When I tell people that I’m a dance musician, sometimes they ask what I actually do in my job. The simplest answer is that I play music for people to dance to during dance classes. It’s a job with a lot of variety, which I love about it. At UC Riverside, in addition to playing classes, I’m also responsible for anything having to do with music or sound in the dance department. Ultimately, my overall responsibility is to teach, mentor, and guide students exploring relationships between music, sound, movement, aesthetics, which I love doing. In the words of a mentor of mine, “I worry the fun police are going to show up and put a stop to it!”
As for specific activities, here are some the main things I do on a typical day:
Improvise musical accompaniment for modern dance classes, playing drumset, percussion, keyboards, and electronics. I’m almost always playing solo, as there is usually only one musician in each class. This is typically what people mean when they say they play “music for dance”. I watch and listen as the teacher demonstrates an dance exercise or combination, and based on the movement quality, tempo, and phrasing of the dance, I create music on the spot that supports dancing and learning. Every combination is an experiment and a performance.
Play djembe and dundun for West African dance class, along with 1-3 other musicians. We sing songs and play the accompanying rhythms for various dances. The songs/rhythms/dances often have traditional roots and contemporary vitality, reflecting the master drummer’s personal flair, and the dance teacher’s vision for the dance.
Manage sound systems and provide technical support. A big part of what I do is to optimize sound systems, fix things when they break, and train teachers to use the systems to best aid their teaching.
Other things I do:
Perform live music/sound scores for dance concerts. Every piece/concert varies, but I often use percussion, keyboards, computer software, and analog electronics. At UC Riverside, I arranged and performed an 18th century piece for a historical dance class. I played the cello accompaniment part on keyboard and a baroque violinist played the melody!
Collaborate with choreographers to create sound designs and compose music for new dances. Each collaboration is different and requires different approaches/skills.
Guest teach and co-teach classes on music/dance relationships in choreography, dance pedagogy, and dance technique
Consult with student choreographers on music/sound score choices for their pieces
Hire, mentor, oversee ballet pianists
Manage our inventory of musical instruments. Maintenance, upkeep, repairs, purchasing new equipment, etc.
Some special projects I’ve done:
Designed new sound systems for installation in of all the dance studios
Mentored musicians for modern dance classes
Created virtual recordings of music of which there were no existing recordings
Created notated musical scores for musicians to play in performance
Performed live music and sound designs for dance performances
...and much more! Every day, I face some kind of new challenge or situation, and it's always fresh. Ultimately, it's the interaction with students and watching their growth over time that is most gratifying.