Christine Straumer, a renowned German music professor enlightened 300 Chinese university students and school teachers with learning to translate music with movement at a eurhythmics workshop in the Concert Hall of ECNU Minhang campus on March 21.
Prof. Straumer demonstrates how to translate music with movement at a eurhythmics workshop.
Participants moved their body parts to the rhythm played by Christine Straumer, Director of Eurhythmics School of Dresden College of Music in Germany and Chairwoman of Hellerau Eurhythmics Research Institute, the world leader in the studies of Dalcroze Eurhythmics.
The two-hour long class was a trial practice by ECNU to push ahead musical education reform. While the study of traditional classroom music theory reinforces concepts visually and encourages students to develop aural skills, the study of eurhythmics solidifies these concepts through movement. Eurhythmics helps develop the students spontaneous physical response to music through movement.
The class’s heightened body awareness and an association of rhythm with a physical experience for the students, reinforced concepts kinesthetically.
Participants move their bodies to feel the charm of eurthythmics.
At the class, Zhu Liang, a lecturer with Hellerau Eurhythmics Research Institute, and Li Rong with ECNU Department of Music demonstrated piano accompaniment in eurhythmics, creative eurhythmics, and eurhythmics time teaching.
Straumer, who has been engaged in teaching children music for more than 40 years, has brought forth new ideas and practices into the Dalcroze Eurhythmics theory. She analyzed the correlation between notes and body movement, space, aural learning and feelings in details. She also performed eurhythmics in instrumental education.
A local 6-year-old piano player was invited to give a performance at the class and his skills turned out to have been improved remarkably after Straumer gave him a eurhythmics lesson.
Li Mo, a teacher from ECNU's Department of Music, shares her view on eurhythmics.
The class attendants included students of ECNU's Department of Music, Department of Preschool Education, and Department of Special Education, music teachers and researchers from around Shanghai, primary and middle school music teachers in the city, and music teachers from other parts of the country, including Beijing, Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and Shandong.
Dalcroze Eurhythmics, also known as the Dalcroze Method or simply eurhythmics, is one of several developmental approaches used to teach music to students. Eurhythmics was developed in the early 20th century by Swiss musician and educator Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. Dalcroze Eurhythmics teaches concepts of rhythm, structure, and musical expression using movement. It focuses on allowing the student to gain physical awareness and experience of music through training that takes place through all of the senses, particularly kinesthetic. Eurhythmics often introduces a musical concept through movement before the students learn about its visual representation.
