Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #16: Rehearsal marks
Above is a little fragment of daily life as a ballet accompanist – keeping your ears open while a rehearsal is going on so that when the choreographer or coach…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #15: Tempo
One way or another, tempo is at the heart of most of the anxieties in this advent calendar. Playing for ballet is like driving on a busy motorway in torrential…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #14: Adage
As it’s Sunday, let’s have a religious topic (adage), and an extra confession: So help me God, I hate slow music. I don’t have the patience to listen to it,…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #13: Music for stretching
Imagine – if you’re a dancer – that the curtain’s gone down on Act I, the house lights have gone up, and the audience are heading for the bar. You…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #12: Wrong notes
“You should play more wrong notes, then people wouldn’t notice so much.” That was the kind, but impractical advice given to me by a good friend in a company many…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #11: Getting the phrasing wrong
As I’ve already mentioned in posts about the difficulties of playing slow threes (like mazurkas and polonaises), where you can end up accidentally thinking in six-count units instead of eight-bar…