Musicality
Musical time
signatures tell us about the number of beats in a bar, but more
importantly as dancers they mark the rhythm of the music. In all music
some beats are stronger than others and if this weren’t the
case, music would be really boring. The first beat in each bar is
usually a bit stronger and in music with 4 beats to the bar this tends
to give a ‘strong, weak, weak, weak, strong, weak, weak,
weak’ rhythm. Sometimes the third beat can be stronger
resulting in a ‘strong, weak, medium, weak, strong, weak,
medium, weak’ pattern. Try listening to some swing music and
counting the rhythm out loud or tapping your foot (or doing both!) to
get a feeling for the music. In general, swing music is played in 4
beat rhythms with eight count phrases (i.e. the same melody is repeated
every eight counts - with some variation). Once you are comfortable
with that, try listening to music that contains a break. With practice,
you should be able to predict the break and know when to come back in
on the first beat.
Frame
Lindy Hop, as a partner dance is all about listening to each other. And
by that we don’t mean the lead yelling “JUMP
NOW!” at the follow. At OSDS we attempt to teach good dance
practice by concentrating on the concepts of frame and lead and follow.
The frame relates to the position of your arms (in front of the body,
as if you were holding a large beach-ball) whilst lead and follow
refers to the compression and tension that flexes through the frame. It
is through these changes in force (that can be very subtle in advanced
dancers) that the follower will know what the lead wants them to do
next. Of course, it is up to the lead to decide that in good time! Good
lead and follow should make dancing feel like a conversation between
the couple, and it will always be based on adequate frame.
Bands
But what music might you want to listen to in order to get used to that
swing sound? There are so many bands and tunes out there that it would
be impossible to list them all, and to be honest it is all down to
personal preference. Here are a few that we like to listen to (by the
way, this isn’t an OSDS endorsement, we just like them):
Old School: Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Tommy
Dorsey, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Krupa, The Cats and the Fiddle, Cab
Calloway
Nu School: Blue Harlem, Casey McGill, Indigo
Swing, Jive Aces, Michael Buble, Harry ConnickJr.
