Chopin

[sylphide]

Does anyone know where I could find a decent Ballet Class CD which features a lot of Chopin or maybe a good recording that could be used for barre work?

Thank you.

[Mary J]

A friend of mine, Michele Goritz, who teaches piano and also plays for class and rehearsals for several local ballet studios and companies, has just very recently released a ballet class CD of piano music which includes several pieces of Chopin but also a nice selection of other music including some of her own compositions. She worked with a ballet teachers on both the tempos and the length of the tracks and the cd is unconventional for its relatively slow tempos and 4 to 8 bar introductions. I am only a humble (and currently sidelined) adult ballet student, but I find it perfect. The Cd is called Etudes en danse, and if you go to the web site www.michelegoritz.com you can listen to some excerpts, and purchase the cd if you like it. Michele would love to get comments and suggestions, too! Her late mother was also a dance accompanist, so it must be genetic!

[sylphide]

Thanks Mary J. I will surely look into that CD. It sounds great!

[paulofnyc]

Anyone know why the ballet pratice music cd's are so expensive?

[Treefrog]

As a guess, I'd say it's because they have comparatively little distribution.

[Mary J]

Just think of the price as amortization - the more often you practice to the cd, the lower the per use cost! (Sorry - I am a finance type!)

[paulofnyc]

Just think of the price as amortization - the more often you practice to the cd, the lower the per use cost! (Sorry  - I am a finance type!)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think of the poor struggling want-to-be-a-better dancer that wants practice music and sees in the store that a CD of Chopin music is a lot cheaper than practice music on a CD of the same length.

Edited January 26, 2005 by paulofnyc

[carbro]

Having known a few struggling ballet accompanists, I'm thinking of the poor pianist trying to augment a modest income by tapping into an extremely limited market.

[Helene]

The pianists who record the CD's have had to make their own arrangements in order to "fit" classical music into those even blocks of eight, as well as to choose pieces to have the appropriate "feel" for each exercise. Chopin and Co. need to be translated into ballet format; otherwise, practice tapes could be assembled from existing recordings. (Even free ones borrowed from the library.)

[Mary J]

Thanks, Helene! I couldn't have said it better myself. My friend Michele spent two years choosing music (including writing some herself), and then using it in the class setting to see what dancers liked and didn't like. The time in the studio recording (and re-recording) also took away from other earnings. She is absolutely dedicated to her accompanist practice, and loves to play for dancers, so this was a labor of love. But she also has to pay rent. This is not big bad greedy record company - this is someone in the ballet community, struggling just as dancers struggle to make ends meet.