tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77553181259497021382024-03-13T23:09:57.443-07:00Stephen Neely, PhDbigsouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03877093686739528126noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-63606494972935269722023-04-06T04:35:00.005-07:002023-04-06T05:27:49.887-07:00The Reverse Plastique Animée<p><b><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <span>Plastique Animée — What's it all about?!</span></span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>Jaques-Dalcroze practices include a whole category of exercises under the title of </span><span>Plastique Animée. These lessons ask the students to move and experiment and search and vet specific gestures in an attempt to pair bodied motion to musical motion. Through the process we come to learn about the music and build a very personal/visceral connection to a given selection of music. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>I wrote about the ways that I use the traditional exercise in my university courses in the 2023 Fall edition of the Dalcroze Society of America, Dalcroze Connections. </span><span><a href="https://www.academia.edu/98393073/Plastique_Anim%C3%A9e_The_Dalcrozian_Analytical_Technique" target="_blank">Plastique Animée —The Dalcrozian Analytical Technique</a>. Here I thought I'd describe a set of experiences that are inspired from plastique, but serve a complementary role. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>I spend many hours and many many smaller exercises building a group of 20 year olds up to a point where we can talk about </span><span>Plastique Animée</span><span> as a named category of </span><span>Jaques-Dalcroze practice. In advance of that, we do all sorts of bodies-in-motion, expressive gesture, and movement vocabulary classes. The basic mechanics of "bodies move like this", and "here are some simple motions we might rehearse together" are obvious enough attentions for a good eurhythmics class and critical experiences for all students working toward a future </span><span>Plastique Animée. In addition to those outward expressions of musical motion, I spend a significant amount of time asking my students to consider their own experience of <b>inner gesture</b>. How does music move on the inside of you? What skills of the </span><span>interoceptive have you gained through our time together?</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>As a significant stop on the interoceptive skill journey, I often find time to lead my students through an experience I think of as the </span><span><b>Reverse Plastique Animée</b>. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In a traditional Plastique Animée, a selection of music is chosen, and the student uses the motion of the music to inspire outward gesture, searching for the greatest congruence between the intention of the music and interpretation of the performer/student. In the Reverse Plastique Animée, we go about it in the other direction. We start with silent gesture, separate from any pre-composed works or ideas, and then see what music is generated from the pure motion. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The basic class usually goes like this:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">(keep in mind that we spend many hours getting to this work. I would not offer this class to a beginner group)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">1. "You have 20 seconds to choose 4 'poses'." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">These can be anything. i.e. stand tall arms above; squat down and hug your knees; lean far forward on one leg; bury your head in your arms in a small ball on the floor.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">2. "turn each of these poses into a gesture phrase of its own."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>We have spent weeks working on the notion of "phrase" and on simple gesture. We have explored the difference between basic motion and </span><span>directional, trajectory-filled gesture. We have built up a movement vocabulary that includes gesture high-middle-low, gesture that collapses the body vs gesture that expands the body, and gesture that leads from hands vs gesture that takes any part of the body as the initiator of the motion. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">3. "Find a way to link the four phrases together to make a 4-phrase gesture 'song'."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">4. Step 4 is split between classwork and homework. We do some of this together over about 15 minutes and then the students are to spend significant time at home to continue the exercise. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">"now take a breath, rest your thoughts, and take some time to move through the silent gesture song. Over the next 10–20–30 repetitions your song will start to sing to you. Listen to the sounds and images that start to appear as you settle in to the motions. Take notes on what starts to bubble up. These notes might contain specific bits of melody or harmonies or rhythmic patterns...or you might hear more abstract sounds like leaves rustling or traffic or children laughing, or who knows?!. It is all valid. Repeat your phrases again and listen to the music that comes out of the gesture. You do not need to compose anything. Instead, just listen to your inner song and take notes."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">5. The 4-phrase gesture song above is the first section of an ABA form. For homework, the students are required to repeat the steps with contrasting gestures to then make the B section, taking notes on the sounds and images that occur to them as they go through the process. After a few days of checking in with their ABA songs in silence, they are instructed to compile their notes and turn them into a piece for their major instrument. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">6. Roughly a week after the initial experience, the students all come back to class with their major instruments. They each take a turn first showing us their ABA gesture songs in silence. We watch, and listen to our own inner songs, trying to think, "how does this music sound?" They repeat the silent ABA gesture two times, then they get out their major instrument and play their songs two times — no gesture, just sound.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Throughout the exercise we are looking for congruence between the gesture and the sounded music. The students are reminded that we are not trying to "compose a little song and then choreograph a little dance." Instead, we are working hard to find sparks of the inner artist, space where we can hear the music that is already in us. The exercise is less about flexing our composer muscles than it is about listening to the inner song that was already there. Many of the compositions that are shared were surprises to the student movers. They report how the process permitted music that they would not normally have conceived. "The music is already in you."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>I will write another day about the differences between inner hearing, or audiation, and inner feeling or interoceptive gesture — a serious component of deep musicianship. </span><span>The Reverse Plastique Animée is intended to focus our attention on this inner feeling, and recognize the music found there. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">[some pictures from my Spring 2023 Eurhythmics II class. used with permission.]</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9HlEAjVY6fY8MXApzcEl3WzFuzqBZCX7-ScWoSpTu1tSb2ne1lOfl0UVfyLllFmDGhcZCfbM6UIiZRX_5nmlpfp3r0tR3wU3R2SrF-P9urVH6hJ5Gaf5dDUsJ_LIQWfhPI_j17bpCofxn39GqVhKxb7xKNQPZo2ujb3T7Gu4wt1xFoMd2HeyGYyKH_g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9HlEAjVY6fY8MXApzcEl3WzFuzqBZCX7-ScWoSpTu1tSb2ne1lOfl0UVfyLllFmDGhcZCfbM6UIiZRX_5nmlpfp3r0tR3wU3R2SrF-P9urVH6hJ5Gaf5dDUsJ_LIQWfhPI_j17bpCofxn39GqVhKxb7xKNQPZo2ujb3T7Gu4wt1xFoMd2HeyGYyKH_g=w300-h400" width="300" /></a><br />Arilyn brought the harp to class — so great!</span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5S4988atwuHLSK2XpMxAVXGP5Sr39nXqIJ_qX2Z5Kb0JSpvf-x-iX3Yz1a0ecYcuG_uJ1Uy_XD5phC96-xMmAp1JnCxfM6_mUNtTZwcTjlcdwRCXKmy8NS4golt4HD7J6jakzbP5txN_gOE2y-9jkpyIxQmPX1EKrE7FC0Pj9oZjgmQMRFO2k5GWWkA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1945" data-original-width="1655" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5S4988atwuHLSK2XpMxAVXGP5Sr39nXqIJ_qX2Z5Kb0JSpvf-x-iX3Yz1a0ecYcuG_uJ1Uy_XD5phC96-xMmAp1JnCxfM6_mUNtTZwcTjlcdwRCXKmy8NS4golt4HD7J6jakzbP5txN_gOE2y-9jkpyIxQmPX1EKrE7FC0Pj9oZjgmQMRFO2k5GWWkA=w340-h400" width="340" /></a><br />Preston in motion. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3rkRhxdwO48q7AMSh-JunlDFq7KUC4iFbeQ8vuUVJK1A-EjDDOeHlEGRKipE1ptsK8e-7jif7AUFky80BUsDBkeKVmTQqPL1_7QXrIftjZ0HscqvPqGqtB4ZPlGe2IUplkfQ1ngVxW_-HjQzdQ01XlviC3XF-Ckw77XeKFDCV8Tsoi6mg-0X2JnEm3Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1689" data-original-width="1313" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3rkRhxdwO48q7AMSh-JunlDFq7KUC4iFbeQ8vuUVJK1A-EjDDOeHlEGRKipE1ptsK8e-7jif7AUFky80BUsDBkeKVmTQqPL1_7QXrIftjZ0HscqvPqGqtB4ZPlGe2IUplkfQ1ngVxW_-HjQzdQ01XlviC3XF-Ckw77XeKFDCV8Tsoi6mg-0X2JnEm3Q=w312-h400" width="312" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbqlj3BAgKYJFtP3qTyGyPMRMOj7t6zcu8cVzoEt1tJYVALJVRuNyHJt24YO7w1SZD7wiaplekqwgNYj1GDbwLf_9KBodEthMvefTqFuCFpmXRhszxLmubhPtNyZ9pohzKinJJT9qIWwnLcSLxS31pozY2sfBtE2pd76uYOLLtAVxDV5ygdSDanRpxmA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="2021" data-original-width="1136" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbqlj3BAgKYJFtP3qTyGyPMRMOj7t6zcu8cVzoEt1tJYVALJVRuNyHJt24YO7w1SZD7wiaplekqwgNYj1GDbwLf_9KBodEthMvefTqFuCFpmXRhszxLmubhPtNyZ9pohzKinJJT9qIWwnLcSLxS31pozY2sfBtE2pd76uYOLLtAVxDV5ygdSDanRpxmA=w225-h400" width="225" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2G4UIGTy4wFp_TgVAy0heFlIFJcdaDcFbJCFtsaVKHZPxCbVByyXct-VFz_TWGQTyqoJ2O12Jy21FSTx4qTL78dZgNFNLeeYOVYdUZx68lJ0-Vk4BKAm8mYCqcyVGu0MXLPCoOI7Uw0JSU_b0TJNtSI5ufncOIdTa0rkoIJyFODeNJMSdcMfxMo6SVA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1632" data-original-width="1468" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2G4UIGTy4wFp_TgVAy0heFlIFJcdaDcFbJCFtsaVKHZPxCbVByyXct-VFz_TWGQTyqoJ2O12Jy21FSTx4qTL78dZgNFNLeeYOVYdUZx68lJ0-Vk4BKAm8mYCqcyVGu0MXLPCoOI7Uw0JSU_b0TJNtSI5ufncOIdTa0rkoIJyFODeNJMSdcMfxMo6SVA=w360-h400" title="Zach" width="360" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Zach in motion. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQ54wDnSStN1up-r2dyhd3U69eZpZw9sCnNwroV-rBD94we8BtnUBs9JbhI0apy8NtWNiM5MOIr5fydcMthgdwHQv_k6WNrVm2xOMEn9DqwDIN-BGzRSPsbFh9qbmBuc4jstrP3E_9brDVgPpLRAcR_Pe7NxjhhMzFSvuGFczAoA-NpHE1hGKaE3dQBw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1830" data-original-width="1544" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQ54wDnSStN1up-r2dyhd3U69eZpZw9sCnNwroV-rBD94we8BtnUBs9JbhI0apy8NtWNiM5MOIr5fydcMthgdwHQv_k6WNrVm2xOMEn9DqwDIN-BGzRSPsbFh9qbmBuc4jstrP3E_9brDVgPpLRAcR_Pe7NxjhhMzFSvuGFczAoA-NpHE1hGKaE3dQBw=w337-h400" width="337" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijRgN-S-6hMGUIhQnt2DFZnyGT0_Ufp5Us_wFsv0eE7x25u2pE6xytY90FWycqGJvJjdVVaQFilh-O0jTHLSXpQs6GcelJ3vKasaa4_KTZUCW-eI31iaOqTFRZO_YDCZK1sSI6Ir_WNQloc9SnUhH38IuQLrridJvAjC6bamZrw6dvnAtzAOTkHvEWFA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijRgN-S-6hMGUIhQnt2DFZnyGT0_Ufp5Us_wFsv0eE7x25u2pE6xytY90FWycqGJvJjdVVaQFilh-O0jTHLSXpQs6GcelJ3vKasaa4_KTZUCW-eI31iaOqTFRZO_YDCZK1sSI6Ir_WNQloc9SnUhH38IuQLrridJvAjC6bamZrw6dvnAtzAOTkHvEWFA=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Will in motion. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7CqBaVMJuc1mJB5C72XTtG1bjyDDNs9fxBvfNb2gLzbq9TZDl07lEJXKaU4prRG7qvI1nx04ElVDBjkaLOVi_mfsSXFjoZMzH3d7hFOtDBcp_qg8hqxlObn3T5WbNKh1OasSQt6dSazNTxTQ-dTOYB_gObr9Lw1eawpM9dhiYCxrKGOHR_2IvFqC0hQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1914" data-original-width="2167" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7CqBaVMJuc1mJB5C72XTtG1bjyDDNs9fxBvfNb2gLzbq9TZDl07lEJXKaU4prRG7qvI1nx04ElVDBjkaLOVi_mfsSXFjoZMzH3d7hFOtDBcp_qg8hqxlObn3T5WbNKh1OasSQt6dSazNTxTQ-dTOYB_gObr9Lw1eawpM9dhiYCxrKGOHR_2IvFqC0hQ=w400-h353" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrxJS7gGfIDjZIXbD5dudhetJQCq4ZSG5AK8DI1dtZZT-meib1K124qJy0Q-n1lDfPjnFkIBWo5p9wG_eZHjKfLffLy1-4TDfndFD1c1jlkneqdK1rLJ0kqLLL9PlSiO2nbXhgRZKPHBLrtNDrOBepTiQgjT5vNE6DLpLvY2LF5KGOdBXqij2KwEx5hA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrxJS7gGfIDjZIXbD5dudhetJQCq4ZSG5AK8DI1dtZZT-meib1K124qJy0Q-n1lDfPjnFkIBWo5p9wG_eZHjKfLffLy1-4TDfndFD1c1jlkneqdK1rLJ0kqLLL9PlSiO2nbXhgRZKPHBLrtNDrOBepTiQgjT5vNE6DLpLvY2LF5KGOdBXqij2KwEx5hA=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The new electronic music major at CMU has opened all sorts of doors and forced me to think differently about a number of my biases. It is amazing what our students are capable of. #humbled</div><br /><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 21.3333px;"><br /></span></span></p>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-51106099244104025102023-02-20T05:19:00.017-08:002023-04-06T05:29:24.925-07:00Hanging with Jack Stevenson<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Nothing like spending a weekend with one of the greats. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">If you have not had the opportunity to take a class with Jack, I highly recommend searching him out. Jack is definitely one of the most influential and beloved teachers of the Jaques-Dalcroze method working today. We had a blast tag-teaming at the CMU Winter Workshops this February. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span>You can find Jack here: </span><span><a href="https://www.jdalcroze.com/">https://www.jdalcroze.com/</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">You'll see a few pictures from Anthony Molinaro's children's demo class at the bottom. He continues to be so inspiring. You can follow him here: <a href="https://substack.com/profile/86592998-anthony-molinaro">https://substack.com/profile/86592998-anthony-molinaro</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span>and join us for the next Winter and Summer Workshops here: </span><span><a href="https://www.cmu.edu/cfa/music/dalcroze/dalcroze-workshops/summer-dalcroze-workshop.html">https://www.cmu.edu/cfa/music/dalcroze/dalcroze-workshops/summer-dalcroze-workshop.html</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>Thanks JACK!</b></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" class="placeholder" id="0e3bd66db0165" src="https://www.blogger.com/img/transparent.gif" style="background-color: #d8d8d8; background-image: url('https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/i/materialiconsextended/insert_photo/v6/grey600-24dp/1x/baseline_insert_photo_grey600_24dp.png'); background-position: 50% 50%; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOozzjdg8n9cRkHUAGxrj2nodp4eq-4ex1SOg1wG0JitUZpgmb8sqciXhJ_zI-g2P1POH47GSo2jb_pMWsQlWGjEEmFS2oHX-5IGmsIpb1-Bb8ijFwFgbL7o4iUJAbP-VNJedhLpe0qVYVdPADTjxnHx4sCg1V48SGk-33IlPB4bQWxRG0hXH-lFbCJg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOozzjdg8n9cRkHUAGxrj2nodp4eq-4ex1SOg1wG0JitUZpgmb8sqciXhJ_zI-g2P1POH47GSo2jb_pMWsQlWGjEEmFS2oHX-5IGmsIpb1-Bb8ijFwFgbL7o4iUJAbP-VNJedhLpe0qVYVdPADTjxnHx4sCg1V48SGk-33IlPB4bQWxRG0hXH-lFbCJg=w480-h640" width="480" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mr. Mo in action. 🤩🤩🤩</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbY2R2klEpsGpsSWRlJsE7Cqt9Ucla7T4QR-lv317ZFiBOqkqtzVqOfHKdrk-cuqtluE4t1y9UnoaqEfkX1N9kMJYtfn5jdmIvbmhDNRB9YvF3LsXwJlwmt5CDtd7MRva8hSzurpFdZb9_ct5V0zkhZQ_KMqAtTarKD-v7zzVA206yg4hSDuI6VPZ5-g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbY2R2klEpsGpsSWRlJsE7Cqt9Ucla7T4QR-lv317ZFiBOqkqtzVqOfHKdrk-cuqtluE4t1y9UnoaqEfkX1N9kMJYtfn5jdmIvbmhDNRB9YvF3LsXwJlwmt5CDtd7MRva8hSzurpFdZb9_ct5V0zkhZQ_KMqAtTarKD-v7zzVA206yg4hSDuI6VPZ5-g=w640-h480" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><p></p>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-21774285763132223322020-10-14T18:14:00.006-07:002020-10-14T18:39:59.592-07:00Late Night Silent Disco Eurhythmics (or how I learned to teach with my eyes closed)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUEQs8jtiO0AQAE-46dHEu5AexDlmHC6SuQip-Fl-WaTF3At27cshMBIKOLhR7XHJnDNr3Wa8zY3NnIjCeRr_BNiRQIVLo87dzMsAmrDBF9YXGLc6OP-vd5bWz_EoSocePVq1oQQ_6NtWT/s2048/IMG_5486.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUEQs8jtiO0AQAE-46dHEu5AexDlmHC6SuQip-Fl-WaTF3At27cshMBIKOLhR7XHJnDNr3Wa8zY3NnIjCeRr_BNiRQIVLo87dzMsAmrDBF9YXGLc6OP-vd5bWz_EoSocePVq1oQQ_6NtWT/w640-h480/IMG_5486.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">I love my job. Have I told any of you that lately? </span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This last Friday evening we realised one of my latest dreams: to host an outdoor – silent disco – FM radio – late night in the dark – Eurhythmics class with 75+ students (and a few guests) – COVID socially distanced – and yet – <b>musically connected</b> – all while playing with glow sticks, light-up balls, and sparklers!!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It took a fair bit of planning + a special university permit (!) + the patience and good will of all involved and yielded a really fun time. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We started the evening set-up around 7:30 PM just as dusk was really setting in. By 8:00 PM it was pretty dark and we ran some tests to see what we could actually see, and to test the technology for last minute tweaks. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Students arrived at 8:30 and were given two thin bracelet sized glow sticks and two rubber bands. They were instructed to pocket the rubber bands and to experiment with the glow sticks throughout the opening exercises. Some students made them into bracelets, or halos, or necklaces. Others used them as conductor batons or frisbees. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The lessons of the evening included classic conducting and stepping in varied meters, specific attention to the ensemble's collective 'shifts of weight', 'time-space-energy' games with ball tossing, a pre-plastique anime exercise where we improvised gesture phrases that became amazingly personal, and a fair bit of time playing in the 'straight 5'.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We started with glow sticks in all variations, then when we moved to the t-s-e ball games, we looped the glow sticks into bracelets and used the rubber bands to tie the sticks to tennis balls, and voilà(!) – we had light-up tennis balls that looked amazing in the night sky. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I spent a fair bit of time the prior week, thinking about the evening, planning my activities, and considering how I might help the crowd get our collective <i>groove-on</i> all while working in very low light. It occured to me that the students would likely not be able to see me very well, and so I thought of lots of ways that I could use the FM technology to talk directly into everyone's ear and keep us together. What I underestimated was how hard it would be for me to see them! I was not really able to see anyone's faces most of the evening! It was like teaching into the abyss, but with just enough feedback to not be able to ignore anyone. If I were teaching in a truly dark cavern, then I would just go with what felt right to me. But to the extent that I could see anything, I attempted to adjust to my class to the participating students, but I was trying to adjust with only 10% of the normal feedback (no eyes, no expressions – only moving glow sticks, laughter, and outlines of bodies in motion). It was a challenging class for me to be sure. I absolutely underestimated that part of the formula.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">All that said, I think we all had a grand time and built some lasting memories to boot. (The highlight of the evening was when I pulled out a blow-torch and 150 bamboo rod sparklers. The students were over the moon to play with the bright lights and make some great sparkler trails in the night sky.) Late Night Silent Disco Eurhythmics was a success and I will look for some special circumstances to improve on my attempts and share the glee with more students in the future. I'm just glad it is not my normal gig. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Heartfelt thanks to all of my students who ended up taking two classes with me in the same day (the required morning class and the optional late night class). Thanks to my administration for your support in technology and permits. Thanks to all for your patience and encouragement allowing us all to PLAY and EXPERIMENT and try some zainy ideas with no guarantees of success. Thanks for the connections and the relationships and earnest work and generous spirits. I am thankful for you all. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">:)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Dr. N</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0mcTpMqHQ17hQvDAsiRss9MXnPtVEMYHjaWe073Sa5o-Ct27qE0q-B0eWpKMe-md6glflf2GtEclRcAYc7nvO_r2lArgLOLdwDbTpeuyFXdIpONuyHuKuuGckhHwvzcVlnNTMc9c-wMy/s2048/IMG_5402.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0mcTpMqHQ17hQvDAsiRss9MXnPtVEMYHjaWe073Sa5o-Ct27qE0q-B0eWpKMe-md6glflf2GtEclRcAYc7nvO_r2lArgLOLdwDbTpeuyFXdIpONuyHuKuuGckhHwvzcVlnNTMc9c-wMy/w640-h480/IMG_5402.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"Hug your knee...Hug your other knee..Hug your neighbor's knee (no, not during COVID!)"</div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKECXVnh2iEgkGIjWJyjg3-bjnRj_T2UilDyyuS20ZLMkmF5Wjt0prB2fG_KA_ibUWaiO7scm8AGzi-JmVEzpQ2kWGEkLNVdos2wE4oEaclG41zCEqC8tyvQ6Lo1oqpN579k_WwyaQoNKP/s2048/IMG_5416.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKECXVnh2iEgkGIjWJyjg3-bjnRj_T2UilDyyuS20ZLMkmF5Wjt0prB2fG_KA_ibUWaiO7scm8AGzi-JmVEzpQ2kWGEkLNVdos2wE4oEaclG41zCEqC8tyvQ6Lo1oqpN579k_WwyaQoNKP/w640-h480/IMG_5416.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYSGTvOOzdZiGceE3QwBLD3CamX95t4Yn5-c9F8Ilzbnrnzkf9C2hECeXgFWB7NdL4Axh_Piy2VwxBmK5iK75cjulp7_LfmEc_WwsW2aixE4rs7-8rqaAo0MZX-YFrHu8oiTYOxbXo0hev/s2048/IMG_5441.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYSGTvOOzdZiGceE3QwBLD3CamX95t4Yn5-c9F8Ilzbnrnzkf9C2hECeXgFWB7NdL4Axh_Piy2VwxBmK5iK75cjulp7_LfmEc_WwsW2aixE4rs7-8rqaAo0MZX-YFrHu8oiTYOxbXo0hev/w640-h480/IMG_5441.jpeg" width="640" /></a><br />no ceilings to bump into in this classroom. toss the balls higher!</div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8mjM7XwEiDzsaCpUbRUCQgkj6pFtwgEhA4ELR8c5ion4zFhmkQd0-G2mOGufM3X9AxdGcZH_UE7xplqnwpYA09bedQQ0WQysubz10BurifD4vOJdiRjgXBcu6F4sIuBjmBgM4jZ_vet5q/s2048/IMG_5971.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8mjM7XwEiDzsaCpUbRUCQgkj6pFtwgEhA4ELR8c5ion4zFhmkQd0-G2mOGufM3X9AxdGcZH_UE7xplqnwpYA09bedQQ0WQysubz10BurifD4vOJdiRjgXBcu6F4sIuBjmBgM4jZ_vet5q/w640-h480/IMG_5971.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwc4VlkH42rHKOFlOGnvl1YrZ0e6zwLTi9VH5fW0OmZzNyZVN5mONLXerep6qWNRG-MSOWHPe87Ug3dA85_Dw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />Crazy thing about Silent Disco Eurhythmics is that outsiders cannot hear the music! <br />Ya gotta be 'in the club' to hear it. <br />It is all being broadcast through the FM radio station into everyone's headphones.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz4CexZhQDnan9QR51LHsBhfSDDOQpayz3aLReaksc7AN1_Q0A0fVefoxNwU5h8Egl5QlM7ku53JIrbeY2n3g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />"I can't really see anybody's face!?!!"</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx33haq77u5fhxBSGlLGZksIUpc5UiqVzI3zqo29YYSRxvG6p8CmEepu5t2sob5y6kiBKKn6SZNnpUlHx4bCA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />"Hop Hop Hop!"</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxWDIpUK2gZYGX-dzBOE9qgcmonX97H_1zlpV5wJdvbKiLut5mTwl1cGpnH3GocKlz-PkYlsU0S2pjEPut2LQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-42590387858350098662020-10-03T06:38:00.015-07:002020-10-04T08:33:02.327-07:00FM Eurhythmics! (or Silent Disco Dalcroze)<p><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #006d8f;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwle_a7Ws7SKaWZeDjaDdsCogDR5ERsrAzpZm-vD0x3b80fJieM59D-bxoS5JV3Q_gpEEBgDbQAGwqnv6FjmPmOQLzp7Fqoar7rXd_nTxXqBIF2huMqI9SjAqqKCLZXEd73l7VYtGqeRB/s2048/IMG_3896.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="453" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwle_a7Ws7SKaWZeDjaDdsCogDR5ERsrAzpZm-vD0x3b80fJieM59D-bxoS5JV3Q_gpEEBgDbQAGwqnv6FjmPmOQLzp7Fqoar7rXd_nTxXqBIF2huMqI9SjAqqKCLZXEd73l7VYtGqeRB/w604-h453/IMG_3896.HEIC" width="604" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #006d8f;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #006d8f;"><b>A quick primer on the Eurhythmics classes at CMU School of Music<br /></b></span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">The Carnegie Tech Department of Music adopted the required four semesters of Dalcroze Eurhythmics coursework in 1921. Since then, nearly 100 years of music undergraduates have spent roughly 150 hours of their Freshmen and Sophomore semesters studying musicianship through the somewhat irregular methods of the Eurhythmics classes. The course places a high value on the inner game of music performance, and utilizes improvisation, gesture, clapping, stepping, singing, small and large group projects. The classes are traditionally led from a large piano in an open space with shoes-off, in close proximity to other studying colleagues. </span></p><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span>The Eurhythmics classes challenge the students to not only think and see music notation, and to not only hear and perform music, but above all to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>feel<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>music. We build attention to the viscerality of musical experience through four semesters of participatory exercises that make the study of music personal and intimate. One way that this intimacy is encouraged is that the course is normally taught in a studio where the 9’ Steinway concert grand piano is so close that the students can literally feel the vibrations of even the most pianissimo of melodies. Another part of the winning recipe is that the Eurhythmics classes are always taught in participatory group settings. Everyone in the class is part of the ensemble; we learn from each other, singing, moving, sharing, and adjusting together, in real time, based on the musical choices of the participants. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #006d8f;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span style="color: #006d8f;">New times require new plans</span></b></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><div><span>When the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent, all of the faculty and administration of the School of Music scrambled and brainstormed for solutions for continuing the richness of our study in a new, spatially distanced environment. This posed specific challenges for the Eurhythmics classes. </span></div></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span>We are normally very close together, in a room with a big piano, creating quite a stir. The move to full-time Zoom would require nearly all of the collaborative, in-the-moment, creative work to stop, leaving us with a shell of a course. After doing some soul searching and some investigations to non-traditional interaction possibilities (<a href="http://virtualdalcroze.org" target="_blank">THANKS VDM!</a>) I ran across two interesting projects, both outside of academia. The 1st is from a NYC based group called Improv Everywhere. They are a large-scale theatrical improvisation community who have mastered the art of the no-rehearsal flash mob (among other things). They have a recurring event called the <a href="https://improveverywhere.com/missions/the-mp3-experiments/" target="_blank">MP3 project</a> where they invite their mailing list to a certain hill in a park on a named day and time. The participants are instructed to download a playlist and an app and to bring their headphones. Then at the assigned time, they push play in the app and the technology synchronizes their playlist to every other of the 500+ participants on the hillside and everyone can then magically hear the exact same playlist at the same time. A narrator named Steve offers instructions and provocations and hilarity ensues while everyone in the club learns what to do next. Of added interest is the experience of everyone else at the park who are forced to guess at a how 500 people can move together and all seem to all know what to do next. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span>A second interesting event I found is called <a href="https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Silent_disco" target="_blank">Silent Disco</a>. Silent disco is an alternative dance club format, where participants show up to a dance club, pay the cover charge, and are immediately handed a set of headphones and a receiver belt pack. The club is silent until one puts on the headphones and turns on the receiver. Once on, the club is as loud as the attendee chooses to turn up the volume. Everyone in the club can hear the music, and everyone has the option of returning to silence at any point by just taking off the headphones. Everyone can dance fully, feeling immersed in the music without the aggressive sensation of amplified sound that one can not get away from. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span>My summer 2020 teaching was all through zoom and some of my adult students who had good cell reception started taking the classes outside in their yard or even at the park. </span><span>The zoom version of Eurhythmics actually works better outside than inside as the audio is the same but the room to move is so much better.</span><span> </span><span>It was a revelation to me because we have always joked about taking Eurhythmics outside but have never found a good way to overcome the many obstacles. Thinking about the success of zooming in the park + the MP3 Experiment and Silent Disco I started obsessing about ways to combine these projects: the great outdoors + sound receivers + headphones + broadcast instructions. All that was left was to find a technology that permitted live instruction instead of pre-recorded playlists and the answer was a time-tested technology, FM radio (</span><a href="http://jessestil.es/" target="_blank">Thanks Jesse Stiles!</a><span>). </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #006d8f;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span style="color: #006d8f;">A successful new routine</span></b></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span>Since the beginning of the fall semester 2020, the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Eurhythmics classes have met outside on The Cut, the large lawn in front of the College of Fine Arts building. The school purchased FM receivers for each of the 100+ students enrolled in the Eurhythmics classes. The students arrive to the Cut donning headphones and their small FM receiver and I have a full rig set-up to both broadcast video and audio over Zoom for the students working remotely and a second audio feed for the students on the field. The FM broadcast allows the students outside on the field to receive a close, intimate, high-fidelity audio support directly into their ears. This allows us to bypass the rock-concert aesthetic and permits me to perform with a full range of dynamics and articulation. The passers-by are somewhat mystified as to the goings-on as none of the sound is amplified outside of the FM radio feed. They can see the students moving around but are often at a loss as to how they know to synchronize and collaborate on what appears to be a silent field. The students are close enough to feel the community and the shared experience of chamber music, yet distant enough to reduce fears of infection in the fresh air. The plan is to continue as many outside FM radio classes as possible until the weather makes the experience too cold to be productive. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span>The next plan is to host LATE NIGHT EURHYTHMICS. I am looking at a date this week where we will all meet on the lawn in the dark, glow sticks, sparklers, and light-up tennis balls in tow....stay tuned for some pictures!!</span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #006d8f;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw_Y8alfG-gD5iyNhJcgUOrCKgRAvqEdOA_az6yS2LKv14xhudYpm0LBhfhbEJMq8yDHomrJRafRGZXxzF3Jw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />Here we are working on a simple right-hand/left-hand 'follow'. The students are attempting to step the rhythm of my left hand and clap the rhythm of my right hand. I repeat patterns independently in each hand and then evolve the patterns without any cue. The students have to listen, entrain, and adjust as the rhythms in my hands evolve. <br /> <iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzWmJZFT9F8bbfd283yyUAJX6PEQOKbjZjrYUmBrsQHWDXdJvIuU58UnTcFOeJn7KtckQOsXyHgj6pfi9tPyg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here we are working through a classic echo game. I sing and play a one bar pattern, the students conduct the meter, sing the echo, and step the rhythm that they are singing. <br /><br /></div></div></span></div></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKgUN1Mf-wHG_3w5p0MOuohZICuZmsbeMdb8V1v6KLRS7VvMEELf_6UAeie6k4GNfFsz5wefCvndAFrtJiAfCRPgtgxqDaRpkprjVLMFmHCSMpKLc_ouGK9qa7W16J57aFKVI89h9nS8kR/w514-h386/62134513055__C83A4CCF-615F-47CD-B20A-3474662A00FE.JPG" style="text-align: left;" width="514" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">the set-up</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLadJnVql3GltwX08uGWWH6J981d6uLET8_SFQ6l_E3Wj7pMdf9lVFYHL1Von41lzQ6XHYC4zzBExQzqDPru4o0ol1MFJQl4033rkKSEd1FkoQL3zpCI4DfWQx2k5GE7GXi6YYeWeZfYCB/s2048/62134413416__4142780C-EDA1-43CE-850E-D9FBDB145726.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLadJnVql3GltwX08uGWWH6J981d6uLET8_SFQ6l_E3Wj7pMdf9lVFYHL1Von41lzQ6XHYC4zzBExQzqDPru4o0ol1MFJQl4033rkKSEd1FkoQL3zpCI4DfWQx2k5GE7GXi6YYeWeZfYCB/w480-h640/62134413416__4142780C-EDA1-43CE-850E-D9FBDB145726.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">the rig!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwb-wbAXSKK5P5sEA7kW4-mUhfskNXuYcuodV9x64j64O0_-8RyFhzTPorhfXXV7abu_fRsCBCp4uJbWcoK-PI4vetyeyfaXnGspFFwP__DRK1q_9lbIHB5VB3J1sXW7_hR1d0oLqybmei/s2048/IMG_3896.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwb-wbAXSKK5P5sEA7kW4-mUhfskNXuYcuodV9x64j64O0_-8RyFhzTPorhfXXV7abu_fRsCBCp4uJbWcoK-PI4vetyeyfaXnGspFFwP__DRK1q_9lbIHB5VB3J1sXW7_hR1d0oLqybmei/w603-h452/IMG_3896.HEIC" width="603" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">my classroom</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnZa0rQaen9PW0ZSipiE0_3iwKk5n_0Hts4k-LJsBH-0BWkH1M9NLUZEUNoeGnKEKW8E4YxwLuhaOkC67F-MJgZawlJFI8H_IRRTsQcLxCjfw4Ckf_t4QuqpyMR8EpIznVBCXBh8HteqP/s2048/62238704121__D98ED627-8370-4AB8-9A01-E765F5DDD463.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnZa0rQaen9PW0ZSipiE0_3iwKk5n_0Hts4k-LJsBH-0BWkH1M9NLUZEUNoeGnKEKW8E4YxwLuhaOkC67F-MJgZawlJFI8H_IRRTsQcLxCjfw4Ckf_t4QuqpyMR8EpIznVBCXBh8HteqP/w480-h640/62238704121__D98ED627-8370-4AB8-9A01-E765F5DDD463.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">the College of Fine Arts building (1903, Henry Hornbostel architect)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtMpYZTaqZ6b4L76-JJCQ9WLDUFa8DV2j1Xqknr0fUhzejdr7zYu6Hm8SBHVcznze7IXShstL2vUTASxU8VWQJqs4lnl2eWtjWdiVY5x3DRMOZmA-vkLhjcQ-iNIfDdOr9wEJgHlLqknfC/s2048/62238703329__C0761C8F-9333-45E6-9182-4E55394064DF.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtMpYZTaqZ6b4L76-JJCQ9WLDUFa8DV2j1Xqknr0fUhzejdr7zYu6Hm8SBHVcznze7IXShstL2vUTASxU8VWQJqs4lnl2eWtjWdiVY5x3DRMOZmA-vkLhjcQ-iNIfDdOr9wEJgHlLqknfC/w480-h640/62238703329__C0761C8F-9333-45E6-9182-4E55394064DF.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">my classroom (Pitt Cathedral of Learning in the distance) </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDD2Ha0ikuzk_Yazyp8me2AUmu_ey0hCkGpJBmsbW9asqkfXkyGRR3U5WnL5pLOIARxVO6MrOg2zShjsXQNjYv391Nl2ExiXs_tHDZbFODTRTfldD4BV_HJwfYrVu0hEj1uF2oGwEMnVHh/s2048/62134514837__9F4B01D5-C14A-4E32-9D8A-FA7DC7BCBB7D.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDD2Ha0ikuzk_Yazyp8me2AUmu_ey0hCkGpJBmsbW9asqkfXkyGRR3U5WnL5pLOIARxVO6MrOg2zShjsXQNjYv391Nl2ExiXs_tHDZbFODTRTfldD4BV_HJwfYrVu0hEj1uF2oGwEMnVHh/w480-h640/62134514837__9F4B01D5-C14A-4E32-9D8A-FA7DC7BCBB7D.JPG" width="480" /></a> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtZ0GBhpxwUzfltsAFV8ABIIJs5jhvVavgTds_whjECS-ESEyKeQcU1_82cqA0YEtB4n8ilHfzCaZxxbbxH5SgXkLevU9jU_hSnfyWA6JohiN0o8x_ho0CuO5R0sLwzDl1V9A6JQs_herH/s2048/IMG_5229.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtZ0GBhpxwUzfltsAFV8ABIIJs5jhvVavgTds_whjECS-ESEyKeQcU1_82cqA0YEtB4n8ilHfzCaZxxbbxH5SgXkLevU9jU_hSnfyWA6JohiN0o8x_ho0CuO5R0sLwzDl1V9A6JQs_herH/w640-h480/IMG_5229.HEIC" width="640" /></a><br />The weather in Pittsburgh is ALWAYS sunny and 72°.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9eyrgtAksj19lxRM_VCmAyqVvGTUF4tH1T_tUYcANQs75AO9xjrpbH89E19flUyVU55ROLpgwfMeyCCzzMPSBSCrl_9cv8954x_YkYqOfVyktV9APyWFhyvP4w6E8zZeKAccKUHx3dIKV/s2048/IMG_5228.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgclB1q9YVk8JmwRZTSRkZ95YJIbuGrM2x5O1-IlzhTbIMm0GDsMXjko8tA8OMa3kgGRZDJLap58tafvCxHWu0wXdqHgIE7W9VPzOeVThY1kEhwa1XlIkkP-x8LE0_eR9AOKGzqYfbJijq/s2048/IMG_5222.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgclB1q9YVk8JmwRZTSRkZ95YJIbuGrM2x5O1-IlzhTbIMm0GDsMXjko8tA8OMa3kgGRZDJLap58tafvCxHWu0wXdqHgIE7W9VPzOeVThY1kEhwa1XlIkkP-x8LE0_eR9AOKGzqYfbJijq/w640-h480/IMG_5222.HEIC" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="color: #006d8f;"><br /></span></div>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-3756242980569073012019-10-10T08:23:00.001-07:002019-10-10T13:13:49.148-07:00Eurhythmics for Artificial Intelligence How can one EXPERIENCE complexity? In what ways can/might one interact with new intelligences? What are the possible societal impacts of these technologies? And In what ways can our bodied understanding of experience inform or aid in these burgeoning technologies of Artificial Intelligence?<br />
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I am spending a few days learning and thinking about these questions while hanging out with researchers exploring the forefront of intelligence in complex human-artificial and digital-physical ecosystems. (!)<br />
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I was invited to come to the <a href="https://desform19.org/">DESFORM2019</a> conference and offer the workshop “Soma Literacy of AI” (i.e. Eurhythmics for Designers) and tomorrow I will present a paper, “<a href="https://academia.edu/resource/work/40582478" target="_blank">A Pedagogy for Noticing—Soma literacy and the designer</a>”.<br />
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<br />Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-36278387197982355482019-10-03T14:41:00.005-07:002019-10-03T14:47:41.434-07:00Virginia Symphony Chorus<br />
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Such a great time with a super group of dedicated musicians! Thanks to <a href="https://virginiasymphony.org/about-us-2/conductors/#shoup-rous" target="_blank">Maestro Robert Shoup</a> and the singers of the Virginia Symphony Chorus! We had a wonderful two evenings of music–movement–learning–collaboration. It was a real joy to work with you all.<br />
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<a href="https://virginiasymphony.org/about-us-2/vso-chorus/">https://virginiasymphony.org/about-us-2/vso-chorus/</a><br />
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I was also humbled to learn of the amazing work that Robert is doing with the <a href="https://www.thenorfolkstreetchoir.org/">Norfolk Street Choir</a>. The NSC "envision[s] a caring city where vulnerable persons are encouraged and affirmed through the arts." They work with people in various forms of housing insecurity and provide services and community in a joyful, affirming and safe environment.<br />
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I was so impressed with this initiative. I hope everyone will click on the links below and consider making a donation to this most impressive and critical service.<br />
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<a href="https://www.thenorfolkstreetchoir.org/" target="_blank">Norfolk Street Choir website</a><br />
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Emmy-winning feature on PBS affiliate: <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/norfolk-street-choir-cupbif/">https://www.pbs.org/video/norfolk-street-choir-cupbif/</a><br />
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National Association - hosting our first conference in Atlanta in January: <a href="https://www.namvc.org/">https://www.namvc.org/</a><br />
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Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-73959594955002141932019-05-30T09:21:00.001-07:002019-07-20T05:22:00.339-07:00Introduction to Soma Literacy<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><span style="font-size: large;">I wanted to post a little introduction here as a way to introduce my music colleagues to a dissertation that was conducted in and written for a School of Design. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>A short introduction to the dissertation:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My main gig for the last 30 years has been as a student and teacher of the </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dalcroze Eurhythmics course work. Spending well more than 10,000 hours in the Eurhythmics studio I started to notice patterns and applications of the work to environments outside of music, that is, I started to notice how I was using my Eurhythmics knowing in the extra-musical moments of my life. As a result, I began to critique mundane moments of life relative to their musicality. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Take conversations for instance. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some conversations possess the phrasing–pacing–tension/relaxation–build-up/decay–consonances and dissonances of a rewarding piece of music, while others are so awkward that they fall flat, not even accomplishing basic cohesion, let alone providing the payoff of a serendipitous piece of art.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or road trips...Some road trips zoom along with an easy and rewarding flow while others feel like drudgery. We can experience the flow or the drudgery in both long trips and short errands around the block (not unlike some performances of music)...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or even in discreet gestures like taking a single step forward, inhaling a breath, or riding a single swoop on a playground swing...these all possess the potential for beauty and we (often subconsciously) strive for the most beautiful performance of each of them, immediately recognizing when any of them fall short.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All "happenings" (or Design would say, all "interactions") can be analyzed for their flow. The Eurhythmics class does just this: it aids the musician in recognizing and then fostering "good flow" (eu-rhythmics) in music: music making, music performing, musical participation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here in my PhD course of study, I doubled-down on the extra-musical happenings and interactions of mundane life and used the same kind of Eurhythmic knowing to assess, critique, and then offer a path to improve everyday, mundane, extra-musical experience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Performing musicians spend a lifetime trying to eliminate the awkward and enhance the good flow in their music making. Designers </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">spend careers trying to eliminate the awkward and enhance the good flow in everyday interactions. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Eurhythmicians spend a lifetime aiding the student is recognizing that the proving ground for beauty and good flow is in their feeling, pulsing, dynamic body. Soma Literacy is merely the codifying, categorizing, and skilling in this attention to the visceral/felt/aesthetic of the living body.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the following dissertation I do my best to share Eurhythmic knowing with a community who knows nothing of Jaques-Dalcroze and who has no need to care about music or music making. The Interaction Designers, Experience Designers, Service Designers, and those working in Design for Social Change, Transition Design, and Architecture are looking at awkwardnesses in everyday life (well off of the performance stage) and trying to offer value to these "happenings" or "interactions" by designing and redesigning the experiences. By taking a few pages out of the Jaques-Dalcroze playbooks, combining this with philosophy of Dewey, Shusterman, Merleau-Ponty among others, and pushing it through the forge of Design discourse, I present Soma Literacy and Corporeal Design as new fields and topics for debate within the design (and hopefully within the music) communities. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While working to add value to the design fields, the study has transformed and clarified so much of what I believe as a practicing musician and Dalcrozian that my teaching will forever be changed. In truth, it is not only my teaching that has changed, but also the ways I go about assessing my everyday life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A Bartok selection for the young pianist is not merely a succession of notes for the pianist to hit in the correct order and tempo. It is an aspiration for a complete and fulfilling experience, an interaction that we in the music community would deem "musical" or "artful". Having completed 30 years of Dalcroze studies + these five years of study in Design theory, I now look to all of my interactions (with my peers, my spouse, my environment, with the things and artifacts around me, and even the ways that I interact within myself) and see these as aspiring to a musicality. The PhD began using music as an example of beauty and finished with music being a model for artfulness in living. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is what I attempt to describe and demonstrate for the Design fields in the dissertation and what I continue to </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">describe and demonstrate for my Eurhythmics students every day, the potential for an artful life, both on and off of the concert stage. </span><br />
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<a href="https://www.academia.edu/39225809/SOMA_LITERATE_DESIGN_Recentering_the_Interstitiality_of_Experience" target="_blank">https://www.academia.edu/39225809/SOMA_LITERATE_DESIGN_Recentering_the_Interstitiality_of_Experience</a><br />
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Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-6371309557671989672019-05-27T09:00:00.000-07:002019-05-30T13:28:57.277-07:00So I did a thing...<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hi Friends,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In case you were curious…here is the link to my dissertation. If you are geeky enough to want to engage with it, I would be overjoyed to debate any of the ideas contained within. If skimming over it reveals an opportunity that you think I might not be considering, please let me know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My next steps are to try to turn all of this work into new work…so I am thinking about a book or a website or a series of papers for journals and hopefully multiple collaborations with my brilliant peers….Please reach out if you find any ways that our work might overlap. I would love to collaborate on any of these ideas moving forward.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">much love,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Stephen</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.academia.edu/39225809/SOMA_LITERATE_DESIGN_Recentering_the_Interstitiality_of_Experience" target="_blank">https://www.academia.edu/39225809/SOMA_LITERATE_DESIGN_Recentering_the_Interstitiality_of_Experience</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-26898878560697125192018-09-01T12:40:00.000-07:002019-05-30T12:41:07.517-07:00taking some time off to write!Hey friends...Just letting you know this blog will have to take a back seat while I crank out this dissertation. Many many hours of writing ahead of me. I have 30 weeks to finish this up and I fear it will take nearly all of the energy I have.<br />
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I'll check back in in 2019.<br />
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peace,<br />
StephenStephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-91160138768009966072017-01-16T07:54:00.000-08:002020-04-07T17:32:20.195-07:00New Courses!<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tomorrow I start the new semester and it is looking great....and full....very full.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My normal Carnegie Mellon Spring load would contain <b>Eurhythmics II</b> and <b>Eurhythmics IV</b> for the BFA music majors, and <b>Vocal Methods</b> for the Music Education certification students, but there are some exciting additions this year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I will also be teaching <b>Intro to Dalcroze Eurhythmics for Music Students</b> (with preference for music grad students) and I am 1/3 of the trio teaching the School of Design new course, <b>Persuasion</b>, required of all 2nd semester Junior Design majors (Communication, Product, and Environment tracks). I am so pleased to be joining <a href="https://danlockton.squarespace.com/about//" target="_blank">Dan Lockton</a> and <a href="http://design.cmu.edu/user/841" target="_blank">Michael Mages</a> in presenting this content. My primary contribution is to present fundamentals of experience (<i>a la Eurhythmics for Designers</i>). We will explore space-time through bodied interactions in a quazi eurhythmics setting...big room, no shoes, 9' Steinway, and all participatory. I am excited to present some music basics like beat, tempo, meter, phrase, cadence, tension/release, rhythm, accent, agogics, etc. but related to normal lived experience rather than to specific musical examples. It is an opportunity to reveal the musical in everyday life...I think Dalcroze and Messiaen would be proud. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #073763;"><span class="s1"><b>Persuasion (required of all Junior design majors)</b></span>
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<span class="s1" style="color: #073763;">Persuasion is an important skill for designers to have—both in design practice itself, and in professional situations. Your ability to put across your message, to get other people to agree with you, to value your work, and to want to work with you, will be central to your career, both inside and outside of design. Equally, understanding what persuades you and others—how we are influenced by other people, by media, by our environment, by design—is a crucial reflective skill to develop in better understanding yourself, those around you, and society more widely.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="color: #073763;"><b>Intro to Dalcroze Eurhythmics for Music Students (with preference for music grad students) [21 hours]</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><span class="s1">In this introduction to Dalcroze Eurhythmics designed for graduate level students with significant music background, students will explore fundamentals of music and musicianship through movement, improvisation, and ear training. Students actively explore the concepts of music in a setting designed to achieve understanding through successive interactive experiences. Based on the method developed by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950) this course aids the music student in the practice of artful performance through a greater physical understanding of musical subjects and musicianship</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">. </span></span><br />
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<span class="s1" style="color: #073763;"><b>Intro to Dalcroze Eurhythmics for Non-music Majors (open to anyone) [21 hours]</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="color: #073763;">In this introduction to Dalcroze Eurhythmics designed for students of varied musical backgrounds, students will explore fundamentals of music and musicianship through movement, improvisation, and ear training. Prior music training is not required for acceptance into the Intro to Dalcroze Eurhythmics for Non-music Majors. Students will explore basic concepts of music in a setting designed to achieve understanding through successive interactive experiences. Based on the method developed by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950) this course will aid the music novice in a greater understanding of musical subjects and musicianship through the lens of their own participating body.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="color: #073763;"><b>Dalcroze Eurhythmics I - IV (required of all BFA music majors) [140 hours]</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><span class="s2">Dalcroze Eurhythmics I, II, III, and IV amount to 140 hours of comprehensive professional musicianship training. </span><span class="s1">Through extensive study of improvisation, ear-training, and rhythmic movement, the Dalcroze Eurhythmics coursework offers an ideal and efficient course of study to reinforce the understanding of musical concepts, enhance musicianship and focus awareness on the physical demands of artistic performance.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="color: #073763;">Throughout the four semesters we break down and analyze the bodied, performative aspects of the following subjects: time-space-energy, tempo, dynamics, articulation, beat/pulse (binary, ternary beat units), divisions and multiples of beat-units (regular and irregular), rhythmic patterns based on binary and ternary beat-units, metric organization, complementary rhythm, augmentation, diminution, accelerando, ritardando, phrasing, anacrusic and crusic phrases, repetition, imitation leading to canon, ties, syncopation, structure, form, accents (metric, dynamic, agogic, tonic, timbre, harmonic), meters combining binary and ternary beat-units, cross-rhythms (3:2, 3:5, 5:2, 3:4, 4:5), rhythmic sight reading/ dictation/ improvisation, all rhythms to the level of the 64th note, metric transformation (3/4 vs. 6/8 or 8/8 vs. 4/4, etc.), and the rhythmic vocabulary of Oliver Messiaen (ametrical, additive, augmented and diminished rhythms, retrograde and nonretrograde rhythms). </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="color: #073763;"><b>In all four semesters of the eurhythmics curriculum, extensive attention is paid to training the inner-musician</b>. How does one organize the sounds one hears? What does it mean to feel music? What are the variables to consider when choosing tempi and expressing rubato? With extensive work in conducting, interpretation, score reading, and chamber experiences, the Dalcroze Eurhythmics class is the ideal compliment to the Carnegie Mellon School of Music core courses in Solfege, Theory, and History. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><span class="s1">Artful performance consists of more than just the accurate execution of pitches and rhythms. <b>The experience of music is, at its roots, a physical endeavor, </b>and the Dalcroze Eurhythmics curriculum, initiated at Carnegie Mellon in 1921, is strategically placed to support our students in the discovery and reinforcement of their personal musicianship; a </span><span class="s2">holistic, </span><span class="s1">physical integration of time–space–energy–instrument–sound–body.</span></span></div>
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Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-50062513012496253262015-09-27T05:38:00.003-07:002015-09-27T05:38:53.253-07:00Looking for some quiet time today (and trying not to fill it with technology)....<i>I'm thinking today about the ubiquity of technology chatter....how my quiet spaces as a child in the 1970s were so much more contemplative than my spaces or my 12 year-old's spaces today. I think that the danger lies not in the constant barrage of sounds and images, texts and notifications, but in forgetting that there is goodness in some time away from it all. It is in the quiet where I learn that I have ideas, where I can attempt to make a contribution to my own space. I think the constant noise in our environments can act as a kind of blindfold, causing us to forget that there are other ways to see, and can go so far as to make those paths (that were once sacred paths in childhood) fearful to tread.</i><br />
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From Phenomenology & Practice, Volume 1 (2007), No. 1, pp. 11 – 30.
Phenomenology of Practice
Max van Manen, University of Alberta Email: max.van.manen@ualberta.ca<br />
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"...in his text "The Secret Place in the Life of the Child," Langeveld gives the reader a resonating understanding of the "felt meaning" of that special place that young children at times seem to seek out. The "secret place" is the place where the child withdraws from the presence of others.
Langeveld sensitively describes what it is like for a child to quietly sit in this place where the adult does not pay attention. This special space experience does not involve the child in activities such as hide and seek, spying on others, doing mischief, or playing with toys. Rather, what we see is that the child just sits there, while perhaps gazing dreamingly into the distance. What is going on here? Langeveld describes this space experience as a place of growth.
The child may find such space experience perhaps under a table, behind a heavy curtain, inside a discarded box, or wherever there is a corner where he or she can hide or withdraw. This is where the child may come to "self-understanding," as it were. Langeveld's intention is to show the formative pedagogical value of the experience of the secret place for the growing child. He describes it as "normally an unthreatening place for the young child to withdraw" (1983a, p. 13). Langeveld says things like: "the actual experience of the secret place is always grounded in a mood of tranquility, peacefulness: It is a place where we can feel sheltered, safe, and close to that with which we are intimate and deeply familiar" (1983a, p. 13). He portrays the various modalities in terms of which the secret place may be experienced. Sometimes the child experiences space as something uncomfortable, as looming danger:
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The phenomenological analysis of the secret place of the child shows us that the distinctions between the outer and inner world melt into a single, unique, personal world. Space, emptiness, and also darkness reside in the same realm where the soul dwells. They unfold in this realm and give form and sense to it by bringing this domain to life. But sometimes this space around us looks at us with hollow eyes of disappointment; here we experience the dialogue with nothingness; we are sucked into the spell of emptiness, and we experience the loss of a sense of self. This is also where we experience fear and anxiety. The mysterious stillness of the curtain, the enigmatic body of the closed door, the deep blackness of the grotto, the stairway, and the spying window which is placed too high to look through, all these lead to the experience of anxiety. They may seem to guard or cover an entry-way or passage. The endless stairway, the curtains which move by themselves, the door which is suspiciously ajar, or the door which slowly opens, the strange silhouette at the windows are all symbols of fear. In them we discover the humanness of our fears. (1983a, p. 16)</blockquote>
But during the fourth and fifth year of life the "I" gradually begins to assert itself against the world, the anxieties disappear in degrees. These are the beginnings of the initial developments of a unique human personality in which the first opposition between world and "I" becomes conscious and in which the world is experienced as "other," says Langeveld. Now the secret space becomes invitational:
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The indeterminate place speaks to us, as it were. In a sense, it makes itself available to us. It offers itself, in that it opens itself. It looks at us in spite of the fact and because of the fact that it is empty. This call and this offering of availability are an appeal to the abilities of the child to make the impersonal space into his very own, very special place. And the secrecy of this place is first of all experienced as the secrecy of "my-own-ness." Thus in this void, in this availability, the child encounters the "world." Such an encounter the child may have experienced before in different situations. But this time it encounters the world in a more addressable form -- everything which can occur in this openness and in this availability, the child must actively fashion or at least actively allow as a possibility. (1983a, p. 17)</blockquote>
In spite of quoting these sentences from Langeveld, it is quite impossible to summarize or paraphrase Langeveld's text since it is precisely the quality of the entire text that leads one to recognize reflectively what the experience may be like for a child. In "The Secret Place in the Life of the Child" we can also observe how Langeveld locates the normative in the phenomenological account of the experience of the secret place. He shows not only what the experience is like he also shows how it is a pedagogically appropriate experience for the child:
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In the secret place the child can find solitude. This is also a good pedagogical reason to permit the child his secret place ... something positive grows out of the secret place as well, something which springs from the inner spiritual life of the child. That is why the child may actively long for the secret place.
During all the stages leading to adulthood, the secret place remains an asylum in which the personality can mature; this self-creating process of this standing apart from others, this experiment, this growing self-awareness, this creative peace and absolute intimacy demand it -- for they are only possible in alone-ness. (1983a, p. 17)</blockquote>
Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-83471134512846530382014-03-25T19:26:00.001-07:002014-03-25T19:34:38.944-07:00Why would I choose a 400 year old opera for teenagers?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">We did it! A month ago. :)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">I am just now catching up with the rest of my life enough to be able to reflect a bit on our spring opera at CAPA. This year, we performed a very convincing and very successful "The Fairy Queen" by Henry Purcell. The piece was based on Shakespeare's <i>A Mid-Summer Nights Dream</i> (1592). Purcell performed his adaptation first in 1692!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">I have produced and conducted the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts Opera Workshop for the past 15 years or so. Every year the discussion of repertoire comes up. Students ask for shows they know...everything from Aida to the Magic Flute, Phantom to Grease, Into the Woods and Carmen! It is such a crazy set of conversations. The students just would love some comfort... and comfort has very little to do with my vision for the course or for the act of performance at all.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">I am interested in the WORK and in GROWTH and their rich EXPERIENCE. I love the battle. Largely because we seem to win the battle every year. The teenagers come to the project thinking that the great experience is somehow wrapped up in the repertoire, like, the title of the opera will determine whether they will enjoy it or not. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">We learn anew every year that rep itself only accounts for maybe 10% of the experience, while the majority (90%+) of the true experience is based on the in-the-moment act of singing and acting and working in ensemble. We can experience this 90% in almost any show, and yet, if I were to program GREASE, we might run the risk of never realizing that the 90% was to be found <i>in them</i>, not attributed to the repertoire. Great performances only happen when the performers are able to give something of themselves to the performance. It <i>has</i> to be an act of sharing. If this is missed, there is nothing the repertoire can do to save it. I love the unknown (and sometimes distant) repertoire, because it provides a clear hurdle to jump over. In many of these cases, they won't like it <i>until they learn to share. </i>We all know we have won when the piece ceases to be distant and they take ownership of their own performance and then share that with the audience. </span></span><br />
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THEN, after all of that, we can step back and think, what lessons do we learn when programming </span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">a 400 year old opera for teenagers? We are certainly teaching them about </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">opera and musical drama and stagecraft and big singing. They sing un-miked with an orchestra and a conductor (me) in the pit. They have to deal with </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">a real Staging Director (<a href="http://www.bruceh.net/" target="_blank">Bruce Hosteter</a>), </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">and a real Costumer (Lacey Barker), and props, and lighting (Chris Howard), and stage managers, etc. These are experiences that few teenagers ever get to be a part of. And after all of that the true lessons, the big lessons are just getting started. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">When talking with the cast, after the production, about what they think they learned, almost all of the statements came down to lessons of professionalism. Instead of talking about music and singing and Purcell, the statements were all about: how to be responsible for you...how to work in an ensemble.....recognizing how many people behind the scenes it takes to pull it off....the difference between following and leading....patience....do your job....how to work hard....actually giving vs. faking it....taking risks....growth of self and growth of peers....</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">I love these lessons. This is why every high school in the country should be mounting large scale productions of any genre. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts production of Henry Purcell's the Fairy Queen! A 400 year old opera + 80 teenage singers + 14 teenage instrumentalists + 3 dancers & 1 outstanding harpsichord player Alaine Fink! Special Thanks to the amazing (and most perfect for this </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">collaboration</span><span style="line-height: 18px;">) Director Bruce Hostetler and of course to all of the student performers. You never fail to teach me. I am so thankful for the opportunity to work with you. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">Click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10203308288093098.1073741826.1387130090&type=1&l=6e901c49f2" target="_blank">here</a> for all the pictures!</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimDC1maC2yNonsbDQF4YnpQqGaBuQ_v5z6_wuC6n8L508EudMYlLPZnn2e3tRxGsOc3hnzEtDq1FzFKEVAMrOSO_Mowo0daU1AiVm8jvKKt3JOTKlqVOVcjFz8oSd2RijgGQYmX9okGxc2/s1600/12840306884_fa6399aff7_k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimDC1maC2yNonsbDQF4YnpQqGaBuQ_v5z6_wuC6n8L508EudMYlLPZnn2e3tRxGsOc3hnzEtDq1FzFKEVAMrOSO_Mowo0daU1AiVm8jvKKt3JOTKlqVOVcjFz8oSd2RijgGQYmX9okGxc2/s1600/12840306884_fa6399aff7_k.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><br /></span>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-50614554031976620772014-03-16T11:31:00.000-07:002014-03-16T17:20:50.805-07:00The myth of or secret to multi-tasking<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is the difference between these 2.3 multitasking situations?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Situation 1:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am conducting an opera. There is a 30 piece orchestra, all with different lines to play, different entrances, different cut-offs...there are 15 principal singers singing in solos and duets and trios and quartets, all with different lines to sing, different entrances, different cut-offs...there is a chorus of 60, with all of the distractions of being one of the crowd, who need to be kept in the ensemble with eye contact from the pit, and who all also have different lines to sing, different entrances, different cut-offs... I have, on many occasions, been able to not only keep the machine running, but prove that I can process multiple lines of attention, work many different variables at the same time, some choices about taking turns, some about shaping of time through tempo and rubato, some about prominence through volume, or staging, or eye contact, or articulation, and in other joint moments, bring the full production of nearly 100 players all together, all in the same groove, all in the same momentum, to one common goal, one common cadence. We ALL breathe together, beautiful and complete. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Situation 2.1:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am at church. I am to help run the sound board this week. At the same time I am running the sound board, I am also to find 3 minutes in the service to just take a head count of how many people are in attendance today. Can I do it? NO! NEVER. I ALWAYS forget. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and Situation 2.2:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am at school. I am about to run a rehearsal with the 80 singers of my opera chorus. They are milling about finding music and their seats and finishing the conversations with their peers. Just as I am about to go to the podium, my peer teacher asks if I will please announce that there will be a bake sale today directly after my class and that everyone should go buy a cookie. I say OK. Do I do it? NO! NEVER. Not even once in 20 years of teaching. I ALWAYS forget. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and Situation 2.3:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When out to eat with friends, </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't continue the conversation while trying to figure out the correct amount to tip the waiter. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My wife believes that it is all about what you care about. If I just cared more, I would remember. I think the problem is I care too much, too much about the ONE task. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think it has to do with what is the ONE task. If the different parts come together to make a whole, I can multi-task. If the parts are separate, then there is not multi- just TASK+TASK. The key to the "ARTFUL" experience is figuring out how to bring the different variables together to make a completed whole. To recognize the counterpoint, the ensemble, the role of the different variables or players. To figure out the balance that creates momentum, momentum that allows us to reach the goal, with all variables having contributed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now THAT is ART. </span><br />
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Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-52639344663348260312014-03-08T12:43:00.000-08:002014-03-08T12:43:37.507-08:00PhD in Interaction Design?<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They always say, be careful what you wish for....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been looking for a PhD program that I can get excited about for a long time. After almost 10 years of searching and talking and meeting with many different schools and players, I think I have found a home in the </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carnegie Mellon School of Design! </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been courting the School of Design for the last year with the hopes of convincing them that I might be a great candidate for their new PhD in [Interaction] Design. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am interested in applying ideals of live performance to the practice of design. In music circles we say that the performer is never called upon to be awkward; it is our job to demonstrate accuracy with ease. This ease in performance is an ideal that needs to be designed. We work with the elements such as tension and release, lightness and heaviness, inhibition and excitation, tempo and accent to create a conversation between the players. Obviously these elements are not reserved only for the musical arena. The stage musician builds the experience in the moment for his audience. The choreographer carefully builds the presentation so as to bring the audience into the dance. I am interested in harnessing this artful build up found in the fine arts to serve the broader daily, human experience. How can we inform or guide the average consumer toward richer, deeper, more organic interaction? Can we imagine a range of interaction where the goal is more natural, simple, meaningful, or truthful interplay? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am amazed and flattered, excited and terrified....they said yes. I start in the Fall. </span><br />
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Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-52168012177864955122014-03-01T19:05:00.000-08:002014-03-08T13:06:27.799-08:00DRAW2014: follow-up<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What a cool day. Thanks to Associate Head and Professor of Art Clayton Merrell for the invitation. I am sure I learned more than anyone today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started each of the sessions by looking at some of the featured drawings from the symposium. I instructed the attendees to "look at the drawings like you normally look at drawings." We took about 4 minutes to look through the 12 pictures. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I sang a little song for everyone and instructed them to "listen to the song like you normally listen to music." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we spent about 35 minutes working on the 'experience' of music....the feeling of shifts of weight, the feelings of light and heavy, the feelings of authentic forward motion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I sang my song again and instructed them to look for the matching experience of shifts of weight in my singing, and then we did the same thing with the original slides. It was an extremely simple class. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In true Dalcroze fashion...this was one of those classes where you really had to be there to understand how profound of an interaction it amounted to. We all 'saw' the slides so differently by the end of the class. I think we were able to make a very strong case for the "experience of viewing a drawing" as being potentially equal to the "experience of hearing a song".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was one more moment I will share with you...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At one point in the class we all pressed hands together with our partners and pushed and pulled in a kind-of rowing gesture. The Eurhythmics teacher and student is oft to take this kind of collaboration or contact with a partner for granted. We do it all the time. That little gesture, that tiny bit of intimacy between chamber music partners was HUGE for some of the participants today. These were visual art professionals...painters, drawers, sculptors, etc. They have dedicated their lives to making art largely in isolation. The act of collaboration, in a true duet-chamber-music-in-time model was nearly overwhelming for some. It was a big deal that revealed layers to the performance that this crowd rarely gets to experience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The only reason for the major instrument is to act as a vehicle to share the feelings inside of you with your audience." </span>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-40204985349129267682014-02-10T09:40:00.000-08:002014-03-23T14:57:18.330-07:00Louisville, Kentucky, February 8, 2014<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I arrived at my 1st of two sessions to find a group of 70 Kentucky Music Educators ready to get moving. I asked them, "How many of you were able to attend one of my sessions at KMEA last year?" and about 40 of the hands went up!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was flattered, and so pleased to get to work with such nice folk. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KMEA scheduled me for two sessions back to back allowing us to work progressively. It was so nice to be able to build on the the work of the 1st session. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks KMEA!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-6128821730649754272014-02-03T09:19:00.000-08:002014-03-08T12:45:23.952-08:00Dalcroze Society of America, Pelham Summit of 2014<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This past weekend, I met with 10 of the most wonderful (and most prestigious) Dalcroze educators in the United States. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The membership of the Dalcroze Society of America asked me and this group of master teachers to form a committee that would compare the history and requirements for attaining the "Dalcroze Certificate" and "Dalcroze License" and investigate the possibility of establishing national standards. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The committee has been meeting over conference calls once a month for the past year and this week we were able to meet in person for a full weekend in Pelham, NY. 15 hrs of intense debate, comparisons, biases, sharing, and compromise over three days of meetings. Many smiles and funny stories, much listening, and all in the strongest of good will. I have been in the Dalcroze community long enough to appreciate how special these days really were. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to my most impressive colleagues. Your experience and skills and dedication to this work leaves me speechless, humbled, and thankful for the time spent together. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-22532617204743042552014-01-20T19:29:00.000-08:002014-02-09T20:11:00.609-08:00DRAW 2014: An International Drawing Symposium<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eurhythmics for Visual Artists?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been invited to present two sessions at an <a href="http://www.cmu.edu/art/specialevents/draw2014/index.html" target="_blank">International Drawing Symposium</a> at Carnegie Mellon School of Art this coming March and I think it is a pretty exciting prospect. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems that the more years I spend in the Eurhythmics classroom, the more I have decided that the truest lessons being taught are not specifically or, rather, exclusively musical in nature. They are touching on themes more global than music-specific. These are lessons in artistry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please don't mis-quote me....The undergraduate Eurhythmics curriculum at Carnegie Mellon School of Music is absolutely first and foremost about musicianship. This term speaks to the inner performer as much as the audible performer. We are interested in making the abstract concepts of music and musicianship concrete. We use the body in motion as a model and pull many truths out of the experience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The exciting thing over these years has been to discover more and more truths and to see just how far reaching they are. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thus began my interest in all things trans- and inter-disciplinary. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lessons we work through to be better musicians, have, in most all cases, parallels in the other fine arts. Not only are there parallels with the fine arts, but there are parallels all around us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We work in the Eurhythmics classroom to make the musical notes on the page transition into artful experience. These same lessons or lines of thought can also be applied to our understanding of the stage drama, or the choreography, the hall of architecture, the painting, or the conversations with friends, and even the way we make our morning eggs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the musical performer, there are levels of performance experience that, as mastered, can lead one to the artful. The first question to start asking when trying to apply the same lessons to the rest of lived experience is: "What is performing?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">March 1st I will get two shots to convince a room full of visual artists that they are involved in the act of performance as a drawer and as a viewer of drawings. I am planning on </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How many ways can you judge a drawing? In the end, it only matters if it performs for you. In these sessions, we will look for ways to reveal/notice/understand the inherent gesture in drawings. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or, stated more simply, through subtle shifts of attention, we will search for the ways that a drawing might “perform” for the artist or observer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do not have it all worked out just yet, but I am thinking about</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> contrasts, or heavy and light.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do some paintings draw us in while others leave us feeling flat? why do some experiences feel like music and other experiences of music leave us feeling unchanged?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There must be some interaction with the art for it to make an impact. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where does the interaction occur? [either in the content, or in the culture, or in the met or broken expectations, or in the relationship with the artist, or in the colors, etc….] </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How many layers, or levels of interaction might there be? counterpoint? While we can see a background and a foreground in the picture, can one feel a background and a foreground?</span></div>
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Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-77636247637538941012013-05-05T07:30:00.001-07:002013-05-05T07:31:48.657-07:00"deeper forms of beauty"<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">"We're preparing kids for jobs. We're preparing them to be citizens. And we're teaching them to be human beings who can enjoy the deeper forms of beauty. The third is as important as the other two." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-<a href="http://www.edutopia.org/arts-music-curriculum-child-development">http://www.edutopia.org/arts-music-curriculum-child-development</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17.984375px;">There are some profound lessons first taught to me in the Dalcroze classroom that absolutely define this third point. Not just beauty, but "deeper forms of beauty". </span><br />
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<span style="color: #37404e;"><span style="line-height: 17.984375px;">Do you feel that any of your past education, Dalcroze or otherwise was ever able to get past the mundane, the obvious, the black dots on the page, and bring you to deeper understandings of beauty?</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #37404e;"><span style="line-height: 17.984375px;">I am so very interested in these ideas. I will start to share some of my experiences over the next few months....what are yours?</span></span></span>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-77473751365477464272013-04-19T20:21:00.000-07:002013-04-20T08:13:00.844-07:00What a busy SPRING!<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am so relieved to have made it through the SPRING! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started in February with the <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 14px;">Carnegie Mellon Dalcroze Eurhythmics Immersion Weekend for Music Educators, February 23-24, 2013. We had </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">25 attendees from 5 different states, and 22 CAPA teenagers showed up to the demonstration class and they rocked it! It was a great two days. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was the 4th annual </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">Carnegie Mellon Dalcroze Eurhythmics Immersion Weekend for Music Educators. If you have not attended yet, you really should consider setting the dates aside for 2014. It is well worth the time. <a href="http://music.cmu.edu/pages/dalcroze-weekend-for-music-educators" target="_blank">HERE</a> is the info for 2014.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">March brought my Spring Opera at CAPA, the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts High School. </span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year we produced, what I believe to be, the 1st full production of Lucas Foss' GRIFFELKIN ever performed by a totally teenage cast. It was quite strong and I spent the whole time wondering if anyone in the greater opera/classical music community would care. Is anyone out there interested in the feeder programs to the feeder programs? Here is an example of an URBAN PUBLIC school, doing real rep, with a successful track record and bringing up the next generation of opera lovers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been music directing the Opera Workshop at CAPA for many years. We have done a wide range of works over the years from Kurt Weill to Gilbert and Sullivan, Mozart to Menotti. We have mounted full productions with full orchestra, presented evenings of scenes in the Black Box, and have collaborated with multiple theaters and opera companies (sometimes as their chorus, other times as their full main stage subscription series production).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The course is required for all CAPA Voice majors, grades 9-12. This is about 65 student singers each year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have mounted enough productions with this group to have recognized my pattern. We work like dogs for months getting a production up to speed, I don't tell enough people about it, then I get to tech week and think, HOLY CRAP, this is the coolest, why don't more people know about the great work of these teenagers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year I went out of my way to tell everyone I could find and I am glad I did. It was a superb run for all involved. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can see more pictures from the production <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200821059113928.1073741825.1387130090&type=1&l=a14cf9024c" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, to pick something for next year!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-13864213441674617272013-04-19T17:15:00.000-07:002014-02-09T17:22:40.862-08:00Easton, PA, April 17, 2013<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Easton Area School District, Easton, PA</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week I was invited to work with all of the music teachers in the Easton Area School District, in Easton, PA. My good friend Marie Miller made the invitation and I think we were able to cover a lot of ground in a few short hours. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The teachers who attended ran the gamut of public school music instruction: K-12, vocal-instrumental, general-specific, big groups and small. We worked all day to make the information relevant without losing sight of the privilege that it is to get to work with young people. I was so pleased to meet everyone. Evan, my 15 yr old, came along and participated in the day of classes. I think we all had a lovely day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">thanks Easton!</span>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-17065755748412574772013-02-11T19:32:00.000-08:002013-04-19T19:44:32.370-07:00Louisville, KY, February 8-9, 2013<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">Kentucky Music Educators Association, All-State Conference</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">Louisville was busy! I taught two sessions at the All-State conference. Each session had about 80 people of all ages and backgrounds. We walked and clapped and stretched and sang. We smiled and held hands and partnered and made small groups and large groups. We talked about the power, responsibility, joys, and challenges of the teacher/artist. I made some very nice friends who I hope will be able to make the trip to Pittsburgh this summer. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">After my last session, I was able to sneak into the Kentucky All-State Choirs Concert. It was so interesting to see how this state organizes it. They have 3 all-state choirs. SSAA, TTBB, and SATB. They all sang very well and looked to be having a delightful time. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">Maybe next time my lovely wife will be able to join me. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-6828736299167983232013-02-11T19:28:00.000-08:002013-04-19T19:31:44.878-07:00Midland, PA, February 7, 2013<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 5 Chorus Festival</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Today I had the pleasure of working with about 15 high school choral directors from western PA. We had only a short time to work together, but the vibes were good, and the company was great. We met at the Lincoln Park Performing Arts School. It was very nice to work with this group. Best luck on the remainder of your school year!</span></span>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-12730620992499531332013-01-14T19:25:00.000-08:002013-04-19T19:54:25.429-07:00Phoenix, AZ, January 12, 2013<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another wonderful group of music educators. This time I was in Phoenix. I was so excited to go to someplace warm in February! I left Pittsburgh on a surprisingly warm 60° day and arrived in Phoenix to 49° and dropping! It only got cooler while I was there, at least it was SUNNY!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a big crowd, about 100 teachers, and lots of participation. It took some coaxing to "lose the shoes" (49° is very cold to the folks in AZ), but we had a grand time. Lots of talk about applying the ideas in the elementary classroom, questions about communicating the value with principals and parents, and many good laughs through the day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the workshop, my host took me to Frank Lloyd Wright's winter residence/school, <a href="http://www.franklloydwright.org/about/TaliesinWestTours.html" target="_blank">Taliesin West</a>. Our tour guide was wonderful and spent a lot of time trying to explain the Lloyd Wright philosophy of architecture. Lightness/heaviness, tension/release, good flow, forced vs. natural.....I swear I mentioned so many of the same concepts earlier in the day. I loved it. Frank Lloyd Wright is my homeboy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't wait to visit Phoenix again.</span><br />
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<br />Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755318125949702138.post-62957488293783945372012-10-22T18:08:00.000-07:002012-11-13T18:23:30.585-08:00Denver, Colorado, October, 20-21, 2012<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dalcrozeschooloftherockies.com/About_Us.php" target="_blank">Jeremy Dittus</a> is doing some amazing work in Denver. Jeremy is the most recent USA Dalcroze "Diplome". That is to say, he is the only person in the past number of years to go to Geneva Switzerland, learn the secret handshake, and come home with the black belt of Dalcroze. He is using all of his well won super powers to make some great things happen in Colorado. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had the pleasure of working with many of his adult students, seeing him teach a group of elementary students (amazing), and sharing some very interesting hours talking about teaching and the future of our discipline. A very worthwhile weekend for sure. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many thanks to Jeremy and Michael for the hospitality, the great eats, and for sharing your students with me. I think your work in Denver is very special and a model for the country. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Congrats!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As for my teaching this weekend....I think we were able to get it done. We talked a lot about playing more than just the notes on the page. Where is creativity? Where can you, the artist, be found in your performance? Why would someone spend hours (or lifetimes) in the practice room..... A very very nice group of "professional studies" students. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So nice to meet you all!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can't wait to hear about all of the good work in Denver in the future. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks to James & Emily Pieper for taking me to Red Rocks Ampitheater!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Stephen Neelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376591096089105969noreply@blogger.com0