Today on 10 Questions With… we talked with Marina Surgan….

1. Can you tell readers a bit about how you got into music?

Getting into music was very easy and natural for me. Everybody in my family played an instrument and to keep the family tradition my mother sent me to a piano teacher when I was seven years old. It was a “must” in my family to have a subscription to Philharmonic concerts, to the Opera, and to Ballet Theatre. When I was nine years old I was accepted to the very famous music school for gifted children named after Professor Stolyarsky in Odessa, and I continued my education in Moscow’s Pedagogical Institute (former USSR) as a Soloist, Concertmaster and Piano Teacher. I was also composing music.

2. How did you get involved with the dance world?

When I was  seven I  thought that the minute I put on some pointe shoes I’d be able to spin and run across the stage as easy as those magical ballerinas. One day I persuaded my mom to buy me a pair of pointe shoes. I couldn’t wait to get home and try them on, but when I put them on the excruciating pain at once destroyed all my dreams of becoming a ballerina. I decided that it was better for me to stick with piano, as it wasn’t that painful.

When we emigrated to Toronto I met a former dancer from the Igor Moiseyev Dance Company who was looking for an accompanist. She asked me if I could play by ear – folk music. This is where I gave thanks to God for the gift of perfect pitch and improvisation. This is how I got involved with the dance world.

3. You have composed music for the Cecchetti Grade Examinations – what was that like?

It was in 1980, Carol Chadwick who was Vice Principal of ballet at Canada’s National Ballet School at that time asked me if I could compose new music for the Cecchetti Grade Examinations. I didn’t know grades music so I told her that I needed a studio with a student and teacher who could demonstrate each exercise for me – so that I could improvise on the spot and everything would be videotaped.

I should proudly say that I did quite a good job and didn’t have to edit any of my compositions. I just had to score all the music that was recorded by videotape and it was subsequently published by the Canadian Branch of the Cecchetti Society in 1983.

4. You have also held workshops for accompanists- what are those like? [Read more…]