A Look At Ballet Class Music
Are You Familiar With It?
Ballet Class Music is a sort of music that the great majority of people are not acquainted with. Similar to any musical style, there’s plenty of music for ballet class that isn’t worth listening to. But there’s a significant amount of wonderful music written for classes that most people will never have the opportunity to hear, for the simple reason that if you don’t happen to be a ballet instructor or a ballet student it is improbable that you will ever encounter recordings of ballet class music.
A Quick Definition
When ballet instructors teach, they use a very specific style of music. There are around sixteen exercises the students perform through the course of class, and the music for these exercises is always solo piano music. All ballet terms are in French, so that the exercises have names which include terms like Ronds de Jambe, Petite Battement and Tendu. The composer or pianist will perform music that matches the prerequisites of each exercise. In a ballet class for top level dance companies, a pianist will be present to perform the music. But most instructors will simply use CDs.
An Overview
When composers play the piano for a ballet class or create a recording, every musical selection must be at a specific speed, with the required phrasing and personality that goes with each individual exercise. Subsequently, there are a number of rules which apply to performing ballet class music but the restrictions frequently result in some astonishing musical material. Within any ballet class you’ll hear a big variety of musical styles and moods. There’ll be animated rhythms, lovely melodies, romantic music, funny music as well as music that touches the listener and music that's doleful, sweet, cheerful, or simply there, keeping time.
Where to Look
You’ll be able to find some of the most satisfying melodies ever written in the collections of ballet class music and lots of fun and interesting musical ideas too. If you like piano music this is something you’ll definitely want to check out. If you’d like to hear some samples, you can get access to a large assortment of selections in CDBaby’s ballet class music catalog.
Frank Halbers is a dance instructor and choreographer who enjoys writing articles on a variety of subjects but especially about ballet and teaching ballet. He has purchased all of Don Caron’s ballet class music. His pastimes include tennis, ballroom dancing, handball and working out. You can listen to samples of what he discusses in this article in CDBaby’s catalogue of ballet class music.
