Do marches really have to have dotted rhythms?
Nice to see an article about marching music, one of the weird, esoteric topics that perplex ballet pianists like me: a 2018 conference paper byNiels Hansen, Nicholas Shea & David…
Black Swan, the design of everyday things, and the extended mind
I’ve been very nervous of trying out the orchestral reduction I made in January 2015 of the Black Swan female variation for real-life principals in companies in case I became…
Tia DeNora, affordances, and more on the lyrical waltz
In a previous post about the so-called “lyrical waltz” (a term sometimes used by some ballet teachers) I took a long time to come to the conclusion that perhaps “lyrical”…
“They would have…” — Coppélia, Scotch snaps and class (the social kind)
The Scotch Snap goes to Poland My recent discovery that one of the interpolations in Coppélia for Franz’s variation is from a “Scottish” ballet (Gretna Green, by Guiraud) encouraged me…
A year of ballet playing cards #37: A grand polonaise by Nápravník
Download the Polonaise by Nápravník (free pdf) Read more about my Year of Ballet Playing Cards You’d think that if ballet teachers have a mental model of how a polonaise…
A year of ballet playing cards #35: A mazurka by Hubay
Download piano score of Hubay’s mazurka (free pdf) Read more about my Year of Ballet Playing Cards Slow, mazurka-like exercises from the corner for multiple pirouettes are a staple of…