Music is one of those things that most people don’t really think about when watching a ballet. It’s always just there. However, the music is a very important part of any ballet. Except for some of the stranger modern companies, all dance steps are based in part on the music- how it’s counted, what it sounds like, even the volume of the music can all influence the choreography.

Since most music for ballets is classical music, professional ballet companies typically use live accompaniment from an orchestra. The orchestra practices with the company once they get into the theater and they have to work with the dancers to make sure everything is the proper tempo and cadence. However, having people come and play the music isn’t always an option. In that case, it’s usually pretty easy to play a CD over a theater’s speaker system.

My youth company, unlike most young dancers, actually gets the opportunity to perform with a live orchestra for The Nutcracker. It’s definitely an interesting experience; the music often sounds very different than on the CD that we practice with, with a different tempo and occasionally different instruments as well. We’re lucky that we get to go listen to the orchestra after class sometimes and hear them rehearse so we know what they sound like. This is our second year with the orchestra, and I hope we get to have them for a long time.