Meaningful Movement: A Music Teacher’s Guide to Dalcroze Eurhythmics – BF1

Description

by Marla Butke and David Frego

This thoughtful and thorough text is intended to help music teachers find meaningful ways to include Dalcroze-based movement in lessons that meet national education standards and have assessment opportunities. Chapters 2 – 5 contain sequential activities that teach various music concepts. Concentration, rhythmic integrity, artistic movement, and social integration are key components. The 206 lessons are divided into four phases – introductory, beginning, intermediate and advanced. Directions are easy to follow. Includes sample lesson plans, assessment rubrics, and an access code for a video-link to view 31 lessons presented by children and adults.

David Frego, Ph.D., is the Director of the Pennsylvania State University School of Music and Past-President of the American Eurhythmics Society. He regularly presents workshops and seminars on Eurhythmics throughout the globe and has been featured in DVDs, books, and articles in music education journals and journals for arts medicine. Meaningful Movement: A Teacher’s Guide to Dalcroze Eurhythmics, co-written with Marla Butke, was published in 2016.

Marla Butke, Ph.D., directs the Women’s Chorale at Otterbein University and teaches Choral Methods at Capital University in Ohio. She is a Master Teaching Artist with the American Eurhythmics Society, serves as the vice-president of the board of AES, and is the Ohio Chapter President. Dr. Butke regularly presents workshops throughout the United States on Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Her book, co-authored by Dr. David Frego, Meaningful Movement: A Music Teacher’s Guide to Dalcroze Eurhythmics, was recently released.

Contents:

“Music educators at every level and from any approach will find this beautiful book an essential resource for helping students develop rhythmic skills and creativity through artistic, expressive, and meaningful movement. Each of the 206 lessons is presented with clear objectives, easy-to-follow directions, and rubrics for assessment. For the beginning teacher, the book provides an ideal starting point, and the experienced teacher will discover a myriad of ideas for development. “Meaningful Movement” is a unique and comprehensive resource that will not sit on the shelf. Exciting opportunities for musical growth are on the pages, ready for teachers who will bring the lessons to life with their students.”

Judy Bond, Ph.D
Professor and Coordinator of Music Education, University of Wisconsin Stevens Points (retired)
Past President, American Orff-Schulwerk Association
Founding Member, Alliance for Active Music Making

“While we reasonably accept that Dalcroze Eurhythmics must be experienced to be understood, this exceptional volume gets at the heart of the principles of Dalcroze-into-practice through remarkably credible means: It chronicles Dalcroze in action. The 206 lessons are core for coming to grips with the essence of this multi-faceted pedagogical approach: the necessary initial and continuing “focus” of a student’s attention to a musical challenge, the centrality of eurhythmic movement’s integration of time, space and energy, the vibrant encounters in rhythmic solfege that animate singing while strengthening the inner-hearing capacity to know rhythm and pitch, the visual expressions of notable musical compositions through expressive movement, and a welcome set of suggestions for keyboard improvisation that enable teachers to provide music that motivates the eurhythmic movement of students. The integrity of the pedagogical techniques in this volume are laudable, and not surprising, given that the authors are highly experienced Dalcroze practitioners. This compendium serves up experiences that draw out the musical nature of students of every age, and guarantee the development of qualities of concentration, coordination, creativity, cognitive reasoning, as well as social and emotional well-being. Meaningful Movement: A Music Teacher’s Guide to Dalcroze Eurhythmics is a must read (and heed!), and a welcome contribution to the work of musicians and teachers in making students more musical.”

Patricia Shehan Campbell, Ph.D
Donald E. Petersen Professor of Music, University of Washington