Prof Liesl van der Merwe and Prof John Habron-James (Royal Northern College of Music, UK) first met at the International Society for Music Education (ISME) World Conference in Thessaloniki in 2012, where they discovered a shared passion for Dalcroze Eurhythmics, spirituality, and well-being in music education. This meeting sparked an enduring collaboration that has shaped more than a decade of joint research, writing, and international leadership. Together, they have co-authored five influential publications and submitted a sixth, which have significantly advanced understandings of spirituality and embodiment in music education:
- A Conceptual Model of Spirituality in Music Education (2015, Journal of Research in Music Education) (Re-printed in J. Boyce-Tillman (Ed.), Spirituality and Music Education: Perspectives from Three Continents, Peter Lang)
- A Conceptual Study of Spirituality in Selected Writings of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (2017, International Journal of Music Education)
- The Dalcroze Diamond: A Theory of Spiritual Experiences in Dalcroze Eurhythmics (2019, Music Education Research)
- Exploring lived experiences of spirituality amongst five Dalcroze teachers (2020, Psychology of Music)
- Stories Students Tell about their Lived Experiences of Spirituality in the Dalcroze Class (2020, British Journal of Music Education).
They have presented together at every International Conference of Dalcroze Studies (ICDS) since Prof Habron-James founded it in 2013, contributed to the ICDS Scientific Committee, and engaged in guest-lecturer exchanges between NWU and RNCM. Their collaboration stands as a model of cross-continental partnership, uniting artistic practice, spiritual inquiry, and transformative pedagogy to deepen global dialogue on music, well-being, and education.
