiencing: themovements of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system,
extension and contraction, back and forth with the rhythm, the individual’s
own tempo. With regard to contact and relationship that are built out of asafe environment, there we can also talk about musicality, timing and senseof tact. The method of eurhythmics is playing with closeness and distance toexplore space and time, lengths and brevity, density and width in a musicaland physical way. Of course, this game also interactively influences the social
capabilities of the individual. He will see whether he is feeling comfortablewith closeness or distance and adjust his movement behavior accordinglywith it. Eurhythmics is aimed to artistically deepen and sensitize therelationship between the practitioner and their body and the space aroundthem also on the sensory level. In Somatic Experiencing, the orientation of
the client towards space is seen as essential for a regulated nervous system,e.g. to restore the personal balance. It’s not necessary to emphasize thatcreative processes are essential for the restoration of vitality.

Perception and inclusion of space
In the Opera Instincta process of improvisation, every participant has his own
secure place. It can happen and is intended that an artist will spontaneously
step back behind the events. It is important to learn that stepping back is
not equal to ‘doing nothing’ but also means to give space and containment
for others or just observe. However, an artist can also step back if something

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is just getting “too much” for him. Our vitality and conviction can only beauthentic if we have control over our spontaneous actions. This may soundillogical, but our instincts and ‘lower’ functions are components of a wholesystem in the triune brain. Some persons tend to overact if they lose control
over their innermost security. This is prevented by the possibility to stepback.
A regulation is not only necessary if participants are showing reactive
behavior. It is always useful to enable access to higher developed brain
areas (social engagement system) and in this way to the actual (artistic)
potential. The revitalization of the system of the ventral vagus (in the courseof an individual SE session) is recognizable by changes and reactions of
the senses and sensations of the client. The capability of the eyes to holdthe gaze becomes conspicuously different, and mostly the eyes become
clearer. This entails a lot of sensations. With regard to the perception of
space, the participants often state that single objects or even half the room
is perceptible again, which is accompanied by a feeling of surprise and joy.
Parts or even half of the body can become perceptible again in a way thatthey had not been felt before: “structured”, “vital”, “solid” and “comfortable”
are attributes which are often named.

Closeness and distanceWithin the artistic process, the perception and inclusion of space is not only
important from creative viewpoints, but also with respect to the nervous
systems of the acting persons. Often artists draw so much self-affirmationfrom their artistic expression that they simply forget the surrounding
space. Somatic Experiencing and Focusing are the tools to counteract this.
A participant who always takes a place at the front and avoids the places
behind possibly lacks a feeling for closeness and distance, or of the divisionand design of space, which has an effect on the audience.
Within the scope of the Opera Instincta there is at least one day per
week with a focus on the topics space, closeness and distance to the edgeof the stage and the audience. Sometimes one or two participants will needan additional Somatic Experiencing session to deepen the topic of space.
The result can be an enormous gain of power of their voices if they havephysically integrated this behind. (Of course, there are also opposite cases
in which participants lack the courage to step in the front.) After all, as
improvising artists, we do not have a director who would tell us where wehave to stand in the room. But, instead, we are our own directors and wantto have all means at hand to know and feel that every choice and change wemake in the space, every closeness and distance has an effect on each of us
and on the audience.
Shortly before the ventral vagus serves its purpose again (which can takeshorter or longer periods of time), micromotions in the neck set in, which

157

can be supported by Somatic Experiencing and should be monitored withregard to slowness and fineness. These impulses are, a sign from the nervous
system that a reorientation in space should begin. Within the process of the
Opera Instincta, we take the time to bring these micromotions to an end.
We also use the group process to activate the system of the ventral vagus.
The individual receives support and attention by the group. We consciously
refer to each other and re-negotiate the events permanently in a non-verbal
way. Therefore, the conscious perception of the activity of the ventral vagus
has a direct impact on spontaneous impulses and events of expression in
the group. Keeping contact and, at the same time, focusing on oneself, notlosing sight of oneself, is a high art.
It is important to point out that “keeping contact” does not mean an
overprotective overestimation of all the other person’s actions, but a
maximum awareness of everything that is happening. Improvising in agroup often leads to catapulting out of too much “charge” and, sometimes,
to a lack of subtlety. A lack of focusing on resonance and physical sensation
can result in avoidance of pauses for fear of emptiness. Short steps canengender immense changes. To create an effect, the artist needs time andspace: for himself, for the other participants, as well as for the observers.
This strengthens presence.

Physical and psychological power of music
Instinctively, an artist in their creative process is seeking for a form of
security; they are designing means to create for oneself a field to feel securein and to let presence occur. This means that in artistic-creative processes,
whether solo or in a group, we always have to deal with the meaning of a“secure field” and the question of what it means not only to have an idea,
but also to represent it. Being an artist is one thing, but to put oneself safely
in the world is something else.
The process of artistic design is similar to that of the nervous system. Both haveto do with the balancing of charge/discharge, tension/relaxation, closeness/distance, of tempi, space, time and dynamics. Within the developmental
phases of a form, a human being encounters himself and possibly undetectedmaterial. The phases consist of: inventing (spontaneity/instinct), feeling(affect), changing (regulation), analyzing (cognition), possibly returning toinventing, and finally determining/establishing (completion).
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze spoke of a “musicalization of the arts” and thenecessity to establish eurhythmics as a method for dancers, actors, opera
singers, et cetera. In my opinion, every person regardless of musicality or
talent follows his inherent rhythmic-musical principles. Where nowadays
various music-pedagogical approaches compete with each other, we try to
make clear with the Opera Instincta (and with eurhythmics) that improvisingand designing by means of music, voice and movement can strengthen the158

whole personality and form a “secure” community. The development of(nonverbal) communication competences due to interaction of the means
above has a major influence on the vitality and balance of a human being.
“[…] and if the whole system of rhythmic education is building up on
music, this is simply because music is an extraordinary psychic power,a power arising from the spiritual life and will to expression which due
to its stimulating and regulative force is able to organize all of our vitalfunctions […]” (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1920, transl. by Patrick Pohlmann).
In an artistic field, whether it is improvising or designing, good timing andcoherence are the responsibility of us all. Our awareness and our capability
for regulation are determinative for our effect and impact on the audience aswell as for the way we learn. In the beginning, the time that is created due tothe slowing down and the concentration on, and training of, the Felt Sense isinitially perceived as irritating. However, after regulation, creative impulses
generally happen with much more self-confidence, and the expressiveness ofthe participants becomes more primal and vigorous. The experiencing of time
takes on a different importance. Due to observation and sensing we reach the‘lower regions’ of the brain and let what is sensed rise up again to the limbic
system and the neocortex (Bentzen, 2016). We act instinctively, feel and react,
recognize and designate, understand and feel again, always with an eye on
the ‘whole of society’: a composing person on his path! A pack of designingnervous systems in space! A group of individuals creating time!

Witnessing and containment
The more this happens, the more resonance in general increases, as also thenervous systems of the people in the audience begin to react to the eventson stage. Regulation has something to do with discharge or, as Levine calls
it, “biological completion” (2010). Having a witness means to enter into afield of resonance and to learn to trust in the other person.
In our Opera we are, as well, witnesses of actions. Everybody trusts in theother participants and all together affect the audience as a comprehensive
nervous system. At best, we create a space for all in the room. We have acreative way to deal with otherness. We value the fact that a neutral space ismade available and welcome a healthy mix of levels. By giving this freedom
to others, it is possible to create a huge awareness of Containment. As aresult of this, the participants are able to comprehend the meaning of thisterm, allowing an image of a vessel to form before their spiritual eye, also ina physical way. Sometimes, this even means to forego a clear methodology/
didactics, maintaining “only” the space for internal and external movements,
enabling “adaption” (ger. Anverwandlung) (Rosa, 2016), and the possibility
to rethink the traditional hierarchy of student and teacher.

159

To develop presence for everything that happens in space and within
ourselves changes the experience of time and becomes a physical experience
with a practical, biological effect on the observer. In a composition fororchestra, all instruments have to follow the musical flow, and yet everything
has to be well thought out. In this case, there is a composer who solely makes
all the decisions. In contrast, the Opera Instincta arises as a group event in
the moment. It consists of improvisation and at the same time of designing.
Every participant has to provide his talents and vitality in the “right degree”,
to ensure the flow and keep contact.
By connecting improvisation with designing and the social engagement
system, the Opera Instincta is a higher form of group communication.
In principle, it is applicable wherever people come together, and is ofimportance for personal and community development. The Opera Instincta
can be used to make possible interaction between the arts at universities aswell as between faculties. But it can also be applied to orchestras and theatre
ensembles, as well as in areas that do not have to do with the performing
arts, like schools, companies, institutes and institutions. Its application
is useful wherever people need new access to music or want to regain aspontaneous access to their internal and external movements, but also for
those who would like to experience the meaning of a secure group structure.

What Opera Instincta is about
Our project, Opera Instincta, is based on the thesis that without thepromotion of a consciousness of our own instincts in conjunction withcreative expression, it is not possible to generate a really natural and holistic
structure. Without an inner balance of all components of the human body, thecognitive capabilities, and also the emotional intelligence and the individual
expression, an inner growth is hardly possible. Vitality and individuality are
inhibited wherever there is no place for the natural expression of humanbeings, where reality and the non-real become blurred and performancepressure creates adapted, deformed people or “normopaths” (Maaz, 2017).
The objectives of the Opera Instincta are the promotion of individuality,
clarity of reactions and consciousness of form, the development of resonance,
empathy and community, and the integration of testimony and awarenessfor the social engagement system into creative processes.

References
Bentzen, M. & Hart, S. (2016). 2016, Neuroaffektive Therapie mit Kindern
und Jugendlichen: Vier entwicklungsphasenbezogene Behandlungsansätze.
Lichtenau: Probst.

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Gendlin, E.T. & Wiltschko, J. (2007). Focusing in der Praxis: Eine
schulenübergreifende Methode für Psychotherapie und Alltag. Stuttgart:
Klett-Cotta.
Jaques-Dalcroze, É. (1920). Le rythme, la musique et l’éducation. Paris,
Fischbacher
Konrad, R. (1984). Erziehungsbereich Rhythmik: Entwurf einer Theorie.
Regensburg: Bosse.
Levine, P. (2011). Sprache ohne Worte: Wie unser Körper Trauma verarbeitet
und uns in die innere Balance zurückführt. München: Kösel.
Levine, P. (2010). In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases. Trauma andRestores Goodness. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.
Maaz, H.J. (2017). Das falsche Leben: Ursachen und Folgen unserer
normopathischen Gesellschaft. München: C.H. Beck. https://lisa.
gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/anpassung_an_kranke_gesellschaftliche_verhaeltnisse?nav_id=7095
Porges, S.W. (2018). Die Polyvagal-Theorie und die Suche nach Sicherheit:
Traumabehandlung, soziales Engagement und Bindung. Lichtenau: Probst.
Porges, S.W. (2010). Die Polyvagal-Theorie, Neurophysiologische Grundlagen
der Therapie: Emotionen, Bindung, Kommunikation & ihre Entstehung.
Paderborn: Junfermann.
Rosa, H. (2016). Der Panzer auf der Brust der Studenten. Zeit Campus,
19.05.2016.
http://www.
zeit.de/campus/2016-05/hartmut-rosasoziologe-studium-entschleunigung-resonanz-bologna-reform/seite-1;
https://www.zeit.de/2016/26/hartmut-rosa-resonanz-sachbuch
Schaefer, G. (1992). Rhythmik als interaktionspädagogisches Konzept.
Remscheid: Waldkauz.
For reading the article in German: http://fier.com/documents?filter=3

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Beauty/Schönheit/
SkönhetAn artistic research projectin music and danceSusanne Jaresand, Maria Calissendorff

Susanne Jaresand, University graduate 1982
Dalcroze Eurhythmics at the Royal College ofMusic in Stockholm where she was working
between 1996 – 2013. Appointed professor
in 2004. Artistic Director of Dance Education
Modern/Contemporary, Balettakademien
Stockholm starting 2011, and AssistantProfessor at Luleå University of Technology,
Acting Department, starting 2013. She
received grants from the Swedish ResearchCouncil in January 2014, that will continue
to 2016; “Listen to listening, Counterpoint indance and in music in a listening Attitude”.
Jaresand is active as professor in movement
and eurhythmics, choreographer and musician.
At nearly fifty own choreographies, she has
also been involved in numerous productions
at the main scenes in Stockholm. Susanne
was the director and choreographer for thedivertissement at the Nobel dinner in 2000.
She was the director and choreographer tothe mini opera Queen Christina (Swedish
Television) premiered in London.

Maria Calissendorff has a master offine arts in music education and a
PhD degree in musicology with focus
on music education. She works as a
Senior Lecturer at the Departmentof Education, Stockholm University,
Sweden and teaches at the teacher
education programme and supervises
degree projects at all levels. Her
current research concerns orchestra
musician’s path from beginner stage
until employment in a professional
symphony orchestra. She is also
involved in an art research project
investigating the physical listening indance and music interacting.

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In an artistic project we investigated the points of contact between choreography
and music composition in a listening stance, where the meeting between theartists was visible and audible. Collective creative processes arose from thisattitude of listening. One way to bring forth the listening stance – and not only
uni-directionally, as when a choreographer uses a through-composed piece ofmusic – was to let a composer write music to a dance, choreographed in silence.
The performance gave the opportunity to change rituals around listening thatare predominantly current in an attempt to resuscitate the eyes, ears, inner andouter attention to a reflective listening; to take these thoughts where the body goesand break the patterns of embodied and cognitive ways of thinking. In a positionof stillness, one can renew, breath, give and open up to new opportunities. The
cognition/corporeality of the dance became a way to listen to music.
This article concerns an artistic research project, Beauty/Schönheit/Skönhet
(Beauty/Schönheit/Skönhet, 2014a; 2014b) where we want to emphasize
the complexity in listening in the artistic processes that emerge in bothdance and music, and the space in between.
The project concerns in gesture in music and dance, and more specific, thesimilarities and differences between the audible in music and the physicallyaudible in dance. It refers to a phenomenological discourse within thephilosophy of hearing, which highlights the aesthetic and social implicationsof listening and thus also illuminates hierarchical aspects. Contrary to how
the eyes relate the world through objectification and classified distance, thehearing is directed towards proximity and procedural openness. Listening is afundamental phenomenon in human relations (Wallrup, 2002). Music often
serves as a structural basis, which gives form and shape to the dance/musicas a whole (Olsson, 1996). This approach requires a choice of strategies
that build on the understanding that it is both possible and appropriate tocontemplate these questions in artistic practice. A practice where dance andmusic work together, and the artistic research happens in and through theart. We want to develop a theoretical field as well, which can be relevant toand enriched by these artistic fields.
With these concepts of listening in the artistic research environment,
and in the academic, philosophic and scientific world, it is important that
listening is made visible and audible in a broader sense. We use the artistic
expression, dance and music, in order to demonstrate a new way of creating
meaning through a common denominator – listening.

Aim
The project aimed to find structures where choreography and music
composition could be made visible in relation to each other in a listening
attitude, where both art-forms had the musical element as a common
denominator.

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Questions that were important to deepen the theoretical aspects of the
project were:• What methods were developed for choreographic creation that embody
the qualitative aspects of movement in relationship to the movement
within music?
• What methods were developed for compositional creation that embody
the qualitative aspects of sounding in relationship to the sounding withinmovement?
• What new artistic forms emerged through this listening interaction?

BackgroundIn this project listening is a key concept. To deepen and broaden
understanding of the usage of this concept, we take up a philosophicaldiscussion around the sense of hearing that has emerged during the last
decades and intensified the last ten years. This discussion has mostly beenin connection with phenomenology, either within the tradition or in critiqueof it. However, the common point of departure is that listening has had ahidden place in philosophy, where sight quickly is established as the primarysense in that which came to be called “ocularcentrism” (Espinet, 2009).
Music is an activity for the whole nervous system, whose impulses organize
bodily activity. These activities can both be outer (movement/dance) andinner (emotion). In order to internalize the music through the whole person,a natural connection between music and movement/dance is needed. Allmusical sound is created through movement, which means that it is possible
to understand the human body as a musical instrument. Through practices
in rhythmics, plastique/movement and ear training, music is placed in thewhole person. Movement/dance is an equal part in this language, music/
rhythm, where the movement of the body is used to represent the musicalelement (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1920).
Jaques-Dalcroze claimed that musical expressiveness could be taught anddoes not depend solely on natural talent and also that prominent musicians
often had an instinctive physical connection to music. He trained students
in each of the musical elements so that they could represent these elements
physically. This physical listening resulted in a virtual lexicon of musicaltranslated movements as follows (Jaques-Dalcroze 1920, p. 150 in Jaresand& Calissendorff, 2013, p. 190):”Music
Pitch
Intensity of soundTimbreDance
Position and direction of gestures in space
Muscular dynamic
Diversity in corporal forms

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Time
RhythmRests
MelodyCounterpoint
ChordsHarmonic successions
Phrasing
Construction/form
Orchestration

Time
RhythmPausesContinuous succession of isolated movements
Opposition of movements
Constellation of associated gestures/movements
Succession of associated movements
Phrasing
Distribution of movements in space and time
Opposition and combination of diverse corporeal
forms“The training of the body includes movement from breath, gravity, rotationand exploration of the body’s center in relation to the periphery. The training
also helps to develop a sensibility in the nervous system. Jaques-Dalcroze
method aims, on the one hand, to create a number of automatisms and asolid context in muscle function and, on the other hand, to establish andprotect communication between our spirit’s two poles, body and mind, andexpand our natural rhythms.

MethodThose who took part in the project were a choreographer, a composer,
a conductor, 16 dancers (three soloists and 13 company dancers)
KammarensembleN (Swedish Chamber Orchestra, 18 musicians), a string
quartet and a researcher. The research thereby involves collaboration between
experts with complementary skills, experienced artists and researcher.
This collaboration, will create the opportunity to gain empiricalknowledge which could otherwise be difficult to attain through the moreunilateral perspective of conventional academic research. Since the projectis an artistic research project, it could only take the form it did. The researchis through art which does not make it possible to distinguish the explicit
research methods from the artistic process as they are interwoven. This alsomeans that all contributors were involved in the artistic process that also
became part of the method. Although the research methods are qualitativewith observations and interviews (Bryman, 2008), the presentation of theresults from the project are not in the traditional way of qualitative research.
The concept of reflective listening is, for all participators of this project, an
important parameter as a methodology for analysing how music and danceinter-operate, and how choreography creates a kind of listening, which cantransform music into a physical experience.

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Artistic process – implementation
The project was comprised of choreography for sixteen dancers and music in
two parts: a newly written work, Force and Beauty by Sven-David Sandström,
for KammarensembleN and solo violin, and a string quartet, FragmenteStille, An Diotima, by Luigi Nono.
In an initial stage, the dance was choreographed in silence, which thecomposer listened to and created a sounding counter-voice for. This was a
way to emphasize the open listening attitude, not only uni-directionally, as
when a choreographer uses a through-composed piece of music, but to let
the composers write music to dance, choreographed in silence. It was thedance’s intrinsic rhythm, melody, dynamic, the orchestration of the dancers,that became the inspiration and frame for the composition of the music. The
dance created a voice to the music and the music gave a voice to the dance.
Then two independent musical artistic expressions emerged, woven together.

Results
Methodology development for composition
When composing to dance one should have a pre-understanding thatthe music is part of a dance and music performance and therefore havea communicative relationship, and take a listening attitude towards the
structure and content of the performance. It is also important to know what
function and what relationship the music will have to the dance. Should
it be a carpet of sound, a creator of a mood, an atmosphere or should themusic clarify or enhance the dance expression? In this project the music wasa counter voice, either as a voice for the choreographer to have as a frame
for the dance, or as a counter voice in music to a pre-choreographed dance.
This means that the composer must listen to the physical expression, themusic of the dance and analyze its structure and make a composition withthis “dance score” as the starting point. While experience a movement inspace one can either see the contours and hence the form of the body or hear
the nonsounding music that comes out from the vibrations in space, the air,made by the movements. In this process of creativity, the sounding music
must be open to the music of the dance, to hear the “dance score”, andhave this score as a frame for the sounding composition. The choreography
should then be open for interpretation in accordance with how a musicscore is interpretable for the conductor and the musicians.
Nono
The string quartet Fragmente-Stille, An Diotima, can be divided in fourparts, and the choreographer changed so the last section to become thefirst. Thus, there was a clean, direct start to the performance. The original

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first part of the quartet has a hidden, tentative telling aspect that carries
the dramaturgical risk of giving a narrative entrance, thus estranging
the participants from reflective/physical listening (see Jaques-Dalcroze,1920). Instead, a non-narrative dramaturgy arose, based on an arhythmic
temporality that opened the possibility for the creation of meaning. Luigi
Nono makes the differentiation of sound materials understandable forthe listener through the lengthening of sounds and the use of silence. The
listener is not overwhelmed with information, but has the chance to reflect
on every sound or constellation of sounds. Silence can challenge the listenerto discover her or himself. It is the understanding of this reflection in our
inner self, in silent space and memory, reflection and self-insight that opens
up the element of the fermata.
The feeling of slow fragmentation through painful hesitation.
The “dance score” was created from the string quartet parts, where the same
possibility for cognitive/bodily reflection in the stillness emerged. The dance
created a counter-voice to the quartet in a state of reflective listening.

Methodology development for choreography
In the project the choreographer leads the work and catches initiatives,characteristics and artistry of the actors through following activities: design
movement’s graceful and musical value in relation to the musical vision forthe performance. This is an activity as specific and thorough as in the designof an orchestral work; both musically and spatially, to explore knowledge
about the counterpoint, phrasing, cooperative polyrhythmic movements
and harmonization of the dance. It is also about the relationships between
movement, body positions, levels, and the space that surround them. The
aim is also to train the dancers listening in being inside of and facing themusic with the musical integrity within the dance, without being controlled
by or follow impulses directly from the sounding music.
This means close cooperation, which in a spirit of curiosity allows
composers to appreciate that their work is being interpreted as a counterpart
in dance and that the musicians are willing to open their listening towards
the dance. This requires that the choreographer has a large network of not
only dancers, but also of musicians and composers. The role also includes
getting the visual scenic expressions (light design, set design and costume)to enhance the musical values, so you can avoid a storytelling that possibly
alienates the mutual listening.
The artistic choices of the choreographer in this project was also tocreate a sketch like “dance-score” from a music score, a kind of two voices
harmony. In this coexistence, the music score, is then interpreted andexpressed in dance. The challenge now is to find a flow in a give-and-take inthe interpretation of the sounding score according to: instrumental groups,
solo parts, volume, timbre, time, rhythm, pause, melody, counterpoint,

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harmony, phrasing, structuring, orchestration. And how the dance will be
structured: number of dancers, quality of movement, muscle dynamics/
tonus, diversity in corporal forms, duration, rhythm, phrasing, continuous
succession of isolated movements, the distribution of movements in space
and time, varied movements in the opposition and combination, successionof associated movements. The choreography is then further developedin silence, to find its “own music” within the dance, a process in which
the dancers are co-creating alongside the choreographer, creative by theirindividuality, experiences, imagination and knowledge. This is indispensablefor the artistic expression of the performance. There are also relationships
between the rhythms of the dance and rhythms of the music, the soundvolume and size of the choreographic gestures, the musical textures such as
polyphony, homophony with its special organizations of instrument voices
and the analogue choreographic organizations of the dancers, the timbre of
the instruments or sounds and characters of the individuality of the dancers(see Background). The dancer listens to the music through the dance
sequence created in silence, and thus an artistic meeting occurs with thelistening as the common denominator. This cooperation should be carriedout with great accuracy, especially with the regard to the interception of
the quality of the non-psychological movement that arises in the work of
the musical elements transformed into dance. The process also includes anaccuracy of timing with regard to the appropriation of the movement.

Interpreter, dancer
The dance sequence is based on the interaction between listening to the natural
rhythm that occurs in the dance improvisation, and forming of movements
by the choreographer in a musical listening purpose. The sounding metricsof the music are not controlling nor limiting. Then the dance sequence isdanced to the sounding music, to listen for “meeting places” – tones – which
through coincidence, intuition, knowledge and experience will occur. It is
important to give the dance a scale of expressions in a musical cultivation,
which gives the body both full control of all available elements of dynamic
and agogic nature, and the opportunity to experience every nuance of themusic in order to express them through the muscles. This investigation must
be complemented with knowledge about agogic and spatial laws, to anchor
variations in the time value through a physical listening.
The listening permeates every part of the process and should be analyzed
as follow:
1. The dancer’s own improvised sequence in relation to the intentions of
the choreographer.
2. The co-dancers improvised sequences in relation to their own nature asa dancer.
3. The unanimous dance in relation to the sounding music.

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4. The physical listening of the listening attention from the audience.

Interpreter, musician
The role of the musician is based on listening on the interpretation put
forward through the interaction between the co-musicians’ value, therelevance of the interpretation to the meeting with the music of the dance
and find a repeatability and in that a deeper listening to the dance.
The music by Nono was composed with intervals of silences, in which
the musicians can open up their listening out in the space of the dance.
It means an expansion of the knowledge about the equal expressions ofdance in relation to the sounding music. Parts of this music was based on
improvisational models, that lead to a greater interaction between themusician and the music of the dance, through a collective listening.

New artistic forms
The project aimed to find structures where choreography and music
composition could be made visible in relation to each other in a listening
attitude, where both art-forms had the musical element as a common
denominator. Instead of performing both musical pieces, one after theother, they were performed in a dramaturgy where they were played at thesame time, and each in their own time structure, giving dramaturgy to theperformance. In combining the two music pieces, a “third” piece of music
emerged for the dance, which partly gave a counter-voice and partly gave
the primary voice of the music something to relate to. This meant that the
conductor and the musicians in KammarensembleN and the string quartet
were part of a musical whole, which also included the choreographers’ anddancers’ interpretation of the music which became an independent voice.
In the meeting (see figure 1 below) between KammarensembleN, thestring quartet and the 16 dancers, a listening emerged which was• two-voice part – when one of the orchestral bodies played to the corporalmusic of the dance trio
• two-voice part – when one of the orchestral bodies played to the 16
dancers• three-voice part – when one of the orchestral bodies played to sequenceswhere the dance trio had one part and the other 13 dancers had another• four-voice part – when the two orchestral bodies played in the determined
time structure at the same time and each for themselves, to sequenceswhere the dance trio had one part and the other 13 dancers had another.
The dance trio expands to a sextet on one occasion, and the dancers in thedance trio also make their own solos.

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Specifically, in the dance trio and string quartet opening sequence (13minutes), one could decode a listening integration between the dancers andthe musicians. In that part of the work there was an unprepared/prepared
process where the intensive silences were followed by sounding and bodily
discharges where a multiplicity of relations in different times emerged,
developed and transformed. The outer structure was set, with an inner areaof possible space for performance.
The time structure (see figure 1) was laid out as a dramaturgical frame
for the performers to relate to, and the complexity in the interweaving of thedifferent voices were intercepted and decoding by the listeners/spectators.
The improvised temporality in the opening sequence, with the string quartet
and the dance trio, were not possible for the most part in the continuation
with the dancers and KammarensembleN. Instead, the greater emphasis lay
with the dancers’ interpretation of the sounding time of the music, which
could vary as the piece unfolded and as a whole. Here the communication
between the choreographer’s and conductor’s understanding of tempo in the
different sections of the music was of great importance. The choreographer
illuminated the dancers’ musical approach with sequences of movement
relating to the sounding music, and returned to the conductor. In somesequences, one or more of the musicians were free to follow the music ofthe dancers, and in the last sequence the solo violinist went out onto thedance stage and joined the dance trio. In this part, it was complexity in the
consonant structure of the dance and the music that yielded the opportunity
for new meaning and understanding for the listeners/spectators.

Figure 1. Graf showing time structure for the voices of the dance and the music

Discussion
The overall idea of ​​the research program was that, with experience inchoreographed dance, one can access a physical listening, forcing a particularkind of attention, which returns the music to a bodily experience.

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The performance gave the opportunity to change the rituals around
listening that prevails in an attempt to revive the ear, eye, inner and outerattention, into a listening thinking, to bring the conscious where your bodygoes, and break the habit, the expected. The mind and corporeality of thedance and music become a way to listen and express music.
The research will lead to the transfer and exchange of skills and experiencefrom the different fields, techniques and disciplines in the performing arts.
The project also developed a systematization of the concept of choreography
from a radical, unconventional perspective in the field of research. Artistic,
pedagogic and organizational development and input are necessary for thisprocess, with flexibility for new ideas and opportunities.
The opportunity afforded by the performing arts to illuminate humaninteraction in an intrinsic space can yield tools for the raising of competence
in art in general. The main point here is to reflect both practically andtheoretically, based on an understanding of quality and quantity, from astandpoint of critical listening. Another point of departure is to reflect uponand elucidate the traditional, conventional methods of choreography, which
are employed to meet pre-determined goals, and instead find new ways totake part in the collected resources for research. This includes reflection
on how those resources are disseminated to create conditions for artists towork as independent, professional researchers. Artistic research can create
remarkable connections between different disciplines, and through thisit also develops the artist’s individuality. Artistic research is invaluable inour complex information society, in which scientific and artistic skills are
increasingly balanced on a more equal basis.
As the project has developed and addressed questions first and foremost,about the development of artistic methodology, it has also generated newquestions to investigate:• How will listening take on a larger meaning, be restored, take a greater
place in artistic, philosophical and academic discussions; the curious andundecided listening, the hearkening?
• Is there the need for movement which is understood as music? What is
the function of rhythm in that inquiry?
• Can the incomprehensibility in music be found in dance, or does dance
have to be comprehensible because of its corporeality?
• Where in this process does the transition occur in the embodied listening
from its own natural rhythm/temporality to the time of the stage?
• How does reflective listening emerge?
Movement lies at the heart of these concepts as the basis for all art forms,
the feeling for space/time through movement. It is important to emphasize
the study of the body’s natural rhythms and, through their automation,
create enduring rhythmic images in the mind, to connect muscle action with

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linguistic/musical processes. This includes to work against the shortage ofinterconnection between different attitudes and the absence of a continuous
movement – a movement that we need to experience in every living
manifestation of a continuous concept.

References
Beauty/Schönheit/Skönhet. (2014a). Föreställning Kulturhuset, Stadsteatern,
Stockholm. 4 Föreställningar 4–7 december 2014. [Online] Available:
http://kulturhusetstadsteatern.se/Dans/Evenemang/2014/
BEAUTYSCHONHEITSKONHET/ (Jan 30, 2018)
Beauty/Schönheit/Skönhet. (2014b). Sundin, Mats. Kungl. Svenska
Balettskolan. Film. https://youtu.be/xDIRiNSJT58
Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods (3rd.ed). NY: Oxford.
Espinet, D. (2009). Phänomenologie des Hörens. Eine Untersuchung im
Ausgang von Martin Heidegger. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Griffiths, P. (2011). Modern Music and After (3rd: ed). NY: Oxford.
Heidegger, M. (1927). Sein und Zeit. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck.
Jaques-Dalcroze, É. (1920). Rytm, musik och utbildning. Stockholm, KMH
förlagetJaresand, S. & Calissendorff, M. (2013). A Physical Interpretation of a Score
in a Listening Attitude In: P. de Assis, W Brooks, & K. Coessens (Eds.)
Sound & Score (pp. 184-194). Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Olsson, C. (1996). Den förträngda kroppen I E. Wallrup (Red.). Notera tiden(pp. 31–56). Stockholm: Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien.
Wallrup, E. (2002). Nietzsches tredje öra. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.

Abstracts of
Academic Papers andResearch Projects

175

Synaesthetic Perception
Processes in the Mediationof Experimental Music
Lisa Baeyens

Lisa Baeyens is a flutist, improviser and musicteacher living in Berlin. In 2017 she completed herstudies in “Eurhythmics/Music and Movement” at
the Berlin University of the Arts with her thesis on
synaesthetic perception processes in the mediationof experimental music. After that she started
studying the Master of Music Improvisation at
the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig. She
plays and is active in various bands, ensembles
and performance projects and is also active as acomposer, among others for the art film “Mindscape
Universe” produced in 2017. Since 2014 shehas been teaching at the Music School Berlin
Spandau, where she has been head of the Inclusion
department since 2017.

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In my work I have dealt with the effect of synaesthetic perception on the experienceand mediation of experimental music. Experimental music is here referring to musicfrom 1950 onwards, which is composed, but whose composition conceals a part ofunpredictability and always leaves the interpreter space for his own realisation andinterpretation of the composition. Music as an experiment - how can synaesthetic
perception fertilize musical experiences?
Research into the phenomenon of synaesthesia has increased considerably
since the 1980s and can be regarded as a “part of basic research for understanding
processes of perception and consciousness formation“ (translation: L.B.), as Kerstin
Hallmann says in her dissertation “Synaesthetic strategies in art mediation”.
Since ancient times, sensory perception has generally been divided into thefive individual senses of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting. However,there have always been efforts to question this division. Over the past 100 years,
philosophical phenomenology, neuroscience and new inter- and transmedial art
forms have made it clear, among other things, that the model of individual sensory
modalities has limits and that there are phenomena or appearances in our everyday
lives that cannot be perceived or explained through the individual senses, butrather involve a holistic experience of perception.
On the basis of neuroscientific, philosophical and educational-theoreticalconsiderations, this work demonstrates that synaesthesia can be understood as anelementary mode of perception and an enrichment for experiencing and dealing
with experimental music. Synaesthetic processes can extend the conventional
perspectives of learning and perception, as this work proves with practicalexamples and empirical values. This in turn can have effects on general educational
processes and concepts. And thus presents new challenges and opportunities formusic mediation, especially for experimental music.

Important References
Brandstätter, U. (2013). Erkenntnis durch Kunst. Theorie und Praxis der ästhetischen
Transformation. Köln: Böhlau Verlag.
Cage, J. (1954). Silence. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Hallmann, K. (2016). Synästhetische Strategien in der Kunstvermittlung. Dimensioneneines grundlegenden Wahrnehmungsphänomens. München: kopaed.
Merlau-Ponty, M. (1966). Phänomenologie der Wahrnehmung. In Graumann, C.
F. & Linschoten, J. (Eds.) (1974 6th ed.). Phänomenologisch-Psychologische
Forschungen. Vol. 7, Berlin: de Gruyter.

Original Title
Synästhetische Prozesse in der Vermittlung von Experimenteller Musik. Universityof the Arts (UdK) Berlin (2017).
For reading the full version in German: https://www.musikbewegung.de/studieninformationen/schriftliche-abschlussarbeiten/

177

Evaluating the
Phenomenon Flow in
Eurhythmics Education for
AdultsAnna Großberger

Anna Großberger, BA in eurhythmics in Vienna(2018) started taking lessons in violin, piano andvoice at the age of six. From 2013 she studied
Music and Movement Education/Eurhythmics
at the University of Music and Performing Arts in
Vienna (MDW), where she specialized in voice,vocal improvisation, and music and movement
education in therapeutic and inclusive educationalsettings. During her studies she explored different
dynamics and structures in her teaching to initiate
flow during her eurhythmics classes for adults.
Anna Großberger is currently studying her master’s
degree in eurhythmics at the University of Music andPerforming Arts Vienna.

178“Today I was in flow” is a frequent sentence used by participants to describe theirstate of mind during eurhythmics classes. Flow describes an intense absorption inan activity that is independent of age, sex and origin of the acting person. Whatpotential does eurhythmics have to allow flow and how can it be initiated into
educational settings with adults?
One possibility to pursue these questions is to compare the characteristics offlow as defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi with the action fields of eurhythmics
as identified by Eleonore Witoszynskyj: music, movement, development of creativeand social abilities, and the sensation of perception. Furthermore the importanceof lesson structure and dynamics during eurhythmics classes for adults based onrealistic lesson planning is crucial to initiate flow. As flow is often misinterpreted
as an unrealistic feel–good concept this thesis illustrates that it is a worthwhilestate of mind that supports concentration and individual learning processes, it
requires effort and exact teaching strategies as well as a high level of flexibility
and vigilance of the teacher. To sum up, it is shown that, because of its process
orientation eurhythmics has a great potential to initiate flow.

Original Title
Beleuchtung des Phänomens Flow im Rhythmikunterricht mit Erwachsenen.
Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (MDW) (2018)

Important References
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Flow: das Geheimnis des Glücks. Stuttgart: Klett Cotta.
Danuser Zogg, E. (2013). Musik und Bewegung. Struktur und Dynamik derUnterrichtsgestaltung. St. Augustin: Academia.
Engeser, S. & Vollmeyer, R. (2015). Tätigkeitsanreize und Flow-Erleben. Stuttgart:
Kohlhammer.
Hauser-Dellefant, A. & Witoszynsky, E. (Ed.) (2016). Leben ist Bewegung ist Musik.
Entwicklungen und Konzepte der Wiener Rhythmik an der Universität für Musikund darstellende Kunst Wien.

179

Eurhythmics Improves
Seniors’ Gait Safety – Even
After Several Years of
Eurhythmics Lessons
Patricia Hofmann

Patricia Hofmann is a eurhythmics teacher
with training in CAS eurhythmics for seniors, HKB
Bern; Continuing education for senior citizens,
Institut Jaques-Dalcroze; NDS eurhythmics in special
and remedial education HKB Bern; Diploma of
eurhythmics from the Conservatory of Zurich. Fieldsof Activity: Experience with people of different
aptitudes from young to old, eurhythmic lessons
in special education schools and institutions, inretirement homes and music schools, head editorial
office of the journal Rhythmik Schweiz, courses in
Switzerland and abroad. www.bepositive.ch

180(Translation C.C. Elian)
As part of my Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) eurhythmics training for seniors at the
Hochschule der Künste Bern, I discussed in one of my two theses the question of whether evenafter several years of eurhythmics lessons, the beneficial effects of the practice continue.
For this purpose, I distributed an exploratory questionnaire in all my 13 classes, which areattended by over 200 senior citizens. The results are presented in graph 1.

Additionally, questions were asked about falling and stumbling, and under „Comments“
they could also write about their own experiences with eurythmics lessons.

As can be seen from the statistics, attending regular eurhythmics lessons over several
years resulted in clear improvements for senior citizens and it has in several ways
widened their competence. Consistency in practice brings returns and sustains ahigher quality of life. This is evident in the reduction of falls by more than 50%,
as well as in all other areas, which have also improved by more than 50%. The
consistent level is encouraging to me for it means that no degradation takes place,but rather there is a stable favorable outcome.
From their personal feedback, the following points should be mentioned: The
lessons in eurhythmics increase the participants‘ security, their stability, and theirmindfulness. Also, the communal nature of the practice improves the mood of eachparticipant. The group after class is much livelier and more upbeat than at the
beginning. For many of them, forgetting the worries of everyday life, if only for awhile, is very valuable.
Finally, the interaction of all the parameters strengthens and secures their gait. If
I think of the results of the Trombetti study (Arch Intern Med. 2010), which showsthat falls are reduced by 54% after six months of eurythmics, then my analysis after

181

several years of eurythmics teaching not only highlights this aspect but further
confirms their findings. If many a stumble does not end in a fall, much has alreadybeen achieved.

Original Title
Die Wirksamkeit der Seniorenrhythmik auf die Gangsicherheit auch nach mehreren
Jahren Rhythmikunterricht / CAS thesis, Senior Eurhythmics according to Dalcroze,
University of the Arts (HKB), Bern 2018.
Further informations: info@bepositive.ch / www.bepositive.ch

182

Discipline Related
Conflicts in Eurhythmics
Classes – with Preschooland Elementary SchoolChildrenA solution approach based on space,time, energy and form
Tabea Kohler

Tabea Kohler studied vocal pedagogy at
Wiesbaden Music Academy (2011-2015). She
worked as vocal coach for the Wiesbaden girls choir.
With great joy she participated in the project “Singen
in Grundschulen – Singing in Elementary Schools”,
where she taught singing to classes of 6- to 9-year-old
children. Here she was first faced with the numerous
challenges larger groups of children entail. 20162018 she studied Music and Movement (MM) at the
University of Music Trossingen. Part of her final exam
was an eurhythmics performance with a class of
9-year-olds which was an excellent opportunity forstudying the applicability of the method presented
here. Currently, Tabea Kohler works as a freelance
eurhythmic and singing teacher.

183

In eurhythmics classes teachers are often challenged with discipline related
conflicts. My thesis attempts to find solutions that will not interrupt class, and workwithout suspending or admonishing the child. Therefore a model was constructed toanalyse conflicts without regarding the child’s preceding intentions, and providing
an alternative way of acting through the specific means of teaching eurhythmics.
Thus, the reaction focuses and deals exclusively on the audible and visible aspects,
which can be influenced directly.
Four common aspects of music and movement, which in this thesis applied to
the lesson as a whole, were chosen as parameters: space, time, energy and form,
hence creating a suitable system for describing and analysing every action ineurhythmics classes; e.g. during a stop-and-go dancing game children are moving
fast. At a specific signal they have to stop and stay motionless (TIME). They needmuscle energy for the movements and body tension during the stops (ENERGY)
and they have to organize their movements in SPACE. Two children keep moving
and eventually are throwing themselves onto the ground, laughing. So, instead of
stopping the movement it persists (TIME), and ENERGY is not converted into bodytension, but noise.
However, space, time, energy and form have to be balanced to build aharmonious whole. A dysfunctional group situation can be remedied by changing
the parameters. A possible reaction then is to change the parameter FORM: rather
than simply stopping at the signal, the children now have to pose for an imaginary
photo, i.e. cease moving and put on a smile. It is now easier for all children to
succeed in the task with regard to time and energy without explicitly dealing withthe disruptive children. The thesis does not argue against disciplinary consequencesin class in general. But if the goal is to avoid interruptions as long as possible, themodel may serve as a helpful tool to increase the teacher’s flexibility.

Important References
Bünner, G., Röthig, P. (Eds.) (1975). Grundlagen und Methoden rhythmischer
Erziehung. Stuttgart: Klett.
Feudel, E. (1980). Dynamische Pädagogik. Eine elementare Anleitung für rhythmische
Erziehung in der Schule. Wolfenbüttel: Kallmeyer.
Konrad, R. (1984). Erziehungsbereich Rhythmik. Entwurf einer Theorie. Regensburg:
Gustav Bosse.
von Bülow, G. (1976). Rhythmik – Raum und Form. Göttingen.

Original Title
Konfliktsituationen im Rhythmikunterricht mit Vor- und Grundschulkindern,
University of Music Trossingen (2018).
For reading the full version in German: https://www.musikbewegung.de/studieninformationen/schriftliche-abschlussarbeiten/

184

Intra-Orchestral
Interaction

Klara Kramer

Klara Kramer, BA in eurhythmics in Vienna,
2018, started playing the violin at the age ofsix. She joined various chamber ensembles andgained her first orchestra experiences at the ageof nine. Over the years she was a member ofseveral orchestras including the Upper Austrian
Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Student Orchestraof the Bruckner University Linz and the Young
Philharmonic Orchestra of Lower Saxony. She playedwith these orchestras in the Czech Republic, Russia,
Croatia, Spain, Germany and Austria. From 2008
she studied at the University of Music Linz, taking
violin lessons with Wolfram Wincor at the Anton
Bruckner University. There she also began studying
improvisation for strings in 2017. During hermusical education, Klara took vocal, flute and piano
lessons. Klara Kramer is currently studying hermaster’s degree in eurhythmics at the University ofMusic and Performing Arts Vienna.

185

In this thesis the perception skills required of an orchestra musician and thepossibilities of their improvement using the methods of eurythmics are discussed.
Elemental operations of perception generate memory contents which are needed
for the correction and anticipation of the musicians’ movements and the resulting
sound. Additional elements, which exhaust the individual orchestra musician’s
capacities of perception and attention are investigated. A high amount of sensory
input needs to be processed and the musicians’ actions need to be compared andadapted to this input.
For example, the sound produced by the musician must be compared with theincoming sound and visual stimuli produced by the orchestra. Due to its limited
capacities of attention and perception, the human brain is only able to focus on
one matter at a time. This limitation can be overcome by alternating the focus
between the most important stimuli. Both the ability to differentiate sound anda quick reaction time are fundamental to the individual’s integration into theorchestral sound. The intra-orchestral interaction can be improved by a permanent
anticipation of movement and sound and depends, on one hand, on the musicians’
reflective thinking and, on the other hand, on the intuitive recognition of intentions
and emotions enabled by mirror neurons.
Based on studies, this thesis discusses several examples and analyses thesensory-motor and interpersonal synchronization of musicians as well as the roleof perception, interaction, and communication in an orchestra. Intriguing findings
are that the quality of an orchestra depends on attitude, motivation and mutual
respect in the communication both among musicians and between musicians
and conductor. In conclusion, the thesis provides suggestions for how methods ofeurythmics can lead to an expansion and deepening of orchestral rehearsals.

Important References
Altenmüller, E. & Klöppel, R. (2013, 6th ed.). Die Kunst des Musizierens. Von den
physiologischen und psychologischen Grundlagen zur Praxis. Mainz: Schott.
Luck, G. and Sloboda J. (2007). An Investigation of Musicians’ Synchronization with
Traditional Conducting Beat Patterns. In Music Performance Research (2007/1),
26-46.
Repp B. (2006). Musical Synchronisation. In Altenmüller, E., Wiesendanger, M. &Kesselring, J. (Eds.). Music, Motor, Control and the Brain (pp. 55-76). Oxford:
University Press.

186

Rhythm and the Body

An analysis of the perception andeffect of musical rhythm with a focus
on the significance of music andrhythm education
Barbara Krepcik

Barbara Krepcik, born in Vienna, BA in Musicand Movement Education/Eurhythmics at the
University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna(MDW); BA in musicology at the University of
Vienna. She teaches at the Institute for Elementary
Pedagogy and works as a freelancer specifically andcreatively with people of all ages and educational
backgrounds. She works as a multiplier for teachersat the Pedagogical University of Lower Austria(Pädagogische Hochschule Niederösterreich) andartistically as a dancer and choreographer in dance
and performance projects. She is co-founder of andperforms as a dancer with TanzCompanyELLA, which
specializes in pieces for children in educational
institutions, theatre productions and street festivals.

187(Translation Pat Burton Helm)
Many disciplines confirm the effect of music on the human body. Music can arouse,soothe, or elicit goose bumps. The focus of this book is to investigate the connection
between rhythm and body movement. Why is it that the mechanism of music hassuch a direct effect on our system of movement? Why do humans have the capacity
to synchronize themselves with the rhythm of music?
Using psychological and neurobiological research on music can help us findanswers to these questions. The body, the spirit and the soul are described ascapable of resonance, which have frequencies that can be excited through external
rhythm. In addition, prenatal experiences embody the motor effects of rhythm.
It is apparent that the fetus experiences strong rhythmic movements, which areconnected as well when the fetus also senses unconsciously the mother’s step andheartbeat sounds.
Hearing rhythmical music causes synchronization of movements spontaneously.
On the other hand, motor activity corresponding to the perceived rhythmic patternis essential. Body and rhythmic skills go hand in hand. Eurhythmics concerns
the interrelation of the elements in common between music and movement.
Eventually Émile Jaques-Dalcroze discovered and described the meaning of thecorporal movement for the musical and rhythmic understanding. Other skills ofmusical rhythm are used in eurhythmics. The book shows that rhythms express
not only corporal, but also emotional components, facilitating thought processes
and enabling their synchronization in the social context. A pedagogy that requires
rhythm with direct and wholistic energy promotes the holistic human developmentof personality, incorporating simultaneously motor facility, the social emotional
factors and cognitive capabilities.
The results of the scientific research is seen as ground work for eurhythmics.
Music and movement education offer exactly that, a modern educational system,
based on newest and most effective scientific principles.
This Bachelor thesis appeared as a book:
Krepcik, B. (2012). Rhythmus und Körper. Eine Analyse der Wahrnehmung und
Wirkung von musikalischem Rhythmus mit Fokus auf den Stellenwert der Musik- undBewegungspädagogik (Rhythmik). Remscheid: Re Di Roma-Verlag.

Important References
Calvo-Merino, B. (2010). Mirrors in the Brain as Connection to the World. In Woitas,
M. & Hartmann, A. (Eds.). Strawinskys Motor Drive. München: epodium.
Handel, S. (1989). Listening. An Introduction to the Perception of Auditory Events.
Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Kopiez, R. (2005). Musikalischer Rhythmus und seine wahrnehmungs­
psychologischen Grundlagen. In Brüstle, C. et al. (Eds.). Aus dem Takt.
Rhythmus in Kunst, Kultur und Natur (pp. 127-148). Bielefeld: transcript,
2005.
Pfleiderer, M. (2006). Rhythmus. Psychologische, theoretische und stilanalytische
Aspekte populärer Musik. Bielefeld: transcript.
Phillips-Silver, J. & Trainor, L. J. (June 2005). Feeling the beat: Movement Influences
Infant Rhythm Perception. In Science 3, vol. 308, no. 5727: 1430.

188

Eurhythmics as a New
Approach in School Music
Teaching in China
Mo Li

Mo Li obtains a PhD and is lecturer at East China
Normal University and Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
When she was a visiting scholar of the Teacher’sCollege of the Columbia University New York, shestarted her Dalcroze Eurhythmics training with Ann
Farber, Lisa Parker, Ruth Alperson, Cynthia Lily andLesslie Upchurch. In recent years, she devoted herself
to promote eurhythmics in China. She contributed
herself to international eurhythmics exchange
actively, organized several eurhythmics workshops
in Shanghai which was directed by eurhythmics
teachers from Germany, Austria and the USA. She alsoestablished the first “Music Teaching method basedon Eurhythmics” course in Shanghai, as well, she
conducted teaching experiment based on Dalcroze
methods in the elementary school in Shanghai. Her
research on eurhythmics localization of China was
supported by the Shanghai Pujiang Talent Program andseveral papers of her research were published on themain music pedagogy journal in China.

189Music teaching is not only an important aspect of school arts education, but also
one of the core contents of the holistic education. It plays an important role in thewhole process of human development.
In this article, we mainly discuss the value and the possibility of establishingeurhythmics education in China. We also trace the development of eurhythmics in
China in the past thirty years and highlight expectations for the near future. In thisresearch, we found that the music teaching in China faces various problems. These
include an overly rigid teaching mode and an emphasis on theoretical knowledge
and one-way teaching. Practice and experience are ignored, and this leads to adull, boring and inflexible music classroom, lacking the educational significance ofmusic teaching. There is urgent need for teaching models that emphasize a kind ofexperience-oriented, active and inspirational music education.
Based on the questionnaire survey’s result, it was found that most of the musicteachers in China consider eurhythmics as an ideal approach to changing music classes
in school. The music teachers’ desire for reform is strong and demonstrates a positive
attitude towards the concept and methods of music teaching through eurhythmics.
We are convinced that eurhythmics music teaching will surpass the existing methodsof music education with its concept and methods. It will raise quality and be beneficial
to the realization of the vision of the reform of music teaching.

Reference
MoLi, The Reform of Music Teaching Practice Based on Eurhythmics, 基于体态律
动的音乐教学实践变革[D] East China Normal University, 2018.

190

Phrasing

Elisabeth Pelz, Bettina Rollwagen

Elisabeth Pelz holds a university degree ineurhythmics and teaches at the University ofMusic Lübeck (graduate program Bachelorof Music and Master), at the Private
Conservatory Hamburg (graduate program
Bachelor of Music and vocational training
for artists with disabilities) as well as inpublic schools in Hamburg (cooperation
with Jugendmusikschule Hamburg). With theassociation Bildungswerk Rhythmik e.V., sheoffers a vocational training leading to thedegree “Rhythmikpädagogik (BWR)” and acts
as deputy president of the association. At theInstitut für Bewegungs- und Lernentwicklung,
Furthermore, she lectures for a postgraduate
qualification in the domains of learning,
movement and development. In addition, she
directs music and a theatre performance forlaypersons aged 4 to 85 years and teaches
workshops in Germany, Austria, Switzerland
and China.

Bettina Rollwagen is a certificatedMovement Analyst (Laban-InstituteN.Y.) and movement-teacher, M.A.
(Cologne). She taught ten years
dance- and movement-theatre andpsychomotricity at a culture centre in
Hamburg as well as Laban MovementAnalysis in pedagogic and therapeutic
fields. During that time she continued
her studies in movement language inhistory, art-history and ethnology at
the University Hamburg (MA). Latershe created different dance/theatre/film projects for children with special
emotional-social needs. Extended
studies in neurosciences, cognitive
science, dyslexia therapy. In 2007 she
founded the Institute for movement andlearning development (IBL). Leadershipof the education-training program:Somatic base of personal growth andlearning-skills. She is also lecturer at
different universities such as Hamburg,
Heidelberg and Zürich and she writes
reports in several journals.
www.bewegteslernen.org.

191(Translation C.C. Elian)
Based on various types of phrasing taken from the analysis of movement and music
within their neurobiological contexts, it is shown that phrasing is an indispensable
creative tool in music and movement/eurhythmics for children, adolescents, andadults, and in a figurative sense, also in everyday rhythms of life. Five types ofphrasing with favorable effects on quality of life and learning for all ages are
discussed, namely: the phrasing of beginning, execution and completion; that ofeffort and recovery; the simultaneous and/or successive phrasing of multisensory
learning; the phrasing of impulse; and finally, the developmental psychologicalphrasing of attachment, autonomy, and empathy.
This article refers to various aspects of phrasing in movement and how to consider
it in relation to developmental psychology. Typical disorders show what happens
when healthy phrasing is neither exemplified nor experienced. The 21st century is
characterized by globalization and digitization, however embodied abilities suchas phrasing and skillful action are primarily experienced and learned throughsensory contact. It takes physical processes and activities for them to be stored in
our implicit memory. When we understand phrasing from a somatic foundation,
we can increase awareness, and empower processes underlying our health andcreativity in order to actively use them.
Embodied in ancient Greece by the god Kairos, phrasing has to do with theopportune moment and the right measure. Nowadays, people often complain about
the lack of time, but they lack a sense of feeling and proportion for what is possible
and for healthy phrasing in the world of experience. Over time, lack of phrasingcan even affect health and personality development. Last and not least, phrasing is
also an essential element for any artistic gestalt in eurythmics.
Bettina Rollwagen outlines from a movement analysis point of view, the biologicaland neurophysiological processes and their effects on our somatic foundations; andwith examples of teaching sequences and methods from the field of eurhythmics,
Elisabeth Pelz illustrates the types of phrasing and their effects.
The full text will be published in: Steffen-Wittek, M., Weise, D. & Zaiser, D. (eds.)(2019): Rhythmik - Musik und Bewegung. Transdisziplinäre Perspektiven. Bielefeld:transcript (in print).

192

Dance Along ... a Learning
Platform for Music andMovement Teachers
Andrea Schär

Andrea Schär, *1993, Master of Arts at Zürcher
Fachhochschule in Music Education; Specializationin Music and Movement, Eurhythmics at Universityof the Arts Zürich (ZHdK, 2018). Teaching Diploma
for Lower Secondary Education; subject music (PHBern, 2013; Berne University of Teacher Education).
Teaching assignment for the Universitiy of Applied
Sciences of Special Needs Education (HfH, Zurich)and ZHdK. Practitioner of dance, music andmovement for people of all ages, capabilities andwith any requirements. Diploma in dance (Zumba,
Ballroom Dances). Involvement in dance, theatre
und performance. Faciliator of workshops andfurther trainings.

193

Dancing while seated –comparison between chair and wheelchair

Whether experienced consciously or unconsciously, our daily life is full of movements.
Many of them can be broken down into small elements, which rearranged, can be
combined into a form of dance. Every human being has individual physical andcognitive skills influencing their movements. The basic theme of my master thesis
recognizes these characteristic skills possessed by every person and proposes waysof strengthening them in a personally customized way.
It is the purpose of my thesis to introduce various possibilities of movement,
and to bring selected elements of movement into a form of dance through the useof variation and combination. Additionally, music and movement teachers find inthese possibilities support for their own practical work.
As a final product, a learning platform for music and movement teachers will beaccessible to assist them in maximizing their options for offering personal creative
expression through movement. Above all, the variability and adaptability of theelements of movement should be emphasized. The learning platform presents users
with videos and drawings of movement elements that can be used with the target
groups (elderly people and paraplegics). The flexible handling of the selectedmovement elements makes it possible to specifically extend and support the rangeof the groups‘ movements.
In addition, a dance program that includes elements of the learning platform
and which was implemented by two groups of elderly people and one group ofparaplegics, will be presented. From them, it becomes evident that dance andmovement can be performed despite physical impairments.

Original Title
Tanz mit ..! Eine Lernplattform für Musik und Bewegungspädagogen. Tanzen imSitzen – ein Vergleich zwischen Stuhl und Rollstuhl. Master thesis University of theArts Zürich (ZHdK) (2018).
Further informations: dancealong@hotmail.com

194

Jaques-Dalcroze
Eurhythmics for People
Affected with Parkinson’s
DiseaseAnne-Laure Schlaubitz Garin

Anne-Laure Schlaubitz Garin first studied special
needs education. A passionate lover of music, sheobtained a certificate of piano. She then obtained
a Master in Jaques-Dalcroze eurythmic pedagogy.
Combining both fields of expertise, she teaches
eurythmics in Geneva, primarily to adults with mental
and psychological disabilities, to elderly people and topeople affected with Parkinson’s disease.

195

Since 2017, after completion of a pilot project with the Neurology Department of
Geneva University Hospitals, the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva offers eurythmics
lessons for people affected with Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive nervous system disorder mainly affecting
motor function. Main symptoms are resting tremor; absence or slowness of
movements (akinesia/bradykinesia) characterized by difficulties in initiating andconducting a movement till the end of the action; and rigidity, with loss of fluidityof movements. Additionally, gait is affected (risk of fall). Sequential, repetitive andsimultaneous movements are impaired. Over time, cognitive functions may also be
altered. The voice may be affected by monotonous tone and hypophonia; reductionof facial expressions can also occur. All these symptoms impact activities of dailyliving and can induce anxiety or depression. As no curative treatment is available,
pharmaceutical and surgical interventions aim to decrease symptoms. However,previous research has demonstrated that auditory or visual stimuli improve gait bycreating new neuronal connections (brain plasticity).
Eurythmics, allying music and movement in a large variety of multitasking
exercises might help people affected with Parkinson’s disease outside of the medical
setting. Musical improvisation in eurythmics lessons allows fine adjustment between
the teacher and the participants, and also permits many variations within an
exercise. The use of diverse objects (including balls, hoops, and scarves) enhances
visualization of the movements, and is a help in conducting large and energetic
movements. The spatial component in eurythmics activates gait and movements invarious and changing tempi and directions. Both cognitive skills (such as memory
or planning) and affectivity are also activated while exercising. Finally, compared
to ordinary lessons, the environment must be physically and emotionally secure.
All exercises should also be realizable while sitting, allowing each participant toprogress at his or her own pace. Two teachers should also be present to ensure thesafety of the participants.

Original Title
La Rythmique Jaques-Dalcroze au service des personnes ayant la maladie de Parkinson.
Master thesis Haute École de Musique, Geneva (2017).
For reading the article in French: http://fier.com/documents?filter=3

196

The Event of Attention in
Movement Improvisation

A study of Nancy Stark Smith’s“Underscore”, based on Bernhard
Waldenfels’ phenomenology ofattention
Eva Schorndanner

Eva Schorndanner, Diplom degree in Music andMovement Education / Eurhythmics at the Universityof the Arts Berlin (2017). B.A. in Ethnology, Albert
Ludwig Universität Freiburg (2009). She works asa freelance musician and performer, music andmovement teacher, and artistic director. Her musicalwork spans classical music, folk and improvisation.
She performs with AndiamoSon as harpist and singer
and is a member of the Colin-Maillard performancecollective (www.kollektiv-colin-maillard.jimdo.
com/). For the fourth year in a row she will beworking as organizer and teacher of the international
dance festival “Contact and Flow” in Mexico (www.
contactandflow.com). As part of AndiamoKollektiv
she also leads national and international dance
theatre projects for children and youth (https://
vimeo.com/167476533). In 2018 she organized andcurated her first artistic encounters between German
and Mexican musicians and dancers, supported by
the coproduction fund of the Goethe Institute and by
the German Federal Association of Cultural Education
for Children and Youth.

197“Movement improvisation is an attentional practice.” (de Spain 2014, p. 167)
Kent De Spain regards attention as a defining characteristic of movement
improvisation: he describes the process of sustained attention guiding body andmind into a state of presence – the basic state which is essential for improvisation
takes place. He thus defines movement improvisation as an attentional practice.
This paper sets out to explore what the features of the ‘event’ of attention are andhow they inform the practice of movement improvisation. Moreover, the paper asks
to what extent movement improvisation can be defined as an attentional practice.
In part 1, important concepts related to attention are clarified and described from a
psychological and philosophical perspective as well as in terms of kinematics. Particularemphasis will be placed on Waldenfels’ phenomenological approach, allowing us to apply
the concept of attention to a concrete improvisational model. Part 2 and 3 are devoted
to the concept of movement improvisation and its subcategory of contact improvisation.
In part 4, drawing on Bernhard Waldenfels‘ theory of attention, the connections between
attention and movement improvisation are used to examine Nancy Stark Smith’s modelof the “Underscore”, and the aforementioned questions are discussed.
Both psychological and philosophical research associate attention with perception,
which in turn plays a central role in practical work in motion. According to Waldenfels,
the making of new experiences through the interplay of being affected by andresponding to something lies at the core of the phenomenon of attention. By analyzing
the “Underscore” from a phenomenological perspective, it emerges that the specificprocesses that Waldenfels describes as the constituent parts of the event of attention are
also found in movement improvisation. Moreover, they are a necessary precondition forthe process of improvisation, in the absence of which the required state of presence inthe moment cannot be achieved. This confirms the thesis formulated above, according
to which movement improvisation is a form of attentional practice.

Important Referencesde Spain, K. (2003). The cutting edge of awareness. Reports from the Inside of
Improvisation. In Albright, A. Gere, D. (Eds.): Taken by surprise. A Dance
Improvisation Reader (pp. 27-38). Middletown : Wesleyan University Press.
de Spain, K. (2014). Landscape of the now. A Topography of Movement Improvisation.
Oxford: University Press.
Stark Smith, N. & Koteen, D. (2008). Caught falling. The confluence of contact improvisation,
Nancy Stark Smith, and other moving ideas. Northampton: Contact Editions.
Stark Smith, N. (2003). A Subjective History of Contact Improvisation In Albright,
A. & Gere, D. (Eds.): Taken by surprise. A Dance Improvisation Reader (pp. 153173). Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
Waldenfels, B. (2016). Geweckte und gelenkte Aufmerksamkeit. In Müller, J.
Nießeler & A. Rauh, A. (eds). Aufmerksamkeit. Neue humanwissenschaftliche
Perspektiven (pp. 25-45). Bielefeld: transcript.
Waldenfels, B. (2004). Phänomenologie der Aufmerksamkeit. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.

Original Title
Aufmerksamkeitsgeschehen in der Bewegungsimprovisation, University of the Arts
(UdK) Berlin (2017).
For reading the full version in German: https://www.musikbewegung.de/studieninformationen/schriftliche-abschlussarbeiten/

198

The Effects of Dalcroze
Eurhythmics on
Psychological and Physical
Variables
Elda Nelly Treviño

Dr. Elda Nelly Treviño is a professor at theFacultad de Música of the Universidad Autónoma deNuevo León (UANL) in Monterrey, México where she
also directs and teaches piano at her independent
school Música Viva. She is active as a consultant,
guest faculty, cultural promoter and collaborative
pianist within México and abroad. Elda Nelly holds
a PhD in Psychology (Summa Cum Laude) fromthe UANL, a BM and MM in Piano Literature andPedagogy from the University of Texas at Austin, andthe Dalcroze Certificate and License from Carnegie
Mellon University. She has received numerous
academic awards such as the Prize in Auditive ArtsUANL 2009, FORCA Noreste 2010 for international
artistic residences, and the Joint Research Program
Matías Romero 2016-17 from the National Secretaryof Foreign Relations of Mexico. Her research interests
are: the positive effects of music and movement
practice in different domains of life.

199

The increase of the population of older adults worldwide, challenges societies tofind sustainable, non-pharmacological interventions with positive effects for thispopulation. Studies suggest that artistic activities have positive effects in the livesof older adults. From the perspective of positive psychology, Dalcroze Eurhythmics
is centered on the psychological and physical domains of the human being. During
sessions of Dalcroze Eurhythmics the persons listen, feel, and express music
developing their innate musicality through the integration of body movements.
Sessions of Dalcroze Eurhythmics are divided in activities of improvisation,
coordination, ear discrimination, and musical expression.
Objective: to evaluate the efficacy of Dalcroze Eurhythmics on psychological andphysical variables in older adults through an eight-week intervention. Hypothesis:
the music pedagogy DE has positive effects on psychological and physical variables.
Materials and method: quasi-experimental design with quantitative analysis
using SPSS 24 with measures pre-post, and manual qualitative analysis in a sample
of N = 60 (M = 73 years) divided in three experimental groups and a control group.
The instruments used were the Spanish versions of the following questionnaires:(a) psychological variables: WHOQOL-BREF, MMSE, PANAS, SDFSS-2, SFSS-2,
TMT; (b) physical variables: WHOQOL-BREF, the Tinetti test, coordination andrhythm test; (c) structured interviews.
Results: the positive difference was statistically significant post-test in a few
of the indicators of the variables of study; therefore, the research hypothesis ispartially accepted.
Conclusion: From the perspective of positive psychology, Dalcroze Eurhythmics
is a sustainable non-pharmacological music education which addresses the
cognitive, affective, social, and physical dimensions of the human being. For thisreason Dalcroze Eurhythmics can be used to promote healthy ageing through thepsychological and physical variables studied related to the functional and intrinsic
capacities of older adults, thus improving subjective wellbeing. Yet, further
longitudinal studies are needed in this field.

Important References
Croom, A. M. (2015). Musicpractice and participation for psychological well-being:
A review of how music influences positive emotion, engagement, relationships,
meaning, andaccomplishment. Musicae Scientiae, 9(1), 44-64.doi:10.1177/
1029864914561709
Juntunen, M.-L. (2004). Embodiment in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Oulu, Oulun
Yliopisto, Finland: University of Oulu.
Le Collège de l`Institut Jaques-Dalcroze. (2009). The Dalcroze Identity. Theory andPractice of Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Geneva: Institut Jaques-Dalcroze.
Lee, J., Krause, A., & Davidson, J. (2017). Music, PERMA well-being model, andmusic facilitation-practice: Preliminary evidence for well-being through music
provision in Australian schools. Research Studies in Music Education, 39(1), 7389.doi: 10.177/13211103X17703131
Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish. A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness andWell-Being. New York: Free Press.

200

Striving forConnectedness

The principle of emotional
resonance according to Barbara
Gindl with special considerationof pedagogical approaches of
Eurhythmics/Music and Movement
Education
Una Minou Wiplinger

Una Minou Wiplinger, BA in Eurhythmics/
Music and Movement Education at the University ofMusic and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw). As a pianoand voice pedagogue, she is also active as artist
and educator in the fields of dance and theatre forchildren and adults. Freelance dancer, musician,eurhythmics practitioner. Member of the dance andperformance company schallundrauch.

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In my thesis, I examine the origin, effect, and meaning of emotional resonance for thehuman being. I also look into the question: which prerequisites are necessary to create
experiences of resonance, especially in teaching eurythmics? At first, I consider theconcept of resonance from the point of view of various scientific disciplines (physics,
psychology, music, etc.). Then I introduce the starting point of this work, namely,
the reciprocal understanding of resonance according to Barbara Gindl, PhD, a Swissmusic therapist. Resonance, reflection and cooperation also find their counterpartsin embryonic development and human biology. The latest findings from bonding andbrain research are related to the phenomenon of emotional resonance and underline
its central importance on all levels of human existence.
Finding resonance is a basic human need and the basis of every relationship.
It requires a willingness for resonance, and conscious attention thereto. Music,
especially as approached through eurythmics, represents a fitting opportunity tomake resonant experiences tangible. By using the example of musically accompanied
movement, I show how spaces of resonance can be created.

Original Title
Das Streben nach Verbundenheit. Das Prinzip der emotionalen Resonanz nach
Barbara Gindl unter besonderer Berücksichtigung pädagogischer Ansätze derRhythmikMB. Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (MDW) (2018).

Important References
Bauer, J. (2007). Prinzip Menschlichkeit. Warum wir von Natur aus kooperieren (4thed.). Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe.
Gindl, B. (2002). Anklang. Die Resonanz der Seele. Über ein Grundprinzip
therapeutischern Beziehung. Paderborn: Junfermann.
Hüther, G. & Hauser, U. (2014): Jedes Kind ist hochbegabt. Die angeborenen Talenteunserer Kinder und was wir aus ihnen machen (2nd ed.). München: btb.