How to stay on the beat of the music
(without thinking about it)
by Stephanie la Salsera
I disagree
when people say, " I don't have any rhythm. I can't dance."
Your very being, your every breath and heartbeat are a rhythm. Your
body naturally keeps a beat without your brain thinking about it. Of
course, since our society favours cerebral intelligence as opposed to
corporal intelligence, we have become in dischord with music for the
simple reason that we are in dischord with our bodies. In order to do
that, we need to re-educate our listening faculties. You listen with
your ears and with your body (that's what it means when your teacher
yells, "...just feel the music!" and you think, "I'm
trying! I'm trying!").
To begin
with, here are a few clarifications on different musical terms to know
what to listen for.
The
beat -- Beats are pulses like a heartbeat that sound in a repetitive,
predictable manner.
The
melody -- Sounds have different tones, from the bass tones, to middle
to treble tones. The melody is the theme or the actual song in the music.
In music there are melodic instruments which sing and the constant,
steady, rhythmic instruments which lay the foundation for the melody
to contrast with. The song is therefore laced through the rhythm.
The
rhythm -- Rhythm is a particular pattern that differentiates itself
with others to create genres of music. Waltz has a 123, down up up pattern
while salsa has a 123 step step step pause pattern. House music has
a very obvious 1 2 1 2 pattern which gives less structure and more freedom
style: freestyle.
Webster's Dictionary defines rhythm as being "A movement or action
marked by regular recurrence of elements; A recurrent pattern formed
by notes of differing stress and duration.
What does
it mean to have rhythm? It means knowing how to move your body in a
coordinated fashion to the spaces between the beats. It means knowing
how to predict repetition so your body takes over your thinking mind.
Letting go seems so easy for some to do, but it is actually a huge transition
for many-from being controlled, contrived or inhibited, to loose and
free.
A bar
of music --
This is a technical way of saying a group of 4 beats.
A measure
of music --
This is also a technical way of saying a group of 8 beats (2 bars).
Music is written in a format made of bars or measures repeating themselves
over and over. To know where the beats are, you need to know where the
first and last beats are in a bar (1 and 4) or 1 and 8 beats (a measure).
The best way to do distinguish the repetitions is to listen to house
music, because it is sooooo repetitive and there is more rhythm than
melody. The bass is predominant so it spells out the beats for you.
Your body resonates to its vibration. If you can't feel that, then you
are definitely too cerebral ie you are not trusting your body to feel
the pulses. There's no excuse, stop saying you can't hear the beat,
just sit down and open your ears-everyone can do it. Then move your
body to the beat. You'll feel how to predict when the next beat is.
Since there is equal distance between beats, your body will get into
a rhythm, synchronizing body movement with the beats in the music.
If you
are having trouble hearing where the 1 is in the music, or keeping the
beat steady, then I strongly recommend that you take my Music
Appreciation Workshops. The dates will be Sunday,
January 28th and on Friday,
February 16th, this workshop will have a special theme -- working in
groups to interpret the question, "What does this sound look like?.
Finally,
knowing where the beat is in the music is key to dancing in a structured
partner dance. Dancing not only requires timing but also coordination
and balance so you can prepare your body to move to the beat. Be patient
with yourself, and remember that you'll only get to where you want to
be with determination and practice (just like anything in life). It
just ain't gonna happen magically! So have fun while you're learning
and look forward to your mistakes-the more you make the closer you'll
become to your goal.
Stephanie
la Salsera can be emailed at
gurnon@hotmail.com
Guest Instructor/Writer: