The Sabre Dance is two and a half minutes of music at full speed. Aram Khachaturian wrote it in 1942 for a ballet called Gayane. In the ballet, dancers show off their skill with swords. A sabre is a curved sword.
Quick facts
- Composer: Aram Khachaturian, who lived from 1903 to 1978
- From: the ballet Gayane
- Written: 1942
- Length: about 2 and a half minutes
- Speed: presto, the Italian word for fast
- Instruments to spot: xylophone, trombones, and saxophone
Written in one night
Khachaturian was an Armenian composer. He grew up with the folk music of the Caucasus, the mountain region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
In 1942, during the Second World War, he wrote the ballet Gayane. Close to the first performance, the directors asked for one more dance. By his own account, he wrote the Sabre Dance in a single night.
It became the most famous thing he ever wrote. Read Khachaturian for kids.
What to listen for
| Part | What happens |
|---|---|
| The hammering | The xylophone and the brass hit one note again and again, over a pounding beat |
| The slides | Trombones smear from one note to the next |
| The song | A saxophone and the strings play a smoother tune in the middle. The beat keeps pounding under it |
| The return | The hammering comes back, and the dance races to a stop |
How it sounds so wild
One note, many times. The main idea is a single note, repeated fast. Repeating a note builds excitement.
A beat that does not let up. Drums and low strings pound from the first bar to the last.
Slides. A trombone can slide between notes, because the player moves a long tube in and out. The word for a slide is glissando. Read the trombone for kids.
Bright colors. The xylophone has wooden bars and a dry, bright sound that cuts through the orchestra. Read the xylophone and glockenspiel for kids.
A saxophone in the orchestra
The saxophone is rare in an orchestra. Khachaturian gave it the smooth tune in the middle of this dance. Read the saxophone for kids.
Where you may have heard it
The piece turns up in cartoons, films, and circus acts, often when someone is juggling or in a great hurry.
Things to do together
Sword freeze. Run in place, and freeze each time the trombones slide.
Clean-up race. Start the piece and tidy the room. The job has to be done before the last note. Read fast classical music for kids.
Fast and then calm. Play the Sabre Dance, and then play something slow to cool down. Ask your child to move to each one.
Count the slides. Raise a hand for each trombone slide.
Questions to ask
- What makes this music sound fast?
- Which instrument plays the smooth tune in the middle?
- How does your body feel when the piece is over?
Words to know
- Sabre: a curved sword
- Glissando: a slide from one note to another
- Xylophone: a percussion instrument with wooden bars
Print and play
Print the instrument families listening chart. For more fast music, read the Flight of the Bumblebee guide and the Can-can by Offenbach. For a game to play with it, read freeze dance with classical music.
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This article is part of Classical music listening guides for kids: famous pieces, one at a time.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.