Dalcroze eurhythmics in England : history of an innovation in music & movement education

This study uses historical research, participant observation, direct interview, and practical reconstruction to investigate Dalcroze Eurhythmics as it was introduced in England during the early twentieth century. The Dalcroze method is an oral tradition of music and movement education which originated in the experiments of the Swiss composer Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950). Convinced that the development of musicianship must involve harmonization of mind and body, he tried exercises of walking, breathing, and beating time to help his conservatory students respond more spontaneously and accurately. From these beginnings in Geneva around 1900 he went on to pursue improvisation as a way of creating music and expressive movement. While teaching in Germany from 1910 to 1914 at the new professional training college built for him at Hellerau, near Dresden, he met a number of educationists who wanted to promote this work in England. Among them were Percy and Ethel Ingham, who founded the London School of Dalcroze Eurhythmics in 1913. The London School trained the women who spread Dalcroze teaching widely during the years before World War 11 in public and private education, particularly in progressive schools. Challenged by the London School's cloSing in 1963 and by alternative approaches to music and movement education, Dalcrozians in the second half of the century have taken new initiatives in classroom music, professional training, therapy, and research