This thesis examines the historical importance of rhythm in ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric and oratory. It argues for incorporating rhythmic movement pedagogy, specifically Dalcroze Eurhythmics, into modern public speaking education. The author conducts a literature review on relevant topics such as neurology, education, childhood development, and the historical influence of Dalcroze. The thesis aims to establish a need for rhythmic movement in public speaking training and propose exercises adapted from Dalcroze for speech, forensics, and theater education.

1. WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE? AN ANALYSIS OF RHYTHM
AND DALCROZE EURHYTHMICS AND THEIR PLACE IN THE
COMMUNICATION ARTS OF SPEECH, FORENSICS, AND THEATER
A Thesis
Presented to the
School of Communication
and the
Faculty of the Graduate College
University of Nebraska
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
University of Nebraska at Omaha
by
Kenton Bruce Anderson
May 2004
1

2. ABSTRACT
WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE? AN ANALYSIS OF RHYTHM
AND DALCROZE EURHYTHMICS AND THEIR PLACE IN THE
COMMUNICATION ARTS OF SPEECH, FORENSICS, AND THEATER
Kenton Bruce Anderson, MA
University of Nebraska, 2004
Thesis Committee Chair: Bruce Johansen, Ph.D.
Advisor: Michael Hilt, Ph.D.
This study argues for the reintroduction of the ancient Greek and Roman
rhetorical focus on developing musical rhythm skills in the education of the public
speaker and orator. It examines the potential for application of the Dalcroze Eurhythmics
pedagogical method in speech communication. It reviews the literature on philosophy,
neurology, communication, rhythm, expressive movement, and education. This includes
a literature review of relevant concepts such as rhythm, delivery, charisma, gesture,
affect, education, hypnosis, propaganda, and paranoia. It explores neurological findings
on music, movement, the brain, and the efficacy of bi-hemispherical, affective,
movement-based, phenomenological, and somatic educational approaches.
The study next establishes the relevance of rhythm in current public speaking
textbooks. It does this via a cursory content analysis of rhythmic constructs in 25 recent
college public speaking textbooks. It then establishes the historical importance of rhythm
in the training of orators. It first looks at the primacy of rhythm in ancient Greek and
2

3. Roman rhetorical theory. A discussion of relevant excerpts from the writings of the
ancient Roman rhetorician Quintilian establishes that the ancient Greek and Roman
rhetoricians placed primary importance on rhythm as a pedagogical tool influencing
structure and delivery in ancient rhetoric.
It then conducts a comprehensive review of the historical influence of the
Dalcroze Eurhythmics pedagogical method on the communication arts. It establishes this
musical movement pedagogy’s importance to 20th
and 21st
century thought by clarifying
the ties between Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and the leaders of many major historical
developments in the communication arts, as well as education, physical education and
therapy, in the 20th
and 21st
centuries. It proposes several suggestions for future
pedagogical uses of Dalcroze Eurhythmics in the communication arts fields, including a
brief description of musical exercises currently used in arts education and a brief
discussion of proposed exercises specifically applying to speech, forensics, theater, and
oratory.
3

4. THESIS ACCEPTANCE
Acceptance for the faculty of the Graduate College,
University of Nebraska, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Master’s degree,
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Committee
Professor John Hill
Professor Michael Sherer
Ex Officio Professor Robert M. Abramson
Chairperson Professor Bruce Johansen
Date April 29, 2004
4

5. Music is what happens in the space between the pitches.
--Debussy (Caldwell, 2002 at
http://www.jtimothycaldwell.net/resources/correspondence/choral-director.htm)
5

6. I've Got Rhythm
Words by Ira Gershwin, Music by George Gershwin
Written in 1930 for the musical "Girl Crazy" starring Ginger Rogers
In this fast and troubled world
We sometimes lose our way
But I am never lost
I feel this way because...
I got rhythm, I got music
I got my girl
Who could ask for anything more?
I've got good times, no more bad times
I've got my girl
Who could ask for anything more?
Old man trouble (old man trouble)
I don't mind him (I don't mind him)
You won't find him 'round my door
I've got starlight (I've got starlight)
I've got sweet dreams (I've got sweet dreams)
I've got my girl
Who could ask for, who could ask for more?
----- instrumental break -----
Old man trouble (old man trouble)
I don't mind him (I don't mind him)
You won't find, you're never gonna find him 'round my door
Oh, I've got rhythm (hey! I've got rhythm)
I've got music (hey! I got music)
I got my girl
Who could ask for anything more?
In this fast and troubled world
I've got rhythm, I've got rhythm
I've got rhythm, I've got rhythm
I've got rhythm, I've got rhythm
6

7. {fade}
-----
Verse:
Days can be sunny,
With never a sigh;
Dont' need what money
Can buy.
Birds in the tree sing
Their dayful of song.
Why shouldn't we sing
Along?
I'm chipper all the day,
Happy with my lot.
How do I get that way?
Look at what I've got:
Refrain:
I got rhythm,
I got music,
I got my man -
Who could ask for anything more?
I got daisies,
In green pastures,
I got my man -
Who could ask for anything more?
Old Man Trouble,
I don't mind him -
You won't find him
'Round my door.
I got starlight,
I got sweet dreams,
I got my man -
Who could ask for anything more -
Who could ask for anything more?
7

8. Thesis Outline
I Intro: Epistemology, experience, exploration, evidence, and education
A Need for determining approach to the experience of truth and its
understanding.
1 Phenomenological approach to the experience and understanding of reality
2 Analytical approach to the determination of truth
B Statement of communication problem(s) and needs
1 Performance expressiveness then and now
2 Classroom needs in both public speaking and other fields of
pedagogy
II Literature review
A Communication: Public speaking and forensics
1 Gesture
2 Charisma—leadership
3 Rhythmic movement and ancient rhetorical theory: Primacy of rhythm
in rhetoric and oratory
B Current directions in rhythm, movement and expressiveness
1 Art and philosophy: Epistemology
2 Neurology and psychology
3 Childhood development
4 Education
III Implications and issues raised by detractors
A Hypnosis
1 Therapeutic
2 Power
3 Neuro-Linguistic Programming
4 Mass hypnosis
B Propaganda
1 Social Critical Theory
2 Power
3 Paranoia
C Paranoia
1 Music has great power
2 But is culture specific (according to literature)
IV Specific purpose
A Research questions
1 Is the method relevant to public speaking? Issues raised by lit review.
‘It should by now be obvious that rhythmical movement pedagogy is
indeed relevant and most likely crucial, to public speaking education’
2 Are there Eurhythmics-based exercises compatible with public
speaking education?
3 Save the research questions for after the communication and
expressive movement literature review, so the study will then be able
to argue a need based on the results of that review
8

9. 4 Is there a method?
5 Are there exercises compatible with public speaking education?
B Hypotheses.
V Methodology for current study
VI Content Analysis
A Brief survey of recent texts
B Save chart of occurrences for end of paper as Tables 1& 2
VII Historical Analysis
A Ancient Greek and Roman rhetorical theory: Primacy of rhythm
B Dalcroze Eurhythmics
1 Its nature
2 Its historical contributions
3 Its content (exercises) current and proposed
A Musical, rhythmic movement currently used in musical arts
education
(1) Concepts: Philosophical fundamentals of the method
(2) Aims
(3) Techniques
B Proposed rhythmical movement for speech, forensics, theater
Education
(1) Current exercises
(2) Potential exercises
(3) Lesson planning
(4) Recommendations for classroom implementation
VIII Conclusion: Synthesize argument (“Where has all the rhythm gone?”)
A Results: Review each section
1 Need
2 Historical analysis
3 Content analysis
4 Address propositions (hypotheses)
B Synthesize argument
C Restate argument with certainty of some sort
IX Suggestions for future research
A Deeper historical research
B Further consolidation of delivery terminology
C Comprehensive integration of rhythmic constructs into future delivery
literature
Reviews
E Consistent integration of neurological, epistemological, and psychological
Findings into communication literature and praxis
F Empirical studies to test Dalcroze Eurhythmics and other methodologies for
Effectiveness in teaching rhythmicality and expressiveness
G Suggestions for teachers
X Appendices
9

10. A Endnotes
B Tables
XI References
10

11. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Members of my Thesis Acceptance Committee:
Chairman, Professor Bruce Johansen,
Professor Michael Sherer,
Professor John Hill,
Ex Officio Member Professor Robert Abramson [Graduate Faculty, The Juilliard School;
Director, Dalcroze Summer Institute, The Juilliard School; Professor Emeritus, Phillips
Exeter Academy; and Director, Robert Abramson Dalcroze Institute].
All my Professors and friends in the School of Communication.
Dr. Karen Kangas Dwyer; University Library & Staff; Lisa M. H. German; Rikki Renee
Willerton; My fellow Graduate Teaching Fellows; Aubrey Nye (NLP) Personal
Communication; My Parents: Wendel & Marilyn Anderson; Mr.Timothy Adkins & Mrs.
Karen Adkins; Mr. & Mrs. Edgar and Jeannie Sawyer & Helen; Mr. & Mrs. Roger and
Nancy Martinson; My Uncle Ray Petersen; Janice Evans and all my apprentices,
teachers, and associates in KBA Glassblowing Studios, Ltd.; My students; Lorelei, Amy,
and the ladies (The Lotus); Michelle Zacharia; Professor Charles J. Zabrowski and & Ms.
Patricia Beedle; Professor Diane Wood; Professor Patrick Murray; Professor Patricia
Fleming; Professor Richard White & Ms. Clarinda Karpov; All the scholars, educators,
and supporters of the Mary Helen Ehresman Symposium on Education and Creativity for
the Research Institute for Integrated Brain Studies (RIIBS); Professor Suzanne Burgoyne;
Ms. Louise O’Connor & family; Chino & Goldie; Professor Marlene Yeni-Maitland;
Professor Josie Metal-Corbin; Professor Jay Seitz; Professor Scherer (Geneva,
Switzerland); my cousin Sue Petersen (KBA Studios, Ltd.); my cousin John Petersen
(Arlington Institute & The Futuredition); Aunt Mary Helen Ehresman & family; all my
family, including siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles; Joe Palomino Williams Sanchez
(Delsarte); Professor J. Timothy Caldwell; Professor Daniel Cataneo; Phyllis Dunne; Tim
& Stephanie Loatman; Mrs. Margaret Diamantis; Susan Detlef; Ms. Della Bynam; Mr. &
Mrs. William and Mary Applegate; Chris Matt; Ms. Bonnie Jones & Mr. Phil Anderson;
Mrs. DeLoris Bedrosky & family; and everyone else I didn’t mention.
11

12. DEDICATED TO THE LATE CONCHITA JOHNSON WHO KNEW ME WELL
ENOUGH TO BELIEVE EVERYTHING I SAID
Lay me down beneaf de willers in de grass,
Whah de branch’ll go a-singin as it pass.
An’ w’en I’s a-layin’ low,
I kin hyeah it as it go
Singin’, “Sleep my honey, tek yo’ res at las’.”
Lay me nigh to whah hit meks a little pool,
An de watah stan’s so quiet lak an cool’
Whah de little birds in spring,
Ust to come an’ drink an’ sing,
An’ de chillen waded on dey way to school.
Let me settle w’en my shouldahs draps dey load
Nigh enough to hyeah de noises in de road;
Fu’ I t’ink de las’ long res’
Gwine to soothe my sperrit bes’
Ef I’s layin’ ‘mong de t’ings I’s allus knowed.
--Paul Laurence Dunbar, A Death Song
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes:
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—
I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting—I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,--
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—
12

13. I know why the caged bird sings!
--Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sympathy
13

14. BENEDICTION
To some future scholar: May this thesis be the newly discovered cache of gold that
you clutch breathlessly to your chest the way I did many of these bibliographical
sources.
“Miracles are to come. With you I leave a remembrance of miracles . . .”
“we’re a mystery which will never happen again, a miracle which has never
happened before--”
“—how fortunate are you and I, whose home is timelessness: we who have
wandered down from fragrant mountains of eternal now”
e. e. cummings
(Pearson & cummings, 1978)
14

15. TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................................2
THESIS ACCEPTANCE...............................................................................................................................4
Words by Ira Gershwin, Music by George Gershwin
Written in 1930 for the musical "Girl Crazy" starring Ginger Rogers .........................................................6
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................................11
.......................................................................................................................................................................11
DEDICATED TO THE LATE CONCHITA JOHNSON WHO KNEW ME WELL ENOUGH TO
BELIEVE EVERYTHING I SAID ..........................................................................................................12
BENEDICTION ...........................................................................................................................................14
TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................................................................15
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: THE FIVE ‘E’S’ OF EPISTEMOLOGY, EXPERIENCE,
EXPLORATION, EVIDENCE, AND EDUCATION...............................................................................18
CONCEPTUAL CONTEXT: EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE..............................................................................18
EXALTATION...............................................................................................................................................19
APPROACHES TO PERSUASIVENESS............................................................................................................21
Determining the Approach...................................................................................................................23
Phenomenological Approach..........................................................................................................................................23
Analytical Approach.......................................................................................................................................................24
CHARISMA: EXPRESSIVENESS, LEADERSHIP AND RHYTHM .....................................................................31
Measuring Charisma: Concepts...........................................................................................................35
Measuring Charisma: Indicators ........................................................................................................36
COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION.............................................................................................................40
COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION (CMC).....................................................................................43
PHILOSOPHY & EPISTEMOLOGY ................................................................................................................45
PSYCHOLOGY: FLOW LITERATURE............................................................................................................50
NEUROLOGY...............................................................................................................................................52
Toward a Model of Brain Circuitry......................................................................................................64
Bi-hemisphericity of Neural Circuitry and Aphasia.............................................................................66
Phrasing, Stuttering and Speech...........................................................................................................68
Chiropody: The Science and Art of the Hands.....................................................................................76
Babbling Canons .................................................................................................................................78
SPEECH, GESTURE, AND CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF LITERATURE. ............................78
MEMORY....................................................................................................................................................92
EDUCATION: “TALKING DOES NOT TEACH”, SYNCHRONICITY AND FLOW STATES..................................93
Somatic Education: Movement to rhythmic, musical accompaniment...............................................94
Improvisation and lesson plan theory ............103
Music Education.................................................................................................................................106
The Dance Before: Suggestions for Movement-Based Education.....................................................109
Mindful Learning................................................................................................................................123
But Can it Work at the College Level?...............................................................................................125
TEACHERS .............................................................................................................................................127
RELATED THERAPIES (SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION AND MEDICINE).....................................................129
15

16. WHY YOU MAY NOT HAVE HEARD OF DALCROZE...................................................................................137
IMPLEMENTING SOCIAL CRITICAL THEORY LITERATURE: THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN RHYTHM,
HYPNOSIS, PROPAGANDA, AND SOCIALIZATION........................................................................................144
Hypnosis ............................................................................................................................................149
Subliminal Indoctrination...................................................................................................................152
Propaganda (or Socialization)...........................................................................................................154
THE SHADOW KNOWS: TOWARD AN ANALYSIS OF THE SOCIAL CRITICAL THEORETICAL
UNDERPINNINGS OF RHYTHM, HYPNOSIS, PROPAGANDA, AND PARANOIA.............................................155
LITERATURE REVIEW OF SOCIAL CRITICAL THEORY, HYPNOSIS, PROPAGANDA, PARANOIA, AND THE
MEDIA .....................................................................................................................................................155
Hypnosis.............................................................................................................................................155
Propaganda and Paranoia.................................................................................................................161
Paranoia as Psychosis........................................................................................................................162
APPLYING THEORY...................................................................................................................................163
Framing and Agenda Setting .............................................................................................................165
Critical Theory and Pedagogy ...........................................................................................................166
Globalization Model...........................................................................................................................171
Western Hegemony Model..................................................................................................................172
Framing as Propaganda.....................................................................................................................174
Mediated Social Behavior Model and Propaganda...........................................................................175
Charisma and Propaganda.................................................................................................................176
Propaganda, Free Speech Myth, and Legal Theory...........................................................................176
Dissent and Monster-Making as Propaganda Determiners...............................................................177
Framing of Fringe Social Elements....................................................................................................178
SUMMARY OF RHYTHM-RELATED LITERATURE........................................................................................180
CHAPTER III. SPECIFIC PURPOSE....................................................................................................182
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES.................................................................................182
CHAPTER IV. METHODOLOGY.........................................................................................................185
CHAPTER V. CONTENT ANALYSIS...................................................................................................187
CHAPTER VI. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS............................................................................................193
THE PRIMACY OF RHYTHM: ANCIENT RHETORICAL THEORY...........................................193
LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................................................................193
Emotion and Affect: Emotional Awareness and Communication......................................................193
THE HISTORY OF RHYTHMOS...........................................................................................................195
Music, Rhythm, and Language in Ancient Culture..................................................................................197
THE METHOD OF DALCROZE EURHYTHMICS.............................................................................212
WHAT IS RHYTHM?..................................................................................................................................212
WHAT IS GOOD RHYTHM?.......................................................................................................................213
FORMAL ELEMENTS OF DALCROZE EURHYTHMICS.................................................................................215
Alienation of the Individual from Himself..........................................................................................215
Aims ...................................................................................................................................................217
WHY DO I LAUGH?..................................................................................................................................234
OVERVIEW: HISTORICAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF DALCROZE EURHYTHMICS...................235
Music (Composing, Conducting, Lyric Opera, Education, Performing, Orchestral)........................237
16

17. Theater (Stage and Set Design, Costuming, Lighting, Acting Techniques, Directing, Meyerhold,
Stanislavsky, Boleslavsky, Grotwski, Strasberg, Clurman, Jacques Isnardon, Reinhard, Craig).....244
Dance (Modern Dance, Ballet)..........................................................................................................250
Film (Jean Cocteau, Eisenstein, Meyerhold, Grotowski)...................................................................255
Literature (Kafka, Countess Tolstoy, Upton Sinclair, George Bernard Shaw, Jean Cocteau, Paul
Claudel) .............................................................................................................................................256
Architecture (Le Corbusier, Tessenow)..............................................................................................258
Modern Art (Salzmann, Kandinsky, De Hartmann, Rodin, Bauhaus, Itten)......................................260
Athletics and Physical Education (Czech Sokol, Swedish Gymnastics).............................................268
Psychology (Gestalt Therapy, Jean Piaget's Theories based on children studied at Maison des Petits
School where Dalcroze taught and performed) .................................................................................269
SUMMARY: HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF DALCROZE EURHYTHMICS........................................................271
EURHYTHMICS IN THE PUBLIC SPEAKING CLASSROOM........................................................273
Concepts.............................................................................................................................................273
Aims....................................................................................................................................................277
Techniques..........................................................................................................................................280
Exercises ...........................................................................................................................................281
Lesson Plans.......................................................................................................................................290
Practicing...........................................................................................................................................291
CHAPTER VII. IMPLICATIONS (OR CONCLUSIONS)...................................................................293
Where has all the rhythm gone? .......................................................................................................293
SUMMARY OF RESEARCH GOALS.............................................................................................................297
CHAPTER VII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION...................................................................................299
RESULTS...................................................................................................................................................299
DISCUSSION..........................................................................................................................................304
LIMITATIONS AND VALIDITY....................................................................................................................306
CHAPTER VIII. FUTURE RESEARCH................................................................................................309
FUTURE RESEARCH..................................................................................................................................309
APPENDICES ...........................................................................................................................................313
Author’s Notes:...................................................................................................................................313
ENDNOTES................................................................................................................................................314
1. Correlates .....................................................................................................................................314
2. My Experience...............................................................................................................................314
....................................................................................................................................................................325
TABLE 1: RHYTHM OCCURRENCES.................................................................................................326
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................................328
17

18. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: THE FIVE ‘E’S’ OF EPISTEMOLOGY,
EXPERIENCE, EXPLORATION, EVIDENCE, AND EDUCATION
Conceptual Context: Experiential Knowledge
In the Hollywood movie The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews' character stands on
the side of a mountain in the Swiss Alps. The expression on her face is one of exultation
(exuberant joy). She throws out her arms as if to embrace the whole earth and sings the
now famous lines "The Hills are Alive -- with the Sound of Music!" To most of us,
perhaps, this experience of hers appears to merely express the character's great relief, joy,
and gratitude at having escaped her persecutors. Some might even add to this analysis a
bit of excitement and yearning for the future that suddenly appears so rosy, possible, and
even inevitable. Basically it seems a dramatization of the "happily ever after" moment in
most fairy tales.
But it may turn out that this song, this movie, and the lives of its characters
actually tell of a deeper, richer story, a story that is at the root of some of the greatest
artistic developments of our time--perhaps the true story of all the greatest arts
throughout history and prehistory as well. The story is that of eurhythm (good rhythm)--
in particular, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, one of the least understood, yet most influential
movements of our times.
Quite possibly, Ms. Andrews' character's experience wasn't merely that of
exultation - joy, happiness, etc. - but also one of exaltation - the elevation of
consciousness to a different level. A spiritual awakening, if you will. For this was the
researcher's experience during the summer of his exaltation.
18

19. Exaltation
In July and August of 2001, this researcher spent several weeks of intensive
training at the Dalcroze Institute at The Juilliard School, New York City. At the end of
his first week of Dalcroze Eurhythmics teacher training, he boarded a train from
Manhattan to New Jersey. During this hour-long ride, he sat near a window and began
practicing his rhythmic conducting exercises. Using the techniques of nuance awareness-
building developed about a hundred years before by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, he began to
notice an amazing thing. Little by little, more by more, then lots by lots, one hand began
to conduct, or trace, the uneven clatter of the train on its hand-laid, imperfectly connected
tracks. Gradually, he began combining this erratic pattern with his other hand which
began conducting, by way of a contrapunture, the organic lines of the lush natural
growth, topographical landmarks such as hills and valleys, and sporadic man-made
erections.
Lulled by this somewhat hypnotic festival of sound and imagery, and entering
into it profoundly through his physical search for its rhythmic nuances which he was
attempting to capture and portray in his hand--and soon entire body--movement, he thus
entered into a state of exaltation (or spiritual elevation) that he describes as the complete
and utter embodiment of the words to Ms. Andrews' character's song. The very hills
came alive as he watched and measured their rhythms. Or rather, they had probably
always been alive, but suddenly he could SEE their life. Not just their vegetable growth,
but the very movement and energy streams comprising their LIFE-force itself.
Intuitively, he immediately realized that the creators of The Sound of Music were
19

20. actually describing a very specific type of experience of which he had never before had
any concept.
This researcher's was a very visual experience brought about, he is sure, by the
mind-expanding physical, mental, and emotional techniques of the Dalcroze Eurhythmics
classwork. This profound moment was merely the first in a variety of life-changing
experiences that summer and since.
Why tell the scholarly reader of this subjective, biased, unsubstantiated proof of
the researcher's sudden understanding of fundamental human and natural rhythm?
Because the very exercises and classroom work which led the researcher (and others, he
believes) to such exalted states of awareness have also been harnessed over the last
century as the bases for manifold artistic, educational, and therapeutic applications. The
historical contributions of this mind-altering methodology are the subject of this heuristic
paper.
Based in music and the writings of the ancient Greeks, the system of Dalcroze
Eurhythmics is built on the attempt to reintroduce emotional expressiveness into
performance. Caldwell (1995) says the purpose of music is to express emotion.
Quintilian (Zucker, 1988) said this is what the Greeks believed the purpose of oratory
was as well. Emotion is a product of motion, or physical movement. (Caldwell, 1995) If
there is no motion in a thing, it is dead. The same argument may then hold for emotion as
well.
Good teachers must model the behavior they wish to see. Giving examples,
definitions, lecturing, and reading are not the same as giving the skills of expressiveness.
20

21. What many classrooms lack, Dalcroze Eurhythmics teaches. It instills in the body,
through actual classroom exercises, such artistic communication experiences as rhythm,
movement, improvisation, timing, pace, punctuation, phrasing, stopping, starting, pitch,
cadenza, and more.
Jaques-Dalcroze explained that
. . . it trains the powers of apperception and expression in the individual and
renders easier the externalization of natural emotions. Experience teaches me that
a man is not ready for the specialized study of an art until his character is formed,
and his powers of expression developed. (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1913, p. 35)
In 1931, conductor, teacher, director of the Dalcroze School of Music in New York City,
holder of the Dalcroze Diplome, and Jaques-Dalcroze’s chief assistant in Geneva for
several years, Paul Boepple, talked about Dalcroze Eurhythmics:
There is only one 'speedometer' common to everybody, that is the pulse. Science
has proved that without knowing it, we measure the movement of a piece of
music or of a dance by the throbs of our heart. Considering, moreover, the time-
relations between breathing, walking, running, and the pulse, it becomes at once
evident that the human body must be the time meter for all rhythm in art.
(Becknell, p. 89)
Jaques-Dalcroze argued that this rhythmic ingredient was the basis for all the arts.
"So we have, as it were, a scale of the arts, with music at its centre and prose-writing and
painting at its two extremes. From end to end of the scale runs the unifying desire for
rhythm." (Jaques-Dalcroze, 1913, pp. 60-61)
Approaches to Persuasiveness
Throughout the history of rhetorical speech, scholars have pondered what
techniques should be used for greatest persuasiveness. Examining the history of oratory,
21

22. one is often drawn to the attractive, magnetic personalities of certain leaders. Perhaps
there are quantifiable characteristics in the delivery styles of the more magnetic leaders
that set them apart from their less dynamic peers. The literature on nonverbal behavior
and leadership examines a wide range of concepts and variables as researchers struggle to
formulate theories about these aspects of human behavior. This section examines the
communication literature on emotional communication between leaders and followers.
The study first explores the charismatic aspects of leadership.
After reviewing the concepts used in the communication literature to discuss
leader charisma and emotional expressiveness (or ‘affect’), this researcher will examine
literature in other fields. While expressive rhetorical performance is usually spoken of in
communication literature as ‘charisma,’ in other fields the discussion uses the
terminology of rhythm. Once the findings on expressiveness in these other, analogous
scholarly and scientific fields have been presented, the study will explore the history of
ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric to determine the historical precedent for discussing
oratorical expressiveness.
The ancient Greeks appear to have been the first to consider that persuasiveness
and expressiveness were actually part of the rhythmic elements of performance. Rhythm
was a pedagogical construct of great importance to these ancient rhetoricians.
Specifically, this researcher hopes to find evidence in the ancient writings of the
existence of a pedagogical method for developing emotionally expressive speakers using
rhythmic, musical movement similar to the Eurhythmics techniques developed by Emile
Jaques Dalcroze. While Dalcroze invented neither the term Eurhythmics nor its function
22

23. as a pedagogical tool, he did create a modern system using his own games, exercises, and
techniques in an attempt to recreate that ancient Greek concept. A description of the
ancient Greek method and of its apparent revival as Dalcroze Eurhythmics will be
presented, followed by a historical analysis of its contributions to the 20th
and 21st
centuries. Finally, this researcher will conclude by arguing that a rhythmic movement
pedagogy of somatic education such as Dalcroze Eurhythmics should be introduced into
college public speaking pedagogy.
Determining the Approach
This paper uses two approaches to information gathering and synopsizing.
Phenomenological Approach
One approach this paper uses to begin and which it continues periodically to use
throughout is the phenomenological one of analyzing internal experience. It is hoped that
by describing the subjective experiences of the researcher during the exploration of
rhythmic development, the inner nature of a somatic educational approach such as
Dalcroze Eurhythmics will become more apparent. This approach to knowledge is not a
new one in the history of the world. As Kabbalistic literature puts it:
Something you cannot explain to another person is called nistar, ‘hidden,’
like the taste of food, which is impossible to describe to one who has never tasted
it. You cannot express in words exactly what it is—it is hidden. . . .
Whoever delves into mysticism cannot help but stumble, as it is written:
‘This stumbling block is in your hand.’ You cannot grasp these things unless you
stumble over them. (Matt, 1997, pp. 162-3)
One ramification of using the researcher’s own experience as evidence is an
alternation between third person and first person narrative style. In general this narrative
23

24. will use the more “objective” third person style except where it reduces clarity, reduces
immediacy, or leads to confusion. In those cases the researcher will use the first person.
Analytical Approach
This paper reviews how rhythm is discussed in the literature of ancient rhetoric,
philosophy, psychology, neurology, communication, the arts, and movement-based
education. A content analysis is undertaken of rhythmic constructs in 25 recent college
public speaking textbooks. Several research questions and hypotheses will be established.
Methodologies used in the study will be delineated. The study will include a description
of Dalcroze Eurhythmics and a comprehensive analysis of its historical contributions,
based as it is on the emotional expressiveness and persuasion issues raised by the ancient
Greek and Roman rhetoricians. A discussion of the results of the historical and content
analyses will follow. The conclusion will establish an overall perspective on the issues
raised in the study. A recommendation for future research will end the paper.
Purposes
When I ended my first summer studying rhythm and began to teach forensics and
public speaking, I noticed several things. First, the textbook my communication
department used briefly mentioned that some great speakers such as Martin Luther King
used rhythmic delivery. Then it said that the repetition in Martin Luther King’s speeches
was what made them rhythmic. This didn’t make sense to me. Isn’t repetition what leads
to monotony? Surely there must be a quality in his delivery that transformed repetition
from monotony into expressiveness. Rhythm is the quality of the movement, the space
between the beats in movement, and the particular character of the flow. It is not the
24

25. mere repetition itself. Indeed, repetition is more akin to what rhythmicists call meter or
timing. Put simply, if we have four beats in a measure—or four repetitions of a word or
phrase--that fact just describes meter or timing. Rhythm, however, is the specific quality
of those repetitions (or another delivery aspects) and the space between them. What is
that space between them? It could be sound, silence, or movement—all of which move
through the gravity field surrounding the performer. In fact, it is probably all three. Even
a silent moment contains some sound and some movement, even if it seems insignificant
to the untrained. These are, in all probability, nuances of motion. Rhythm is the study of
those nuances—which lead to emotion.
Another thing I noticed was that the most popular of my first semester student
speakers were extremely expressive, but did not meet the expectations of my
departmental coordinator for exemplary public speaking. One dyad speech presented in
my class made the students, myself, and a review group of my colleagues roar with
laughter, but was then labeled “inappropriate” for use as an example to the students in the
rest of our public speaking classes. When asked what was wrong with the speech, the
coordinator conciliatorily responded: “Well, it was the most expressive speech I’ve
seen!” In ensuing semesters I backed away from encouraging the expressive aspects of
performance and focused on developing structure and content. Eventually this caused me
to lose much of the joy of teaching and, I think, my students to find less joy in their
public speaking as well. Coincidentally, while my student evaluations were never
unacceptable, they were lowest in those semesters when I focused more on teaching
content and structure than teaching expressiveness.
25

26. The third thing I noticed was that forensics students competing on the local, state,
regional, and national circuits exhibited surprisingly high levels of rhythm and expressive
qualities. These levels were absent from the student performances in our general public
speaking classrooms. The highest winning forensicators (as forensic competitors are
called) had a correspondingly high level of embodied rhythm during performance. In
fact, I perceived a graduated level of performance rhythm the higher their level of
placement in competition. Predictably, those who won at the national level exhibited the
highest levels of integrated body and vocal movement, high in nuance and
expressiveness. Yet I suspect that few of them would have been able to talk fluently
about rhythm if asked about it.
Interestingly, similar concerns and observations have been raised recently in the
speech performance literature. Johnstone (2001) asks: Why does “none of our literature
in the study of public address [do] very much with delivery?” (p. 121) He goes on to
observe that “much of the wooden lecturing that passes for teaching both in high schools
and at colleges and universities bespeaks a general indifference to and underestimation of
the importance of delivery as a factor in communication effectiveness.” (p. 122)
He finds particularly puzzling in the speech and communication disciplines the
‘aversion to a concern with orality, performance, and delivery.” (p. 122) He mentions
that: “Just as with the recent re-naming of our national professional organization from
the Speech Communication Association to the National Communication Association, so
it was with my colleagues: an emphasis on the centrality of orality was thought to be too
narrow, too traditional, too old-fashioned.” (p. 122) He continues:
26

27. Delivery has long been recognized as one of the most significant elements of the
speaker’s art. Aristotle, in the earliest surviving statement about the role of
delivery in speech, says that it is “of the greatest importance” (Rhetoric
1403b20), and it receives considerable attention in Hellenistic and Roman
treatises on rhetoric. Contemporary speech textbooks, too, generally devote
significant space to this aspect of the practice of effective public speaking. Even
so, the performance aspect of rhetoric is often ignored in scholarly examinations
of public address and in studies of the origins and early development of rhetoric in
Greece. (p. 122)
He concludes that:
if we are to understand fully the early development of this art [‘such elements of
vocal delivery such as volume, pitch, inflection, timing, and pace’—and I would
add gesture, rhythm, and space], we cannot ignore the centrality in it of a concern
for delivery. . . . this concern is likely to have been a fundamental part of the
logon techne as it was taught and practiced in the 5th
century BCE. (p. 138)
Caldwell (1995) also notes that teachers and critics say vocal performances are
today becoming increasingly sterile. They don’t emotionally change or move the
audiences. Year by year audiences are becoming increasingly anesthetized. Johnstone
(2001) notices a similar state of affairs in college public speaking. The present researcher
has also noticed this for much of his life. (For a more complete description of his
subjective observations about the importance of the lack of expressiveness in his life,
please see endnote #2.)
The overall purpose of this research project is to trace the historical influence of
the Eurhythmics system of Swiss pedagogue Emile Jaques-Dalcroze in Education and the
Communication Arts and consider its applicability to the Communication Arts of Speech,
Forensics, and Theater. Dalcroze Eurhythmics is a proprietary method of education
which combines movement, sound, expressiveness, music, games, improvisation, and
solfege. (Solfege is a program of teaching how to read music by identifying notes, tones,
27

28. counting, tempo, speech melody, phrasing, punctuation stops, etc.) The Eurhythmics
method of combining these techniques was originally created as a music training system.
Emile Jaques-Dalcroze developed his system as a way of helping artists such as
musicians and singers to analyze and perform musical material. Since its inception,
however, this musical pedagogy has been applied to a variety of other fields as well. The
widespread use of Jaques-Dalcroze's concepts by a wide range of researchers, performers,
teachers, and historical figures has not come without a cost. Unfortunately there has been
a lack of attribution and lack of scholarly historical research establishing these
connections. Thus, it may be difficult for current and future generations to understand
and properly give credit to Jaques-Dalcroze for his increasingly wide influence.
The present study will trace the contributions that Jaques-Dalcroze’s system of
Eurhythmics has had on selected historical movements in the time period since its
inception. Historical developments in the communication arts from the late 1800s until
the present will be comprehensively explored and researched in as much depth as
reasonably possible, time and space permitting. This researcher presents relevant
material, some of it perhaps well-hidden or difficult to find, which places Dalcroze
Eurhythmics in its proper place as a leading influence in the history of 20th
century
communication arts thought, theory, and pedagogy. Having thus established its
foundation as a premier somatic education method, this researcher also will show the
relevance and applications of Dalcroze Eurhythmics in the college communication arts
classrooms of speech, forensics, and theater.
28

29. This researcher hypothesizes that he will find connections to Dalcroze
Eurhythmics in the major historical streams of 20th
century communication arts. Not only
music, but also film, theater, dance, and education show the influence of the training and
development theories of Jaques-Dalcroze. While it may be difficult to conclusively
determine the exact level of his importance in each stream, the research will establish that
overall he had a significant impact on many streams of 20th
century thought. The
researcher in the present study will be content with finding any connections—however
tenuous—to major 20th
century streams and leave the question of their significance to
later studies. The current study will only establish connections, not decide on their
importance or levels of significance.
How much influence have Jaques-Dalcroze's ideas had on the history of the
communication arts? Indeed, if Dalcroze Eurhythmics were not increasing in popularity,
the question would be to all practical purposes, moot. The fact is that Dalcroze
Eurhythmics is being taught in an ever-increasingly wide range of institutions and its
precepts are being applied to a wider and wider range of fields. Abramson says (1986, p.
68): "Interest in the Jaques-Dalcroze Method is increasingly evident in North America
and around the world. In many ways it represents some of the newest thinking in music
education."
It is thus important to understand as much about this innovative educational
movement as possible. The fact that it may not yet be commonly known or understood
does not mean it has not been important. Surely there are precedents for significant
historically influential movements being for a time totally unknown outside of a small
29

30. specialized sphere. Consider the theories of Tessla, Einstein, and others before their
importance was carefully noted in history textbooks and taught to succeeding generations
of students. It is just this sort of historical oversight that this researcher seeks to remedy.
30

31. CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RHYTHM IN COMMUNICATION, PHILOSOPHY,
NEUROLOGY, EDUCATION, AND EXPRESSIVE MOVEMENT LITERATURE
Much discussion of rhythm or nuanced, expressive performance movement in the
non-music literature is couched in different terminology. In communication literature,
the most closely related concept appears to be that of charisma. The Greek definition of
rhythmos (rhythm) as ‘river’ or ‘flow’ is reflected in psychology writings by theorists and
scholars Gardner and Csikszentmihalyi. They write using terms such as flow, flow states,
and optimal experience. Nowhere, however, in the mainstream literature is there a
comprehensive discussion of rhythm as it specifically pertains to public speaking. The
published literature which does mention rhythm as a construct coalesces around
psychology, neurology, development, perceptual and motor skill, education, music
education, music therapy, and aesthetics. Some types of literature which are not explored
in this review are foreign language dissertations and unavailable or abstracts-only
primary source materials.
Charisma: Expressiveness, Leadership and Rhythm
In order to design better leadership training courses, evaluate and compare leader
performance, and predict behavior or its results, communication researchers have
explored how to analyze the performance of leaders. (Gardner & Avolio, 1998) One of
the important components of leader effectiveness is the ability of leaders to integrate and
express appropriate emotional states during their communication with followers. What
are the emotional states of leaders? Do they or the manipulation of them influence
followers? Is a particular leader sensitive to the emotional states of his or her community
31

32. of followers? Do the followers feel emotionally bound up in the leader’s vision or deeds?
Is an emotional connection in place between the leader and the followers and does it
influence the leader’s effectiveness rating? To explain the answers to such questions as
these, researchers have created a paradigm for analysis focusing on emotional
expressiveness in leadership behavior using the term charisma. (Deluga, 2001)
The accepted concept describing exceptional emotional leadership is charisma.
First introduced into the literature by Weber in 1925 (Awamleh and Gardner, 1999),
Weber used the term to specifically apply to the behaviors of exceptional--not ordinary--
leaders. He defined charismatic leaders as possessing qualities that followers perceive as
superhuman or exceptional. They inspire their followers and have profound effects upon
them. (Awamleh and Gardner, 1999) This construct called “charisma” was created to
account for the seemingly magical power of personal persuasiveness. This can perhaps
be seen as charisma having an essentially emotive quality, as I will presently discuss.
Later theorists have diluted this construct and robbed it of its descriptive potential. These
theorists have used it to describe everything except the ineffable quality of personal
delivery style that Weber was attempting to describe. (Beyer, 1999)
Friedman, Prince, and DiMatteo’s (1980) study shifted the focus of personal
leader style research to the study of the nonverbal communication of the leaders. The
study holds that much of charisma can be synonymous with external expressiveness.
Interestingly, this study also indicates that the emotional tone of a group will be
determined by the person who scores highest in expressiveness. This, in turn, may help
researchers understand many dynamics in the emotional relationship between leaders and
32

33. followers. Specifically, if researchers can determine the person with the highest rate of
expressiveness in a group, they will know who controls the emotional tone. Analyzing
interactions between this highly expressive person and the group leader may help
discover how a leader determines the level of expressiveness appropriate to use in a
particular group.
Woodall and Kogler (1982) refined further the study of charisma and leadership
by examining the concept of empathy. Their study aimed at examining how two specific
measures of empathy--predictive and perceived--relate to leadership style. Predictive
empathy is a measure of how well "respondents can predict their partner's attitudinal
viewpoint." (Ibid., p. 801) Perceived empathy describes how empathetic partners rate the
respondents. Woodall and Kogler used their instrument, the Least Preferred Coworker
scale, to determine whether subjects are task-oriented or relationship-oriented. Overall,
they found that the predictive empathy measure significantly predicted leadership style,
but the perceived empathy measure did not. They suggested this indicated that a leader
being perceived as empathetic will not affect his leadership style.
Awamleh and Gardner (1999) examined the interplay of charisma and
effectiveness by discussing three areas: vision content, delivery content, and
organizational performance. Overall, their results showed that delivery significantly
determined followers' perceptions of leadership effectiveness and charisma. In fact, at
times it took precedence over speech content and organizational performance as the
primary determiner of leader effectiveness as indicated by follower perceptions. This
study gave credibility to the need for a search for those elements of delivery that affect
33

34. follower perceptions. Specifically, Awamleh and Gardner mentioned increased eye
contact, fluency, use of facial expressions and gestures, eloquence, energy, and increased
vocal variety as indicators of leader charisma. Further studies by Holladay and Coombs
(1993, 1994) also indicated these factors are the key variables determining charisma.
Generally, within this field of communication research, the analysis of leader
emotional expressiveness is discussed under the heading of charisma. (Tejeda, 2001)
Researchers who decide either to study the emotional expressiveness of a particular
leader or to conduct a comparative analysis of two or more leaders might first synthesize
the various approaches to this paradigm of charisma. They might then use the
Multifactor Leadership Theory and Questionnaire to explore charisma empirically.
(DeGroot, Kiker, & Cross, 2000)
Many other subsidiary issues are raised once researchers begin to explore the
emotional content of leadership behavior. Some concepts discussed as important
corollaries to charisma are emotion, affect, empathy, emotional intelligence (Sosik &
Dworakivsky, 1998), expressiveness, and vocal inflection. (Hartog & Verburg, 1997)
Emotions in communication can be exhibited, observed, or measured either
intrapersonally within the leaders themselves, externally amongst the followers, or
interpersonally between leaders and followers. When researchers explore how charisma
influences followers (interpersonal communication), they discuss the concepts of
empowerment (Mumford & Van Doom, 2001), rhetoric, style, content (Hartog &
Verburg, 1997), vision and context (Nutt & Backoff, 1997), and image-building.
(Gardner & Avolio, 1998)
34

35. Tamisari (2000), however, takes the discussion of expressiveness and leadership
to an entirely new level of perception. She examines how communication between leader
and follower occurs as a flow of perceptions, expectations, and demands in between and
throughout the overt or obvious messages. This is a somewhat difficult study for
researchers to analyze or reproduce, dealing as it does with aborigines of Australia. But
her new discovery of an extraordinary mode of nonverbal communication through the
rhythmic elements of expressive dance leads this researcher to postulate that this very
concept of rhythm may be the elemental basis of or key to finally understanding the
complex dialectic between leaders and followers.
Finally, researchers talk of the inner significance or experience of the emotional
states within the leader. They discuss ideas such as rasaesthetics, concurrent articulation,
intrapersonal affect, psychopathology, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and egocentricity
(Deluga, 1997 & 2001); gestalt and movement (McBride, 1998); soulfulness (Briskin &
Peppers, 2001); and rhythm. (Abramson, 1986)
Measuring Charisma: Concepts
Writings by Weber, Beyer, and others have led to some commonly used concepts
describing emotional states in leadership studies. These include social intelligence, affect
(Boal, 2000), vision- or crisis-induced charisma, empathy, cognition (Lord, 2000),
kairotic moments & strategic inflection points (Boal, 2000), emotional capability,
nonverbal expressiveness, and others such as context, transformational, transactional,
charismatic.
35

36. Measuring Charisma: Indicators
Studies approach measuring charisma from several directions. Researchers speak
of internal states or intrapersonal communication within the leader, externally observable
communication characteristics, and the responses of followers as part of an interpersonal
dynamic or relationship.
Each of these approaches to measurement uses different yardsticks to measure the
pertinent information. Data can be collected from each of these three sources using a
variety of measures. In the intrapersonal realm, researchers speak of the inner workings
of the leader’s mind. Studies take measures—some subjectively determined, others
objectively determined, of his psychopathology, degree of narcissism, egocentricity,
spirituality, or Machiavellianism. Researchers seek a measure of his gestalt or concurrent
articulation, rasaesthetics, emotional capability, or cognition.
In the externally observed behavioral characteristics, researchers speak of
nonverbal expressive behavior, rhetorical devices such as repetition, rhythm, alliteration,
delivery, content, moods, motivations, intentions, emotional capability, style, figurative
language and imagery. Rhythm is the least discussed of all these factors. It may,
however, hold some keys to better exploring, teaching, and explaining charisma--keys
that current researchers miss. In fact, it may actually help researchers come closer to a
synthesis of all three areas of: exploring, teaching, and explaining. Researchers may find
that using a broader paradigm that includes the concept of rhythm gives us a more precise
measure of leader emotional communication than any paradigm currently in place.
36

37. In the interpersonal realm researchers describe crafting vision, empathy,
empowerment, adaptability, context, kairotic moments, inflection points, emotional
honesty, and rhetoric. (Hartog & Verburg, 1997) All these are measures of how and why
a leader exerts power and influence, commands respect, creates shared visions and goals,
and excites others.
The literature on nonverbal behavior and leadership examines a wide range of
concepts and variables as researchers struggle to formulate theories about these aspects of
human behavior. The focus here is to specifically examine the use of emotional
communication between leaders and followers.
Hecht and Ambady (1999) suggested there is a historical progression in the study
of nonverbal communication within the field of psychology. In the 1950's, nonverbal
communication studies originated as a cross disciplinary study in the fields of psychiatry,
linguistics, and anthropology. During the 1960's and 1970's researchers, authors, and
popular media increased their focus on this subject. By the 1980's psychologists
regularly incorporated discussion of nonverbal communication into their research as well.
(Hecht & Ambady, 1999)
In the 1980's and 1990's the cognitive revolution displaced the focus on nonverbal
communication, but the late 1990's show a resurgence in interest in nonverbal
communication--this time among those who study emotions, psychophysiology, and
personal perception. (Hecht & Ambady, 1999)
Friedman, Prince, and DiMatteo (1980) postulated that emotive expressiveness is
the essential characteristic of those people who are able to move, inspire, or captivate
37

38. others. Accordingly, they conducted studies which examined such xpressiveness. The
studies examined the connections between expressiveness, interpersonal relations,
personality, and nonverbal communication skills. They asked subjects to measure their
own perceptions of their expressiveness. Then they asked close friends of the subjects to
evaluate the expressiveness of the subjects. This two-part study showed a strong
connection between subjects' own perceptions of their expressiveness and the perceptions
of their friends. In other words, subjects evaluated themselves similarly to how their
friends rated them. This finding supports the idea that people who rank themselves as
more expressive probably are more expressive. (Friedman, et al.)
The concept of rhythm has not, since the time of the ancient rhetoricians, been
commonly found in the leadership studies which use psychological or sociological
approaches. It has been, however, often discussed in the performing arts. (Abramson
and Reiser, 1994) Perhaps the interdisciplinary approach described by Hecht and
Ambady (1999) as forming the origin of the study of nonverbal communication should be
reexamined and new disciplines included. These might include the performance arts,
dance, and music. While this is a big change, it might actually be the culmination of the
very development Hecht and Ambady refer to when they say: "The future of nonverbal
communication may lie where it started, as an interdisciplinary endeavor." (p. 156)
One theorist --from a completely different field--was able to put a finger on the
magical character of the aspect of delivery to which Weber was possibly referring. That
theorist was an actor-musician-teacher in Geneva, Switzerland at the turn of the 20th
century. His name was Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and he was a student of Edouard
38

39. Claparede at the Institut Jean Jacques Rousseau and a contemporary of Jean Piaget.
(Caldwell, 1995)
The phenomenon which Jaques-Dalcroze (or 'Dalcroze' as he is commonly called
in the United States) explored and taught was the ancient Greek idea of rhythmos or
rhythm. This idea, one which is common to several aboriginal cultures, pertains to the
breakdown into minute awareness of the nuances of movement. While this idea is still
mentioned occasionally in public speaking texts, it is the ancients who most deeply
applied it to public speaking. It remains for modern researchers to reexamine it for
efficacy in modern public speaking education.
This literature review will only briefly mention how the fields of communication,
sociology (Beyer, 1999), psychology (Parry, 1998), etc., differ in their approach to leader
affect, emotion, expressiveness, or delivery. Parry, for instance, (1998), contends that the
qualitative method of exploring charisma is more helpful than the quantitative. This view
is shared by Conger (1998). Beyer argues that discussions of charisma have diluted the
original meaning of the term as used by Weber (Beyer, 1999) The primary purpose of
this literature review is to condense the myriad discussions of charisma within the fields
of communication, psychology, mass media, and leadership into one coherent train of
thought which later research might tie into in a relevant way to measure the emotional
component of leader effectiveness.
The phenomenon of emotional expressiveness, its role in leader effectiveness
ratings and its place in the life of leaders is still not well researched, codified or described
in literature. Some scholars argue that the very paradigm of charisma itself is not yet
39

40. described well enough or conceptualized fully enough to permit a complete description or
analysis. This lack is especially evident in leadership training. (Conger, 1993) Perhaps a
deeper exploration of the phenomenology of emotional expression by leaders could
include the concept of rhythm, a trainable skill and possibly an observable, quantifiable
variable when carefully operationalized. The literature of neurology more thoroughly
explores rhythm than does the literature of communication. First, however, this study
will look at the applications of rhythm in communication apprehension and computer
mediated communication.
Communication Apprehension
Stage fright is a fear shared by many people. It has been said that this fear is
second only to the fear of death. (Dunne, 1995) In the fields of Dalcroze studies and
music, this phenomenon is also called performance anxiety. It basically consists of fears
and insecurities that a performer has before or during a public performance. (Caldwell,
1995) The communication field refers to the similar state of fear and insecurity of public
speakers, as either speech fright or communication apprehension. (Dwyer, 1998)
Dalcroze has been said by several researchers and practitioners to help with shyness,
nervousness, and fear of performing; thus it would appear to have some value for
communication apprehension as well. An interesting potential application to
communication apprehension amelioration may exist with musical movement learning as
well. According to Beaton (1995), "Singing, chanting, or clapping in large circle groups,
then moving to smaller group exercises helps to reduce a child's anxiety and increase
confidence when it becomes his turn to respond." (Cited in Stansell, 2001) The
40

41. applicability of these techniques to young adult students remains an avenue for further
research.
Anecdotal evidence presented in the doctoral dissertation of Becknell (1970)
relates that college students in the classroom of Emeritus Professor of Eurhythmics at the
Carnegie Institute of Technology, Henrietta Rosenstrauch, testified they: lost self-
consciousness, respected others' individuality more, relieved mental strain, added interest
and stamina, achieved better control over actions, reduced tension, achieved more
relaxation, sharpened their sense of rhythm, increased their sense of being part of the
larger group, gained assurance, gained physical and intellectual enrichment, gained more
steadiness and precision, released inhibitions, improved their phrasing ability, stimulated
thought and imagination, and induced clear and uncluttered thinking. (Becknell, pp. 145-
6)
The father of an autistic child, a student of Dalcroze Eurhythmics, wrote that after
such Dalcroze training, "Donna was no longer waiting in the school cloakroom for the
teacher or other children to dress her. She no longer feared to attempt a new game or
song nor did she continue to shrink from art materials with which she was unfamiliar."
(Ibid.) Michael MacOwan, head of the Old Vic Dramatic School in London wrote to
Professor Rosenstrauch:
I have always been very puzzled as to what form of physical training is the best
suited to dramatic students and it is a great relief to have found someone who has
solved the problem as completely as you have done. I really think you have
succeeded in showing them how their imaginations and emotions can be given a
free physical expression. In their work with me I notice that they are at last
beginning to feel and act with their whole bodies… (Becknell, p. 143)
Perhaps the most inspiring note came from the student who said,
41

42. After one year of Dalcroze Eurhythmics I feel that my self imposed shackles have
been loosened, and that the doors to my imprisoned spirit have been opened. For
Eurhythmics has taught me a freedom of mind and spirit. . . . This has given me a
new incentive, a new kind of courage with which to face life. (Becknell, p. 146)
Dalcroze lessons using positive visualization would seem to be effective in
helping reduce performance anxiety, according to Caldwell (1995). "Performance
anxiety is increased when the singer concentrates on not being nervous or some other
negative outcome, such as forgetting the words. . . .Of course the image grows stronger as
the students try to avoid thinking about the image. This . . . points out the importance of
paying attention to, and concentrating on, what we want to have happen." (Ibid., p. 64)
Caldwell lists six behaviors needed to become efficient learners: attention, concentration,
remembering, reproducing the performance, changing, automating. (Ibid., p. 63) He
explains students also should be encouraged to focus on what worked or didn’t work
during a performance, rather than on evaluating it: (‘good,’ ‘bad,’ etc). This relates to
studies mentioned elsewhere herein which emphasized reducing self criticism,
substituting instead the more neutral process of self-analysis. Performers experience
anxiety when they imagine the worst and then evaluate it, Caldwell says. Teachers
should encourage students to experiment with different solutions. That leads to
independence. Don’t teach students music; teach them how to learn. (Ibid., 1995)
Ultimately, relaxation makes a person more powerful. (Eiffert, 1999, p. 128) Thus, there
are indications that there may be some relevance of rhythmic movement study in the area
of communication apprehension. Further study is recommended.
42

43. Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)
Developments in the CMC field hold some relevance for the study of rhythm.
(Thibeault, 2001) A researcher in Germany (Wachsmuth, 2000) is using the fundamental
role played by rhythm in speech and gesture communication to guide the study of
computer mediated communication. The study proposes a multimodal user interface
which can interpret and represent speech and hand gesture rhythmic information.
Beckstead (2001) states that music has primarily to do with sound, not writing.
Yet the history of music has shown a bias toward learning the complexities of notation
before composition. He suggests that computer mediated technology has been
traditionally regarded as an aid to efficiency, not transformation. He emphasizes the need
to use technology to transform composition and musical practice, rather than make it
merely more efficient. He suggests in higher end technology, computers can compose
using algorhithms and subroutines written by composers. Yet the synthesizers the music
is played on play a discrete product with a resolution that is still not convincing to human
ears. The human performer is still a necessary part of the equation if one wants a musical
product that makes “a single note sound urgent or relaxed, eager or reluctant, hesitant or
self-assured, perhaps happy, sad, elegant, lonely, joyous, regal, questioning, etc.”
(Moore, The dysfunction of MIDI, p. 20 as cited in Beckstead, 2001, p. 47.) He points
out that part of this is due to the fact that musical notes as discrete tones didn’t exist
before computers were programmed with them. Such programmed notes, concretized as
discrete, non-unique tones at a precise frequency are no longer changing interpretations,
43

44. but fixed in stone. They keep us from truly confronting the mystery of nature’s music.
We are confronting static products of music instead of nature’s mystery of music.
It appears to me that human programming is improvisatory by its nature and its
algorhythms are biologically changeable. All human action is rhythmical, combining
into algorhythms. These are not fixed or eternal, as a machine or electronic synthesizer
whose notes are programmed and fixed. Instead they are ever varying, depending on the
performer and string in the moment of creation. Even the tuner is part of the artistry of
the moment. A machine stays ever constant unless malfunctioning.
Beckstead (2001) concludes that it is less important to determine whether teachers
employ technology in an efficient or a transformative manner than it is to make them and
their students aware of the innate limitations of technology which is biased toward
discrete, mechanical reproduction and away from what I term emotional expressiveness,
nuance, and human eurhythmicity.
It appears to me that there is another question to consider as we prepare to
integrate rhythmic musical exercise such as Dalcroze’s solfege, rhythm, and
improvisation into the classroom. Is there not just a challenge for this researcher to
develop exercises, but also a challenge for teachers to develop their own rhythmicality?
Dalcroze held that you cannot learn it from a book; you must learn it from a qualified
teacher. Can speech teachers be persuaded to embark upon this challenging, expensive,
and time-consuming road to self-improvement, mastery, and potential satisfaction? Can
they transform themselves to become teachers or orators in the classical Greek sense of
rhythmos training or remain tied to the norm of efficiency? Given the need to experience,
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45. rather than read about the Dalcroze Eurhythmics method, it would appear reasonable to
think that an interactive computer program or long-distance classroom may be of value.
However, it is questionable, from this researcher’s own experience, whether computer-
mediated music can convey the same sense of rhythm as live instruction. CMC must be
used with awareness that it is based not in the dynamically evolving neural network of
the human mind, but the fixed systems of programming. Lacking the uniquely
developing human neural pathways, it may lack certain elements of expressiveness or
sensitivity to affect that are only felt by humans because of the unique qualities of the
inner experience of body movement. It appears that in order to teach the human, teachers
must focus on unique neural development rather than rote learning or dependence on
errhythmic fixed systems. It is possible, however, that tools, instruments, materials, and
technology can be used expressively as long as the teaching is project-and process-based.
(Thibeault, 2001)
Philosophy & Epistemology
One reason rhythm and Dalcroze Eurhythmics may appear obscure is related to
the issue of epistemology. Originally epistemology was the philosophical study of
knowledge, or ways of knowing. (Durant, 1943) Durant defines epistemology as the
“the logic. . . of understanding . . . i.e., the origin, nature, and validity of knowledge.” (p.
117) In fact, Durant calls it “the great game of epistemology, which in Leibniz, Locke,
Berkeley, Hume and Kant waxed into Three Hundred Years’ War that at once stimulated
and devastated modern philosophy.” (p. 117)
45

46. The Cartesian mind-body dualism is a pre-eminent feature of current philosophy,
according to Davidson, Scherer, and Goldsmith, Eds. (2003) We know we know because
we think we know, or as Descartes’ famous axiom says, “I think therefore I am.”
However, this separation of the two kinds of knowledge is artificial, according to modern
affective psychology, and actually leads to a schism in the consciousness of modern
people. Rather than understand that we understand or ‘know’ the world just as
importantly with our body as with our mind, the old dualism argues for the primacy of
intellect in determining reality. This bias away from bodily experience appears to have
robbed our culture of its birthright--a fundamental, integrated body-mind-spiritual
wholeness.
This study will explore all three of these. An effective way might be through the
phenomenological description of inner experience using metaphor and analogy.
Therefore, this study will explore the researcher’s subjective experience, as well as
analogous developments in related literature, historical analysis, logic, anecdotal
evidence, and the content analysis college textbooks. These results will be interspersed
with the researcher’s own observations about his phenomenology of sensation and
subjective experience, and even a touch of mysticism. These ways of knowing are all
represented in the extant literature on Dalcroze Eurhythmics.
Why does this study include metaphor, analogy, and subjective experience as
evidence along with analytical, theoretical, and historical evidence? If the study were to
only use logical proofs, it would not make sense. This is because sense and emotion are
about sensation and movement. Emotion comes from motion. One cannot feel unless
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47. one moves. All life moves. Only the dead don’t move. (But their skin may crawl with
the living entities that feed upon it.) The more useful question then becomes: How do
senses compute with the brain to make logical sense? Findings in neurology establish
concrete terms for the experience of integrated body-mind-emotion knowing, but these
won’t make “sense” without experience, analogy, or metaphor. Therefore the subject of
this study will be clearer if all three of these are applied to the discussion.
Rhythm is ultimately the basis of all life. (See Laban, 1926, for clarification.) At
any rate, it is present in all parts or forms of life. It is, therefore, a way to conceptualize
the nuanced movement aspect of anything studied. Any discipline one studies includes
some aspect of movement rhythm or flow. This is true of multiplication tables, nuclear
physics, linguistics, and computer science, to name just a few. Therefore, it makes
complete sense to examine rhythm using a cross-disciplinary approach. The fields of
forensics, theater, and public speaking—or ‘oratory’—seem to be even more obviously
relevant to rhythm. They require movement of every kind, in all parts of the body,
words, subject matter, and performance.
Sensation governs experience. Until one experiences it with one’s body,
persuasion is merely the engagement of the rational mind—not the emotions. Plato
argued for the emotions to be involved. This occurs through movement, he said.
‘Programming’ something in the muscles leaves a lasting impression. That impression
persuades us.
Very little empirical research appears to exist describing the inner experience of
this wholeness or its possible achievement through Dalcroze Eurhythmics. How can one
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48. describe or argue on paper about something that is based in a physical experience?
Indeed, how can one measure charisma? Yet some evidence of knowledge or proof is
needed of the efficacy, importance, and relevance of this ancient Greek-derived method
of developing expressive performance (eurhythmia) if one is to establish a connection to
current public speaking pedagogy.
Switching the study of ways of knowing from philosophy to the empirical
sciences such as psychology and neurology may offer an interesting frame within which
to view this problem. Durant (1943) recognizes and encourages that epistemology is best
explored as one of the sciences, not as a major component of philosophy, where it leads
to useless speculation. The science of knowing, he says, is more properly the realm of
empirical and theoretical psychology, not the synthesizing, interpretive field of
philosophy. He argues that
epistemology has kidnapped modern philosophy, and well nigh ruined it; [I hope]
for the time when the study of the knowledge-process will be recognized as the
business of the science of psychology, and when philosophy will again be
understood as the synthetic interpretation of all experience rather than the analytic
description of the mode and process of experience itself. Analysis belongs to
science, and gives us knowledge; philosophy must provide a synthesis for
wisdom. (Durant, 1943, p. xvii)
Durant (p. 2) reiterates that: “Science is analytical description, philosophy is synthetic
interpretation.” The true purpose of philosophy is to discuss scientific findings and to put
them into frameworks that contribute to understanding and wisdom. “Science without
philosophy, facts without perspective and valuation, cannot save us from havoc and
despair. Science gives us knowledge, but only philosophy can give us wisdom.” (Ibid.,
p. 3)
48

49. ‘Do you know,’ asks Emerson, ‘the secret of the true scholar? In every
man there is something wherein I may learn of him; and in this I am his
pupil.’ . . . . And we may flatter ourselves with that other thought of Emerson’s,
that when genius speaks to us we feel a ghostly reminiscence of having ourselves,
in our distant youth, had vaguely this self-same thought which genius now speaks,
but which we had not art or courage to clothe with form and utterance. And
indeed, great men speak to us only so far as we have ears and souls to hear them;
only so far as we have in us the roots, at least, of that which flowers out in them.
We too have had the experiences they had, but we did not suck those experiences
dry of their secret and subtle meanings: we were not sensitive to the overtones of
the reality that hummed about us. Genius hears the overtones, and the music of
the spheres; genius knows what Pythagoras meant when he said that philosophy is
the highest music. (Ibid., p. 3-4)
Hypothesizing the lack of a college public speaking pedagogy for teaching
expressive delivery, this study will seek to address the pedagogical need for expressive
performance in public speaking and public address or performance by applying the
Eurhythmics approach of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. In order to argue most carefully for its
relevance, the communication construct of charisma was discussed. Here the
epistemology of Eurhythmics has been first framed as distinct from the Cartesian mind-
body split. Instead, Dalcroze argued that the only way we can know truth is to know it
fully by using all three elements—body, mind, and soul (this latter element is a metaphor
pertaining to the ‘heart’ or ‘affect’ or ‘emotion’) simultaneously. Current neurology
(both in the physical and cognitive sciences) makes a similar argument. So, such a way
of knowing is best examined through psychology. These examinations of the
psychological and neurological literature follow. After that will be a discussion of
literature on rhythm, its history, and its connection to music, the arts, medicine &
sciences. Then, a review of classic rhetorical history—specifically Quintilian and
Plato-- will determine rhythm’s relevance and importance in classical rhetoric, and a
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50. content analysis of current public speaking texts will ascertain its relevance to current
pedagogy. Finally an argument is made, based also on theatrical precedent, for its further
re-integration into the pedagogy of forensics, public speaking, and rhetorical study. One
of the goals of this study is to bring some order to the study of rhythm. To do so, it will
now relate how the field of psychology conceptualizes rhythm: by using the term ‘flow.’
Psychology: Flow Literature
So, what was this researcher’s earlier mentioned experience, really?
Csikszentmihalyi offers one possible answer: an inner state of ‘flow.’ Flow; rhythm;
nuance; joy. This is precisely the state he says we should want our students to be in. But
do we? Dalcroze Eurhythmics, it seems, can help to achieve it.
Embodied rhythm is not an experience of relaxing. It is instead primarily about
actively pushing, forcing, stretching, jumping, leaping, running, walking, and playing—a
complete macro and micro movement extravaganza—within the organizing safety of
musicality. More specifically, it can involve what Csikszentmihalyi (1990) called a flow
state:
Contrary to what we usually believe, moments like these, the best
moments in our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times—although
such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to achieve them.
The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its
limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.
Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen. (p. 3)
Csikszentmihalyi mentions that “attention is our most important tool in the task of
improving the quality of experience.” (p. 33) This step may actually lead to autotelic
learning (Ibid., p. 67), in which the activity of learning is enjoyable enough to be its own
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51. reward. He also says much juvenile delinquency is just the results of a desire for a flow
state. (Ibid., p. 69) He defines alienation as the experience people feel when they are
forced by society to act against their own goals. Alienation is not a result of mere
challenge, however. “The challenges of the activity are what forces [sic] us to
concentrate.” (Ibid., p. 97) Thus, challenge is an essential part of the ‘flow’ experience.
This researcher’s experience of the forces of nature being based in musical rhythm is not
new, according to Csikszentmihalyi. Members of one aboriginal tribe would traditionally
blow on horns for days and nights on end trying to awaken the forest to bring back good
times. Csikszentmihalyi elaborates:
The body is like a probe full of sensitive devices that tries to obtain what
information it can from the awesome reaches of space. It is through the body that
we are related to one another and to the rest of the world.
* * *
Our physical apparatus has evolved so that whenever we use its sensing devices
they produce a positive sensation, and the whole organism resonates in harmony.
(p. 115- 116)
That Dalcroze Eurhythmics provides flow is not surprising: “a broad range of
activities rely on rhythmic or harmonious movement to generate flow. . . . The response
of the body to music is widely practiced as a way of improving the quality of
experience.” (Ibid., p. 99) Memory-building is an element of Dalcroze Eurhythmics,
according to Abramson (1986). It is also characteristic of the state of flow. “All forms of
mental flow depend on memory, either directly or indirectly . . . . it brings order to
consciousness.” (Csikszentmihaly, p. 121) “A mind with some stable content to it is
much richer than one without.” (Ibid., p. 123) One should also develop an ordering
system. “People without an internalized symbolic system can all too easily become
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52. captives of the media. They are easily manipulated by demagogues, pacified by
entertainers, and exploited by anyone who has something to sell.” (Ibid., p. 128)
Neurology
“Right Now, I Find Neurology More Interesting Than Psychology,” Professor
Abramson
Greater understanding of the possibilities of a musical movement based education
for public speaking may come from examining some of the current neurological research.
Stansell (2001) believes that Gardner's (1999) theory of multiple intelligences, placing
music as it does as a separate domain of intelligence, helps show the benefit that language
learning receives from music. Musically adept people also exhibit greater aptitude in
learning foreign languages because of a greater sensitivity to perception, processing and
copying accents. (Biology, 2000, as cited in Stansell, 2001) Stansell also makes the
point that the emotion present in music "is crucial to communication" and that to some
degree people sing while they talk--since they use a base tone and pitch ranges of at least
three or four above that base pitch and one below it to emphasize. (p. 6)
Green (1999) says the Mozart effect of kids being smarter after listening to
Mozart lasted 10 minutes and hasn’t really been replicated very successfully. Also,
students who took piano lessons performed better on abstract reasoning, but for only one
day. He cites one group of researchers who hypothesize that music “enhance[s] the
cortex’s ability to accomplish pattern development, thus improving other higher brain
functions.” They suggest that as a pre-language, “the response of the cortex to music
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53. could be the Rosetta stone of neurobiology, the code to unlocking many still-mysterious
secrets of brain activity.” (Ibid., p. 1)
Zatorre (2000) claims that: "General classroom music activities that include
singing and rhythm help enhance the development of auditory discrimination skills,
including integration of letter sounds, syllabification, and pronunciation of words." (p.
109, cited in Stansell, 2001, p. 6) How is this accomplished? Palmer and Kelly (1992)
"suggest songs exaggerate important stress and duration elements, and amplify normal
vocal contours in speech. In this way, they feel music emulates the way care-givers
speak to their children, or motherese, which has been shown to increase their
understanding and acquisition of language." (Cited in Stansell, 2001) Stansell cites
several studies which make clear the role of music "as a facilitator of general knowledge"
and that the musical intelligence connects with "other faculties to aid mental processing."
This skill at connected use of several intelligences improves other cognitive abilities.
(Ibid., p. 7)
Schlaug (2001) discovered that early music training alters the anatomy of the
brain. Such training increases both efficiency and size of the corpus callosum. This is
the bundle of connective nerve fibers between the two brain hemispheres. That, in turn,
increases the coordination between the two hands, speeding communication between the
two sides of the brain. Such complex processing between the two brain hemispheres is
part of "higher order thought." (Stansell, 2001, Internet pagination unclear) So musical-
movement-language learning works because learning is
a function of neural connections in the brain. In language learning, anything that
enriches a phrase or word will tag it for memory, etching deeper mental pathways
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54. for neural circuitry. This is especially true in an active communication context
where the learner is formulating hypotheses about meaning. (Stansell, p. 13)
Stansell concludes persuasively that
The researchers in this literature review show conclusively that music and
language should be studied together, and have been used together since recorded
history. . . . Music's success is due, in part, to primal human abilities. Music is an
intelligence stimulating force that codes words with heavy emotional and
contextual flags. Music invokes a realistic, meaningful, and cogent environment,
enabling students to have positive attitudes, self-perceptions, and cultural
appreciation so they can actively process new stimuli and infer rules. The
universal element of music can make the artificial classroom environment into a
'real' experience and make new information meaningful, bringing interest and
order to a classroom. . . . The evidence in these articles encourages change in
curriculum. In some ways, researchers are turning their ears and their theories to
the reality that had always been there. Children are drawn to nursery rhymes,
rhythmic activities, and play songs as key texts in building concepts of reality. . . .
Music is glue . . . and it can be a power, if harnessed, to illuminate horizons of
linguistic communication and pedagogy into the next century. (Stansell, p. 14)
Seitz (2000) explains this further by telling how thought is based in the body, not
the mind. He argues that the elegance of the Cartesian duality of body and mind is
outdated. This state of affairs supports ‘the bodily basis of thought.’ (Ibid., p. 1) We use
our bodies to think with. He quotes Einstein as saying he was a visual, muscular learner.
He says: “In terms of development, nonverbal behavior is central to expression and
communication.” (Ibid., p. 4) This state of affairs continues from childhood into
adulthood. Arguments have even been made for the origin of language in gesture. “The
experience of music is an elegant specific example of the body in thought . . .” (Ibid., p.
5) He takes the “embodied mind” (Ibid., p. 6) approach to thought and intelligence.
There is a motor basis of concepts and ideas. He postulates the “central importance of
the body in thought.” (Ibid., p. 6)
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55. Seitz (2000) also mentions the importance of neural pathways; how their non-
development leads to certain dysfunctions and diseases. Seitz (Ibid., p. 7) synopsizes:
The cerebellum and frontal cortex are connected by neural pathways. These may enable
the use of kinesthesia to manipulate concepts and ideas. When such neural pathways or
“network connections” (Ibid.) are inadequate, the result can be cognitive dysmetria, a
problem that may contribute to schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Another result
can be “cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome” (Ibid.) which is linked to
agrammaticism (disturbed language development), blunted affect (a personality disorder),
deficits in visuo spatial memory (cognitive disorder) and difficulties in planning and
other executive functions. Disturbances in these pathways result in dementia and
depression (both are cognitive deficits), Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, obsessive-compulsive
behavior, and Gilles de Tourette syndrome (these four are motor deficits). The nervous
system “shape[s] the dynamics of the coupled system of brain, body, and environment.”
(Ibid., p. 10)
Seitz (2000) says the central nervous system is constantly regenerating new neural
connections. The four central cognitive abilities thought of as the body’s basis of thought
are motor logic and organization, kinesthetic memory, and “on-line kinesthetic
awareness.” (Ibid.) These latter two are the components of kinesthesia—the present
awareness of movement, and the remembered awareness of it. Proprioceptors give
knowledge about movement, weight, resistance, and spatiality. Based on empirical
studies by Iverson & Goldin-Meadow (1998), Goldin-Meadow (1997), and Kilian (1999),
he concludes that “gestures may facilitate thought itself.” (p. 18) The nature of
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56. kinesthetic thinking is one of integrating, orchestrating, selecting, and executing elements
of thinking, movement, senses, and emotions. He says “studies indicate that motion
plays a pivotal role in concept acquisition and guides human and infrahuman primates in
both the categorization of objects and the learning of concepts across the lifespan.”
(Seitz, p.15)
Mengert (September, 2001) says neurologically
we seem to be creatures of habit (habituation is a neural act) and appear to live in
loops of repetitive behavior always reverting toward—if not to—the norm. This
issue is important for an educational diagnostician to consider. Reversion to
habituated behavior is a problem that must be examined prior to any sort of
remediation. There needs to be sensitivity to genetic and functional
predispositioning that modifies and shapes our language and much of our
conscious behaviors. (p. 4)
Neural loops are both associations- and tissue- (cell fiber) based. Loops have neither
beginning nor end. Instead of the limbic system of brain components, memory and
emotions are processed by a set of cells sets and tissues in process. These sensory loops
transmit information to and receive information from the brain—often at the
subconscious level. If the incoming data can be related to data already stored, it is
attended to and processed. If, however, no preexisting data can be found to which it
relates, it dissolves or dissipates. This process occurs as continuous oscillation of the
neurons in a rhythmic pattern at 40-Hertz. Essentially, the whole circuit is vibrating.
Koniari, Predaxxer, and Mellen (2001) hypothesize that the human mind contains
an innate predisposition called the cue abstraction mechanism. During development, it
can be influenced by environmental factors such as experience, training and culture. As
children, musicians and nonmusicians are not qualitatively different in the way they grasp
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57. the totality of a piece in cognition, merely different in efficiency of the grasping. The
mechanism is modularized during development and experience. Cognitive
predispositions are altered by external influences; this leads to development of specific
brain circuits.
Seitz (2000) goes into more detail as to the nature of the connection between
movement, music and thought.
By sketching out both the 'objective' features (i.e., motor logic, motor
organization, kinesthetic awareness, and kinesthetic memory) that are
hypothesized to be at the core of cognitive abilities central to human action, and
the 'subjective' features--including repleteness (i.e., volume, line, and movement
texture), exemplification (i.e., the ability to convey rhythm or shape through
movement), expression or representation (i.e., the ability to use one movement to
stand in place of another), and composition (i.e., the ability to create a spatial
design(s) with the body)--current empirical studies will gain further insight into
the relationship of thought and movement. By tracing its ontogeny and the role of
expressive and cognitive factors in aesthetic movement, such studies will begin to
explicate the role of kinesthetic sense and memory, motor logic, and motor
organization in human learning that occurs through the senses, hand, and body.
Thinking is an embodied activity. Although humans may be best
characterized as symbol-using organisms, symbol use is structured by action and
perceptual systems that occur in both natural environments and artifactual
contexts. Indeed, human consciousness may arise not just from some novel
feature of human brains, but by way of the body's 'awareness' of itself through its
exteroceptive and proprioceptive senses. Indeed, the body structures thought as
much as cognition shapes bodily experiences. (Ibid., p. 24)
Literature in the field of the affective sciences (part of the larger fields of
psychology and neurology) explores the connection of the mind and music further.
Oatley (2003), found in Davidson, Scherer, and Goldsmith (2003), says the challenge of
expanding one’s mind is pleasurable. (p.489) Complexity and mystery invites us to
explore. (Ibid., p. 489) This implies a very real similarity between emotion and art. “I
have argued here that the principal difference between art and facial or vocal emotional
57