A year of ballet playing cards #43: A csárdás-like Nocturne by Schubert (D4)
This Notturno from Schubert's trio D897 has a lot of csárdás-like qualities that make it very suitable for some adage or battement fondu exercises.
A year of ballet playing cards #42: Diable à Quatre male variation – big 2/4 jumpy thing (D3)
This solo from Adam's "Diable à quatre" is great for those bouncy medium/big sissonne-type allegros in 2/4.
Happy 2015: A new year’s ramble about Black Swan and other ballet anomalies
As it’s the first day of a new year, I’ve decided to do something about one of the greatest annoyances in my list of ballet-pianist anxieties: the Black Swan female…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #24: Happy birthday
Special occasions make me nervous. Take birthdays, for example. It’s someone’s birthday, and so one of the dancers comes up before class and says “Can you play happy birthday for…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #23: Metre-less counts
An absence of metre is kind of cool. It’s like decorating a room white, having no books or furniture, and hanging Malevich’s White on White on the wall. You have…
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,…