We are a niche, within a niche, within a niche.
Musicians that work with dance are rare. The number of dancers in the world is much greater than the number of musicians that work in dance. Even in a small class size with a live musician, there are usually 5-10 dancers compared to the one musician. If we think about the amount of dance performances that happen in the world, only a small percentage of them have musicians that are playing in those performances. I am not suggesting that class and performances are more successful with live music over music playback. It does give us a clue as to why there are so few resources that teach how music works with dance. We are a small group of musicians that chose to do this full and part time as a career. We are a niche within a niche, and I feel lucky to be part of this unique group of musicians.
There are three different types of musicians for dance:
Musicians that just play for class can do that full time and part time. Full time accompanists usually work at universities and colleges. They work as staff, playing class, organizing other musicians’ schedules and caring for the pianos, drums and other sound equipment. These people are usually “gigging” musicians, meaning they work as musicians playing gigs several nights a week. Playing for class is great for them because class usually happens in the morning and early afternoons, leaving their evenings free for gigs. Part time accompanists usually play more music specific gigs and can find work at colleges, universities, and studios.
Musicians that just compose for choreographers and dance companies, tend to live more in the music community and dip their toes into collaborating with the dance community a few times in their careers. It is extremely rare to find a composer that works specifically with dance as a career. I know many more dancers that make music for their own choreography than I do musicians that work specifically with dance. Similar to film and TV, composers will often have a piece that a choreographer first hears and then reaches out to them to expand that piece of music or collaborate on a new piece. This happens most often with ballet and some of the larger contemporary companies, like NYC Ballet or the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
When working with either of these two types of musicians, it can be helpful to keep in mind that they do not have experience both playing and composing for dance. If you start to collaborate with an accompanist, you might need to help them understand what the process is like making music for a larger piece of choreography. The bonus of these musicians is that they have seen how music works with movement in class and will have an easier time collaborating with a choreographer. Musicians that have an opportunity to collaborate with a choreographer, might never have played class and not have any experience with how music works with movement. Sometimes this fresh perspective can create some amazing collaborations. And sometimes you will need to invite them to a rehearsal, or even company class, so that they get a better sense of our dance community and practices.
The third type of musician for dance lives more in the dance community than the music community. These are the musicians you will meet at dance festivals like Bates Dance Festival or the American Dance Festival. They usually will also work at a university or college as a Lecturer or Faculty. These people teach in classrooms as well as doing all of the staff position responsibilities. These jobs tend to be few and far between, and it is a big deal in our community when a position opens up. One of the frustrating ironies of these positions is that they have required a masters degree to be a valid candidate. It is crucial for colleges and universities to understand that there is not an undergraduate or graduate degree in accompanying, composing or teaching music for dance. There are some programs that offer training in some of the areas of music for dance, but none that are comprehensive. So, many of the most qualified musicians in dance will lose a job opportunity to another musician that has a terminal degree, but has never played class or composed for dance. Luckily, there is finally a trend toward hiring musicians in dance based on “commensurate experience”.
Until this contradiction gets worked out, and we can start making space for musicians in dance without terminal degrees, our community is in a real deficit for music for dance educational resources. I do believe that the majority of issues surrounding communication, licensing, budgets and collaborations stem from our community needing to lean so much on musicians that do not work with dance to teach students in dance programs. On the surface, there does not seem to be anything that wrong with sending dance students to study with musicians that do not work with dance. Without any experience working with dance, musicians will tend to lean too far into music theory, music history, music appreciation and how music works in the music community. The course work will start from the beginning of musical training as if all of the dancers in the class have never experienced anything with music before. Too often, this approach leaves dancers feeling inadequate, shamed, confused and intimidated to ever collaborate with a musician or composer.
My hope is that this course, and many more to come, puts the focus back on the amazing level of music knowledge that dancers have. The most successful music for dance education starts from this high level of experience and not from the belief that all dancers are just starting out with music. While we continue to create spaces for musicians for dance in higher education, we can empower dance educators to bring these concepts into their classrooms and depend less on musicians that do not have any experience working with dance.
Hold a discussion about how students feel about musicians in dance. Have any of the students in your class worked with a musician in dance? Have they worked with a composer, or been in a company that commissioned original music? Have they met any part time or full time accompanists?
Make a list of all of the musicians in dance, from any of the three categories, that you and your students know about. They can be folks that are alive or in the past. From that list, can you expand it using social media or searching online for musicians in dance? Who are the current musicians in dance at universities and colleges? Who are the current musicians at dance festivals? See if each person can discover someone new and have them share that musician in dance with everyone in class. Where do they work? What instruments do they use in class? Have they ever composed music for a dance company? Which dance companies collaborate often with musicians and composers?