Interesting conference coming up in September 10th – 13th this year at Oxford University – Perspectives on Musical Improvisation. I’m half tempted to submit a proposal for a paper, since music improvisation in ballet classes is one of those mysterious and hidden-away things that rarely gets an airing. Just not cool enough, I suppose. Just a shame that this isn’t really my area of interest as a researcher, so I hope someone else will take up the challenge.
I’ve had several emails from people thanking me for passing on the link to the Ernesto Nazareth site, which includes a complete archive of Ernesto Nazareth’s compositions, the painstaking and exquisitely presented labour of love of Alexandre Dias (see previous post about this) who has edited and re-typeset every single one of them.
Alexandre and his team have now done the same at www.chiqunihagonzaga.com for the music of Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847-1935), the Brazilian composer, and I predict a communal round of applause from all us ballet pianists around the world who will find in this site a wonderful source of new, great music for class.
Alexandre, we salute you!
Not often that I link from here to my real job, but I’ve finally done a factsheet on a subject that I’m always being asked about – where can I get the music for this or that solo from a ballet.
So here it is, Factsheet No. 16, Online Sheet Music Resources courtesy of the Royal Academy of Dance, with direct links to all the Tchaikovsky ballets, Giselle and Coppélia and a few more.
Most people know about my sheet music links on delicious, which are also worth a visit (three pages, so don’t forget to click on the ‘next’ button – especially as some of the best ones are the first ones I posted, which will be on page 3).
