Week 13

This week went basically like this…. talked to expert, went to the Lucy Moses School, writing, writing, writing and wait for it….now more writing.

I was able to talk to Stephen Neely on Tuesday. He’s an expert in the Dalcroze method and is a professor at Carnegie Melon University. He was great to talk to because he helped me think about Dalcroze in the context of benefits to learning music. We talked about the theoretical method of Dalcroze where someone doesn't touch an instrument until they are able to think about their body making music and only then learn the technique of the instrument. However, this is rarely used in practice. It’s more about how to use dalcroze method as a way to learn expression in music instead of focusing solely on technique. The goal is to connect with the instrument. So if someone wants to learn a few notes on the flute and they liek bird songs then just jamming out to create bird songs would allow them to learn those few notes.

He was overall super helpful and I want to talk to him again later on in my primary research.

I also was able to go to the Lucy Moses school to talk to Alicia Andrews and learn more about their adult division. I knew they had a large program when I decided I wanted to work with them but it turns out it was founded in 1952 with an adult music division already built in. It is a core part of their organization which makes me even happier to be working with them. The experience was great and I was even able to sit in on a Dalcroze class and talk to the instructor afterwards on what I saw in the classroom. They offered to let me sit in and maybe even participate in a beginner adult Dalcroze class in the spring (february). They also said to reach out to them and they would help me get connected with adult beginners who could participate in my study.

Since then I have just been trying to write my first two chapters of my dissertation and really struggling. It’s hard to fit my ideas eloquently into academic writing.