Music Reviews – Page 4

CD Review: “I’ll Be Seeing You” — David Howard And Steven Mitchell

November 12, 2012 by 4dancers

by Emily Kate Long

l’ll Be Seeing You – David Howard And Steven Mitchell

I was so excited to try this CD out! I regularly use three other of Steven Mitchell’s CDs (“Solo” and both of the David Howard Covent Garden classes) and love them. I was not disappointed this time. David Howard and Steven Mitchell have come together for a third collection of great music.

The CD includes length, time signature, and counts for each track. There are thirty tracks total, sixteen for barre and fourteen for center. The variety in speed and time signatures for all the degage and allegro tracks makes this a great CD to use for both lower and upper-level classes. The songs themselves range from pop tunes and standards to classical music, some of which is playfully jazzed up as only Mitchell can. The tempi are consistent, the beats are strong, and the preparations are easy to hear—especially great for my junior high-aged class. With all that, none of this music sounds plodding or academic.

This CD is one I’ll turn to again and again.

dancer doing arabesque — Emily Kate Long, Photo by Avory Pierce

Assistant Editor Emily Kate Long began her dance education in South Bend, Indiana, with Kimmary Williams and Jacob Rice, and graduated in 2007 from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School’s Schenley Program. She has spent summers studying at Ballet Chicago, Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, Miami City Ballet, and Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive/Vail Valley Dance Intensive, where she served as Program Assistant. Ms Long attended Milwaukee Ballet School’s Summer Intensive on scholarship before being invited to join Milwaukee Ballet II in 2007.

Ms Long has been a member of Ballet Quad Cities since 2009. She has danced featured roles in Deanna Carter’s Ash to Glass and Dracula, participated in the company’s 2010 tour to New York City, and most recently performed principal roles in Courtney Lyon’s Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, and Cinderella. She is also on the faculty of Ballet Quad Cities School of Dance, where she teaches ballet, pointe, and repertoire classes.

Guest Review: Dancing Keys 2

July 4, 2012 by Ashley David

by Laura Donnelly

I recently received a copy of Gill Civil’s Dancing Keys 2 CD and highly recommend it to dance teachers looking for good recorded music for dance class. While the music is written primarily for the ballet class, I feel a number of the selections would also work well for modern dance classes.

The CD contains 37 tracks of original music composed for ballet class. The melodies are beautiful. I found them inspiring and could easily think up several good combinations for each track. The music is clear so that subdivisions in the beat are easy to hear. This gives me more flexibility in how to use the music for different combinations and class levels.

There is good variation from track to track. The pieces sound different from each other in both melody and texture. Civil uses a variety of different tempi which I find very helpful when planning classes.

In the album notes Civil lists a suggested dance exercise, the title of the piece, number of bars, tempo, and length of the track. For me, when working with CDs tempo, number of bars, and length of piece are crucial. I like to select longer tracks for continuous across the floor combinations or adagios and I like to choreograph my exercises so that they fit the musical phrasing of the selected track. This information provided allows me to do this easily.

I am delighted with Civil’s Dancing Keys 2 and will use it often in my classes. She has a good feel for the type and variety of music that makes an interesting and inspiring dance class. I’ll purchase her original Dancing Keys CD and eagerly await the release of Dancing Keys 3. For more information about Gill Civil and to purchase her CDs visit http://www.pianomusicforballet.com

Laura Donnelly, MFA, BA is a choreographer, teacher, and dancer who also writes and creates community based public art projects involving visual and word art. Beginning August 2012, Laura will be Assistant Professor of Dance at Kansas State University. Her research interests include pedagogy, oral tradition in dance, collaborative process, music for dance, and the Alexander Technique. Her research has been presented at the Congress on Research in Dance, the International Association of Dance Science and Medicine, the National Dance Education Association, the Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities, the 5th Annual International Conference on Civic Education, and the 2011 University of New Mexico Mentoring Conference. Laura’s essay Meditation in the Dance Studio is published in Teaching with Joy: Educational Practices for the Twenty-First Century, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Review: Original Compositions For Ballet Class

June 27, 2012 by 4dancers

by Catherine L. Tully

Original Compositions for Ballet Class, Volume 10 was composed and played by Anthony J. Patterson (pianist/conductor/composer) and directed by Cherie Noble (choreographer/ballet master/teacher).

The barre music on this CD offers 12 repeated tracks, and this includes plies, tendus (3), degages (2) rond de jambe, frappes, fondu, rond de jambe (en l’air), and adagio and grands battements. Tracks are long enough for exercises to be repeated and the music is pretty and clear.

The centre music has 21 tracks that range from 32 bars for grand adagio and tours en l’air to 64 bars for exercises such as tendus, petit allegro and pirouettes, to 128 bars for grand allegro and pique turns. The style here varies and you will hear everything from a tango with accordion to a jig with dulcimer. Nothing is too “out there” though, and the variety keeps things interesting and adds a little extra energy.

This CD is ideal for teachers who are really looking to freshen up their classroom music with something different. Overall there are 70+ minutes here to use, and all of it is well-played.

Learn more about this CD, listen, or purchase

Review: Verdi–Complete Ballet Music From The Operas

June 20, 2012 by 4dancers

by Catherine L. Tully

Verdi–Complete Ballet Music from the Operas provides a very unusual treat for fans of classical dance music.

Here you’ll listen to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by José Serebrier as they play Giuseppe Verdi’s complete ballet music from the operas. There are pieces here that have only rarely been performed.

At the request of the Paris Opera Verdi began including ballets in his operas, but they were often left out of his published scores. This double CD with Verdi’s complete ballet music is a truly unique piece of musical history that ballet fans of all ages can appreciate. If you love this composer’s work, it is something you really should hear.

The first CD is just over 54 minutes long and includes music from Otello, Macbeth, Jerusalem and Don Carlo. The second is a little longer than an hour and features pieces from Aida, Il trovatore and I vespri siciliani.

Have a listen:

Review: Music For Ballet Classes, Volume I

June 13, 2012 by 4dancers

by Catherine L. Tully

Music for Ballet Classes Volume 1 is a lovely CD that will work for most classes. Filled with well-played and often familiar tunes, Charles Matthews plays expertly and there is plenty of music to choose from.

The barre portion of the CD has repeated tracks, convenient for the instructor. There is also music for a warmup and stretching included here. Music for the center exercises includes an adagio, tendus, pirouttes,and a reverance as well as selections for small jumps (assemble, petite changement, sissones), grand allegro, tour en l’air and sur les pointes.

Some of the choices here are simply marvelous for motivating dancers. “Nocturne in G” by Chopin was practically made for rond de jambe and Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” works wonderfully for battement frappe. Other great selections include “Dance of the Knights” from Romeo and Juliet, “Coda from Don Quixote” and Habanera” from Bizet’s Carmen.

The pacing of the music here is good, making it the perfect choice for beginner and intermediate ballet classes. Matthews does a nice job of choosing tunes that are well-suited to dance, and they are fun without being silly or overworked–and this is easier said than done, as any ballet teacher who has looked for classroom music can certainly tell you.

The albums are also available to download in MP3 format.

Learn more or listen to samples

Purchase Music for Ballet Classes Volume 1

Disclosure – Affiliate & Ad Info

Copyright Notice