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Hey Deb
Topic Started: Mar 8 2010, 05:09 AM (166 Views)
kathyk
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Pisa-Carp
My son's GF has started taking ballet lessons. She's very excited and wants to practice at home. She called me asking for suggestions on piano music to practice to. I have the basic idea of the type of piano music that is used for ballet classes, but as far as coming up with names of pieces, beyond, well maybe, some of the Chopin waltzes or marurkas, I was stumped. Are there are good compilations you know of, or particular composers?
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DivaDeb
HOLY CARP!!!
Yes...I'm in Houston for a conference, but...this is a letter I wrote to two folks on PW who were asking. It's not conclusive, but there is quite a bit there. Just a caution, it is generally not a very good idea to practice ballet outside of the studio. The floors are different, there are no mirrors, and dancers simply don't practice technique unsupervised as pianists do. It takes outside eyes. Especially if she is not very experienced, she can ingrain a *lot* of bad habits by spending too much time on her own.

This is a short list off the top of my head. I had a rehearsal to play today, for the musical Big River that I'm directing, so I was not at the studio. I decided to send my list in segments...I'm just realizing as I start writing things down how many things I run through in a month's time. I play 7 or 8 classes a week and I try very hard not to repeat things during a week's time. I get bored and play like crap if I don't change it up. So...here's the first stuff that popped in my mind. In addition to this stuff, I regularly play from books by Suzanne Knosp, Jill Barnes, Adam



Leroy Anderson:



Blue Tango for a quicker fondu

Syncopated Clock for tendu

Sandpaper Ballet-tendu

there are many other Anderson pieces I use regularly but my book is at the studio and I can't remember the names. The complete piano works from Alfred is worth having....lots of stuff works.



Bach:

Loure from the 3rd Cello Suite is good for a stately quicker tendu…you have to mess with the B section because it’s not even.

All the dance forms are evident in Bach and Handel…too many to list, but great for the exercise when a very formal and stayed performance quality is desired. On one day, I might play Handel for tendu, the next, Gershwin…just depends on the ‘feel’ I think the teacher is looking for.



Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach:

Rondo Espressivo….wonderful adage when the choreography can use a lighter, thinner, more lifted approach…I have seen dancers float to this one…makes them more delicate. Not good if there are a lot of men in the class.



Barber:

Souvenirs: Waltz and Pas de deux…you can use some of the other too, because you can probably play them J





Beethoven- Adagio from Pathetique is perfect for a short adagio in 4



Brahms:

Hungarian dance

The waltz in A flat, I just hate, but it does work nicely



Chopin:



Nocturne in F minor is a great slow tendu

the simpler waltzes work well



Dvorak:



Op 101, no 7 (humoresque, another nice, light medium jump…or releve for pointe class)





Fucik:



Entrance of the Gladiators- grand battement or men’s jumps



Gautier:



Le Secret- small jumps

Gottschalk:

Tournament Galop-little jumps or degage

Fred Stone: Silks and Rags (the theme is a nice lyrical waltz…good for waltz turns)





Granados:



Ochos valses poeticos, no. 1, 2, 5, and 6…plies, waltz, sometimes adagio if it’s not a gruesome slow one







Grieg:



Wedding Day at Troldhaugen-grand battement- there is a two measure intro, play measures 3-10, you have to cut measures 11 and 12, and play 13-20, repeat as necessary, cadence in D major.

Lots of Grieg works well and many of the students will know the Peer Gynt stuff, so will enjoy it a lot. They love the things they can sing along with in their heads…and they dancer better.



Mendelssohn:

Op 62 no 6 (spring song) great for medium allegro, if you can get past the Bugs Bunny factor J



Offenbach:



Can-can...pique turns



Prokofiev:

March from Love for Three Oranges-grand battement

Hunter’s March from Peter and the Wolf-grand battement

Knight’s March from Romeo and Juliet is THE best grand battement ever

The sloooow 3 from Romeo and Juliet makes a great fondu if the teacher wants a three instead of a tango

Several nice little snips and bits from his 10 pieces for piano, Opus 12…good for allegro in 2, or small jumps



Satie:

The first of the Gymnopedies…just hack some measures out here and there, makes nice plies



Tchaikovsky: (anything really…the man’s music is easy to dance to)

Waltz- Op 39, No. 8

All the Nutcracker stuff





Opera:



Bizet:

Carmen-Habanera-tendu

Torreador- battement

Flower Song (the tenor aria, Le fleur que tu m’avais jetee)- adagio…especially if they do a stretch right after adagio at the bar…then you get to play the whole thing!!! J

Pearl Fishers- the big tenor/baritone duet Au fond du Temple Saint is a great adagio or stretch



von Flotow:



Last Rose of Summer (from Martha) (adagio or plie)



Gounod:

Faust- Soldier’s march-battement

Waltz-grand allegro

Avant de quitter ces lieux (that’s the baritone aria) adagio



Lehar:

Merry Widow has several nice waltzes



Massanet:



Mediatation from Thais- adagio



Puccini: Gianni Schicchi- O mio babbino caro- adagio, reverence



Saint-Saëns:

From Samson et Dalila- Mon Coeur S’ouvre a Ta Voix…great adagio

The Swan thingie is great too, for adagio with a triple-ish feel



Strauss:



Die Fledermaus- waltzes

Wein, Weib und Gesang….all the Strauss waltzes are good, they just aren’t all even, so you have to trim them. The Viennese waltzes are generally a little lighter and nicer than the big German ones…so if the exercise is feminine and flowly, go Viennese, if it’s burly and masculine, go with Brahms or Schubert.





Verdi:

EVERY Verdi opera has a great cabaletta (or six) and they are generally a polonaise. Also Bellini. Too many to list.







Actual ballet music I find important and especially good for class:



Swan Lake- coda for fouettes…nothing else works as well



Don Quixote-adagio from the grand pas is the best choice for any adagio that begins “walk, walk” and has a promenade or penche’. Also the Dance of the Shades from Bayadere is indispensable for adagio.

Don Q-the coda is important for fouettes and pique turns.



Giselle- Albrecht's variation---you need it for male jump combinations...the stuff you use for girls to jump will be too light and too quick



Coppelia-the act one waltz





Pop things I use a lot:





One-A Chorus Line-world’s best song for centre tendu/pirouette combination



A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes- beautiful adagio 3



When You Wish Upon A Star- beautiful adagio 4



Step in Time (Mary Poppins) little jumps



Paper Moon-tendu



Ain’t She Sweet-tendu



All the Things You Are- adagio



You Made Me Love You- tendu



Fate Introduced Me to You-tendu



Five ft 2, Eyes of Blue-quick tendu or degage



Travel Theme from the movie Chocolat-frappe or degage



Cantina Song from Star Wars- terrific quick tendu/degage



Black Pearl from Pirate’s of the Carribean-great big polonaise for grand allegro



Makin Whoopie-tendu



Blue Goose Rag- good for everything from tendu to grand battement



Danny Boy- plie/adagio



Can’t Help Lovin Dat Man from Showboat-adagio, plie, whatever…I can make it flow or make it rhythmic, I just like the song J



Georgia on my Mind- big tendu or jazzy adagio…great if there are a lot of men in class



I have a little book of Irish jigs, reels etc…they’re very simple, and I don’t know what I’d do without it for warm-up jumps and petite allegro!



I got a lot of funky old tunes from the Indiana University sheet music library. Very useful (and free) Also a lot from IMSLP. Schubert waltzes and the simpler Chopin waltzes are nice.



Edited by DivaDeb, Mar 8 2010, 10:25 AM.
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
Isn't TNCR amazing! :thumb:
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kathyk
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Pisa-Carp
Thank you, Deb!!
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DivaDeb
HOLY CARP!!!
oh...I also play at least 2 tangos per class for one of my teachers. I don't like playing the same ones, so I have a ton of collections of Latin music...tangos, milongas,habaneras etc...they usually also contain some snappy spirited lyrical waltzes, so are very handy books to have. I play a lot of tarantellas for en cloche (swings) but rarely ever use a mazurka for anything besides repertoire or character class.
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