It's not often that an international array of people can come together as something akin to a family. But participants at the International Dalcroze Conference and Dalcroze Training Center, sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University through July 28, began with numerous cries of recognition, followed by warm hugs all around.

They came from 13 different countries, but this is a professional gathering where just about everybody knows your name.

Most people on the street wouldn't recognize the moniker of founder Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, nor would they be able to spell the musical technique that he invented called eurhythmics, literally meaning "good rhythm."

That is, unless you're into '80s rock bands -- and, by the way, the Eurythmics spelled it wrong.

Dalcroze believed that the human body was the source of all musical ideas. To establish a strong mind-body connection, he formed a trilogy of branches that often overlap in classes.

The first, eurhythmics, or creating a movement response to music, has come to symbolize his entire method. Students also increase their auditory skills and pitch recognition by vocalizing syllables in solfege. Lastly, melody, harmony, phrasing, rhythm and dynamics all come together in the spontaneity of improvisation.

Carnegie Mellon has had a long Dalcroze history, beginning with Susan Canfield in 1927. Canfield taught in the theater department, a connection that is not as farfetched as it may seem. Dalcroze worked with Swiss theatrical designer and innovator Claude Appia and Konstantin Stanislavsky, founder of the Stanislavsky method of acting that has infused the American theatrical scene in establishing contemporary acting skills.

This year's workshops have a special significance. The conference is celebrating the life of CMU's Dr. Marta Sanchez, a seminal figure who taught at CMU for 40 years and founded the international workshops. As a result of her death in April, longtime friend and director Dr. Annabelle Joseph and administrative assistant Judi Cagley are coordinating the events for the first time without her guidance.

"This is the only one in the United States that's called 'International,'" says Cagley with a nod to Dr. Sanchez. "We cross international boundaries because music unites everyone."

Like the Finnish salsa expert who enjoys going to Cuba. Or the first-timer from Okinawa who brought a gift for Cagley because she went to such great lengths to help her. Even Pittsburghers who happen to meet bewildered participants at the airport go out of their way to deposit them on Carnegie Mellon's doorstep.

And, for the first time, Marie-Laure Bachmann, director of the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva, Switzerland, is in attendance. "It is a very good time to discover Dalcroze," she says. "So many [organizations] have passed. Even after 100 years, [Dalcroze] has very strong theoretical principles that have been confirmed by scientific means."

Joseph says they are there to find "the source of the music. It's a process for awakening, developing and referencing innate musicality. And it's a curious and wondrous adventure."

It may all sound like Greek to the casual observer, as participants toy with the Phrygian mode and seemingly pick chords out of the air.

Nothing is ever concert-hall quiet -- students are encouraged to move in their chairs. Why not? They've got the music in them.

More information: www.cmu.edu/cfa/dalcroze/international06.html.