Ballet Pedagogy: The Art of Teaching

4. Music for Dance

4 Music for dance Mastering the use of musical accompaniment can be the single most difficult aspect of teaching for most pedagogy students and young teachers. There are two forms of accompaniment used for ballet class: recorded piano music on Cd and live piano. Both forms have their advantages and disadvantages, and teachers usually prefer one over the other. However, having the sound and energy of a live piano establishes an atmosphere and a level of professionalism that recorded music cannot match. Many beginning teachers at first are intimidated by working with pianists , just as there are some pianists who enjoy intimidating teachers a little —particularly if they sense that a teacher has little or no musical training. More often than not, the most experienced pianists are extremely patient and accommodating. it is not imperative for a ballet teacher to have formal training in music, but it is reasonable to assume that any understanding of music fundamentals , its form and structure, will broaden and enrich one’s teaching capabilities and effectiveness. Ballet is performed to music, and its kinesis and aesthetics work with many of the same components of music such as meter, tempo, rhythm, accent, phrasing, and dynamics. Meter is the timing of music; it is the particular grouping together of beats. tempo is the speed at which the music moves. Meter and tempo are an integral part of every ballet combination and exercise. it takes knowledge , experience, practice, and rhythmic sensitivity to know which meter and tempo will work best for each exercise. These elements, more than any 79 80 Ballet Pedagogy: The art of teaching other, will affect the dynamics and accurate technical execution of a ballet combination. i often observe the frustration of many young teachers whose combinations do not work musically. They try to fix it—often unsuccessfully—by having the pianist adjust the tempo, when in fact it is the meter that doesn’t work, or vice versa. i also watch students who eagerly and diligently try but are unsuccessful in applying corrections because the tempo or the meter is not conducive to the teacher’s directive. not enough attention is paid to musical ear training during most of a young student’s dance training. Many teachers who use recorded music by fine ballet pianists give little thought to choosing a track that has the best meter, tempo, and rhythm for the combinations and exercises. They simply count or pound out the beats in 8–count phrases and ignore the musical dynamics; they also don’t take the time to stress to their students the importance of listening to the music and allowing it to inspire and create mood and imagery. as a result, many young dancers never develop a trained ear and have little understanding or feeling for music. lack of musicality makes it impossible for a dancer to integrate movement and music on any sophisticated level. Musicality in dance means that an integral relationship exists between music and movement. it can be simple and literal or, in the case of certain choreographic performances, sophisticated and abstract. By utilizing the subtlety of nuance in phrasing and counterpoint, this partnership offers many possibilities in movement qualities and textures. This applies not just to the creator (choreographer) but also to the dancer who executes and interprets the choreography. Phrasing We express ideas through our speech and writing by combining words, forming phrases, and creating sentences. sentences are linked together into paragraphs, which collectively communicate a story, concept, or emotion. it can be literal or abstract. Music and dance do the same thing through sound and visual expressions. a musical phrase is a self-contained musical sentence that is heard as a coherent and identifiable whole within the context of a composition. Musical notes having various time values are grouped together with a given rhythmical pattern and are divided into sections called bars or mea- sures. a measure or groups of measures create a musical phrase. a complete musical movement or composition features sections consisting of many connected phrases. The defining characteristic of a phrase is the brief rest or sense of resolution at the end, which is called cadence. it is similar to the pauses we hear when someone speaks. Cadence enables us to hear phrasing easily. When choreographing, we are creating movement phrases. Classical steps, stylized choreographic movements, and gestures are arranged with connecting steps to form combinations, or movement phrases that...