The Dalcroze Method: An Alternative Suggestion between Music Pedagogy and Music Therapy

Abstract

In this article I attempt to present the Dalcroze method as this is applied in the framework of intervention and support of children and adolescents with special needs. Initially I clarify the relation of the Dalcroze method with regards to the terms: “Educational Music Therapy”, “Music Therapy” and “The use of Music in Medicine”. Then I analyze the principles that penetrate the method and the pivots on which it is based (law of polarity, law of supportive interaction and law of rhythmical compensation). I also underline the role of music and movement which enables the method to act on an educational and therapeutic level. Especially, I reveal rhythm as the meeting point between the forces and the laws of music and man and I explain in which way it facilitates the perception of the relationship between the “Self” and the “Cosmos”, as well as between the “Self” and an “Other”. In the end I note the significance of the method, as through its principles and therapeutic aims it contributes essentially to the holistic development of the personality of each person. Through the Dalcroze method the person attains to understand its essence and is led to its self-actualization.