The role of the pianist

The pianist's contribution to the dance lesson is all too frequently taken for granted, and its importance not always fully realized by either the teacher of dance or the pianist himself. An awareness of the importance of his contribution and at the same time of his consequent responsibilities is therefore one of the pianist's first requirements. It is no exaggeration to say that the success of a lesson may often depend just as much on the pianist as on the teacher. Just as a poor teacher can be 'carried along' by a good pianist, so a poor pianist can limit or even ruin the work of the best teacher. Page 9.

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It is highly desirable that a pianist's knowledge of dance should not be confined to the mere observation of movement, but that he should have some experience of the music and movement relationship through actual participation in dance himself. Certain aspects of this relationship can only be fully appreciated through movement. Page 15.

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Second, the pianist who has had some experience of movement observation is in a better position to satisfy the particular demands made of him. He will be better able to judge a suitable tempo for his playing, and to see where the strongest point of a movement occurs or where one phrase of movement ends and another begins. He will be better able to recognise the qualities of movements, whether they be strong or light, sudden or sustained, direct or flexible, whether they flow evenly or unevenly, whether they are large or small, high or low, rising or falling. Above all, his experience of movement observation will enable him to feel the rhythm of the movements he is watching. Just as the dancer might be said to feel music with her body, so the dance pianist hears music with his eyes; that is, he instinctively translates the movement he observes into sound. Page 43.

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Second, it will be evident that merely keeping in time with music is only one aspect of rhythmical movement to music. A factor of supreme importance is that of control of weight. In dancing a waltz an unrhythmical dancer may put equal stress (i.e., equal weight) upon each of the three beats (just as a poor pianist might), whereas a rhythmical dancer would vary the weight element, usually giving more weight to the first beat. Page 43.

Playing for Dance by R M Thackray. 1963.