PUTTING IT ON Record.

Which dance classes use recorded music--and why.

DANCE MOVIES such as Center Stage, The Turning Point, even The Red Shoes, always have them: accompanists in the corner pounding away as the instructor puts her students through their paces. Are dance class accompanists really in use? Is it an old-fashioned notion that everyone learns to dance to live music?

The answer, it turns out, is yes--and no. Generally speaking, professional schools affiliated with ballet companies do use live musical accompaniment. Smaller schools throughout the country tend to use recorded music. Why?

Both those using live music and those who do not cite convenience. The Kansas City Ballet School uses piano accompaniment for ballet classes and percussion for modern and jazz. According to school administrator Rhonda Marsden, they do this "primarily so that the teacher can custom-design the exercise to fit the students' needs. We are able to design the class for the students rather than to fit the pre-recorded music."

Amanda Mesas of Pacific Northwest Ballet School agrees. "It's easier for the teachers, makes for smoother classes, and classes move along at a better pace," Mesas says.

Studios using recorded music find that it makes economic sense. Administrators at the Academy of Ballet in Tucson feel they would have to raise tuition too much in order to provide live accompaniment.

Accompanists earn, on average, $15 to $20 per hour. Pacific Northwest Ballet School has some pianists on salary; others are paid by the hour. PNB's principal accompanist, Irv Huck, started with the school in 1978, making $4.50 per hour.

Finding just the right accompanist is often difficult, if not impossible. Holly Costa, director of Hazel Boone Studios of Dance Education in Canton, Massachusetts, gave up on trying to replace the school's original accompanist, Elaine Richardson. "We had an accompanist for thirty-five years whom we paid $18 per hour for fifteen hours a week," Costa says. "When she retired, we researched other accompanists but could not find one to replace this remarkable woman. For a few years afterward, we used recordings she made for us before she left."

Costa eventually found that students wanted to hear Top 40 recorded music as opposed to the jazz or musical theater music our pianist would play. Today we use a lot of popular, current music for our higher-level jazz and street funk classes."

Similarly, the Kansas City Ballet School discovered using recorded music for jazz class has its advantages. "There are so many different styles of jazz that it has been easier to use recorded music--plus we find that for the jazz class, the kids respond to current pop musicians," says Marsden.

Some schools use a combination of live accompaniment and recorded music. Diane McLarty, co-director of The Studio, School of Classical Ballet in Santa Cruz, California, says her school uses recorded music for preschool and lower-level classes. However, its organizers have found it's important to use piano accompaniment for the upper levels because, McLarty says, "It enables us to include more listening and musicality training in our advanced-level classes."

Pacific Northwest Ballet School's Mesas agrees. "It helps with musicality as far as being exposed to classical music and music appreciation," she says.

Robert Kaplan, professor of music at Arizona State University and president of the International Guild of Musicians in Dance, believes there is an even more important reason to train to live music: The classroom is also where tomorrow's teachers are being trained. If more and more studios use recorded music more often than live accompaniment, Kaplan fears an entire generation of teachers will never have experienced dancing to live music: "In twenty-six years of working with dancers as an accompanist, composer, and teacher, I have had the opportunity to observe many teachers and a wide range of abilities to communicate musical intent. Discovering that some of the most `musical' teachers are those without formal musical training, I realized that they learned by example, training with teachers who knew what they wanted musically and knew how to get it from the dancers and the musician. When using recorded music in class, the technique teacher need not have a sense of musicianship when demonstrating combinations; there is no `living' relationship with the music or musician."

Is this true'? Does one become a musical dancer only by training to live music? Or is it merely a tool, a teaching aid that is desirable but not absolutely necessary?

Grover Dale, Dance Magazine's Answers 4 Dancers columnist, takes a practical approach. "C'mon everybody, let's get real!" Dale says. "We live in an electronic world! Live music is a luxury that only few of us can afford. The days of pianists playing for class will always be treasured memories for those of us who were lucky enough to experience them. But, fret not. There's an upside to tape and CDs. Many wonderful recordings exist that can complement the needs of any teacher, student, or professional."

AND WHAT ABOUT the dancers who train in studios that use recorded music and then transfer to one that uses only live accompaniment? Are they at a disadvantage?

"No," says Amanda Mesas. In fact, at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, they find that "the students that come here who are not used to live accompanists have a very easy time adjusting. The pianist works with the teacher on pace and rhythm, and the students follow, which can increase awareness of how tempo is used in dance."

Rhonda Marsden disagrees. "In an audition, we can always tell who has danced to live music and who has danced to recorded music. Students tend to ignore recorded music because teachers tend to use the same music over and over. The music becomes predictable. In live music the tempo often changes, and students who are not trained to listen to the music are unable to make the necessary adjustments as the tempi change."

Choreographer Mark Morris, well known for his musicality and love of music, doesn't believe musicality is tied to the source of musical accompaniment. "You can become a musical dancer from never hearing any music. The inherent structures of dancing are related very directly to the way music is put together," he maintains.

Perhaps this is another way of saying that musicality comes from within. The teacher's role then, no matter what teaching aids are used, is to discover, nurture, and develop each dancer's innate musicality.

DANCE MUSICIAN ACCOMPANISTS

WHERE TO LEARN MORE

SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY in Winchester, Virginia, offers a master's degree in dance accompanying--usually by piano, other keyboard instruments, or percussion, though other instruments may be approved. For more information, check the Shenandoah Conservatory's Web site, www.su.edu/conservatory/index.htm, or call the conservatory at 540/665-4600.

THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY in Tempe offers instruction and internships for prospective dance accompanists. Tuition and fees total about $10,000 for out-of-state students, who should have at least a 3.0 grade point average and scores of at least 24 on the ACT or 1010 on the SAT. You can find more information and download an application at the university's Web site, www.asu.edu, or call 480/965-9011.

THE NATIONAL BALLET SCHOOL,based in Toronto, offers workshops on the art of dance accompaniment in the cities visited by the Ballet School's national tour across Canada. For fees and other information, check the school's Web site, www.nationalballetschool.org, or call the school for a tour schedule at 416/964-3780.

THE INTERNATIONAL GUILD OF MUSICIANS IN DANCE was founded in 1990 to promote the interests of dance accompanists. Its president, Robert Kaplan, is an associate professor at Arizona State. The guild's Web site, www.dancemusician.org, offers job postings, news about the field, reports on the IGMD's activities, and other useful information.

Ruth Rosenberg spent ten years as director of a modern dance company based in Sacramento, California, whose repertoire included a number of co-commissioned and collaborative works with composers and musicians. She is a dance and arts reviewer for the city's public radio station.