1-10-13 Jaques-Dalcroze Institute and Mamco Museum

We started out our day at the Jaques-Dalcroze Music Institute. Here, we met with the head director of the institute to lead us through a typical day at the music institute. The class included many musical exercises involving movement and beat recognition. In one of the exercises we were asked to count the number of beats that were being played and for each beat strike a pose that we felt represented what was being played. This particular exercise was out of some peoples' comfort zones causing a lot of embarassment and laughter. The other exercises included special musical instruments such as tamborines, hoops for dancing, and sticks. With these various exercises we were asked to listen to the music and create beats that the whole class decided upon. These exercises were much more relaxed and allowed for the students to be more creative while enjoying the silly dance skills of the others. The second part of our day included the Mamco Museum, a contemporary art facility. Here we saw beautiful paintings, large abstract objects, and to many people's shock, a dead body exhibit. While the dead body exhibit included only photos, some of the photos were slightly disturbing to a portion of the students. Overall, the art was very creative and offered a wide interpretation to the meaning of the pieces. The majority of the group was happy that we went and got to experience the contemporary pieces of artwork.
Finally our night ended with a cheese fondu dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. Fondu is considered a popular Swiss meal, causing many of us to want to experience it for our last night in Geneva. It was a very filling meal that consisted entirely of bread covered in a hot melted bath of Swiss cheese. Some believed this meal to be delicous, while others did not care for the taste of Swiss cheese. However, all were glad to atleast have tried what is considered to be a Swiss meal. Finally after dinner, many of us were in food coma and decided to head to bed for the next day of travel to Salzburg, Austria.