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Stories students tell about their lived experiences of spirituality in the Dalcroze class

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2020

John Habron  and
Liesl van der Merwe
John Habron*
Affiliation:
Royal Northern College of Music, 124 Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9RD, UK MASARA, North-West University, South Africa
Liesl van der Merwe
Affiliation:
North-West University, Thabo Mbeki Way K1, Potchefstroom2522, South Africa
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article is a narrative inquiry of the lived spiritual experiences of students participating in Dalcroze Eurhythmics training. Previous studies have located Jaques-Dalcroze’s own writings and thought within the context of spirituality and have explored the spiritual experiences of Dalcroze teachers, but students’ perspectives remain to be investigated. We interviewed seven students, broadly defined as anyone currently attending regular Dalcroze training or who have recently attended Dalcroze courses and still consider themselves Dalcroze students. Various strategies for narrative data analysis were synthesised into our own coding scheme. Themes emerged from the data analysis: situation, continuity, personal interaction, social interaction and significant moments. The themes helped us construct a fictive conversation between the participants, using direct quotations from the interviews. Implications for practice focus on what inhibits and promotes experiences of spirituality in the Dalcroze class. This research will be relevant to music educators, as it gives clear, evidence-based guidelines on how opportunities for spirituality can be created in the Dalcroze classroom. It also offers an original synthesis of existing coding schemes for other researchers undertaking narrative inquiries.

Keywords

Dalcroze Eurhythmicsspiritualitylived experiencesDalcroze studentsnarrative inquiry
Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , July 2020 , pp. 125 - 139
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

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