This essay provides an analysis of the latest release of the revised version of The First Class Albums, Music for Ballet Class by Don Caron.If you are not familiar with this material, the original versions of The First Class Albums were very successful throughout the world and at various times over the last thirty years, were among the top selling ballet class CDs, a status the albums have also achieved on diverse digital music sites since then, including CDBaby, Amazon and iTunes.
Recently, the albums of this series were re-released after a total re-mastering for digital medium and the addition of more selections to make full discs. They were first released as vinyl recordings, and as you know, vinyl records were able to hold approximately thirty-five minutes on each side, and the digital CDs will hold about seventy-six minutes.
Each albums features a complete ballet class, and both the barre and center sections now include most of the exercises in multiple tempos. This is convenient because the different tempos make the exercises pertinent to other ballet exercises in addition to the ones they are composed for.
Likely, the most fascinating aspect of these releases is they stand aside from any other ballet class music album now available due to the fact that they follow a system of ballet class music production called the Motosonus Method.
This technique was developed following a series of informal studies at Eastern Washington University in the early nineteen-eighties. The object of the analyses was to discover if certain aspects of music might be used to improve the efficiency of ballet instruction and thereby also accelerate the development of the the dancers.
Not surprisingly, it seems that the intentional use of phrasing, beat placement, and other piano playing techniques can have a noticeable effect on the reaction of the dancers, and the employment of the techniques on these albums can make a major difference in your teaching.
Recently, the albums of this series were re-released after a total re-mastering for digital medium and the addition of more selections to make full discs. They were first released as vinyl recordings, and as you know, vinyl records were able to hold approximately thirty-five minutes on each side, and the digital CDs will hold about seventy-six minutes.
Each albums features a complete ballet class, and both the barre and center sections now include most of the exercises in multiple tempos. This is convenient because the different tempos make the exercises pertinent to other ballet exercises in addition to the ones they are composed for.
Likely, the most fascinating aspect of these releases is they stand aside from any other ballet class music album now available due to the fact that they follow a system of ballet class music production called the Motosonus Method.
This technique was developed following a series of informal studies at Eastern Washington University in the early nineteen-eighties. The object of the analyses was to discover if certain aspects of music might be used to improve the efficiency of ballet instruction and thereby also accelerate the development of the the dancers.
Not surprisingly, it seems that the intentional use of phrasing, beat placement, and other piano playing techniques can have a noticeable effect on the reaction of the dancers, and the employment of the techniques on these albums can make a major difference in your teaching.
About the Author:
This post is by Gaylord Pannitron. For additional information about the Motosonus Method, examples can be found here: ballet class music, on a domain for ballet class teachers and pianists. The First Class Albums written about in this post can be viewed in Amazon's ballet class music section.
