These complete, sequenced lessons give a clear example of the Dalcroze Method in practice. Whether you're an experienced teacher or just starting out, these books will give you a wealth of creative ideas for your preschool or early elementary students.

Dalcroze developed his approach to music education comprising three interrelated branches: Eurhythmics (the study of music involving kinesthetic exercises, particularly addressing rhythm, meter, phrase, form, dynamics, and agogic nuance), Solfege (the study of pitch, melody, and harmony through singing, eartraining, and theory), and Piano improvisation (the spontaneous syhthesis of Eurhythmics and Solfege experience at the instrument)

Monica Dale is a leading proponent of the Dalcroze Method, and each of her books includes the following:

Six lesson outlines with detailed procedures

Six stories for creative movement

Songs with piano accompaniments

Teaching tips for working with children

Page after page of exercises in movement and music

Start-up examples for piano improvisation

Creative approaches to pitch studies

Explanation and rationale of the Dalcroze Method

Germane quotes from the writings of Dalcroze

Clearly, this book will be very helpful to teachers who want a basic overview as a starting point as well as for those who prefer a more detailed explanation of how to use the Jaques-Dalcroze philosophy and method.. . .John R. Stevenson, Diplome de la Method Jaques-Dalcroze, in the Introduction to the book.

Upon receiving these books I couldn’t resist immediately trying out some of the activities with my piano students, even though some of them are a bit beyond early elementary. We all had great fun, and so did a class of adults for whom I adapted some of the "theory follows practice" activities. This apparoach promotes the joy of experiencing music, rather than studying to learn musical concepts . . .

. . .An Independent Piano Teacher, Illinois