If a pianist is classically trained, his knowledge of dance forms is usually re-stricted to those forms found in the classical piano repertoire, such as in Bach’s Keyboard Suites (minuet, gavotte, sarabande, bourrée, etc.) or in Chopin’s music (waltz, polonaise, mazurka). Descriptions of most of these forms can be found in any music encyclopedia. This chapter will include those forms that enjoy widespread use in the dance classrooms of today, with the purpose of acquainting musicians and dance teachers with the personali-ties of the most common “nameable” forms, as well as those equally unname-able. Each of the forms has certain characteristics which define it. These char-acteristics are within the areas of rhythmic structure, median tempo, and quality (legato, happy, elegant, etc.).
When I teach Music for Dance Teachers, I use this chapter as a starting point, and we always study adagios of all meters in separate sessions. (Adagios are usually the most troublesome part of class for the sole reason of the un-certainty of tempo.) That practice is continued here.
The forms are arranged by meter in an ascending scale of tempo: the slow-est 3/4 first, the fastslow-est 3/4 last; the slowslow-est 6/8 first, the fastslow-est 6/8 last; and so forth. The median tempos of these forms are arranged from a musician’s point of view. Most musicians think of a bolero, for instance, as being quite slow, because there is so much time between the “1” of one bar and the “1” of the next. But a dancer may think of it as fast because his steps correspond to each beat or count (three beats/counts in one bar of a bolero).
Throughout this book, easily accessible music (such as Johann Strauss waltzes and polkas) and “pieces every beginning accompanist plays” (such as Schubert waltzes) are purposely omitted; one can find these anywhere. The musical contents here are intended to be new, refreshing, and challenging to every accompanist.
While a thorough knowledge of musical dance forms is vital for an accom-panist and helpful for a teacher, the most productive way for a teacher to communicate her musical needs is by the way she moves and speaks and sings
or hums. There are many musical forms for dance that don’t have convenient labels like rag or polacca, and a dance teacher cannot be expected to put a label on every piece of music she uses. She will get the best out of her accompa-nist—and her students—if she counts clearly and infuses her demonstrations with the appropriate spirit of each combination.
Time signatures should not be considered infallible. Some slow 3/4s are more accurately described as 9/8s. Many fast 3/4s can be used interchange-ably with many 6/8s. 3/2s, 6/4s, and 12/8s are mathematically the same; a composer may choose to write in 3/2 because his piece has very few quarter or eighth notes—or simply because he likes the look of 3/2 better than 6/4 or 12/8.
When people are asked to count a piece they are listening to, they will count the melody, that is, put syllables on the melodic notes. All the musical examples in this book are counted in this way. During a classroom demon-stration, a teacher won’t always have a specific piece in mind but she will know the meter, and will count the rhythm. Therefore, the counting you see after each of the forms may be different from the counts that appear in the corresponding examples, because the former refers to how the rhythm of a piece within that form is counted, while the latter refers to the melody of that specific example. (A detailed description of how to learn to count correctly appears in the chapter for dance teachers.)
There are often stylistic differences within each form of music (see polo-naise, for example). I have noted in the text when there is not a difference. For example, if a teacher requests a tarantella, almost any tarantella will work because almost every one has both a median tempo and a quality that rarely vary. This is most definitely not the case with waltzes.
When applicable, steps and movements that are often given to a particular form of music are included.
I did not invent the different ways of counting included herein. I have been listening to dance teachers for over forty years, and what you see for counting is a distillation of what I have been hearing from the smartest teachers. Good teachers (one cannot be a good teacher without some instinctive connection to music) almost always count like this (with the exceptions of pieces like boleros and polaccas, which they usually muddle through—if they use them at all). I have also included the terms two, three, and six, because they are terms that many musical teachers use, instead of asking for particular musical forms for their combinations. (A reminder: Twos and threes are always in maxi-phrases of eight; sixes are always in mini-phrases of six.)
As with all things artistic, there are no infallible rules, so consider this chapter a guideline, not an edict. It is intended to facilitate the identification of music, providing a common ground for communication between teacher and accompanist.
2/4 or C
- examples 3–12: all are twos
In the 2/4 meter there are two quarter notes (or the equivalent thereof) in each measure.
Except for the tango family, all 2/4 forms are counted: “ONE and two and THREE and . . . ,” up through “eight (and).”
Tango (habañera, beguine, zapote, samba, rumba) - examples 3 and 3a These Spanish pieces in duple meter have many different names, many differ-ent median tempos, and varying qualities. In order to simplify reading and understanding, they will be referred to throughout the text as tangos, since tangos usually comprise the majority of pieces within the general group.
Tangos have a Spanish flavor, are usually sensuous, and are always synco-pated in both the melody and the rhythm. Following the tango example you will find a “de-syncopated” version of the first four measures, so you can hear the difference.
Tangos have wide ranges of both median tempos and personalities, so they must be used judiciously. Some very legato tangos can be a welcome change for rond de jambe à terre and fondu combinations for more advanced danc-ers. (Less advanced dancers must hear the fluidity of a waltz until they under-stand that these important movements are always legato.) Other kinds of tan-gos work well occasionally for tendus, dégagés, and frappés; I have sometimes been asked for a tango for grands battements; and I recently chose—almost by accident—a tango for a beginner piqué turn combination, and it worked extremely well.
Most dance teachers count the syncopation in the melody (actually, most dance teachers sing example 3) as they demonstrate, making it very clear to the pianist that he should play a tango, as in: “ONE AND uh TWO AND -THREE AND - uh FOUR - AND - . . . ,” up through “EIGHT - AND - .”
March (to be discussed under 4/4s) Rag - example 4
Rags are sometimes written in 4/4, are usually happy, and are always synco-pated; normally, the right hand—the melody—is syncopated and the left hand—the rhythm—maintains a steady beat. (There are very usable ragtime waltzes too, but when a teacher asks for “a rag,” she almost invariably wants one in duple meter. By the time I realized how much I rely on ragtime waltzes in certain situations—for some reason, especially for fondus—I no longer
had the electronic keyboard at my disposal, so I am unable to include one in the musical examples. Scott Joplin wrote at least two great ones: Bethena and Pleasant Moments.) Rags go well with almost all petit allegro steps in duple meter, as well as with many tendu and dégagé-family combinations.
Polka - example 5
Polkas usually have a “heel-and-toe” stepping rhythm incorporated into their melodic structure; this motif is apparent in the melody of bars 4 and 6, as well as the first three notes of bars 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, and 23 in example 5. I have yet to meet an unhappy polka. Polkas and rags can usually be used interchange-ably, as their personalities are very similar.
The median tempo and quality of polkas seldom vary.
So far, the basic rhythmic structure in the left hand of all the 2/4s we have discussed has half as many beats per count as the next three examples. (Please remember that we are discussing beats per count, not counts per measure;
different notation produces different numbers of counts per bar, and most dance teachers don’t know a lot about bar lines.) These three are counted in exactly the same way, but they have a driving energy that is missing from the previous 2/4s.
Coda, galop, cancan (sometimes even “circus music”) -examples 6 and 7
To a musician, coda means the ending section of a piece. To most dance teach-ers, coda means a piece with a specific rhythmic structure, because codas of classical grands pas de deux—almost without exception—are built on this particular structure, as in the following two examples. Codas, galops, and can-cans are structurally the same in the left hand.
Example 6 is a standard, garden-variety coda which could support the fa-mous “thirty-two fouettés” from the Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake.
Example 7 (as well as the structurally similar “Stars and Stripes Forever”) is a prime example of why it can be dangerous to ask a beginning accompa-nist for a “march.” Sousa’s fame resulted mainly from his marches, yet the rhythmic structure of this selection differs radically from not only that of the first section of the piece, a 6/8 march (example 41), but also a “typical” duple-meter march, such as example 35.
Oddly enough, the step called galop cannot be done organically to a musi-cal galop.
Czardas-friszka - example 8
A czardas always has two sections. The first, the lassú, is described in the 4/4 category. The second section, the friszka, often has the rhythmic structure of a coda, as in example 8. This form has a Hungarian flavor.
Codas, galops, can-cans, and friszkas are usually interchangeable. They are generally used for some virtuoso grand allegro steps; for combinations of turns in succession (fouetté turns, piqué turns, etc.); and, if the accompanist is technically advanced, often for dégagé-family, frappé, and petit battement combinations at the barre.
Miscellaneous – examples 9–12
There is a huge number of 2/4s that cannot be labeled. Four examples follow, arranged in an ascending scale of tempo.
Although example 9 is quite slow, it doesn’t feel like a dancer’s adagio, since the abundance of melodic accents and lack of rhythmic flow lessen the smoothness that is characteristic of most adagios. I call pieces like this moderato twos, and they are also often written in 4/4. They are especially good for rond de jambe à terre combinations if the teacher doesn’t specify a three, and for tendus with demi-plié.
Example 10 is typical of the music for many male variations in the classical ballet repertoire. They can also be written in 4/4. They are suitable for grand battement combinations, and for grand allegro combinations for which the teacher doesn’t want a waltz.
Example 11 is one of those rare and wonderful pieces that doesn’t lose too much personality when played a lot more slowly than the composer in-tended. It is particularly suitable for “and” tendu or dégagé combinations.
(See page 196 for a description of “ands.”)
Example 12 is labeled “one of those” in my mental computer. (“One of those” is a useless term for teachers to use if they have accompanists who haven’t read this book.) I think of this one as a C , but not all C s have this particular median tempo and personality; that’s why I don’t have a C cat-egory. I used to try to turn this kind of piece into a coda before I knew better.
I find such pieces to be the fastest and lightest of the 2/4s, and they are suit-able for some barre combinations in the dégagé family that include piqués/
pointés, and for quick, light, Bournonville-esque jumps across the floor. I think of them as being temperamentally between polkas and codas.