Playing for ballet class tips #25: respect the ritual
Class has a ritual, liturgical quality to it, particularly in a company. It is daily, it happens at a particular time, with such religious regard for punctuality that a teacher…
Playing for ballet class tips #24: Speak up – don’t act the pianist
I can’t remember when exactly I discovered this, but it was life-changing. If you’ve got a question in class or rehearsal, speak up, don’t act the pianist. If you’re going…
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 #16: Talk to teachers
Playing for class has a game-like quality: teacher, dancers and musician come together and enact a ritual according to dozens of complex rules and expectations. If you had to keep…
The problem with reading online
Four years ago, I started an MA in music education at the Institute of Education in London. The first module was on the philosophy and aesthetics of music, and included…
Normal service resumed at last
After 10 days of mourning for the loss of nearly 10 years of posts, I’ve managed to recover my site after all. It’s cost me abou $70, but it was…