I have to be honest with you..

I hate the phrase "use your words.", it makes me want to vomit.

Maybe I've just heard it too often. Maybe it's the farm girl in me who grew up pretty rough and tough! All that being said, it was the first phrase that sprang to mind when I was thinking about today's topic.

Here's the thing.. every dance teacher marking an exercise knows that they need to count! You know that it's important that your exercise is in phrases of 8 counts (at least the average exercises). So...

I'm not playing the piano, why do I need to know music terms? Does it really matter if I know what those 4 words mean?

Yes! Yes! and YES!!!

You NEED to know what they are so you can be clear to your musicians, your dancers and yourself when you're marking! Your total awareness and ability to express these music qualities will take your teaching to a WHOLE new level! 

Bwoop! Bwoop! Bwoop!

4 Music Terms you NEED to Know, Understand and Demonstrate

Tempo

This is the speed of music you need. When...

Working with a pianist can be all kinds of things.. Awesome, terrifying, exciting, dreadful, amazing, supportive, disastrous, mind blowing, horrific and the words could go on and on. The important part is to realize that we're all different kinds of people with different experiences, skills, perspectives, mentalities, etc.

Today, I'm going to give you 2 necessary steps for you as a ballet teacher when working with a pianist!

SIDE NOTE: Keep in mind, we're all different so some pianists may not totally...

Rhythms are all around us.. have you noticed? I mentioned in my last blog post about how certain tempos that I walk or do stuff in, trigger a song in my head! It's fun. I'm passing the habit of bursting into song to my children so now, as I'm typing away here, my family is in the next room, playing lego, and each person is humming and singing their own tune. lol. Love it!

Today I want to talked about the rhythms that we can demonstrate in our speech!

When children are unhappy,

and they want you to...