Pedagogical innovation and music education in Spain: Introducing the Dalcroze method in Catalonia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse how the Dalcroze method was introduced to Spain and became known there, more specifically in the Catalonia of the Noucentisme movement, and why it made the greatest impact and was more widely disseminated in this particular region of Spain. Following a summary of Dalcroze's contributions to music education, an outline is given of how the Junta para la Ampliación de Estudios or Committee for Extended Studies (the JAE, in Spanish) became a springboard for the method's introduction in Catalonia through a grant awarded to Catalan musician and teacher Joan Llongueras Badía, even though the JAE had not shown much interest in its diffusion. It goes on to explain how the method's use spread in Catalonia, partly thanks to the efforts of Joan Llongueras and his Institute for Rhythmic Gymnastics and partly as a result of the support that these efforts received in the political, philosophical, moral and aesthetic context of the Noucentisme movement - which, the paper argues, explains why the method's impact was much greater in Catalonia than in the rest of Spain.