eurythmics

Dictionary: eu·ryth·mics eu·rhyth·mics (yʊ-rĭTH'mĭks) pronunciation

also n. (used with a sing. verb)

The art of interpreting musical compositions by rhythmical, free-style bodily movement.

eurythmic eu·ryth'mic adj.

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: eurythmics

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Method of musical training for young children. Eurythmics was developed by Swiss musician Émile Jaques-Dalcroze in the early years of the 20th century. It called for movements of the arms and legs in specific ways in response to changing rhythms and pitches. The initial aim was to encourage a physical response to music in the young, in the hope that it would educate them musically. Very popular in the early 20th century, it has declined in recent decades.

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Dictionary of Dance: eurythmics

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eurythmics (also Fr., eurythmie). From the Greek eurhythmia, meaning rhythmic order and graceful motion. The term was used during the Renaissance to designate unity between parts and harmonious proportion of part to whole. At the beginning of the 20th century it was used specifically to designate the movement theories and practice developed by Jaques-Dalcroze which were influenced by Delsarte and the new modern dance. Exercises in breathing, rhythmic awareness, group movements, and plastic gesture were used to explore and extend the body's response to music. These became a seminal influence in the teaching of dance and music in Europe and the US.

Columbia Encyclopedia: eurythmics

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eurythmics or eurhythmics (both: yʊrĭth'mĭks) , harmonious bodily movement, especially as expressed according to the system of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, who developed eurythmics (1903) at the Geneva Conservatory of Music in an effort to overcome the rhythmic difficulties of his students. His aim was to bring the body under control of the mind through a system of gymnastics correlated with music. First, an unconscious technique of bodily response to the rhythm of music is developed, with the student eventually able to improvise an interpretation, through gesture language, of an entire composition. The system has influenced not only musical instruction but also the ballet and even fields outside musical study. The first demonstrations of it were given in 1905, and the first Jaques-Dalcroze Institute in the United States was established ten years later.

Bibliography

See N. Slonimsky, Music since 1900 (4th ed. 1971), for a history of the Dalcroze method of eurythmics; see also E. Findlay, Rhythm and Movement: Applications of Dalcroze Eurhythmics (1971).

WordNet: eurythmics

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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: the interpretation in harmonious bodily movements of the rhythm of musical compositions; used to teach musical understanding
Synonyms: eurythmy, eurhythmy, eurhythmics

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eurythmics sheet music

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		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Dictionary of Dance. The Oxford Dictionary of Dance. Copyright © 2000, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more
		Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
		WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more