The intention of this post is to give an overview of how phrasing in music can be employed in improvising music for a ballet class. These techniques come from a system called The Motosonus Method, which was created by Don Caron and Elizabeth Carlssohn, the composer and producer, respectively, for the ballet class music series, The First Class Albums.
An Explanation of Phrasing
Phrasing is used in music in much the same way the human voice is used in poetry. It includes, along with quite a few other things, where breathing happens, where the climaxes and low points are, anticipating what is coming next or finalizing what just happened, as well as shape, tension, relaxation and several other elements that are characteristic of good story-telling, which is what phrasing is mostly about.
How Is It Applied?
When music is used to accompany dance, as it is in a ballet class, the phrasing gives clues to the dancers about how to move. This is often done, for example, by stretching the end of the musical statement, which will cause the dancer to increase a stretch a bit farther and wait a while longer before relaxing the working muscles.
Small Sub-Phrases
Phrasing in music must also be considered at the smallest level, using individual notes and small groups of notes to create micro-phrases. This is helpful in exercises that use the small muscle-groups and are demand movements that are very quick (i.e. frappes or degages). For example, the pianist can create four or even eight mini-phrases inside of the larger phrase. Each one of those mini-phrases accompanies a single frappe, or degage as the case may be.
The pianist accomplishes this through the utilization of staccato and tenuto. The extended notes are used when the working leg is moving away from the body and the short, accented notes go with the snap of the foot, or the moment when the foot arrives its destination. These systems make the ballet class music far more impactful, both for the students and for the person teaching the class.
Summary
Anybody desiring to write music for a ballet class needs to be tuned into the best way to use the phrases of the music, following the examples above. This is also helpful for ballet masters who will be able to locate a better quality of music for their classes when they are aware of the link between music and movement, as is detailed in The Motosonus Method.
An Explanation of Phrasing
Phrasing is used in music in much the same way the human voice is used in poetry. It includes, along with quite a few other things, where breathing happens, where the climaxes and low points are, anticipating what is coming next or finalizing what just happened, as well as shape, tension, relaxation and several other elements that are characteristic of good story-telling, which is what phrasing is mostly about.
How Is It Applied?
When music is used to accompany dance, as it is in a ballet class, the phrasing gives clues to the dancers about how to move. This is often done, for example, by stretching the end of the musical statement, which will cause the dancer to increase a stretch a bit farther and wait a while longer before relaxing the working muscles.
Small Sub-Phrases
Phrasing in music must also be considered at the smallest level, using individual notes and small groups of notes to create micro-phrases. This is helpful in exercises that use the small muscle-groups and are demand movements that are very quick (i.e. frappes or degages). For example, the pianist can create four or even eight mini-phrases inside of the larger phrase. Each one of those mini-phrases accompanies a single frappe, or degage as the case may be.
The pianist accomplishes this through the utilization of staccato and tenuto. The extended notes are used when the working leg is moving away from the body and the short, accented notes go with the snap of the foot, or the moment when the foot arrives its destination. These systems make the ballet class music far more impactful, both for the students and for the person teaching the class.
Summary
Anybody desiring to write music for a ballet class needs to be tuned into the best way to use the phrases of the music, following the examples above. This is also helpful for ballet masters who will be able to locate a better quality of music for their classes when they are aware of the link between music and movement, as is detailed in The Motosonus Method.
About the Author:
This essay is presented through Gaylord Pannitron. The Motosonus Method is used in The First Class Albums, a collection of ballet class music CDs by composer/choreographer/pianist, Don Caron. You can check them out in Amazon's Ballet Class Music library.
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