Let's imagine you're an individual who plays the piano fairly well. You took plenty of lessons when you were younger and still play the piano at home, but you've never done anything with it beyond that. If you are a reasonable site-reader or you are able to improvise, you could get a part time gig playing at your local ballet studio.
How To Make It Happen
Each ballet exercise, and there are roughly fifteen of them in a complete class, has its own unique music at a specific tempo and in a certain style. The quickest way to get an understanding of all this, is to go visit a ballet studio and watch a few classes from start to finish. By watching and listening you will get an idea of the sort of music that's needed.
Don't Reinvent the Wheel
Another very helpful preparation is to purchase an album of ballet class music. You'll need an album with a complete ballet class so that you can see and hear all of the exercises in order. If you improvise, just listen to one exercise at a time and try improvising something like what the pianist on the album is doing. I would recommend Don Caron's First Class Albums of ballet class music for this.
Make the Leap
When you are feeling that you've gotten a basic awareness of how the ballet class works, you're ready to go to the neighborhood ballet studio and have a visit with the owner. Explain to them that you're someone who's just starting out and you'd like to play for one or two classes to see if you can do it. They'll be receptive to your offer and you will get a lot of good suggestions from the ballet teachers who will be pleased to help you learn how to play for a ballet class.
Good luck!
How To Make It Happen
Each ballet exercise, and there are roughly fifteen of them in a complete class, has its own unique music at a specific tempo and in a certain style. The quickest way to get an understanding of all this, is to go visit a ballet studio and watch a few classes from start to finish. By watching and listening you will get an idea of the sort of music that's needed.
Don't Reinvent the Wheel
Another very helpful preparation is to purchase an album of ballet class music. You'll need an album with a complete ballet class so that you can see and hear all of the exercises in order. If you improvise, just listen to one exercise at a time and try improvising something like what the pianist on the album is doing. I would recommend Don Caron's First Class Albums of ballet class music for this.
Make the Leap
When you are feeling that you've gotten a basic awareness of how the ballet class works, you're ready to go to the neighborhood ballet studio and have a visit with the owner. Explain to them that you're someone who's just starting out and you'd like to play for one or two classes to see if you can do it. They'll be receptive to your offer and you will get a lot of good suggestions from the ballet teachers who will be pleased to help you learn how to play for a ballet class.
Good luck!
About the Author:
This essay is brought to you compliments of Gaylord Pannitron. For more detailed explanations of the correct way to play the piano for ballet class, there are examples at How to Play ballet class music, a site for ballet class teachers and pianists. The First Class Albums, which are written about in this piece can be found in Amazon's ballet class music listings.
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