As for teaching musicality, I’m not sure either. I do think that even what we consider “natural” ability is mostly learned in a sense, albeit for some very early in life. My son at (almost) 2 already displays a very “natural” sense of rhythm and musical awareness however he also heard and felt music and movement from within my body as I taught classes, we dance around our home, music is often a part of our daily routine… I’m sure you get where I’m going. Perhaps it goes back to those synapses that people form very early in life, why its best and easiest to learn languages at a very young age for example. Music is another kind of language and those neural pathways are opened through exposure and experience when we are young. As we get older it may be harder to carve out those pathways, just as it harder to learn a language as one gets older. But I do think it is possible to develop greater musical awareness and comprehension in students with time and exposure (and a willingness on the part of the student since learning is of course a two-way street). Will those that are not “naturals” ever catch up with those that are? Maybe… maybe not but its worth a try

I introduce the idea of dancing musically in Creative Movement–this is the first level I teach, for 4-year-olds. A favorite exercise is this: using an easy-to-count march, we move around the perimeter of the room, two abreast, stomping and shouting out eight counts, alternately tiptoeing and whispering eight counts. So we are exploring counting in phrases of eight, and also exploring pianissimo and fortissimo (I really encourage them to let it rip!). If you ask any of my Creatives what comes after eight, they will tell you unequivocally, ONE!

In the next level, Pre-Ballet, we learn waltz, starting without music, standing in place, and clapping ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three, etc. We add music and play follow-the-leader (that’s me), snaking around the room chanting 1-2-3, with down-up-up in the legs and feet. Eventually, I ask them to “find 8 in 3″–meaning, Where is the phrase of 8? So we repeat the exercise, counting ONE-two-three, TWO-two-three, THREE-two-three, and so on, through eight. So they are learning something besides four-four, but also recognizing the familiar, balletic phrase of eight. Towards the holidays I teach them a modified Mother Ginger variation–that piece of music is a fabulous smorgasbord of meter and tempi changes. But most of them usually “get it.”

By Level I we are exploring more complex musical textures, including Mazurka and Polonaise. I always have them clap out ONE-and-two-three for Mazurka, and we listen to the granddaddy of them all from Coppelia. I also teach them the polonaise from Sleeping Beauty Act III. Mazurka is complicated enough that I usually wait until second semester to introduce it. Again, I have some who catch on right away, and others who are genuinely flummoxed.

That is my general approach. I also scrawl musical terminology all over the mirror using a dry erase marker–great for visual learners, and I like for kids to know what those big Italian words–staccato, legato, adagio, etc.–look like. I will say that my students who study piano seem far and away more informed than their young non-musical colleagues. For some reason, the study of piano seems to really underscore so beautifully what we do in the ballet classroom. But for the non-musical who rush through the movement, I like to say, “Soak up the entire phrase of music with your dancing,” for example, or “Use every drop of music.” Sometimes the sponge metaphor works.

Loved this post–thanks.