E STADO DE LAS AGUAS SUPERFICIALES Y SUBTERRÁNEAS

In the 3/4 meter there are three quarter notes (or the equivalent thereof) in each bar.

Sarabande - example 13: six or three

This form is seldom used in dance class, but one is included here because some teachers occasionally want an especially soothing quality for their plié music and will request a sarabande. It has a subdued, somber quality, and is very often in a minor key.

A sarabande can produce a very special atmosphere for the adagio in the center. The combination that follows it, as well as its musical accompaniment, must have a radically different quality, in order to get the dancers back into a more physically energetic mood.

How to count a sarabande: either “ONE two three four five six, TWO two three four five six, THREE two three four five six, FOUR two three four five six”; or “ONE two three, TWO two three, THREE two three, . . .” up through

“EIGHT two three.”

Polonaise/Polacca - examples 14 and 15: six

Example 14 evokes images of elegance, grandeur, nobility, and huge, flowing costumes. It represents what most teachers think of when they think of a polonaise.

Example 15 is bouncier and more lighthearted. It was labeled polacca by its composer, polacca being the Italian word for polonaise.

Chopin invented the “heroic” polonaise, which is similar to the first ex-ample. Most polonaises/polaccas written before Chopin are similar in quality to the second example. The rhythmic structure in the first measure of ex-ample 14 is found in almost all polonaises/polaccas.

Another distinguishing feature of the polonaise/polacca is that, while the primary emphasis is always on the “1” of every bar, the second and third beats are almost as prominent as the first. This makes them invaluable forms for the dance teacher who is giving beginning students such three-part steps as pas de basque. Instead of slowing a waltz down to a tempo suitable for a be-ginner, the accompanist can play a piece that was written in that particular tempo. If your accompanist tries to play a polonaise for beginner balancés, praise him for the logic of his thinking, but explain that a polonaise is stylis-tically wrong for a balancé.

A polonaise is what a teacher wants—even though she may request a ma-zurka—when she demonstrates a grand battement combination in the fol-lowing way: grand battement up on “1,” tendu on “2,” and close on “3.” This is a very common mistake.

Polonaises are almost never used for small jump/petit allegro combina-tions (they are too heavy), while polaccas almost always are.

The median tempo of polonaises rarely changes; the median tempo of polaccas is slightly faster than that of polonaises, and also rarely changes within the form.

How to count polonaises/polaccas: “ONE and uh two three four five -six, TWO and uh two - three - four - five - -six, . . .” up through “FOUR and uh two - three - four - five - six, . . .” often with additional “ands,” depending upon each piece’s melody.

Bolero - example 16: six

Say the word bolero and most people think of the famous one by Ravel. I don’t know whether it could be considered a truly Spanish bolero, but its legato sensuousness prevents it from being part of my personal bolero category.

Many of my boleros aren’t truly Spanish, either, but my mental computer needed a label for storing bouncy sixes, and bolero came the closest to being reasonably accurate. Bolero may not be the pedagogic word for this category, but if it establishes a common ground of understanding for teacher, accom-panist, and dancer, I feel its use is justified. I must admit that, if I had known about polaccas when I was first exposed to bouncy sixes, I would have named them polaccas instead of boleros. These days my polacca and bolero catego-ries are gradually merging into one group.

I recently played for an exceptionally musical teacher whose ability to count was practically nonexistent. He demonstrated a combination using rhythmic grunts, which I finally deciphered into a bolero; then he managed to count it in mini-phrases of eight instead of its actual sixes. Needless to say, the students were confused, so I asked if we could mark it, whereupon it all made sense. After class I explained my theory about boleros, and he said, “I’m so happy to know what to call that weird thing! Up till now, I never had a pianist who could figure it out.” I gently explained that, if he had dared to count it clearly in sixes, he wouldn’t have needed a name.

Boleros share a distinguishing feature with polonaises/polaccas: almost equal emphasis on each of the three beats within one bar. Boleros are a wel-come change from the traditional 2/4 for dégagé-family and petit allegro combinations, as movement phrases of six counts are just as valid as phrases of four or eight. Madame Volkova loved to use boleros for the first jump

com-bination on Mondays, because she felt that twenty-four little jumps were bet-ter than thirty-two on the first day of the week.

The median tempo and quality of boleros rarely change.

How to count a bolero: “ONE and two and three and four and five and six and, TWO and two and three and four and five and six and, THREE and two and three and four and five and six and, FOUR and two and three and four and five and six and.” (Teachers: If you can’t hear a bolero in your head, you can feel it in your body by doing two phrases of the following: four changements and don’t move for two counts.)

Minuet - example 17: six or three

Minuets are also elegant, but much more delicate and smooth than polo-naises. They, too, have almost equal emphasis on each beat in a bar, and can also be used for three-part steps, such as pas de basque, balancé, and pas de bourrée. A beneficial experiment for the teacher is to have her students do the following: eight pas de bourrée or eight pas de basque or eight balancés to eight bars of a heroic polonaise, then to eight bars of a bolero, then to eight bars of a minuet. The quality of movement should change according to the quality of the music.

The median tempo and quality of minuets seldom vary.

How to count a minuet: in three: “ONE two three, TWO two three, THREE two three, FOUR two three, . . .” up through “EIGHT two three”; or in six: “ONE two three FOUR five six, TWO two three FOUR five six, . . .” up through “FOUR two three FOUR five six.”

Ländler - example 18: three (sometimes six)

There are at least two recognizably different types of ländler. One is the type you might imagine hearing in a Bavarian beer parlor, and the other, like ex-ample 18, is more lyrical. The median tempo of ländlers is fairly slow, which makes them ideal for the transition between, for instance, beginner-tempo and intermediate-tempo pas de bourrée. They are also recommended for balancés for beginners. The first type of ländler is usually too heavy for ballet classes.

The median tempo of ländlers seldom changes.

How to count a ländler: either in three or in six (see the counting of minu-ets).

Mazurka - examples 19–21: three (occasionally six)

Another form with a wide stylistic range is the mazurka. Most of Chopin’s mazurkas are relatively light and delicate. I would never play one in response to a request for a mazurka by a dance teacher; they are usually expecting something like one of the following three selections.

Example 19 is bouncier and less legato than Chopin mazurkas, but less robust than the following two examples.

Example 20 embodies what I feel are a mazurka’s normal qualities: broad, robust, pesante, and gutsy. (Those sound like adjectives for “heavy” music. I think there is a fine but definite line between substantial/full and heavy/pon-derous.)

Mazurkas are full of unique accents. The most common is reflected in the right hand of the introductions to all the mazurka examples in this book;

whenever I hear a teacher counting like that, I know she’s singing a mazurka in her head.

Some distinguished musicians insist that a mazurka always has a stressed accent on the second beat of every bar. Other equally distinguished musicians insist that a mazurka always has this accent on the third beat of every bar.

(Strong accents on “1” are invariable.) Then there are mazurkas with almost equal melodic accents on all three beats, such as example 21. An accom-panist’s decision about which kind of mazurka to play is usually dictated by the quality of the movement, and by where the movement accents fall.

Teachers must realize that, for their purposes, one of the main differences between a mazurka and a polonaise or bolero is the speed at which each is intended to be played. This is a common misunderstanding of teachers, who often ask for a mazurka when what they really need is a polonaise or bolero. A beginning accompanist will almost always play what a teacher asks for, since he is not yet experienced enough to read movement and judge for himself.

And the teacher probably feels and hears that the mazurka is not suitable, but has no idea of what is suitable.

Some of the difference between a mazurka and a polonaise or bolero can be understood by comparing the rhythmic structures of the three forms:

There are twice as many notes in the left hand of polonaises and boleros as there are in mazurkas. Another way of understanding the difference is by slowing down a mazurka to the median polonaise/bolero tempo. Notice how ponderous and heavy it becomes. Then reverse the process: Speed up a polonaise or bolero to a common mazurka tempo. If a pianist can accomplish that, he has sufficient technique for Carnegie Hall, but the quality of the mu-sic has been completely sacrificed. And it will not feel right to a dancer. After all, one of our main objectives is to provide appropriate music for a dancer so that he can accomplish his tasks as easily and enjoyably as possible.

Mazurkas enjoy great popularity, and work especially well for pirouette combinations. Mazurkas are almost never used for small jump/petit allegro combinations.

How to count a mazurka: in three is the norm, but in six is certainly pos-sible (see the counting under minuets).

Waltz - examples 22–28: three

While the basic rhythmic structure of waltzes (“OOM pah pah”) rarely changes, this form comes in a huge variety of sizes. The many melodies and wide range of median tempos produce a broad range of styles. Because waltzes are so versatile, they are generally the predominant musical form in every accompanist’s repertoire.

Slow waltz - example 22

What makes a slow waltz slow and a fast waltz fast? It would be so convenient to be able to say, “The more notes in the melody, the slower it is.” Chopin’s

“Minute Waltz” (op. 64, no. 1) refutes that. The only way to figure out what any piece is, is by looking at the composer’s intentions, and then discovering its tempo and personality for oneself.

Example 22 has a very special quality; its fluidity and inherent slow tempo, combined with a subtle melodic stress on the “1” of many of the bars, make it particularly useful for rond de jambe à terre, temps lié, and port de bras com-binations. (A surprising number of dance people say this particular piece is a six. There is no doubt that its phrasing is in mini-phrases of six, but if a dance teacher requested a six while hearing this piece in her head, her accompanist would never play this piece.)

Medium-tempo waltz - example 23

There is no typical medium-tempo waltz. They can be loud, soft, happy, sad, staccato, legato, and any combination thereof. The example I have chosen is a substantial, full, legato waltz.

Spanish waltz - example 24

Because the melodies of Spanish waltzes are almost always syncopated, they are especially useful for steps that are by nature syncopated, such as temps de cuisse and contretemps. This does not, however, preclude their being used for other combinations.

Spanish waltzes come in a wide spectrum of median tempos, so they must be carefully chosen. Example 24 is suitable for many petit allegro and me-dium allegro combinations, among others.

Viennese waltz

A Viennese waltz’s unique character can be traced directly to the slightly al-tered rhythm of the left hand. The second of the three beats is anticipated slightly—not enough to be reflected in the music notation, but certainly enough to be heard in the ear and felt in the body. I once asked Mr. Brunson when I should use that device, and he replied, “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you, but if you watch long enough, you’ll know.” He was right; I saw eventually that it is appropriate for certain jumping combinations that are on the lighter side.

I have decided to omit a Viennese waltz example because its identifying characteristic is never reflected in music notation. When called for, this Vien-nese feeling can be tastefully applied to many waltzes.

The most famous Viennese waltz is probably “On the Beautiful Blue Danube.”

Fast waltz - example 25

Fast waltzes can often be substituted for 2/4s in petit battement serré/battu combinations if the teacher doesn’t have a specific reason for using a 2/4.

They are also widely used for petit allegro and chaîné/déboulé combinations.

Example 25 is one of everybody’s favorites, mine included.

Since there seems to be so much confusion about the difference between waltzes and 6/8s, here is a very short course in music theory that may help.

Everyone knows (I hope) that a waltz always has the following rhythmic fig-ure: “OOM pah pah, OOM pah pah.” Think of a 6/8 as having the following rhythmic figure: “OOM - pah, OOM - pah.” Those two missing beats radi-cally change the quality of the music. Another way that has helped my stu-dents to understand the difference is: the three beats of a waltz correspond to the three steps of a balancé, and the rhythm of a 6/8 is the rhythm of a skip.

(On the same subject, there are people who have a hard time differentiating between twos and threes; I tell them to march to a two and waltz to a three.

And patting these rhythmic figures on the shoulders of musically insecure dance people is a great way to clarify the differences; many people can’t count and move at the same time, but they can feel.)

“Big waltz” or “grand allegro waltz” - examples 26–28

You will not find these two terms in a music encyclopedia. They are used by dance teachers who want a very specific kind of waltz. Big waltzes (this term will be used throughout the text) are never “piddly” (actually, no music for a dance class should be piddly, especially not big waltzes—sometimes light, yes, but never piddly); they are broad, loud, more orchestral than usual in scope, rich in texture, grandiose, and uplifting in every sense of the word, since they

have to motivate the energy for lifting a leg (in a grand battement combina-tion) or a whole body (in a grand allegro combinacombina-tion).

There is no concrete rule for differentiating grand allegro waltzes from other kinds of waltzes except by feeling or, often, by the fact that they are used for male variations in the traditional ballets. However, the following factors are worth mentioning. The peaks-and-valleys effect is very evident in big waltzes that are used to support combinations of grand allegro movement (as opposed to consecutive leaps across the floor, which need 3/8s without peaks and valleys). These combinations almost always have the highlighted steps occurring on every odd-numbered count (i.e., on counts 1, 3, 5, 7, and so on).

Therefore, those odd-numbered counts must be more accented than the even-numbered ones. What is also extremely important is the lead-ins to those odd-numbered counts. How well a dancer does the preparatory steps determines the quality of the jump, so those steps must be reflected musically.

I have found that a large majority of my big waltzes have no melodic sound on the second beat of the odd-numbered bars—possibly to emphasize the airborne quality of the jumps. (See example 31 for an exception.) And the first note in every odd-numbered bar is never a half note, and rarely a quarter note, for exactly the same reason.

Pedaling is discussed extensively beginning on page 168, but the correct use of the pedal in grand allegro combinations (actually, in all jump combi-nations) is so vital that it is touched upon briefly here. The pedal must not be depressed on the odd-numbered counts—where the highlights (no pun in-tended) occur. Otherwise, the waltz will feel very heavy. The pedal should be depressed on the preparatory steps, in order to emphasize the richness and strength of the plié, and there should be a crescendo into every odd-num-bered count’s forte.

Big waltzes come in a surprisingly wide variety of tempos, and can also be written in 3/8 or 6/8.

Example 26 has the peaks-and-valleys effect all the way through until counts 5 through 8 of the second phrase of eight. Its median tempo (I find) is on the slow side of medium.

Example 27, in a medium tempo, alternates four counts of peaks and val-leys with four counts of stress on each count (what I think of as the 3/8 effect).

Example 28 is a fast big waltz. One can see by its structure (each of the first four bars has a silent second beat in both the rhythm and the melody) that it would lose its rhythmic drive if played much more slowly than allegro. This piece, like most fast big waltzes I know, consists almost entirely of stress on each count—on the “1” of every bar (again, the 3/8 effect), therefore lending itself especially well to consecutive steps across the floor (such as arabesques sautées), rather than to phrases of movement. I have yet to find a fast big waltz that is technically easy.

How to count a waltz: “ONE and uh two . . .”; “ONE - and two . . .”; “ONE

two three two, . . .” up through “eight and uh”; “eight - and”; “eight two three.”

Any combination of these words is possible. Rarely: “ONE two three FOUR five six. . . .” (See also the diagram on page 6.)

Miscellaneous - example 29: six

It is possible that you will never need a piece like example 29, but I have in-cluded it here because it and others like it solved a big problem for me in Mr.

Brunson’s class. Its median tempo is in the “pol-bo-min” (polonaise-bolero-minuet [which also includes allegro 9/8s]) range, but it has a very different quality from these forms.

How to count this piece: like a bolero, in phrases of six.