Embodiment in musical knowing: how body movement facilitates learning within Dalcroze Eurhythmics M a r j a -L e e n a J u n t u n e n a n d L e e n a H y vö n e n mljuntun@cc.oulu.fi This paper examines how body movement within the frames of Dalcroze Eurhythmics can facilitate musical knowing. Merleau-Ponty's philosophical ideas seem to correspond with the specific empirical findings of Jaques-Dalcroze. Hence, our viewpoint is based on Merleau-Ponty's notions of 'knowing the world through the body' as well as of gesture, habit and reversibility. We argue, along with Merleau-Ponty, that the body is our primary mode of knowing. Furthermore, we suggest that body movement represents pre-reflective knowing and can be understood as physical metaphor in the process of musical understanding from the concrete doing/musicing to the abstract and (or) conceptual. I n t r o d u c t i o n'This is a quarter note; usually it is black, but here on the blackboard it is white.' This is how the very first music theory lesson for young children began in a Finnish music school last September. But this is nothing new or exceptional: 100 years ago Emile Jaques-Dalcroze , as a professor of harmony, solfège and composition at the Geneva Conservatoire, noticed that students were taught theory by rules and writing, not by sound. In fact, he was horrified at the theoretical emphasis and fragmentation of all musical study.What happened in that first music theory lesson, we presume, reflects the usual way of teaching, not only in music but in education in general. Teaching, even in arts subjects, is often conceptual, non-experiential, non-illustrative, and takes place on the abstract level. Decisions to teach through conceptual abstractions are often based on assumptions that ignore the crucial facts of our embodiment and instead advance reason and abstraction as the primary, if not exclusive, modes and results of knowing. In general education, the arts and other subjects that rely on and develop bodily knowing are considered less important than and a refreshing supplement to the 'more important' studies that favour the disembodied 'intellect'. Indeed, the valuing of conceptual knowledge over bodily knowing and experiential learning, and the distinct separation of the two modes, reflects the mindbody separation of Cartesian dualism that is typical of Western thinking.When Jaques-Dalcroze recognised these defects in music education, he started exploring the possibilities for incorporating natural movements into the musical learning processes. Little by little, he came to the conclusion that musical learning and understanding should be based on bodily experiences. Today his ideas of applying body movement in teaching music are known as Dalcroze Eurhythmics. It is an approach to music education that incorporates rhythmic movement, solfège and improvisation and aims at developing musicianship in a broad sense. It usually completes and supports other musical studies Downloadedand is applied in various ways in different countries. 1 When interviewi...

David J. Elliott (Music Matters. A New Philosophy of Music Education, Oxford University Press, 1995) has recently posed the view that musical understanding is to be equated with musicianship. This epistemological turn to musical 'know-how' in the philosophy of music education has faced opposition as well as acceptance. Our paper examines this question of the body in relation to music and movement., which has been raised by Elliott and which was also É mile Jaques-Dalcroze's major pedagogical concern. The general aim of the paper is to show the relevance of the philosophical question of the body in practical music education. The paper discusses attempts to avoid a kind of dualism in which music is either a mental-spiritual experience which transcends the bodily pleasure, or a somatic experience of ' esh and blood'. The ideas of Jaques-Dalcroze and Elliott are examined in relation to recent philosophical discussion on the question of the 'body-mind' with particular reference to the views presented by pragmatists emanating from John Dewey's philosophy. We argue that the body can be taken as a conscious object of transformation within a framework of 'holistic duality' rather than dualism, and that this idea should be more consciously considered and applied to research and practice in music education.

The article examines the role and relevance of certain so-called music education methods used in current educational practice. As different pedagogical approaches and teaching methods aim at good and educative experiences, they suggest an ideal story of success and a direction of growth for the self of the music learner. In this article, these ideal stories are seen as embodying the normative metanarratives of music education. As an example, the article constructs a metanarrative of Dalcroze pedagogy. Jaques-Dalcroze’s texts are analysed as articulating a certain conception of the human being, alongside ideals as to how the competencies of human beings are developed through music and within music education. The article then discusses how methodological metanarratives as normative frames for representing success stories may be used in today’s teacher education in developing teachers’ cultural metacognition and in leading the profession towards a critical narratology, to enrich the reflective practice of future teachers.

In this study we investigated the visions of 12 music teacher educators who teach pedagogical courses called instrumental pedagogy and classroom music pedagogy in three music academies in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The data were collected through individual, semi-structured qualitative interviews. Drawing on Hammerness' concept of teachers' vision we concentrated on the educators' visions of good music pedagogy teaching, an ideal graduate, and visions of their subject as a whole, as well as how those visions can be extended to denote some characteristics of the teaching traditions at play. The results indicated that visions were personal and not necessarily consistent between educators or across institutions. Rather, they were strongly related to, steered, and limited by established teaching traditions. We suggest that vision might constitute a functional concept in music teacher educators' reflections on their work and that clear programme visions should be formulated in music teacher education institutions through collective collegial efforts.

The purpose of this study was to examine the visions of teacher educators of instrumental pedagogy (n = 12) in higher music education regarding ‘good’ teaching and instrumental student teacher preparation. The theoretical basis for the study was research on teachers’ visions (Hammerness, 2006): teachers’ own conceptions of ideal teaching practices. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and analysed by qualitative content analysis. The interviewed teachers’ visions of good teaching of instrumental pedagogy were closely related to their visions of good teaching of instrumental or vocal music, which they attempted to communicate to their student teachers. The process of teacher development was primarily understood as acquiring a package of skills and knowledge that are partly instrument specific, partly generic, and strongly influenced by the labour market. Teaching practice was considered essential, and was perceived as building connections between theory and practical application. The findings support prior research within Nordic teacher education (Hammerness, 2012), in that faculty members’ visions related to teaching are individual and only partly negotiated with their colleagues.