The purpose of this article is to give you an overview of how phrasing in music can be used in writing music for a ballet class. These methodologies are sourced from a system called The Motosonus Method, which was invented by Don Caron and Elizabeth Carlssohn, the composer and producer, respectively, for a set ballet class music CDs, The First Class Albums.

What is Phrasing?

Phrasing is used in music the same way the human voice is used in poetry. It has to do with, among other things, where breaths are taken, where the apexes and low points are, setting up what is coming next or concluding what just occurred, as well as shape, tension, relaxation and a multitude of other factors that are characteristic of good story-telling, which is what phrasing is all about.

How Is It Applied?

When music is used to go with dance, as it is in a ballet class, the phrasing lets the dancers know about the best way to move. This can be done, for instance, by extending the completion of the musical sentence, which will allow the dancers to increase a stretch a bit more and wait a bit longer before releasing the tension the working muscles.

It Gets Even Smaller

Musical phrasing can also be optimized at the lowest level, using individual notes and small groups of notes to make micro-phrases. This is handy in ballet exercises that use the smaller muscle-groups and are require movements that are quite fast (i.e. frappes or degages). As an example, the ballet accompanist can create four or perhaps eight mini-phrases inside the primary phrase. Each one of these mini-phrases corresponds with a single frappe, or degage whichever the case might be.

The pianist attains this through the use of staccato and tenuto. The stretched notes function well when the working leg is going away from the body and the short, accented notes go with the snap of the foot, or the exact moment when the foot gets to its destination. These methodologies make the ballet class music quite a bit more focused and effective, both for the participants in the class and for the teacher of the class.

Summary

Any person wanting to play piano for a ballet class must be aware of ways to use phrasing, following the examples above. This is also handy for ballet instructors who can select a higher quality of music for their classes when they know the relationship between music and movement, such as is detailed in The Motosonus Method.

This article is brought to you compliments of Gaylord Pannitron. The Motosonus Method is used in The First Class Albums, a collection of ballet class music CDs by composer/choreographer/pianist, Don Caron. You can check them out in Amazon’s Ballet Class Music library.

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