Playing for ballet class tips day 19: read the feet, divide the beat
In petit allegro, it’s a useful rule of thumb to listen to the rhythm of the exercise as the teacher sets it, and look very carefully at the feet as…
Playing for ballet class tips #4: Forget about time signatures in ballet class
Time signatures in ballet class: don’t get precious about them There’s no polite way to say this—pianists, don’t get pissy about time signatures in ballet class. In other words, if…
Dance rhythms fight back: the 9/8 hornpipe
A while back I started collecting examples of ‘dance rhythms to annoy your music teacher with’. Nothing makes me more frustrated than the term ‘dance rhythms’. There are several generations…
Musical surprises #9: Hornpipes are in 3…
Well, sometimes they are anyway. For many people, especially dance teachers, ‘hornpipe’ is synonymous with 2/4 time. But there are also triple meter hornpipes, often notated in 3/2, particularly common…
The bifurcating waltz, moths & Van der Merwe
Warning: this post may contain traces of moth Spent the day at Senate House Library (the music bit), on one of my regular-ish trawls for new stuff to include in…
Rhythm and ‘rhythm’
Funny how you can be blinded by your own prejudices. I’m afraid I probably am the kind of person who says “I don’t use that button”, pointing to the drum…