Summer Course at the Levine School
of Music
Strathmore Music Center, Bethesda, MD
August 7-11, 2006
Enhance your teaching with movement, games, songs, and stories from MusiKinesis! Based on the Jaques-Dalcroze method, MusiKinesis maintains sound pedagogical philosophy while providing concrete, applicable ideas and resources to enliven your teaching.
The course will introduce ideas for curricular structure, pedagogical strategies, and making connections between movement and music, while equipping you with specific materials, resources, and abilities. You'll develop new skills and discover ways to channel your own creativity into designing lessons specifically for your students. (Especially ideal for teachers of pre-school through elementary levels.)
When: Monday, August 7 – Friday August 11, 2006, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Where: Levine School of Music's Maryland Strathmore Site.
Tuition: $310,
discounted to $295 before May 15th; $60 materials fee includes the three volumes
of Eurhythmics for Young Children at 20% discount (prorated for those who
already own any of them; waived if you own all of them).
Registration: Simply return the form provided in the brochure
(in PDF here, or
request one to be snail-mailed to
you).
Housing:
The American Inn of Bethesda has
agreed to offer a special rate for those attending this workshop -- $89 per
night single room (1 bed), $110 double (2 beds). This includes a continental
breakfast, wireless internet service, and complimentary van transportation to
Strathmore. For reservations, call 1-800-323-7081 and be sure to mention you're
with the MusiKinesis class at Levine.
We can help you make contact with other
students who are interested in sharing a double;
let us know if you want to be on a
list of those looking for roommates.
Schedule outline:
10:00 – 11:00 – Eurhythmics Class
11:00 – 11:45 – Rhythmic Teaching Applications
11:45 – 12:30 – Creative Lab & Discussion
12:30 – 1:30 - Lunch
1:30 – 2:15 – Melody and Melodic Teaching Applications
2:15 – 3:00 – Special Topics, Tools, and Techniques
3:00 – 4:00 – Creative Pedagogy & Problem-solving
In Detail:
Eurhythmics Class
The classic foundation of Jaques-Dalcroze’s method, Eurhythmics uses movement as
a way of experiencing music concepts. It involves coordination, concentration,
listening, quick reactions, movement technique and more – all in a supportive,
joyful learning atmosphere. You’ll want to wear comfortable clothing for
movement, and be ready to take off your shoes and socks.
Rhythmic Teaching Applications
Here we take the concepts of the Eurhythmics class and introduce ways for you to
teach them to your own students. You’ll be given concrete music, exercises,
games, stories, and more. With the MusiKinesis texts as reference, you’ll get to
see how the process works first-hand, and learn how it can expand to a wide
range of age levels.
Creative Lab &
Discussion
Looking at the design framework behind the MusiKinesis lesson materials
provided, we’ll identify the key ingredients to creating effective ideas that
work. Focusing on these ingredients, you’ll be guided through targeted creative
activities, leading you to compose your own songs, poems, stories and exercises
specifically suited to your own teaching. This component is invaluable for
sparking your own creativity, giving you tools to carry the week’s ideas forward
in your work.
Lunch
Lunch is available for purchase at Strathmore, or you can bring your own. (The
American Inn offers refrigerators, for those who'd like to make lunch from
there.)
Melody and Melodic Teaching Applications
Solfege is often a point of contention in America, because so many of us have
adopted strict solfege methodologies (and they conflict!), while others have
developed musicianship without the use of any solfege methods. The MusiKinesis
approach is therefore designed to be multi-method friendly (and no-method
friendly!). We’ll offer flexible ways to use fixed-do, moveable-do, scale
numbers, and/or letter names – whichever “language” you prefer – in ways that
connect with movement, singing, eartraining, music reading, notation, dictation,
improvisation and composition. Ideas involving pitched instruments will also be
addressed (piano, tone-bar instruments, and others).
Special Topics, Tools, and Techniques
Each day will have its own “topic du jour!” We’ll work with piano
improvisation (on your own level, no matter what that is), percussion
techniques, modern dance techniques, uses of recorded music and music scores,
and more. This sampling will not only enrich your experience and teaching, it
may even introduce you to a special “niche” for your work that you haven’t yet
discovered.
Creative Pedagogy and
Problem-solving
If the rest of the day involves the “meat” of the MusiKinesis approach, the last
hour is about the “bones.” After exploring content, here you’ll explore
structure. We’ll provide a formulaic design for well-sequenced lessons, and show
you flexible ways to plug in activities and ideas from the rest of the day --
various rhythmic and melodic teaching applications, music literature, and your
own creations – so that it works for you and your students. Together, we’ll
share and develop pedagogical plans and ideas, building upon them through the
week; and we’ll address, in a circle of sharing, any questions or challenges
participants want help with.
In sum, here’s what you’ll
leave with:
- Experience of authentic Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics, in ways few others teach
it.
- Insight into the body’s own natural wisdom in musicianship.
- Proven pedagogical principles for effective, holistic teaching.
- Innovative strategies for teaching rhythm and melody.
- A wealth of concrete ideas you can use right away.
- Frameworks to spark your own creative abilities to compose poems, songs,
stories, and exercises.
- Fresh approaches to teaching melody, building upon language you already use.
- New ideas on related topics, from dance to drums to music literature.
- Clear structures for lesson plans, with examples, you can employ in your own
ways.
Request a brochure (includes registration form).
Get the brochure in Adobe Acrobat PDF (includes registration form).