My time as an accompanist at the Princeton Ballet School will be over this Friday. Very sad to leave such an awesome place, but keeping my fingers crossed for a job at the Boston Ballet! I figured now is a good time to finish this topic, which I
started a long time ago. So for any potential ballet pianists out there, hope this information will help you out!
1. Music
When I started out playing 3 years ago, I had no idea how to play for ballet classes nor what music I should play. My supervisor gave me a very short and sweet list: "four or five 2/4's, four or five 3/4's, a couple waltzes, a couple polonaises, a tango, a nice big waltz". And then he had me sit next to another pianist to observe. After that, one of the teachers, desperate for a pianist, pulled me over and said I was ready to play. Trial by fire! Needless to say, that short and sweet list of music wasn't nearly enough music for one full class. Right now, I have collected two binders full of music, which is only enough for about 3 classes, assuming I'm playing different music for every exercise.
Here's a list of music I would recommend. (My apologies for misspelled French terms.)
Ecossaises (2/4): Perfect for any tendu exercise or foot warmup. I use it for any slow 2/4 exercise.
Marches (as many as you can get your hands on): These are amazingly useful. They work for tendus, releves, frappes, degages, and basically function like ecossaises. I particularly like ragtime marches because they sound more upbeat and are more fun to play at a slow tempo.
Fast polkas (2/4): These are the ones where the LH part is "bong cha bong cha" all the way through. It's hard to find fast and nice-sounding ones, but these are gold when you find them. They're good for all the fast 2/4 exercises and warm up jumps in center (e.g. changements). In the more advanced classes, teachers seem to give a lot more fast 2/4 exercises, so I'm always running out of these. Need to collect more.
Tangos (2/4): Fondus! I love playing tangos, but I rarely get to use them. They're really good for fondus and really slow exercises in center. You only need a few of these.
Polonaises (2/4 and 3/4): I almost always play a polonaise for grande battements. They always fit and they're nice and strong pieces for those big kicks. Sometimes, the teacher will ask for a polonaise in 3 and count 6 beats per phrase instead of 8. I have two polonaises in 3, and maybe five or six in 2. Slower polonaises are also good for pirouette exercises in 2/4.
Lyrical 3/4: For plies, stretches, and adagios, these are all you use... and EXTREMELY hard to find. Most of my plie music is from actual ballet class sheet music books, because I have had no luck finding suitable, square pieces from classical repertoire. Basically, you are looking for a 3/4 that doesn't sound too waltzy, usually with sweeping 8th notes in the LH and a pretty melody in the right. Plies usually last for 64 measures, adagios for 32 measures on each side. Stretches are unpredictable so I just repeat various sections until the stretch is over.
Medium waltzes: Think Chopin waltzes. These usually fit the pirouette exercises from the corner, or any spinning exercises before jumps. They're also useful for some barre exercises when the teacher gives it in a faster 3.
Big waltzes: Faster and bigger than Chopin waltzes. Any waltz with lots of octaves and big chords usually work. These are used for big jumps from the corner. You usually only play one of these per class, if at all.
Soupy waltz: This one is a little hard to explain. Sometimes teachers give a balancé exercise. A medium waltz would be too fast and a lyrical waltz too slow. Soupy waltzes are a bit slower than Chopin waltzes and sound fuller. Usually the LH rhythm is quarter, half note, quarter, half note. The quarter note is a low octave. Probably the best way to play for these exercises is to improvise, another skill I need to work on.
Bigger polkas: I'm not sure what to call these, but they basically have the same rhythm as a polka but with bigger chords and a bit slower. These are what I play for all the petit allegro jumps in center.
6/8s and Galops: You need a good five or six of these. Some teachers like to give tendus and degages in 6/8.
I might have missed something but for the most part, these are the kinds of pieces I've been playing for class. Every pianist at the school has his/her own collection of music. Many of them improvise on simple pieces to fit the exercise. They are very inspiring to listen to.
Now with all this music, you'll quickly run into the problem of organizing your music so you can find them fast enough. I normally get between 30 seconds to 2 minutes between exercises to find the next piece, so it's always important to put your music into some sort of order.
2. Organization
It took me about 2 years to figure out how to organize my music. I finally figured out that the easiest way is to have one binder for duple meter and one for triple. Within each binder, I divide the pieces according to tempo or style. For example:
In my duple binder: Lyrical 2/4s, Slow 2/4s, Tangos, Fast 2/4s, petit allegro pieces, polonaises, codas
In my triple binder: Lyrical 3/4s, Soupy waltzes, Medium waltzes, big waltzes, 6/8s, polonaises in 3
3. Beginning and Ending
Always begin exercises with a 4 count intro. This doesn't necessarily mean 4 measures. In duple meter, one measure usually gets 2 or 4 counts. Ending pieces are bit more tricky, because often times the exercise will not fit the length of the piece exactly. This is where theory is really important to know. In order to end a piece, always end on the tonic chord and give a nice and clear cadence to let the dancers know that you are ending. For short pieces of 32 measures, it's fairly straight forward. Lyrical and slow pieces are a bit harder but you can generally take your time on these to come to a cadence. Sometimes teachers will tack on a balance at the end of an exercise. I usually play an extra 8 or 16 measures for the balance and then end the piece. Dancers are instructed to hold their position until the music stops, so I think the pianist decides how long to hold it for.
Well, I hope all that was helpful for any other accompanists out there. I don't by any means claim to know everything about ballet accompanying. I've only been doing this for three years so this is just what I've learned so far. So let me end my recommending a book that I've referenced from time to time.
Dance and Music by Harriet Cavalli. It's got great musical examples in the back, and she goes into detail about each exercise.
I'm thankful I got the chance to play for Princeton Ballet. I've loved getting to meet so many professional dancers and teachers. They're all incredibly nice people. I only wish I had more chances to play for the company. One of the perks of being an accompanist is getting to watch phenomenal dancers and really see all the dedication, effort, and pain that goes into all the details of every move. They are serious athlete-artists and never fail to inspire me.
