Tag Archives: ballet pianist

Ian Richards

Musical Mentoring at GradPro

“Every so often I bring in lemon drizzle cake, or shortbread , mince pies and fairy cakes. Occasionally the girls bring in stuff too. I suppose it’s to create a family atmosphere.”

My colleague Ian Richards is a bit anarchic.  For the last 2 years, we have both been contributing to the G2P (Grad to Pro) programme, a 15 week-long mentoring programme created by Grad Pro founder Julie Bowers to support young dancers taking their next steps in the transition from vocational training to starting jobs as company dancers.

Ian and I provide musical accompaniment for classes, repertoire rehearsals and performances, but also offer musical mentoring by sharing our experience of the ballet world “from the piano stool”.

Being a musical mentor

Ballet training is incredibly intensive physically, emotionally, mentally. One of the most nerve-wracking stages is the period when a young dancer prepares to audition for company jobs. One often feels a sense of failure if a company contract is not secured during or soon after one’s  final year at ballet school. However, the audition season rolls on in the months after graduation when  young grads  have left the relative safety and support of their dance schools. This is why it is so important for a young dancer to be able to continue their physical training and to have access to supportive mentors.

Not just mentoring for balletic stuff, mind you. Good mentoring also looks at how to sustain a healthy mindset and lifestyle whilst pursuing your career goals. Hence the importance of cake – a touch of balance and normality, and a reminder that you still need to look after yourself outside the ballet studio. Because no one can pour from an empty cup.

One consistent feedback from the G2P students was their delight at having live music in the programme. In the current economic climate, ballet training  is taking place increasingly without the contribution of live music. Recordings are cheap  and easy to use in places which don’t have pianos or access to dance musicians. So, we are coming across a generation of young dancers who lack the experience and challenges offered by working with live music.

Some of the ways we mentored wordlessly:

  • Body language. We musicians might ‘read the room’ to understand the dancers’ energy levels and mood. But dancers look at us too in return: do the musicians look engaged? Are they slumped in the chair looking bored / reading a paper? Did they make eye contact and notice the dancers light up when they found a particular rhythm perky and joyful? We musicians can support by showing commitment in our body language.

  • We challenge the dancers musically in different ways. Ian prefers using music from ballet repertoire but likes to change the music for the second side of a class exercise.  How would you do the same choreography to different music? He says, “I like to use a dramatic piece of music for the first side then change it to the complete opposite for the second side to make them listen.”  I like to challenge their musical tastebuds by offering a buffet of different musical genres within a class to stir the pot a little….can you convey strength, determination or despair instead of prettiness in a port de bras? Now, do tendus to a bossa nova.

The G2P cohort got the chance to take turns setting and marking exercises. We would then discuss effective ways dancers can communicate with musicians and try out those methods. This was a safe space to experiment and learn. Bearing in mind that students come to us from different backgrounds, this may be the first time that they have had the chance to indulge in a discussion about music and dance with a musician.

How I became a dance pianist – an introduction

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Not that many years ago, I remember floundering in the pea soup of ballet steps that made up an enchaînement.  I had only started playing for dance because of a chance remark to a young pianist to whom I said “You’re so lucky to have the opportunity to play for ballet. I’ve always wanted to give it a go but never had the chance”. Next thing I knew, the ballet teacher for whom she worked needed another pianist and my number was passed on to her.

I spent a year playing for syllabus classes without having a clue about what made certain music suitable for particular steps.  The springy steps were the easiest to identify with – springy music, please!  Improvisation was also easy – something tinkly for fairies, heavy for elephants, and hoppy for frogs.  Beyond that….zilch.  Not  a clue  about what made rond de jambe music different from plié music, or what differentiated tendus from glisses.  Dynamics – what’s that?

Seven years later (after a gruelling year of training with Scottish Ballet, complete immersion in  vocational dance training courtesy of Elmhurst, and playing for anything and everything  dance-wise  that came my way), I am writing my very first blog about playing for dance.

These scribblings are not about THE way to play for dance. They are personal ideas and observations that I’ve made in the many hours spent in dance studios watching dancers at work. Some are not even my own ideas, but those of teachers and wiser dance musicians who generously shared their knowledge (due credit given). But I think it is important to write them down as there is so little information in the public domain about dance music and its practitioners. Very few dance musicians choose to explain their choices of music, or even to help out fellow pianists trying to improve their understanding of dance music.