Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #16: Rehearsal marks
Above is a little fragment of daily life as a ballet accompanist – keeping your ears open while a rehearsal is going on so that when the choreographer or coach…
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,…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #8: The dreaded slow mazurka pirouette
The moment I see a teacher marking a pirouette that has a massive, sweeping balancé in it, I know there’s trouble ahead. Like the dreaded 2/4 sissonne of yesterday’s post,…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #4: Classical music
The other side of my anxiety about not playing pop tunes for class (see yesterday’s post) is anxiety about playing stuff that’s too classical. When I say “classical,” I mean…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #3: Pop songs
I’ve got to be very careful how I put this, for fear of being taken the wrong way (see, I’m even anxious about that). So let’s get one thing out…
Company class: Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist, day #1 (Advent 2014)
My post about problems of playing for a “White Swan” rehearsal generated a lot of interesting comments from dance and music friends on Facebook. One musician friend sympathised with my…