Pliés 1 – Edelweiss
This is day 1 in my 2007 Advent Calendar. This year, I’m giving the story behind some of the music that I’ve collected for ballet classes. All the pieces are…
Advent calendar 2007
If you can call three years running a tradition, then I’d like to welcome you my traditional ‘Advent Calendar’. This started in 2005 as a little project to acknowledge the…
Mac & Noodles in Tokyo
Just waiting to board my flight back from Tokyo, so I thought I’d show off my lovely toys. My new Macbook has been absolutely superb for the series of lectures/seminars…
Playing for Mark Morris
Just back from what’s turned out to be an annual stint for the last three years, playing for The Mark Morris Dance Group company classes on their flying visits to…
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…