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Counting music beats

wannabe said:
To the OP, if you are indeed taking International Standard ballroom lessons, here's a summary of the time signatures for the dances that you are learning:

Dance Time Signature
Waltz 3/4 time
Tango 4/4 time
Viennese Waltz 3/4 time
Foxtrot 4/4 time
Quickstep 4/4 time
Click to expand...

Huh. Have anything in 7/8? :laughing
 
compound time sounds hard but it's really kinda easy...

9/8= taco taco taco burrito

onetwo onetwo onetwo onetwothree...depends on where you wanna accent but that's prob the most common way to do it...
 
wihtout reading the other replies, I'd say that trying to decide if something you're hearing is in quarter notes or eighth notes is irrelevant, since we can't see the music and it could have been written either way. I would just try to find the steady pulse that doesn't change, boom, boom, boom, boom (like 99% of western music has a steady pulse), and figure out of it is in groups or 3 or 4. thats how many beats the measure is, and that's how we count it (say "1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4" or "1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3"). that gets a HUGe categorization out of the way. then almost guaranteed you'll find that the whole song is groups of 8 measures (spoken "1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4, 3-2-3-4, 4-2-3-4, 5-2-3-4," etc.)
 
wannabe said:
I stand corrected. :teeth I guess that most of my experience was with competitive ballroom.

Where are you taking lessons?
Click to expand...

Cheryl Burke studio.

Entoptic said:
awesome sauce UD. I will have to post up a video of Erin and I learning how to tango on stilts, Its a good laugh.
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Kool. Will see if I can video a show case. Will try to post it here also as an example of how not to do it. :laughing

n10sive said:
The video does a good job showing the count. The hardest part is not to rush the slide. I always said the & beat on the slide. Example:

Slide (1 &) going left...(3 &) going back. I always count the half beats on this step. 1&2&3&4&. It's the only way to keep it in time for me.

The video does it the classic way which is to start on the rock step (off the beat). I was taught to start on the slide step (on the beat). When you get to rumba and the latin dances, people will do the same thing...that is...start on the off beat vs on the beat. Don't let it confuse you.
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Yep I was taught to start with sliding step also. Kind of weird starting with the rock step. I tend to rush the slow slide, also on Tango. Something to work on. Actually the way my instructor was teaching it, and I asked about it today, is 1, 2 slide, 3/4 rock step, and it's much bigger slide then whats on the videos. I guess it depends on music and personal style?

tonedeaf said:
wihtout reading the other replies, I'd say that trying to decide if something you're hearing is in quarter notes or eighth notes is irrelevant, since we can't see the music and it could have been written either way. I would just try to find the steady pulse that doesn't change, boom, boom, boom, boom (like 99% of western music has a steady pulse), and figure out of it is in groups or 3 or 4. thats how many beats the measure is, and that's how we count it (say "1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4" or "1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3"). that gets a HUGe categorization out of the way. then almost guaranteed you'll find that the whole song is groups of 8 measures (spoken "1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4, 3-2-3-4, 4-2-3-4, 5-2-3-4," etc.)
Click to expand...

Hmm kool, thanks.
 
Found this kool video explaining quaternotes, notes, etc. Will need to watch few more and re-read this thread couple of times. :)

[youtube]dD0yd6w1vLY[/youtube]
 
If you're having trouble counting the beats in your head, it may help to just keep a pulse in your mind. Try gently clicking your teeth to keep the beat. Sometimes it's easier than counting. If you watch musicians play, most of them are tapping their foot or doing something to keep their own tempo on top of their playing (or your dancing). There's something about feeling (somatically, not emotionally) the tempo that makes counting the beats fall in line.
 
I learned night club two step with slide to the left to start and then rock step on 3 and 4, so slow quick quick, slow quick quick in 4/4. It's my new favorite dance to suck at. :teeth
 
I like the nightclub twostep. It can really be jazzed up if you know what you are doing. I would love to be as cool and smooth as these two at it.

[youtube]fwqiMVoNy74[/youtube]
 
n10sive said:
I like the nightclub twostep. It can really be jazzed up if you know what you are doing. I would love to be as cool and smooth as these two at it.

[youtube]fwqiMVoNy74[/youtube]
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I am supper jelly. :laughing Was watching videos from the showcase this weekend, I suck... badly in all three dances I am learning Tango, Salsa, Two step. :laughing I started almost three month ago, will give it few more months to see if there is progress.
 
tzrider said:
Huh. Have anything in 7/8? :laughing
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I thought of "Mother" by The Police and "Money" by Pink Floyd. Then I remembered Pink Floyd also had a song called "Mother" and I forgot what I was going to say. :laughing
 
UDRider said:
I am supper jelly. :laughing Was watching videos from the showcase this weekend, I suck... badly in all three dances I am learning Tango, Salsa, Two step. :laughing I started almost three month ago, will give it few more months to see if there is progress.
Click to expand...

I have been doing it two years. I feel like a suck. I suck less this year than I did last year, but dancing takes a loooooong time to learn (especially when you're an old guy :|)

It just makes me feel good. That's why I do it. Maybe someday I'll feel like I'm decent, but it always makes me feel good.
 
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