Advent 10: Can I have that on a (2)
Another from Fido. About two minutes before class began officially, he came to the piano (it was an upright) and stood at it facing me, using the lid as a…
Advent 9: And for this I’d like….
Nothing makes me more uneasy than the kind of teacher who seems to imagine a music so perfect, so refined and so sublime to accompany their exercise that there is…
Advent 7: Moving to think
I could have picked any number of examples, but this is one that I remember most from the times I’ve worked with Gillian Lynne because it’s so darn simple. Somebody…
Advent 5: When you do the step…
This has to be my favourite correction of all time, from Gary Harris (aka Fido, now director of Royal New Zealand Ballet) after the first run through of an allegro…
Advent 4: Can I have that on a…
In the years that I’ve been playing for student ballet teachers, I’ve always found the notion of asking for ‘dance rhythms’ a bit silly, unless dance rhythms are your thing.…
Advent 3: On being too ‘musical’
In the summer of 2000, Christopher Hampson (a.k.a. Chris in this blog elsewhere) created a five-minute graduation-day piece for the final year students at the RAD called Finale, for which…