Ballet Piano Podcast

We asked you to provide some questions of ballet and music topics that you wanted answering, and we did! We also ask questions of each other, things about ballet and music we wanted to know from each other’s perspective, and it is very revealing and insightful.

As is often the case on the Ballet Piano Podcast, you can expect lots of laughter, and bickering from the Hobsons, but it’s all in good fun and light humour. We answer your questions as honestly as possible, to the best of our knowledge and experience.

Have we a got a fantastic episode for you this week?! A brilliant ‘In Conversation’ with James Barton, originally recorded in October 2020.

Have we a got a fantastic episode for you this week?! A brilliant ‘In Conversation’ with James Barton, originally recorded in October 2020.

James has had, (and is still having) the most wonderful career having started as a Junior Associate of the Royal Ballet School, trained at Elmhurst school, and graduated into Birmingham Royal Ballet, performing on the west end stage, and then becoming ballet master at Scottish Ballet, he has done it all.

James has worked some of the best people in the business from Gillian Lynne to Christopher Wheeldon, and the stories he can tell will leave you warm hearted. He has an effervescent personality and that really comes through in this episode with the many hilarious tales he has to tell, and the many one liners that roll off his tongue.

Have we a got a fantastic episode for you this week?! A brilliant ‘In Conversation’ with James Barton, originally recorded in October 2020.

James has had, (and is still having) the most wonderful career having started as a Junior Associate of the Royal Ballet School, trained at Elmhurst school, and graduated into Birmingham Royal Ballet, performing on the west end stage, and then becoming ballet master at Scottish Ballet, he has done it all.

James has worked some of the best people in the business from Gillian Lynne to Christopher Wheeldon, and the stories he can tell will leave you warm hearted. He has an effervescent personality and that really comes through in this episode with the many hilarious tales he has to tell, and the many one liners that roll off his tongue.

Thursday can only mean one thing…a brand new episode! And this week, it’s all about when tunes go wrong. Call this a horror stories episode if you will!

Thursday can only mean one thing…a brand new episode! And this week, it’s all about when tunes go wrong. Call this a horror stories episode if you will!

We have quite an in depth discussion about choosing music you think is going to work for your exercise, but turns out when you play it, it is way off and you have to think on your feet about how you’re going to get out of it.

As pianists, sometimes we choose something we think is right, but the teacher wants something much quicker or slower, and that can dramatically change the music you have chosen to play. Then what do you do?

We talk about examples of tunes that only work in specific settings, and of course when it’s fallen apart, and David enlightens us from a teacher’s perspective how it feels when he’s presented with music he wasn’t expecting, and how he deals with such situations.

Thursday can only mean one thing…a brand new episode! And this week, it’s all about when tunes go wrong. Call this a horror stories episode if you will!

We have quite an in depth discussion about choosing music you think is going to work for your exercise, but turns out when you play it, it is way off and you have to think on your feet about how you’re going to get out of it.

As pianists, sometimes we choose something we think is right, but the teacher wants something much quicker or slower, and that can dramatically change the music you have chosen to play. Then what do you do?

We talk about examples of tunes that only work in specific settings, and of course when it’s fallen apart, and David enlightens us from a teacher’s perspective how it feels when he’s presented with music he wasn’t expecting, and how he deals with such situations.

It’s that time of the week again where we bring you a brand new episode, and this week it’s another ‘In Conversation’. It’s the turn of living legend, Karen MacIver.

It’s that time of the week again where we bring you a brand new episode, and this week it’s another ‘In Conversation’. It’s the turn of living legend, Karen MacIver.

We talk to Karen about her life and career in ballet, silent movies, composing, and her authorship of two books about her approach to accompanying dance.

It’s a very interesting episode with so much knowledge, insight, and thought provoking words from Karen about her theory behind accompanying the ‘moving image’. We feel very lucky we get to share her wisdom, and experiences with you all. You can find out more about Karen and her work by visiting her website, https://www.artofclass.online/.

It’s that time of the week again where we bring you a brand new episode, and this week it’s another ‘In Conversation’. It’s the turn of living legend, Karen MacIver.

We talk to Karen about her life and career in ballet, silent movies, composing, and her authorship of two books about her approach to accompanying dance.

It’s a very interesting episode with so much knowledge, insight, and thought provoking words from Karen about her theory behind accompanying the ‘moving image’. We feel very lucky we get to share her wisdom, and experiences with you all. You can find out more about Karen and her work by visiting her website, https://www.artofclass.online/.