Terry Boyarsky

With over 45 years of experience as a teacher of Dalcroze Eurhythmics and a lifelong performer of chamber music, Terry Boyarsky specializes in integrating music and movement into the curriculum.  In her unique, multifaceted approach, Terry evokes deep listening and playful experimentation.  Students work together to understand the components of rhythm and sound, develop attention, improve coordination, and challenge the mind.

In 1998, Terry earned a M.A. in Ethnomusicology from Kent State University and has been listed in “Who’s Who” since 2000.  Two of her recent articles are “A Round is a Circle (a practical meditation on the learning resonance of circles, rounds and music)” published in Teaching Artist Journal, and “Dalcroze Eurhythmics and the Quick Reaction Exercises” published in the Orff Echo.

Terry is a frequent presenter at national conferences and is a teaching artist with the Kennedy Center’s Ohio State-Based Collaborative Initiative.  She sings in the Cleveland Orchestra Blossom Festival Chorus and Choral Arts Society.  She spent almost two decades with the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning, and is currently a Teaching Artist with the Ohio Arts Council.  She performs throughout North America as Russian Duo with Siberian balalaika virtuoso Oleg Kruglyakov.

In November 2014, Terry collaborated with Taipei puppeteer Mi-Chen Chiu and Cleveland-based dancer Tom Evert, to create “Young Dreams – Life in 3 Parts,” an intimate work of puppetry, dance, and music sponsored by Cleveland Foundation’s Creative Fusion Program.

In August 2015, Terry collaborated with Iyanifa Fasi Irunsewe and Afi Odelia Scruggs to create “Straight Outta’ Beethoven” – a classical and Afro-Cuban Jazz fusion, for “One Heart Connects Us All” festival.

Teaching Artist Philosophy: 

I believe that the key to living a full and beautiful life comes from learning to listen – to oneself and others, to sound and silence, with ears, body and heart.  I believe that the best way to learn is to engage actively, joyfully, and creatively with the subject matter.

 My classroom techniques are drawn from Dalcroze Eurhythmics, where experience comes first; analysis, notation, and discussion come later.  I look for precision in rhythmic movement and use of the voice.  Quick reaction exercises challenge the student and function as diagnostic tool.

The raw materials for exploration are rhythm, body percussion, song, chant, locomotor movement and axial movement.  Games are structured so everyone must listen, take turns, share time and space, be leader and follower.

I hope that my students will experience a relationship between silence and stillness.  I want them to feel that every sound has a corresponding movement and every movement has a corresponding sound.

The study of music and movement encourages a dynamic encounter between student and materials.  It becomes something to participate in, learn a vocabulary for, and express oneself through.