Pesona FM Madiun

How To Play A Plie Exercise

// January 28th, 2012 // Music

A ballet class is made up of around sixteen individual exercises. Approximately half them are performed with the use of a balance barre and the remainder are performed in the center of the room. Subsequently, the two sections of the ballet class are called barre and center.

Ballet classes start with an exercise called plies, which is needed to warm up the leg muscles and increase leg flexibility. As with many of the other exercises performed at the barre, plies offer a foundation, and develop the support and balance that’ll be needed for the tougher exercises.

The music that is used for plie exercises is played at a slow or moderate tempo and is usually very melodic, characterized by a lush, romantic touch that strongly moves toward the ends of the phrases to clearly indicate the changeup points of the exercise.

Plies are played with a strategy known as a “wide-beat,” suggesting that the sound of the base consumes all the space available for the downbeat plus a little more on each side. To paraphrase, the notes of the base are played a bit early and linger a little past their typical release point.

The object of this playing strategy is to produce a restrained feel, which enhances the muscle opposition the dancers are experiencing and also keeps the tempo restrained and controlled and gets rid of any inclination the dancers may have to rush. The wide-beat effect can be acheived in a number of ways. For example, the base octaves can be played with arpeggiation by anticipating the beat with a grace note.

It can also be effective while playing a plie exercise for ballet class to create a conversational phrasing that pushes and pulls instead of staying in a steady tempo. This gives the impression that the music is repeating a comment, and by adding and varying the material it gives an exceedingly effective directional sense and forward motion to the music.

This essay is presented compliments of Gaylord Pannitron. For an example of plie music you could visit Ballet Class Music and hear free examples composed by composer/pianist/dancer Don Caron from his First Class Album series of ballet class music.