Emile Jaques-Dalcroze developed Dalcroze Eurhythmics in 1905 to cater to the students that were not being taught how to listen or hear music properly. Eurhythmics means to train the body to feel the muscular sensations of time and energy as they are manifest in space. This gives students total absorption of mind, body, and emotions in the experience of actualizing musical sound. Dalcroze believed that in the study of music should continually be cultivating a memory band or aural, visual, and kinesthetic images which could be recalled at any time for reading, writing, performing, or creating music.
Ear training and solfege are critical aspects of the Dalcroze approach. Students have to develop the inner ear to hear and listen accurately before they can be successful in movement. Dalcroze gives students the opportunity to respond freely to music by stepping, singing, gesturing, or suing the whole body. This gives way for students to be asked to move in a specific way when a signal or command is given, move in a specific way as they respond to the music, respond in an uninterrupted cannon or echo, and perform a cannon of movement. Props such as balls, scarves, balloons, bamboo rods or sticks can be used to give students a more concrete physical and tactile sensation.
- Virtually all aspects of music an be explored through eurhythmics
- Music time and extensive participation are rqured to appreciate these possibilities fully.