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What Is Ballet Class Music?

// January 11th, 2012 // Music

Have You Heard of It?

Ballet Class Music is a style of music that the great majority of people are not knowledgeable about. As with any musical style, there’s a lot of music for ballet class that isn’t worth listening to. There is however a great amount of extraordinary music written for classes that the majority of people will never have the opportunity to hear, just because if you’re not a ballet instructor or a ballet student it is improbable that you’re going to ever encounter recordings of ballet class music.

What Is It?

When ballet instructors teach, they make use of a very specific type of music. There are around fourteen exercises the participants execute in the course of class, and the music for these exercises is always solo piano music. All ballet terms are in French, so that the exercises have names which include terms like Ronds de Jambe, Petite Battement and Tendu. The composer or pianist will perform music that matches the prerequisites of each exercise. In a ballet class for top level dance companies, a pianist will be present to provide the music. But most instructors will simply use CDs.

An Overview

When composers play the piano for a ballet class or create a recording, each piece of music must be at an exact tempo, with the required phrasing and character that goes with every individual exercise. Therefore, there are quite a few rules which apply to composing ballet class music but the rules often result in some remarkable musical material. In any ballet class you may hear a range of musical styles and moods. There will be driving rhythms, lovely melodies, romantic music, funny music as well as music that touches the listener and music that's sad, sweet, joyful, or merely there, keeping time.

How Do You Find It?

You will find some of the most stunning melodies ever written in the collections of ballet class music and no shortage of fun and engaging musical ideas as well. If you like piano music this is something you’ll definitely need to check out. If you would like to listen to some samples, you can get access to a large range of selections in CDBaby’s ballet class music listings.

Frank Halbers is a dance instructor and choreographer who enjoys writing articles on a selection of subjects but especially about ballet and teaching ballet. He recommends Don Caron’s ballet class music. His pastimes include tennis, ballroom dancing, handball and working out. You can listen to samples of what he discusses in this article in CDBaby’s catalogue of ballet class music.