And ANOTHER French song in the Nutcracker
Remember yesterday I said that the middle (6/8) section of Mère Gigogne in The Nutcracker just ‘had to be’ a French song? Well, I’ve found it, thanks to a post…
Yet another French song in The Nutcracker
I don’t know how I could have left this out of my ‘borrowings in the Nutcracker’ posts. The opening tune of Mère Gigogne is the French nursery rhyme Giroflé girofla.…
100 (or rather 32) tips for working with ballet pianists
Seven years ago, inspired by several books with a title like ‘200 tips for teachers’, I thought I’d do a series of posts in the category ‘100 tips for working…
Music for ballet class, circa 1921
Kosloff's "Russian Ballet Technique, as Taught", published in 1921, contains a one-page guide to matching appropriate music to exercises in a typical ballet class of the day. For teachers and…
Playing for ballet class: a page of tips
In December 2012 I posted daily articles about what I've learned about playing for ballet classes over the last 25 years or so. This is a page of links to…
A launch, a farewell, and another launch
I was in two minds about whether to write the post below, but then I noticed in my search stats that someone had searched for <“jonathan still” retires>, so I…