Different from other traditional teaching methods, improvisation is the main part of Dalcroze's teaching method. Dalcroze's teaching method contains three elements:
Rhythmic gymnastics: training the body to express the rhythm and movement of music.
Solfege: Training ears, eyes and sounds to express pitch, melody and harmony.
Improvisation: internalizing musical elements, students improvise with body movements, singing or musical instruments.
Dalcroze (1865— 1950) is a Swiss musician and educator. 1892 Professor of Music Theory, Geneva Conservatory of Music. 1900, he put forward a new theory.
He thinks that music education in the past was very musical, but it didn't conform to the essence of music. Music itself is inseparable from rhythm, which is closely related to the movement of the human body itself. Therefore, simply teaching and learning music without combining body movements is at least isolated and incomplete.
In view of this, Dalcroze put forward the "body rhythm" teaching method. He spent decades discussing theory and practice. With his efforts and the strong support of relevant people, he finally succeeded.
Today, his methods are not only far beyond the scope of music, but also widely used in the training of dance, drama, painting, sports and so on. It has also been popularized in the fields of music therapy, disabled and mentally retarded children and rehabilitation medicine. There are special schools in five continents to train teachers of this teaching method.
Before the First World War, Dalcroze went to European countries for demonstration teaching, which made his system more widely spread and had an important influence on the formation and development of Orff, Kodaly and others' music teaching methods. After the First World War, he returned to Geneva, established the Dalcroze Institute of Systems, and led it until his death.