What do you know that your sentient, feeling body did not first experience? The Swiss musician Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950) developed a whole pedagogy of music and movement to explore this question. Self-awareness, self-expression, and musical knowing are all seated in the body, the fundamental constant of all experience. But how do we honor that truth in our learning? We notice and name discrete events, but what of the flow that connects them?
In Eurhythmics (greek for ‘good flow’), we’ll explore through music what embodiment, proprioception, and attention to nuance can teach us about design. Playfully noticing the aesthetics of experience, we’ll consider how we shape our world to be inclusive, interactive, and compassionate. As Stephen Neely, a modern Dalcroze pedagogue writes, “The human experience is analog. It is the actual, visceral, flesh and bone, breathing, beating body that is the only translator of experience we possess.”
Learning Outcomes:
The student will learn fundamental aspects of Eurhythmics including beat, pulse, meter, gesture, phrase, and entrainment.
The student will deepen their understanding of embodied experience within the context of this specific somatic and musical practice.
The student will use this soma literacy as a framework for considering embodied design, composition, and the felt experience that unites the seemingly distinct elements of any worldly interaction.
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Course Level: 2000-level
Credits: 2
M 3:40PM -5:30PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 12
Course Frequency: One time only
Categories: All courses , Fully In-Person , Fundamentals , Updates
Tags: awareness , beat , design , embodiment , gestalt , gesture , groove , harmony , melody , movement , music , Music Fundamentals , Rhythm , Songs