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Musicality in dancing, put simply, is the ability to change your dancing with a change in the music. To do that, you need to know how long your patterns are, and how long a particular section of music is. Enter the 8-count, the basic unit of measurement we use to tie what we dance to what we hear.
Just a few things we'll be covering today:
- What is the basic structure of a song?
- How does the 8-count help us measure the length of section of music we are dancing to? (Choreographers use this all the time)
- How does the "energy level" of a piece help us know when to start and stop dancing?
- How do we find the "1" in the music?
- What part of the song is it best for beginners to practice to?
Enjoy!
Transcript:
Music can be broken down in a variety of ways: Phrases, sections, bars, and even "thoughts" of music can be used to help us better understand the structure of a song. But I'm gonna try and avoid as many of these sometimes confusing terms as possible and instead focus on the one unit of measurement most important to us as dancers - the 8-count.
But why is the eight count so important? And how can we use it to improve both our timing and our sense of musicality as dancers?
Hi guys, my name is Ian Crewe. I'm an instructor at the Joy of Dance Centre in Toronto Ontario, and the creator of Social Ballroom Dance: Where you can learn your dance, at your place, on your schedule.
So I'm going to play some more music for you in a second to help you take your timing to the next level, but first let me explain a little more about why the 8-count is so helpful to us as dancers.
If we listen to a typical song will find that it is broken down into individual segments, and we can easily distinguish those segments by the energy level of the segment - that is, the volume, number of instruments, vocal passion that is used, and so on.
For example, if we listen to a song on the radio, we'll notice that usually the first segment or part of music that we hear, the energy level is very low, then gradually builds up to a crescendo, before alternating between dropping down and then coming back up again, usually multiple times before the song ends.
So every time we hear that energy level change, that's our cue that a new section of music has begun. Each section can be divided into groups of eight beats, and likewise our dance patterns can also be danced to groups of eight beats.
So we can match what we hear in the music with the patterns that we know. Let me give you a more specific example: I'm going to play a salsa song for you now, just before the chorus begins. Let's give it a listen, shall we?
Okay, if you were listening there, you probably notice that the piano came in, it got a little more exciting, and then at the end it dropped down and became a little bit quieter again. I recommend when you're getting used to following the timing of a song, start by listening to the chorus, because that's usually where the energy level is highest, so it's easiest to follow along at that point.
Here's how we bring it all together: Let's play that again and this time we're going to count the number of beats in that chorus. Here we go:
That tells us that this is four 8-counts or 32 beats total. A wise dancer will match the number of counts in their patterns with the number of counts in a section of music. That is where we start to develop our sense of musicality on the floor.
But none of this works unless we know how to spot the beginning of a segment of music. And this is what instructors refer to as starting on the "1". You might sometimes hear instructors count "5, 6, 7, 8" - this is them telling you that we are reaching the end of the previous 8-count, we're about to start a new section of music that they'd like you to dance on.
We talked in the last vlog about how you can tell the beat of the music from the rhythmic emphasis or "pulse" that we hear in the song. The first pulse we hear in a new segment of music tells us that that is the "1" - it is the first beat in the first 8-count in a section of music.
Now yes, usually songs have multiple 8-counts in each segment, which means there are multiple "1"'s in each segment. But the first "1" where the energy level changes is usually the easiest to spot. So that's generally where you want to start your dancing.
Let's hear that song one more time, and see if you can begin a basic pattern when you hear that first emphasis in the chorus:
So when you hear that first beat of that piano hit, that is your "1". Okay, so now you can practice this with other songs that you know as well.
And just so you know, in three-four timing, which is what we use for waltzes, ALL these rules apply: The only difference is instead of an 8-count, we use a 6-count.
Now that I've helped you out a little with your timing, here's how you can help ME out: If there is something about what I've explained that still doesn't make sense to you, let me know in the comments below. Or if there's something I said that made a lot of sense to you when nothing else did, let me know that too!
And if you had any questions or other comments you want to make, please don't hesitate to message me, either through my Facebook fan page, Ballroom Dancers Anonymous, or my email, which is ian@socialballroom.dance.
And if you enjoy these videos and you'd like to see more of them, you can always subscribe to my Youtube channel, or visit my website - there's a ton of great material there to help accelerate your learning.
But I will see you next week and until then happy dancing!