Over a century ago, Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950) began experimenting with a pedagogical approach that would give students access to their personal musical voice and a system of technique to express that voice with ease and sensitivity. Music education had lost sight of certain key qualities of exceptional musicianship; qualities such as flow, nuance, imagination, and individuality, so valued in expressive performance, were absent in music pedagogy. According to Jaques-Dalcroze, the antidote to musical arrhythmy (a lack of musical ease and expressivity) lay in the integrated use of the whole body in both musical perception and performance, a coordination he termed eurhythmy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the applications of Dalcroze Eurhythmics to the choral context, including the ways in which the Dalcroze approach shapes the philosophical, pedagogical and musical outcomes of choral pedagogy and practice. More specifically, how do these two areas interact in relationship to the following topics: (1) conductor, chorister and choir as instrument, (2) conductor and chorister score study, (3) conductor and chorister gesture, and (4) choral pedagogy and rehearsal techniques? The original writings of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze provide a framework for the discussion, while interviews with two groups, Dalcroze master-teachers with choral conducting training and/or experience, and Dalcroze-trained choral conductors illustrate the specific applications of the choral context. Study participants reported the use of the Dalcroze approach for three main purposes in the choral context: (a) to develop choral skills, including vocal skills, aural skills, kinesthetic skills, ensemble skills and music literacy skills; (b) to prepare the whole body for accurate and expressive performance of choral repertoire (conducting and singing); and (c) to develop non-musical outcomes that support choral conducting and singing, including mental acuity, creativity, a contextualized view of self and others, self-confidence and risk-taking, and enjoyment in music making.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/35800 |
| Date | 07 August 2013 |
| Creators | Daley, Caron |
| Contributors | Apfelstadt, Hilary |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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