Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T23:08:27.824Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stories students tell about their lived experiences of spirituality in the Dalcroze class

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2020

John Habron  and
Liesl van der Merwe
John Habron*
Affiliation:
Royal Northern College of Music, 124 Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9RD, UK MASARA, North-West University, South Africa
Liesl van der Merwe
Affiliation:
North-West University, Thabo Mbeki Way K1, Potchefstroom2522, South Africa
*
Corresponding author. Email: John.Habron@rncm.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article is a narrative inquiry of the lived spiritual experiences of students participating in Dalcroze Eurhythmics training. Previous studies have located Jaques-Dalcroze’s own writings and thought within the context of spirituality and have explored the spiritual experiences of Dalcroze teachers, but students’ perspectives remain to be investigated. We interviewed seven students, broadly defined as anyone currently attending regular Dalcroze training or who have recently attended Dalcroze courses and still consider themselves Dalcroze students. Various strategies for narrative data analysis were synthesised into our own coding scheme. Themes emerged from the data analysis: situation, continuity, personal interaction, social interaction and significant moments. The themes helped us construct a fictive conversation between the participants, using direct quotations from the interviews. Implications for practice focus on what inhibits and promotes experiences of spirituality in the Dalcroze class. This research will be relevant to music educators, as it gives clear, evidence-based guidelines on how opportunities for spirituality can be created in the Dalcroze classroom. It also offers an original synthesis of existing coding schemes for other researchers undertaking narrative inquiries.

Keywords

Dalcroze Eurhythmicsspiritualitylived experiencesDalcroze studentsnarrative inquiry
Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , July 2020 , pp. 125 - 139
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ASHLEY, M. (2002) The spiritual, the cultural and the religious: What can we learn from a study of boy choristers? International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 7(3), 257–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BOGDAN, D. (2003) Musical spirituality: Reflections on identity and the ethics of embodied aesthetic experience in/and the academy. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 37(2), 80–98. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jae/summary/v037/37.2bogdan.html 10.2307/3527457CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BOGDAN, D. (2010) The shiver-shimmer factor: Musical spirituality, emotion, and education. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 18, 111–129. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/PME.2010.18.2.111CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BOLLES, G. & CHATFIELD, S. (2009) The intersection of imagery ability, imagery use, and learning style: An exploratory study. Journal of Dance Education, 9(1), 6–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BOYCE-TILLMAN, J. (2000) Promoting well-being through music education. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 8, 89–98. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40495438Google Scholar
BOYCE-TILLMAN, J. (2007) Spirituality in the musical experience. In Bresler, L. (ed.), – (pp. 1405–1422). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
BROWN, D. H. K. (2013) Seeking spirituality through physicality in schools: Learning from ‘Eastern movement forms’, International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 18(1), 30–45. DOI: 10.1080/1364436X.2013.776521CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CARR, D. (1995) Towards a distinctive conception of spiritual education. Oxford Review of Education, 21(1), 83–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CARR, D. (2010) Exploring the spiritual and moral light and dark sides of musical experience and appreciation. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 18, 130–144. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/PME.2010.18.2.130CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CLANDININ, J. (2006) Narrative inquiry: A methodology of studying lived experience. Research Studies in Music Education, 27, 44–54.10.1177/1321103X060270010301CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CLANDININ, J. (2013) Engaging in Narrative Inquiry. Routledge: London.Google Scholar
COBUSSEN, M. (2008) Thresholds: Rethinking Spirituality through Music. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
CSIKSZENTMIHALYI, M. (1990) Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper and Row. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/PME.2010.18.2.130Google Scholar
DEBENHAM, P. & DEBENHAM, K. (2008) Experiencing the sacred in dance education: Wonder, compassion, wisdom, and wholeness in the classroom. Journal of Dance Education, 8, 44–55. doi:10.1080/15290824.2008.10387358CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DUTTON, S. E. (2015) Education in Rhythm and by Rhythm: Exploring Holistic Experiences in Dalcroze Pedagogy. Unpublished PhD thesis: University of Toronto.Google Scholar
EISEN, M. J. (2001) Peer-based learning: A new-old alternative to professional development. Adult Learning, 12(1), 9–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FREEMAN, T. R. (2002) Spirituality in music education: Respecting and elevating students with music. Visions of Research in Music Education, 2. http://www-usr.rider.edu/~vrme/Google Scholar
GREENHEAD, K. (2016) Becoming music: Reflections on transformative experience and the development of agency through Dynamic Rehearsal. Arts and Humanities as Higher Education. Special issue, August. http://www.artsandhumanities.org/journal/becoming-music-reflections-on-transformative-experience-and-the-development-of-agency-through-dynamic-rehearsal/Google Scholar
GREENHEAD, K. & HABRON, J. (2015). The touch of sound: Dalcroze Eurhythmics as a somatic practice. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 7(1), 93–112. doi: 10.1386/jdsp.7.1.93_1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GREENHEAD, K., HABRON, J. & MATHIEU, L. (2016) Dalcroze Eurhythmics: Bridging the gap between the academic and practical through creative teaching and learning. In Haddon, E. & Burnard, P. (eds.), Creative Teaching for Creative Learning in Higher Music Education (pp. 211–226). Oxford: Routledge.10.4324/9781315574714-16CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GRISE-OWENS, E. (2011) Pedagogy and spirituality in higher education: Perspectives, practices, and possibilities. In Chang, H. V. & Boyd, D. (eds.), Spirituality in Higher Education: Autoethnographies (pp. 147–62). Walnut Creek, CA, Left Coast Press.Google Scholar
HABRON, J. & VAN DER MERWE, L. (2017) A conceptual study of spirituality in selected writings of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze. International Journal of Music Education, 35(2), 175–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HAY, D. & NYE, R. (2006) The Spirit of the Child (Revised ed.). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.Google Scholar
HUXLEY, M. & BURT, R. (2014) Concerning the spiritual in early modern dance: Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and Wassily Kandinsky advancing side by side. Dance, Movement and Spiritualities, 1(2), 251–269. doi:10.1386/dmas.1.2.251_1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JAQUES-DALCROZE, É. (1912/1920) From lectures and addresses. In P. & E. Ingham (Trans.), The Eurhythmics of Jaques-Dalcroze (3rd ed., pp. 28–33). London: Constable and Company.Google Scholar
JAQUES-DALCROZE, É. (1914/1967) Rhythmic movement, solfège, and improvisation. In H. F. Rubenstein (Trans.), Rhythm, Music and Education (pp. 60–79). London: The Dalcroze Society.Google Scholar
JAQUES-DALCROZE, É. (1921/1967). Rhythm, Music and Education (H. F. Rubenstein, Trans.). London: The Dalcroze Society.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JAQUES-DALCROZE, É. (1930) Eurhythmics, Art and Education (C. Cox, Ed., F. Rothwell, Trans.). London: Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
JUNTUNEN, M-L. (2002) From the bodily experience towards internalized musical understanding: How the Dalcroze master teachers articulate their pedagogical content knowledge of the approach. Paper presented at the 25th Biennial World Conference of ISME.Google Scholar
JUNTUNEN, M-L. (2004) Embodiment in Dalcroze Eurhythmics (Doctoral dissertation). Oulun Yliopisto, Finland: Oulu University Press.Google Scholar
MCGUIRE, M. B. (2003) Why bodies matter: A sociological reflection on spirituality and materiality. Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality, 3(1), 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NAGEL, J. (2009) How to destroy creativity in music students: The need for emotional and psychological support services in music schools. Medical Problems of Performing Artists, 24(1), 15–17.Google Scholar
Nivbrant Wedin, E. (2015) Playing music with the whole body: Eurhythmics and motor development. Stockholm: Gehrmans Musikforlag.Google Scholar
PALMER, A. J. (2010) Spirituality in music education: Transcending culture, exploration III. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 18, 152–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PATTERSON, W. (2008) Narratives of events: Labovian narrative analysis and its limitations. In Andrews, M., Squire, C. & Tamboukou, M. (eds.), Doing Narrative Research (pp. 22–40). London: Sage.Google Scholar
RIESSMAN, C.K. (2008) Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar
SALDAÑA, J. (2013) The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar
SWAIN, N. & BODKIN-ALLEN, S. (2014). Can’t sing? Won’t sing? Aotearoa/New Zealand ‘tone-deaf’ early childhood teachers’ musical beliefs. British Journal of Music Education, 31(3), 245–263. doi:10.1017/S0265051714000278CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VAN DER MERWE, L. & HABRON, J. (2015) A conceptual model of spirituality in music education. Journal of Research in Music Education, 61(1), 47–69.10.1177/0022429415575314CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VAN DER MERWE, L. & HABRON, J. (2020) Exploring lived experiences of spirituality amongst five Dalcroze teachers. Psychology of Music, 48(2), 163–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WILLIAMSON, A. (2010) Reflections and theoretical approaches to the study of spiritualities within the field of somatic movement dance education. Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, 2, 35–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WILLS, E. (2009) Spirituality and subjective well-being: Evidences for a new domain in the Personal Well-Being Index. Journal of Happiness Studies, 10, 49–69. doi:10.1007/s10902-007-9061-6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
YOB, I. M. (2011) If we knew what spirituality was, we would teach for it. Music Educators Journal, 98, 41–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
YUSSEN, S. R. & OZCAN, N. M. (1997) The development of knowledge about narratives. Issues in Educational Psychology: Contributions from Educational Psychology, 2, 1–68.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Habron and van der Merwe supplementary material

Habron and van der Merwe supplementary material

Download Habron and van der Merwe supplementary material(File)
File 16 KB