UK School of Music Adds New Graduate Certificate in Eurhythmics

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 8, 2016) — The University of Kentucky School of Music now offers a new Graduate Certificate in Eurhythmics. While the certificate has little to do with the popular 1980s British music duo Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart, it does focus on Dalcroze eurhythmics, which trains the body to respond kinesthetically to rhythmic and dynamic concepts as one of a three branch approach to music education created by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze.

With few institutions in the United States offering Dalcroze eurhythmics training, UK School of Music's program answers a demand for professional development opportunities for artists in this region and has even attracted program participants from overseas, especially from Asia where eurhythmics is very well received. The newly created American Eurythmics Society is growing the approach nationwide and UK's program will be considered on the cutting edge.

"The Dalcroze approach expands musicianship exponentially," said Martina Vasil, director of the Orff Schulwerk and Dalcroze Summer Institute at UK. "You do not have to be an expert in piano playing to participate in Dalcroze, nor do you have to be a music teacher. A love of music and a desire to engage the people you work with in musical activities is all that is required.”

The UK graduate certificate's main target is school music teachers, but eurhythmics training benefits all musicians and many others such as dancers, music therapists and actors. To earn the certificate, students will:

· take three online Dalcroze classes (offered during the fall, spring and second summer sessions),

· participate in at least two 10-day summer training workshops, and

· complete a capstone project.

Courses are led by two master teaching artists, New York City educator, researcher and UK alumnus Todd Anderson and Hamline University Professor Kathy Thomsen. 

For more information on the graduate certificate or the Dalcroze Institute at UK School of Music, contact Martina Vasil, at martina.vasil@uky.edu.

The UK School of Music at the UK College of Fine Arts has garnered a national reputation for high-caliber education in opera, choral and instrumental music performance, as well as music education, composition, and theory and music history.

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK story and how you can support continued investment in your university and the Commonwealth, go to: uky.edu/uk4ky. #uk4ky #seeblue

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu