What is Dalcroze Eurhythmics?

The Dalcroze Identity (This document comes from Le Collège de l'Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva, Switzerland.)

Dalcroze Eurhythmics is a unique, exciting, and powerful education in and through music. Rhythmic movement, intense listening, and improvisation unlock creativity, nurture imagination, and open the doors to enriched and enlivened music making. Eurhythmics (literally, good rhythm) places experiential knowledge at the fore. Musical concepts are explored through social and interactive methods that invite the students to trust their ideas and develop their own intuitions. Dalcroze study has three branches:

Eurhythmics trains the body in rhythm, dynamics, articulation, phrasing, and form;
Solfège trains the ear, eye, and voice in pitch, melody, and harmony;
Improvisation brings all elements together according to the student's own invention -- in movement, with the voice, or at an instrument

Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, a Swiss pianist, composer, and educator, created his method of teaching advanced conservatory students using "rhythmic gymnastics" early in the Twentieth century. Later, he developed these principles for children and young adults. In a typical Dalcroze class, the instructor will combine the elements above using rhythm games, songs, gesture, and movement as the key teaching media so that the joy of music is experienced and understood. As a precursor to or in tandem with instrument or dance lessons, Dalcroze education will create a platform for accelerated and deep learning for musicians or dancers of all ages and levels.