Going Live A 5, 6, 7, 8!
The best accompaniment for any dance class is live accompaniment -- period. It is hard to argue otherwise. Some may say, "Hey, we have entered the digital age. Get with the program!" But, using live music is not about resistance to technology; we all have an iPod. Others argue that using popular music keeps students interested. But there are better ways to keep the focus. Introducing students to other ways of listening to music is central to their training, even when that music is silence. One argument I cannot dispute is that it has become economically and demographically more difficult to ensure both quantity and quality when working with live music. But there are ways around this issue. Bottom line -- this isn't a practice that should go the way of the dinosaur!
“Let’s make it louder,” we say, “that’ll get them going.” Then again, we can only crank up the volume so high to try to find the same motivators provided by live music. Essentially we are blasting ourselves right out of the studio. But we still don’t get to the essence of what live music provides. The synergy between musician, teacher and dancer can be electrifying, with improvisational shifts in dynamics, overtones and tempi that cannot be matched in canned music. When it works, they feed off each other. Both musician and dancer listen more intently and perform accordingly in a courtship that ebbs and flows against the tides of movement. Spontaneity and intuition reign.
“When you dance and move, you become a symphony and dancing to live music will make your orchestration full and complete. Live music fills your soul and adds another dimension to your dancing. It makes you commit to the movement with truth and honesty. It's an ‘Aha! … Moment,’” says Sheila Barker, the well-known Broadway Dance Center (BDC) jazz teacher who recently graced the cover of Dance Teacher magazine in recognition of the quality of her teaching.
Barker has been around long enough to remember live accompaniment with a pianist and percussionist, which she says “fulfilled all accents, modulations and cadences for us to contribute [to], with our bodies as the third instrument. This foundation gave me my musicality.” Despite Barker’s enthusiasm for live music, we have fallen away from live music when teaching jazz. Certainly, it plays itself out that way where I teach. If we are going to use a CD or iPod, this may be where it makes the most sense with the myriad of possibilities of recorded music available today. Although Barker prefers live music and uses it at every opportunity, today she carries an arsenal of CDs in her back pocket, knowing that her desire for live music is not always an option. At the very least, Barker is an avid user of a CD player that has pitch control to maintain jurisdiction over tempo. There is no doubt that without pitch control, teachers would be far less inclined to deal with recordings.
For the hardcore, it is a legitimate argument to say that dance in and of itself is the music. Perhaps it is even possible to teach musicality without the crutch of listening to music. But these are both very sophisticated ways of thinking, far too advanced for the young aspiring dancer. Students need to be nurtured in their hearing abilities, as musicality is not necessarily natural. Hearing music and being musical are two different things. For some, musicality is not innate and must be taught. It is one thing to hear the obvious pulse laid out in the pop music of today; it is another altogether to find that same pulse when baseline notes are dropped out purposefully. This is where the CD cannot be matched by the musician who becomes collaborator in the studio.
Musician and accompanist Damien Bassman says, “Dancers often get used to a recorded track and tend to perform the same way each time across the floor.” His experience accompanying in New York City for 10 years at Steps, Alvin Ailey, Peridance, Dance New Amsterdam, New Dance Group, Juilliard and Marymount Manhattan College backs Bassman’s thinking. “To avoid that, I start out my ‘long phrase’ accompaniment with a very clear pulse, something that gives a simple but distinct rhythm and corresponds directly to the form of the movement. Once I see the dancers ‘have it in their bodies,’ I'll begin to play with them, changing the underlying pulse, going from a Latin to an African or perhaps a jazzy feel. I might highlight inner accents and leave out the big accents altogether. I can also tailor this to each dancer as he/she crosses the floor – allowing stronger dancers more space to dictate their own phrasing by going to a simmering ostinato while eliminating all accent save for the pulse itself, slowing or speeding up parts to play with their timing, or simply dropping out entirely for several bars to force them to dance together and be aware of their collective breath and inner rhythms. I'll build the music as they begin to ‘execute the movements’ less and begin to ‘dance it’ more, creating a synergetic experience that is infinitely more fulfilling than successfully ‘landing on the one’ with a recorded CD.”
Bassman is no doubt one of the best, having played live for the Alvin Ailey Company, Parson's Dance Co., Bill T. Jones and Cunningham, while currently serving as music director for Battleworks Dance Company. He also plays on Broadway and can be heard as a soloist around the world with the internationally renowned Absolute Ensemble. Dance teachers know that this kind of musician is rare. Teachers have long recognized the need to create good recorded music and have been avidly involved with musicians in creating recordings that sustain teachers across the country. No question there are some great CDs out there. But no matter what, they become predictable and are difficult to suit the needs of every class and each member of the class. Time is lost switching tracks, and a CD can’t see and adapt according to mood, temperament, the disparate levels of capability inherent in all classes and pedagogical issues that arise on the spot. An informal survey conducted with approximately 100 students from across the country yielded unfortunate, yet, predictable results: 58 of the students, almost 60 percent of the group, had never experienced live music in any of their dance classes; 21 had live accompaniment for ballet with a handful of those also having it for modern classes; the other 21 were from performing arts high schools or major ballet programs at which live accompaniment was always available. Jazz was not part of the equation.
“When I started out as a dancer, everyone taught class to LIVE music,” says Jerry Mitchell, the Tony Award winning Broadway choreographer of The Full Monty, Hairspray, La Cage aux Folles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Legally Blonde, which are just a few of his many accomplishments. “Dancing with live music is how I was trained and how I was raised. I was particularly drawn to rhythm and drums; I insist on it being in the room whenever I work. I do not like to choreograph without a drummer in the room. Drums are the heartbeat for me. The room seems empty when there is no drummer. And live music is a huge part of what makes performance come to life. At times I have had to go without, and I can dance without anything, but the magic that is created between a live musician and a dancer is thrilling. It’s ephemeral – that magical place where the body and the music meet.”
With statements like this, how can we dismiss live accompaniment in our teaching? We need to keep live accompaniment wherever we can. No matter the realities of running a business and the vagaries of finding appropriate musicians in local arenas, finding creative ways to incorporate live music in a dance class should remain a priority for dance studio owners. Striking up conversations with music schools is a good way to start. Additionally, many high schools across this country have wonderful orchestras, choirs and bands. Someone is teaching those students to play or sing; find out who they are and start that dialogue. Most conservatories operate with live music, so do most large ballet schools. Certainly the universities and colleges across the country do. If you are lucky enough to be near any one of these, opportunity knocks! Teachers should at least be seeking a balance between live and recorded music to make for the most rewarding education. Go the Internet, Craigslist and Facebook and search.
“I see it as my job to engage and inspire the dancers every class.… I'll change up the accent pattern to play with their expectations of where I'll land the phrase. Sometimes I'll switch up my sound palate/quality entirely to shake people out of a routine, throwing in new sounds or instruments that I don't usually employ until another part of the class. I try to make it an interactive game,” says Bassman. Now that’s a word that is as current as it gets!