dalcroze eurhythmics

Students in PALS Prep and Circle of PALS receive weekly training in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Dalcroze is a Swiss pedagogy for both children and adults that fosters a whole-body relationship to music. Through Dalcroze classes, students build an ingrained physical sense of beat and rhythm, a spatial understanding of pitch and melody, and an intuitive understanding of phrasing and form. Dalcroze classes also build instinctive expressive tendencies, ability to improvise, and musical precision and sensitivity.

At PALS, eurhythmics activities involve students moving and reacting to improvised music that the teacher plays on the piano. Additional activities involve gesturing and inventing melodies and rhythms, as well as singing and interpreting graphic notation. Students also use movement to develop formal interpretations of longer pieces. Instructors use an array of games to develop sensitive communication, coordination, and music-reading skills.

For more information on Dalcroze classes, please visit www.dalcrozeusa.org/.