Dalcroze eurhythmics explained for parents: learning music by moving

Dalcroze eurhythmics teaches music through movement. A teacher plays the piano, and the children move to what they hear. They step the beat, stop when the music stops, and change when the music changes. The body learns rhythm, speed, and shape first. The names and the notes come later.

“Eurhythmics” means good rhythm. It is one part of a wider approach called Dalcroze education. This guide explains where it came from, what a class looks like, and how to try its ideas at home.

Where it came from

Émile Jaques-Dalcroze was a Swiss composer and teacher who lived from 1865 to 1950. He taught at the music conservatory in Geneva.

His students there were skilled. They could play hard pieces and answer questions about theory. He noticed that many of them still did not feel the music. They played the right notes with stiff, uneven rhythm.

He began to try something new. He had students walk, swing their arms, and breathe in time with music he played at the piano. He found that their playing improved. He kept building on the idea for the rest of his life. The Dalcroze Society of America calls it one of the first modern methods of music education.

The three parts

Dalcroze education has three main branches. They are taught together.

Eurhythmics. This is the movement part, and it is what most people mean when they say “Dalcroze.” Students show what they hear with their bodies: the beat, the rhythm, loud and soft, smooth and sharp, the shape of a phrase.

Solfège. This part trains the ears, the eyes, and the voice. Students sing using the note names do, re, mi. The goal is to hear music in the mind when looking at a page, and to write down music that one hears.

Improvisation. Students make up music, with movement, with the voice, or at an instrument. It ties the other two parts together.

Older students may also study how to turn a whole piece of music into group movement, and how to teach the method.

What a class looks like

A eurhythmics class happens in a big, clear room. The children are often barefoot. The teacher sits at a piano and makes up the music as the class goes along. Because the music is live, the teacher can change it at any moment to fit what the children are doing.

A lesson for young children might go like this.

The teacher plays walking music, and the children walk in time. The music gets faster, and the walk turns into a jog. The music stops, and everyone freezes. A high trill means reach for the ceiling. A low rumble means crouch down.

Next the children bounce or roll a ball in time with the music. A slow beat needs a big, slow bounce. A quick beat needs a small one. The ball makes the length of each beat something a child can see.

Then the teacher plays a pattern of long and short notes, and the children step it. One half of the class may step the beat while the other half steps the rhythm.

The teacher often does not explain the point at the start. The children find it through doing. At the end, the class may sing or move to a short piece that uses everything from the lesson.

What children gain

The aim is a child who feels music in the body, with a steady sense of timing and an ear that catches changes.

The quick-reaction games also ask for close listening. A child has to pay attention to the piano every second, because it may change without warning.

Dalcroze is not a way to learn one instrument. Many children take it before lessons start, or alongside them.

Who it suits

It suits a child who cannot sit still. In a eurhythmics class, moving is the work.

It suits young children, even toddlers, because nothing needs to be read or held. The Dalcroze Society of America says classes serve people from infancy to old age.

It also suits a child who already plays an instrument but sounds stiff, or who rushes and slows without knowing it.

The hard part is finding a class. Teachers need a Dalcroze certificate, and the training takes a long time. The Dalcroze Society of America says certified teachers are few. Community music schools, conservatory children’s programs, and some city arts centers are the best places to look.

How to try the ideas at home

Walk the music. Put on any piece with a clear beat. Walk in time. When the music gets faster or slower, change with it. Try a march, then a waltz, then something slow.

Freeze. Play music and pause it at random. Everyone freezes when it stops. For a harder game, freeze in a high shape for high music and a low shape for low music.

Bounce the beat. Bounce a ball to a slow piece, then to a quick one. Talk about how the bounce had to change.

Follow the leader. One person moves in a way that fits the music: floating, stomping, tiptoeing. Everyone copies. Change leaders when the music changes.

Conduct. Give your child a pencil as a baton. Big arm moves for loud music. Small moves for soft music.

Our list of classical music for kids to dance to has eight pieces that work well for these games.

Questions to ask a teacher

• Do you hold a Dalcroze certificate or license?
• Is the music in class played live?
• How old are the children in the group?
• May a parent watch or join a class first?

To see Dalcroze beside the other approaches, read music teaching methods for kids compared. Our music method quiz suggests a starting point in seven questions. For a steady beat to move to, try the metronome for kids.