Dalcroze Eurhythmics: Interaction in Australia in the 1920s

Although musical, rhythmical and aural training aspects are at the heart of the Dalcroze approach it was physical educators rather than music educators in Australia who showed more interest. Lillian Mills and Ella Gormley, inaugural supervisors of physical training in WA and NSW respectively, contributed to the awareness of its benefits. Curiously, no similar initiatives have been found linking Dalcroze Eurhythmics and music supervisors in State Education Departments, although several musicians spoke highly of it. Lindley Evans, following a demonstration he observed at Frensham School in 1920, thought that for young people contemplating musical study it would be invaluable. Professor J. J. Findlay, of Manchester University, asserted that if the child learned 'to embody music and thus unite in one subject of the curriculum all that is needed at this stage for physical training, voice and ear training, musical notation and the delight of song,' a universal reform in the curriculum of young children would be achieved. In the Australian Musical News of 1923, Thorold Waters feared that 'as in Australia music still has to beg to be fully admitted into education it will not be easy for it [the Jaques-Dalcroze system] to find a way past the barriers of official stupidity.' What might Waters have commented eighty-five years further later?