VDM Masterclass and Short Course Registration is Open!!
We are very excited to feature Short Courses from Michael Joviala (USA), Eric Barnhill (USA), and Jeremy Dittus (USA), and Masterclasses from Hanne Pilgrim (Germany), Eugènia Arús (Spain), Joan Pope (Australia), and Caron Daley (USA/Canada) in VDM Masterclass Series 16!
Review the registration details below and then register for upcoming events, as well as recordings from our Library at our
Three 80-minute classes. Online live course. Asynchronous recordings also available.
Do you have an improvisational practice outside of the Dalcroze classroom? How connected do you feel to your own musical voice when you play for classes? Improvising for Dalcroze classes is challenging: we are simultaneously watching and responding to our students, making pedagogical decisions and creating the music that carries the lesson, all while drawing on a substantial technical vocabulary of patterns, chord progressions, keys and modes. But technical fluency is only part of the picture; to connect deeply with our students, we also need to be authentically connected to ourselves as musicians, developing our own voice through free improvisation and attentive listening to our musical impulses. In these three sessions, we will explore simple practices for developing that voice and strengthening the connection between our ears and hands, so that even within the specific demands of Dalcroze teaching, our improvisation remains authentically our own.
This short course will help you feel more personally connected to the music you play for Dalcroze classes. You'll leave with suggestions for building a regular practice of free improvisations, which will support your authentic improvisational voice both in and out of the classroom.
New York City-based educator/improviser/composer Michael Joviala earned the Diplôme Supérieur from the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva in 2020. He is the director of studies for Dalcroze teacher-training programs at the Lucy Moses School in New York and the Colburn School in Los Angeles. He teaches Dalcroze Eurhythmics to students of all ages at the Lucy Moses School of Music, the Dalcroze School of Music and Movement and in workshops worldwide. He is the creator and music director of the improvising music and dance ensemble, Locomotors.
“Embodying Vocal Textures with Hanne Pilgrim (Germany)”
Online live masterclass. Asynchronous recording also available.
This masterclass explores the dynamic connection between voice, body, and movement, and their shared creative potential. The body, as a resonant space for the voice, opens up new relationships with the environment and with fellow movers. Together, we investigate how vocal sounds—understood as textures unfolding in time, space, and energy— can inspire and shape movement.
During the class we will also engage with repertoire, relying on movement research as an integral tool for exploring and embodying musical structures. Participants will gain insight into contemporary vocal repertoire by Caroline Shaw, and explore pathways toward Plastique Animée. The workshop culminates in a shared creative experience.
The class will include structured experiments and improvisations involving body and voice in solo, small group, and full group settings. Participants will leave with new ideas for music-choreographic processes and practical ideas for integrating contemporary vocal repertoire into their own artistic or teaching practice.
Hanne Pilgrim studied Eurhythmics with Gisela Schwartz and piano with Linde Großmann at the Berlin University of the Arts, where she earned diplomas in both disciplines. She taught improvisation and Eurhythmics at the Berlin University of the Arts, the Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar, the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and the Rostock University of Music and Drama. She is currently affiliated with the State University of Music Trossingen. As principal investigator, Hanne Pilgrim led the artistic research project 'Atlas of Smooth Spaces', funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), from 2021 to 2025. From 2020 to 2023, she collaborated within the strategic partnership “Eurhythmics in Education and Artistic Practice”, funded by Erasmus. Hanne Pilgrim is a candidate in the Diplôme Supérieur of the Jaques-Dalcroze Method at the IJD in Geneva.
Dalcroze master teacher Anne Farber was a proponent of the do-to-do scales as a way of sharpening our internal tonal representations by "rearranging the mental furniture". This set of three 80-minute sessions will lay out how she taught this material. Day 1 we'll cover the tools she used to structure the session and take a first run around the circle of fifths. Having had some time to practice, day 2 will be a march through the major and minor scales in the style laid out on day 1. Day 3 will look at some expansions, including switching between "tonal brain" and "modal brain", and games with the tritone wheel.
Eric Barnhill is both a musician and a scientist. He graduated with a piano MM from Juilliard and a medical physics PhD from Edinburgh. He has a Dalcroze License from Longy and is currently the scientific committee co-chair for the International Conference of Dalcroze Studies. He works as a scientist for Dexcom, and currently also teaches at the Rhythmique Music School in Salt Lake City, and as of this summer, the Manhattan School of Music in New York.
This masterclass will begin with an exploration of why and how we translate sound into movement. Through improvisation and practical exercises, we will experience the connection between sound and movement firsthand. We will then move into how Dalcroze Eurhythmics can deepen musical understanding and foster greater expressiveness, extending these ideas into musical composition. Participants will gain a clearer understanding of the relationship between sound and movement, practical improvisation-based activities suitable for all levels, and new ways to use Eurhythmics to support composition and musical expression. Come to develop a new perspective on composition through embodied musical experience!
Eugènia Arús holds the Diplôme Supérieur of the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze, Geneva, and a PhD in Music Education from the University of Barcelona. She is currently a lecturer in the Faculty of Education of the University of Barcelona and directs the Dalcroze training program at the Conservatory of Music and Dance of Bellaterra, Barcelona. Primarily a pianist, Eugènia combines her work of performing in various productions with publishing articles and teaching materials to promote music education.
Dr. Jeremy Dittus, Diplôme Supérieur, enjoys a career as a pianist, theorist, and Dalcrozian. He has performed and/or presented Dalcroze masterclasses throughout the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia. He directs the Dalcroze School of Music & Movement (Dallas, TX and Oberlin, OH), teaches on the faculty at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and serves on le Collège de l’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze.The Dalcroze School of Music & Movement (founded in 2010) offers courses for youth ages 4-18, adult enrichment, full-time study toward the Dalcroze Professional Certificate, Dalcroze License, and post-License study. Publications include several journal and book articles, seven volumes of teacher-training textbooks, Embodying Music Volumes I-IV and Moving Sound Volumes I-III, along with ten volumes of DSM youth curriculum: Eurhythmics I and II, Rhythmic-Solfège I-V, and Advanced Dalcroze I-III.
“Just Look At What They Can Do with Joan Pope (Australia)”
Online live masterclass. Asynchronous recording also available.
Do we underestimate young children's powers? Joan presents some material she is ‘rediscovering’ as she sorts and tidies her shelves. She explores an unusual project from some 35 years ago in which she used finger painting expression in a kindergarten whilst playing percussion sounds. Joan will share video clips of toddlers at a childcare centre experiencing this unique ‘mixture’ for the first time. Joan also relives a session with 5- and 6-year-olds on the topic of ‘spoons’, and delights at the responses from a group of young children to a simple phrase in ‘Year of the Dog’ twenty years ago. This is a rare occasion when a film was made of Joan in action. (Limited DVDs available through Dalcroze Australia.)
West Australian Joan Pope attended the Dalcroze Training Centre in London in 1953, completed Dalcroze Licentiate, Sydney, 1957, and finally (!) gained Diplôme Supérieure (Institut Jaques-Dalcroze, Geneva), 1999. She was Dalcroze Australia President for many years and conducted workshops, training sessions and DEIEB exams especially in South East Asia and Pacific regions. Joan lectured in a number of Universities in her home State and volunteered her interests in children, youth theatre and dance, festivals, community arts, adventure playgrounds, and seniors' recreation, serving on numerous Boards, nationally and internationally. She holds a BA and a Dip. Ed (UWA), B. Ed , M. Ed (ECU), majoring in Early Childhood and Arts Education. Her PhD Thesis (Monash) was an historical research of 1920-1930s Dalcroze teaching in Australia and New Zealand. She is now celebrating her new status as a Great- Granma (“Gi-Gi-Joan”) and that of Patron of Dalcroze Australia.
Caron Daley is Director of Choral Activities, Associate Professor of Music, and Chair of the Performance Department at the Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Caron has held past conducting appointments with the National Youth Choir of Canada, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, University of Toronto, St. Michael’s Choir School, and Salem Academy and College. Her interdisciplinary research in Dalcroze Eurhythmics and musician health and wellness has resulted in national and international conference presentations and publications in Canadian Music Educator, Choral Journal, Journal of Singing, The Choral Scholar, College Music Symposium, and the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing. Caron holds a D.M.A. (Choral Conducting) from the University of Toronto, an M.M. (Choral Conducting) and M.A. (Vocal Pedagogy) from The Ohio State University, an Artist Diploma and Honours B.M. (Music Education) from Western University, and an Associate Diploma in Performance (Voice) from the Royal Conservatory of Music. She earned a Dalcroze Certificate at the Lucy Moses School and completed additional studies at the Longy School of Music and 麻豆村 Dalcroze training centers.
- VDM Masterclasses require paid pre-registration. $35 USD per Masteclass. $95 USD per 3-session Short Course. $185 USD per 6-session Short Course.
- Upon registering, you will receive the Zoom link in a confirmation email. The Zoom link will be re-emailed to you 48 hours in advance of the class.
- We will send a recording to all masterclass registrants. You may participate live or watch the recording later (or both!). The recording link for masterclasses expires after 30 days. The recording link for short courses expires after 60 days.
- Recordings from the Recordings Library are available for purchase (with a new 30/60 day expiration).
- Each Masterclass will last 90 minutes. 60-75 minutes of teaching followed by questions and discussion. Each Short Course session will last 80 minutes. All classes are taught in English.
Questions?
Check out our Frequently Asked Questions here.
Need a scholarship?
If you are in need of financial assistance to attend the masterclass series, we will be happy to help as much as we can. Please fill out this very short scholarship request form:
If you have any questions, please email us at virtualdalcroze@gmail.com.
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