Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Say hello to a brand new ballet accompanist!

I got the go-ahead to start playing for class next week!

I'm only going to play barre--I haven't yet put enough under my fingers to play through center. I think I might have enough over the next week or two, though, to start playing the whole class.

I did a trial run at the ballet studio this morning with nobody there and my piano teacher giving guidance and instruction on tempo and how to help support and lead the dancers through the various combinations. It's a large, cavernous room and the sound coming back at me was a bit disconcerting. I hope it won't be so bad once more people are in it.

Finding repertoire has been the most difficult (though the most enjoyable to sift through). It has to be easy enough to free me up for the concentration overhead I'm going to need to pay attention around me, but not juvenile or simplistic.

Right now I'm aiming for things on the easier side with the idea that I can build difficulty as I get my sea legs.

I've got about 12 selections fully prepared--they're solid and well-learned. It's a mix of various things, all classical and from the piano repertoire (except one Russian/Klezmer unknown folk dance), but none that come from Actual Ballets because...well, I'm not sure why but for right now I'm sticking to straight-up piano repertoire. I can share what my current list is if anybody is interested.

I've got to build the rest of the class and also find selections that maybe bring a bit more color and complicated structure for more advanced classes. I'm pretty sure that most of what I already picked will work well at the more advanced levels at least at first--I think I can take some of the same pieces and be a little freer with the rubato and expression. Over time I want to base my class repertoire on what I want to work on outside of ballet.

Anyway, this will be the very first time I am actually playing piano for a real, professional purpose. It's very exciting for me, frankly, though I am sure it probably isn't particularly earth-shattering in the grand scheme of things.

Still, as small and insignificant as it may be, it's really kind of a spectacular realization of a dream of mine.

Congrats! I'm sure you'll have a great time.


Enjoy

Have a great time! Keep us updated.

All good wishes. It might be a wonderful new chapter in your musical life. All depends on the dance teacher(s) and how supportive they are. But it's great that you have your piano teacher's help and support.

This *is* big news.

Congratulations! This is a major accomplishment that will bring lots more growth with it.

I don't accompany a ballet class, but I stumbled across the website below, for Russian ballet class accompaniment, with links to each of the scores. It is in Russian, but Google translate works http://www.balletmusic.narod.ru/library_notes_alf_1.htm#

Hello, brand new ballet accompanist. I am sure you will do a great job.

I'd be interested to see what your rep list looks like!

I have a lot of downloads from there

Hello! ^_^

Ok, well, I'm on tap to start on Monday. I tried to pick repertoire that was technically accessible to me, musically intriguing, age-appropriate (at first I'll be playing for children about age 11-13), ballet appropriate (each ballet combination has a particular rhythmic and musical requirements, so each of these pieces was picked with a particular purpose in mind) and--last but not least--wasn't already too well-known, at least among the bunheads.

So, here's what I ended up selecting and prepping, more or less in order from the start of class to the end:

Barre

• Beethoven, Pathetique, Adagio cantabile
• Schumann, Album for the Young, No. 2 Soldatenmarsch
• Klezmer folk tune (Russian Sher)
• Kabalevsky, Op. 27 Skazka
• Khachaturian, Ivan's Adventures, No. 1 Andantino
• Kabalevsky, Op. 27 Sonatina
• Griboyedov, Two Waltzes, No. 1 in Ab maj
• Dargomyzhsky Cosaque
• Schumann, Album for the Young, Kleine Studie
• Hubler, Selections from J'Accompagne la Danse and Rythmes de Danse

Center (not really in order)

• Schumann, Album for the Young, No. 11 Sizilianisch
• Kuula, Pikku Gavotti <--shout-out to fnork,
• Haydn, Sonata E minor, Hob. XVI:34, 3. Vivace Molto
• Chopin, Fantaisie Impromptu, (moderato cantabile section only)
• Rebikov, Fleurs D'Automne, No. 1
• Chopin, Waltz KK IVb No. 11
• Burgmuller, Op. 100 No. 11 La Bergonnette
• Burgmuller, Op. 100 No. 14 La Styrienne
• Dargomyzhsky, Valse Melancholique
• Schumann, Album for the Young, No. 3 Trällerliedchen
• Dargomyzhsky, Variations sur L'Air Russe, Theme

In progress/consideration
Griboyedov, Two Waltzes, No. 2 E minor
Tchaikovsky, Op. 19, No. 4 Nocturne
Kalinnikov, Elegia Bb minor
Linko, Op. 1, No. 4 Aria
Debussy, Arabesque (No. 1)
Schumann, Waldszenen, #9 Abschied
Shostakovich Dance of the Dolls, Lyrical Waltz
Fauré, Op. 80 Sicilienne
Fauré, Op. 50 Pavane
Pugni, La Esmerelda (the famous tamborine variation)
Chopin, Album Leaf/Moderato in E, B.151 **Thanks, other thread!

Looks good! I wouldn't recommend the Debussy Arabesque as it is likely to confuse the dancers (ditto for the outer sections of Fantaisie-impromptu, which you are wisely not using.)
The Fauré Sicilienne works great for slower things in 3, I tend to use it for rond de jambe or adagio at the barre but it'd be a lovely centre adagio too, Pavane is ok but can get too draggy/funereal on solo piano so maybe only use it once in a while for an adagio when you need a change of pace from pretty pieces in major.

How did you come upon Evelyne Hubler?? I have a couple volumes of J'accompagne la danse that I inherited from a teacher who inherited them from another accompanist. I play her music all the time. Do you know if the other book you mentioned (Rythmes de danse) is still in print?

Ha, I came across Hubler cited in a dissertation written about ballet accompaniment. There were a few selections in the appendices, and I liked them, so I hunted down the books!

They're sort of still in print, but in France. Certainly not here in the USA. I play sometimes with a cellist who is French, and when she went back home for a spell last month, I quickly ordered the entire set online, delivering to her brother's house and she very nicely schlepped them all back for me.

So far, I am using #5 and #7, played as one longer selection, out of Vol. 1 Rythmes de Danse for tendu with plie, and #22 out of Vol. 1 J'Accompagne la Danse for grand battement. I've got a few more in the queue assuming I don't come up with anything else to round out center right now, and I'm sure it'll be a useful set of books going forward in general.

Duly noted on the Arabesque and the Pavane, thanks!

Congratulations! Great to hear that you made it so far. Nice list of pieces, thanks

I hate to tell you this, but you are going to need about 59,950 more tunes. I would start by downloading all the Big Scores (Tchai, Delibes, Minkus, Drigo) - it's a start...good luck, you are going to need it in The Majors...

I have it all on hard drive by Plies, Slow Tendus, Fast Tendus, Degagees, Ronds de Jambe, Tangos (got 500 of these), Fondus, Frappes, Adages, Grands Battements (use a lot of show tunes and rowdy gospel), Grand Allegro - Big BIG Waltzes. Start now -- believe me, it GROWS...

^ heh this is perfect advice if you intend to do this often

Being able to improvise simple 8-measure phrases over oompah and waltz accompaniments is also a great skill if you want to be able to play a class every week or more often without repeating music too much. Ditto for being able to take a short known piece on the fly and improvise variations on it, put it in a different rhythm, or combine it with snippets of some other tune.

How did it go, by the way?

LOL, I know. My lack of standing repertoire was really one of my biggest reservations. But the answer was "well, you gotta start somewhere" so we agreed that I would get a full barre together and then start playing, and then I'd get a feel for how to quickly assimilate new repertoire.

We actually sat down and figured out that in order to start, I should have 20-25 selections fully ready, and that's enough to sit down the first day. That's why my list up above is about that long. The prospective list will keep going. I've already added a bunch more. I'm hoping that in about a month's time, I'll have about 50-75 selections, and then I can just keep building. By summer, I hope to have enough repertoire to take on some of the advanced classes, while still giving the intermediate levels variety.



Really, really, well, I think! I was pleased to find that I was not nearly as panicked as I thought I would be--I typically have a hard time playing for others, even if it's just one person, so a whole class relying on me to play well is sort of the stuff of nightmares for me.

Which, of course, is one of the reasons I kind of wanted to do it. The ability to hold it together and filter out the extraneous mental noise that comes with an audience of any sort is a skill I really want to work on. Music is best when shared and I would like to build a tolerance for the presence of others because ultimately I DO want them there.

Anyway, I didn't blow up. And I didn't play badly or tentatively. I threw myself into it and apparently made good music, the consensus was at the end.

The seamstress from the studio was in and out of the room getting costumes the whole class and afterwards she remarked, "that was beautiful! I didn't know you played so well. Actually, I didn't know you played at all." Ha.

So...onwards and upwards. I have to get the center finished, and then keep building and building and building until I have enough variety to keep things interesting.

Oh, I forgot to mention the funniest part--so it occurred to my teacher today that in all the years she has taught ballet, she herself has never had a live accompanist. She's the head accompanist. And when she began to teach ballet as well as accompany, she just naturally turned to her own series of ballet music albums. Heck, it was already recorded, it's her own playing, she knows it.

So the whole class she seemed a little freaked out to see someone sitting at her piano. Plus, she constantly kept raising her hand to the stereo system to start or stop the music. She'd explain an exercise, then turn to walk back to the back of the room for the sound system, only to smack her forehead, spin back around towards the piano and cue me, and then not quite know what to do with her hands because music has NEVER started for her without her using her own hands to push a stereo button, or push some combination of 88 buttons.

Playing for classes is an orphan occupation. Once word gets around that you can do this, your life will not be the same. The good news is, eventually you will achieve a nice, comfy middle five figure income, but the demand is such that you will be "on the bench" 24/7. Stay healthy!!

BTW, you can download just about everything you need for starters on IMSLP- it's great - and for FREE - can't beat that!

I've been meaning to post this for quite a few days, but didn't have a chance until now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQHsXMglC9A