100 tips for working with ballet pianists #32: Check your pianist is ready
Glance over to your pianist just before you say ‘and…’ to check that they are ready to play, especially if they are reading from printed music. On the other hand,…
100 tips for working with ballet pianists #31: Be accurate about the tempo you want
If you’re marking an exercise for dancers, it can be tempting to ‘mark’ the tempo to the pianist as well – but this is an impossibility: giving a tempo is…
100 tips for working with ballet pianists #30 Use counts, not bars
When you’re marking an exercise for a pianist, speak in terms of counts rather than bars, particularly with introductions (e.g. say ‘x counts in’, rather than ‘x bars in’). Unless…
100 tips for working with ballet pianists #29: Allow the music to speak
When you first start teaching (whatever your subject), it’s tempting to think that nobody’s learning unless you’re talking. The truth is, an awful lot of the most significant and deep…
100 tips for working with ballet pianists #28: Practise at home
Put on a tape or CD – of anything – and practise setting exercises aloud with the music. Marking an exercise in tempo is a musical & motor skill which…
100 tips for working with ballet pianists #27: Be your own rhythm section
Sometimes it helps to give directions, count or talk gently in the rhythm and tempo that you want while the music’s playing. This gives pianists a rhythmic framework within which…