Am I Paying Attention? Increasing Focus With Dalcroze Eurhythmics

Focus activities are used at the beginning of general music classes and ensemble rehearsals to center the students and prepare them for the activities. They are also the cornerstone of a Dalcroze-inspired class, which manipulates the elements of time, space, and energy to help develop sensitive and focused musicians. These activities help to get students into their optimal learning environment, where their complete focus is on the now. In this session, participants will experience several kinesthetic means to understand, perform, and focus on music by thinking ahead of real time, such as additive phrases, or reflecting back on the immediate past, in singing or moving in canon. The goal is to help students move into their optimal focus more quickly.

Dr. David Frego 

Penn State University
Retired

David Frego, PhD, is recently retired as the director of the Penn State School of Music and professor of music education. He was the inaugural president of the American Eurhythmics Society. Dr. Frego regularly presents workshops on Dalcroze Eurhythmics around the globe and has published books, book chapters, DVDs, and articles in music education journals and journals for arts medicine. With co-author Dr. Marla Butke, Dalcroze Eurhythmics in the Choral Classroom was released in 2021. Meaningful Movement: A Music Teacher’s Guide to Dalcroze Eurhythmics was published in 2016.

Dr. Marla Butke 

Otterbein University
Retired

Marla Butke, PhD, retired professor of music, is a master teaching artist and vice president of the American Eurhythmics Society. Dr. Butke has earned degrees from Miami University, Wright State University, and The Ohio State University. A sought-after clinician, she frequently presents Dalcroze workshops throughout the United States and internationally, having presented at international, national, state, and regional conferences including AES, OAKE, AMIS, and AOSA. Former academic positions include professor of music at Ashland University, and adjunct professor at Otterbein, Capital, and Xavier universities where she has taught general music methods, conducting, choral methods, and directed various choral ensembles. Dr. Butke has co-authored two books with Dr. David Frego, Meaningful Movement: A Music Teacher’s Guide to Dalcroze Eurhythmics published by Music is Elementary (2016) and Dalcroze Eurhythmics in the Choral Classroom published by Hal Leonard (2021).