When we dance, we dance to music. Understanding how the music we dance to is structured, is important if we want to make those magical movements that synchronize with the music. A dancer has musicality if they are able to anticipate and sync their patterns with the patterns that we hear in the music.
Swing music generally follows a predictable pattern. We can think of each beat in the music as a count. There are eight (8) counts to a bar and four (4) bars to the phrase (32 counts). A phrase generally will start out with two bars that have an average tonality that sets the baseline for the phrase. The third bar will typically have a rise in average tonality and the fourth bar will generally follow a sharp drop in tonality. The fourth bar will often be a break.
A break is when one or more instruments stop playing for a number of counts. The break may last the entire bar or not. To review, the phrase structure will generally follow this pattern of tonality; same, same, high, low (AABC). Again the last bar of a phrase may be a break.
A musician will tipically count music differently from a dancer. Musicians typically count quarter notes while dancers count eighth notes. The following is the counting pattern a musician might follow.
1_______ 2________ 3________ 4________ -quarter notes
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and -eighth notes
Now, consider how a dancer would count the same bar.
1______2______3______4______5______6______7______8 -eighth notes
Lindy Hoppers will even count some sixteenth notes, as in the basic counting pattern for the Lindy Hop basic — the swingout:
1______2______3 and 4______5______6______7 and 8 -eighth notes (and = sixteenth note)
Notice that the period of music that is being counted in each of these examples is equivalent.
Take a moment to listen to this track we have prepared with an overlay of my voice counting out the pattern of the music. In this example I am using a technique of counting phrases that helps to keep order of bars clear to the person counting the music. I am counting like: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 / 2,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 / 3,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 / 4,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 *Notice that I am replacing count 1 with the number of the bar within the phrase.
The phrase is only 32 counts and a typical song, depending on the tempo, will contain many phrases. Each phrase may follow it's own internal pattern that may not match the previous or the following phrases, but each will follow the general pattern described above.
Every song is different, so the patterns described above won't hold true for every song. Instead of the AABC pattern, some songs will follow an AABCC or some other more complicated structure. However, it is safe to say that most music that you will find yourself dancing to, will follow this same AABC phrase structure.
The next time you find yourself listening to music (it doesn't have to be swing) start following the counts. Try to find the pattern to the song. Sometimes it may be a challenge but often you will find that the pattern follows the familiar AABC pattern we talked about. Many POP songs will have the same pattern.
However you start to practice listening to the patterns of music, it will help you to better understand the music to which you dance. Watch the dance floor at the next dance you attend and count the music as you watch dancers movements. Learn vicariously and put it into practice. Once you understand the music the dancing will follow.