What are the advantages and disadvantages of a musical education ...

important part of the Dalcroze method and is practised using instruments, movement and the
voice.
Dalcroze believed that students should be able to listen to the rhythm of a piece of music and
then develop the skills to be able to express what they heard and how the music made them
feel through movement. The main aims of the Dalcroze method are to improve creative
expression, coordination, concentration, inner ear and music appreciation. All of these skills
contribute to being a good performer. Whilst teaching in Geneva Dalcroze felt that his
students lacked feeing in the music they were performing; he felt that they didn’t put all they
had into their music and lacked the ability to hear the harmonies they were playing. ‘Their
playing showed little sense of rhythmic vitality. In Solfège, he began to devise ear-training
games to develop more acute inner hearing. These games sharpened the students’
perceptions and resulted in more sensitive responses to the musical aspects of performance:
timing, articulation, tone quality, and phrase shape’ (Farber, 2009). Dalcroze believed that
the body should be conscious of every movement in the music. He was able to incorporate
natural and instinctive gestures into his teaching to help students engage with different
rhythms. Gestures such as swinging the arms whilst walking around to a piece of music or
bouncing a ball on the first beat of a bar are used to help students to develop a natural sense
of rhythm. When teaching the Dalcroze method to young children an exercise that
incorporates natural movements is used: ‘Notes are given names such as walk for crochets,
jogging for quavers, skipping for a dotted quaver/semiquaver and stride for minims, etc. This
is not, as one Ofsted inspector seemed to think, liable to confuse the pupil. The names take
advantage of the very natural movements children make when young’ (Vann, 2003). The
Dalcroze method is still commonly used today and is especially popular in schools in the
United States. The Dalcroze Society that is now well established all over the world continues
to teach its students using the teachings and methods of Dalcroze.
Carl Orff was born in Germany in 1895 and became one of the most forward thinking and
influential composers of the 20 th century. He developed one of the most influential methods
of teaching music education to children; his ideas and methods still have a huge influence on
children’s music today. "Since the beginning of time, children have not liked to study. They
would much rather play, and if you have their interests at heart, you will let them learn while
they play; they will find that what they have mastered is child's play (Orff Cited in Estrella,
2005).
The ideas of Carl Orff are referred to as the Orff Method or the Orff Approach or sometimes
it is just referred to as ‘Music for Children’. The main idea behind his method is to introduce
and teach music to children in a way that they will understand and relate to. ‘Musical
concepts are learned through singing, chanting, dance, movement, drama and the playing of
percussion instruments. Improvisation, composition and a child's natural sense of play are
encouraged.’ (Estrella, 2005)
Music Education in Regard to Children CM6002 Emily McGregor 163930
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