Non-piano live accompaniment for ballet classes?

[Yaffa]

I was asked  just why ballet classes typically use only a piano for accompaniment, and why recorded music is always used when there is no piano/pianist available. I recall on a Legat School summer course, Mme. Bartell would use castanets (with and without piano), and at the Paris Opera Ballet School, a folk dancing teacher uses an accordion to accompany the lower grades. But are there any classical classes accompanied by violin, flute, guitar?

 

[edited for clarity]

Edited November 11, 2015 by Yaffa

[trog]

Originally, the violin was used in class. The ballet master (probably more correctly the dance master) would play a small violin called a pochette. Later, the piano became the norm because it is a percussive instrument and it is far easier to dance on the beat. Well that's what I was told by an Italian ballet historian, whose name escapes me at the mo.

 

I have done the odd class to recorded music that wasn't piano. Perhaps the oddest was Madonna, which worked surprisingly well! In this case, the teacher had forgotten her cds.

[taxi4ballet]

DH says that it is very difficult to play both the rhythm/bassline and the melody together on most solo instruments, but you can with a piano - since you have two hands

[Bluebird22]

I went to a contemporary audition for university (won't name the university, since it was 6years ago) where we had a live violin accompaniment, we spent 2 hours walking, running and skipping. I did think the audition was a terrible waste of an obviously talented musician since the teacher ignored all the gorgeous music being played and didn't create any dance phrases apart from walking running and skipping!

 

At another university audition we had two bongo players and a triangle that pinged every now and then, thankfully we did more than just walking running and skipping. That particular class was based very strongly on Cunningham technique and we did quite a balletic warm up to bongo drums!

 

As a teacher I find children understand the music more clearly when its a piano, maybe it's because it's consistently used whereas full orchestral music is rarely used in the average dance class?

[drdance]

All the RAD recorded music for the grades is orchestral now - there are also piano reductions of all of the music so that they can be played live, and there are recordings of these piano reductions for rehearsal too. Great for kids to have changes to the music that they dance to as they get so 'stale' sometimes and can respond very differently to even a different orchestration of the same piece.

[Katymac]

DD totally floored her teacher at a CAT class as when she walked in she was greeted by the drummer for the contemporary class they were about to do.  He was a substitute for the normal drummer & he recognised DD from the World Music Festival she attends & drums at. 

 

He also said the dancing she did in the class wasn't a patch on the dancing she does at the festival.....

 

He says if she drops out of dancing she could always play the music for Contemporary classes!!

[Bluebird22]

Oooo how lovely Drdance, think other examining bodies should follow suit!

[Pas de Quatre]

I will no doubt put up a few backs, but I really do not like the RAD orchestral recordings, they are too Oompah pah in many cases, more like a brass band playing. 

[Kate_N]

Some years ago I did open class for a few days at Peridance in New York with a teacher who used something like bongo drums. I really liked the emphasis on rhythm, and it gave the class a different energy. On my more recent trips to New York it's just been piano at Steps and Peridance (the 2 studios I go to). Oh the luxury of live accompaniment! there are only a few places in the UK where open classes have live music.

[w445403]

DS's CAT regularly had had a percussionist and now his school does. He loves it and it's great to watch him do contemporary to bongo's etc.

[Dance*is*life]

Really?  You don't have live accompanists for open classes in the UK?   Surely Pineapple and places like that have pianists?  I used to take Errol Addison's classes at the Dance Centre near the Opera House.  Don't suppose it still exists.  He had wonderful pianists - especially his brother Cyril.  Ah those were the days!   There's nothing like a good pianist to lift the atmosphere in the class and inspire the dancers to greater heights!

[hfbrew]

Really?  You don't have live accompanists for open classes in the UK?   Surely Pineapple and places like that have pianists?  I used to take Errol Addison's classes at the Dance Centre near the Opera House.  Don't suppose it still exists.  He had wonderful pianists - especially his brother Cyril.  Ah those were the days!   There's nothing like a good pianist to lift the atmosphere in the class and inspire the dancers to greater heights!

I am afraid that many schools don't have live accompanists. Good ones can be hard to find and they can be expensive. I haven't been to open classes for years but the ones I did attend had fantastic pianists. It would be interesting to hear from others whether this is still the case!

 

I do use pianists for nearly all my classes, including my open adult class. Its probably why I'm not wealthy! But I wouldn't have it any other way!

[Picturesinthefirelight]

At £56.25 per 90 min class (MU rates) they are often too expensive. And good ballet pianists are rare. (It's very different to other types of piano playing)

[Dance*is*life]

Is that what you have to pay ???????  My goodness no wonder so many schools are not using pianists any longer!  

[Picturesinthefirelight]

I'm fairly sure not all schools pay that just as my husband didn't used to charge the full rate to accompany music exams. but that's what the a Musicians Union rate is.

[alison]

And good ballet pianists are rare. (It's very different to other types of piano playing)

 

There's nothing like a good pianist to lift the atmosphere in the class and inspire the dancers to greater heights!

 

Indeed, on both counts.  That's why I'm so delighted that we have such a good one at my class.

[Kate_N]

Musicians have always been well-paid in relation to other performing arts. In my academic role, I remember organising a whole evening for a literary evening of 3 hours for which I was about to be paid the standard hourly rate for a guest lecturer. The musician performing for 30 minutes was paid twice what I received for organising the whole thing plus being there and hosting the event (3 hours + the organising run up meetings etc, plus preparation for my lectures over several weeks).

 

I suspect that musicians are paid a lot more than dancers ...

[drdance]

We have a wonderful pianist at MIDAS who works at Elmhurst.... he's a real God-send!

[Pas de Quatre]

Ah yes, fond memories of Cyril Addison playing in Errol's classes.  Such a joy to have Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano concerto for Adage, and various extracts from different ballets, or jazz pieces.

[Petunia]

Re: payment. When Mr P and I were working together (he as accompanist, I was the teacher), we were paid the same - poorly but equal !

 

Once I've quit an adult open class for good (as a participant) because the pianist was so awful. Very sad, the teacher was nice. Don't know how he could endure that.

[TabbyCool]

One of the classes I attend has a pianist, the other 2 have recorded music. One teacher uses piano versions of pop music, which can be quite nice, though it does make me laugh when I realise we're doing ballet to Smells Like Teen Spirit or Lady Gaga! The other teacher uses Cecchetti syllabus music in the beginner class since we're doing grades, but in the advanced class she uses instrumental versions of songs from various different films and musicals. I have another teacher who I don't see a lot these days since her class clashes with another one that I take, but she plays all kinds of pop music, we've danced to Lionel Richie, Coldplay, The Time Warp... All kinds!

[alison]

Ours tends to stick mainly with classical, plus songs from the odd film and suchlike.  Then there are all the pieces she composes herself ...

[Dance*is*life]

And in the pro performing world the musicians' union seems to be much tougher than the dancers' one, or maybe it's just that they adhere to the rules and dancers don't!   If it's time for a break it's time for a break, no matter where they are in the rehearsal!  Or maybe nowadays dancers have stopped being the proverbial doorsteps?????

[Legseleven]

Definitely no nonsense stood by the musicians' union! As you say, Dance*is*life, break times and finish times seem to be absolutely set in stone. Which is good, but often a shock to actors and dancers.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Legseleven

[Kate_N]

Yes, in my experience what Dance*is*life says is accurate, and ye, a surprise (not always pleasant) to actors, for example. Sometimes musicians' behaviour comes across as resistent & stubborn & counter-productive in the production, but I guess they got the (literally) pay off in terms of much higher fees.

[Pas de Quatre]

Sometimes I will ask my pianist to play something more modern, but in general for ballet class I do prefer classical music.  I am also very conscious that some children do not get to hear much classical music otherwise.

[triphazard]

. One teacher uses piano versions of pop music, which can be quite nice, though it does make me laugh when I realise we're doing ballet to Smells Like Teen Spirit or Lady Gaga!

 

Of the classes I attend I've got two with a real live genuine pianist, both of which are basically classical, and one with recorded music. These days the recorded music tends to be lovely semi-classical music like Einaudi, but occasionally the teacher still adds something a bit sillier. One time she had us dancing to the Locomotion, which was naturally the one time the other half happened to be waiting outside, so now he thinks that's what ballet dancers do.

 

I recall one pianist who sneakily slipped into the Star Wars Imperial March half way through a lengthy barre section: perfect tempo, only it gave me the giggles and it turns out it's very hard to dance when you're crying with laughter...

[Jan McNulty]

O/T I know but when Gavin Sutherland was a conductor with Northern Ballet and often played for company class on a Sunday morning he just sort of doodled on the piano and it sounded absolutely wonderful to the Friends watching.  It was always a highlight if Gavin was playing for class.

[Dance*is*life]

I agree Pas de Q - although it's fun to use a range of music for class - one of Errol's pianists used to play Around the World in Eighty Days for rond de jambe -  I do hate it when teachers use pop songs for ballet pieces in recitals, because they say that the parents prefer hearing what they like listening to normally and otherwise they get bored.  I have always used classical music or light orchestral music for my dances and no-one has ever objected.  I also think it's good for the children to recognise ballet music in class when they hear it, because they have been taken to see the actual ballet.  It's all about education.

[trog]

I can't remember the last time I did a class with live piano, and I do miss it

 

One of my teachers has a new CD which she purchased at the York seminars a couple of months ago and it's piano versions of popular tunes, mostly from the 1980s and a few TV themes too. The first couple of times she used it we played "Name that tune". Later we started to sing along when doing the second side. She took it all in good stead. It was very funny when "Blackadder" popped up!