Tired of the Same Ballet Class Music? Try These Tracks!
Great music is essential to a successful ballet class! While we’d all love to have live music in every class, it isn’t always possible. If you don’t have the pleasure of a trained accompanist, cds, mp3s, and streaming audio are the next best thing.
I’ve instructed many ballet classes in the last 10 years. I’ve dealt with the tracks that are too short, too long, too dreary, or simply an odd choice to me for a ballet class. I get nostalgic over mp3s of the class CDs of my youth and inspired by what is being produced today. I typically use Amazon Music, although you’ll have access to some of these artists through Amazon Prime. I’ve even included a special free site.
This is by no means and exhaustive list. These are the musicians who play, record, and arrange in a way that I connect to immediately and whose music has filled my classroom in the last few years.
Jefferson Dalby’s BalletClassMusicForFree.com. I have no idea how I stumbled upon this website, but I recall Jefferson Dalby accompanying my ballet classes at ADF so many years ago! Mr. Dalby has recorded music that dancers are free (literally) to download for classes. This site is special because it outlines everything you need to know about the music you are listening to- composer, title, meter, tempo, bars, length, and category. Everything that he has recorded is either in public domain or is an original composition.
Christopher N. Hobson: I believe I have used every CD Volumes 1-8 plus the additional CDs through Amazon Music. When teaching Ballet 101 to my musical theatre students, I loved to use Modern Ballet Studio Melodies, Musical Theatre Hits to connect with them. I also really enjoyed his CD of original compositions, Modern Ballet Studio Melodies: Original Ballet Compositions. Truly, you can’t go wrong with any of them. The tracks are a great length. And yes, he has a Christmas CD!
Søren Bebe: Jazz pianist Soren Bebe is another artist that I discovered through Amazon. I have streamed two volumes of his Music for Ballet Class as well as Jazz & Pop Songs for Ballet Class. I was happy to go onto his website and discover that he has many more! Check out his latest, Music for Ballet Class vol. 4. If you sign up for his newsletter, you can get 7 Free mp3 downloads!
Andrew Holdsworth: I enjoy Andrew Holdsworth’s Reimagined for Ballet Class series. Two are pop and one is reimagined for classical. Reimagined for Ballet Class, Classical Volume 1 has 47 tracks so you have many options! I used his music through Amazon and his website lists more options.
Karen Maciver: I’ve used Karen Maciver’s Ballet Class No. 2 and No. 3. I enjoy the mix of contemporary and classical music. Her Ballet Class No. 3, which includes 53 tracks, was a go-to for Progressing Ballet Technique classes as well.
I cannot conclude this without mentioning the work of one of my teachers, Cherie Noble, who has directed numerous ballet class CDs for Brio Recordings. I’m old enough to recall her bringing cassette recordings to ballet class before she began recording CDs! You can purchase and download full albums in a wide range of styles at briorecordings.com.
Feel free to add your favorite artist to the comments!
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