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Rhythm
and Music for Beginning Dancers Part II |
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| Rhythm
and Music for Beginner Dancers (Part II) |
| by: Shawn Trautman |
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| In Rhythm and Music for Beginner Dancers Part I, we learned the essential concepts and terminology for musical competency of any beginner dancer. Before you jump in to these exercises, set the stage by using either a metronome or some kind of device that keeps a steady beat aloud so you’ll be able to follow along with it. Set the speed to go about one beat per second. This will give you approximately 60 BPM, or a tempo of 60 to start the following steps: |
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| 1. Count the beats aloud in a repeating eight-beat fashion. Start with one, go all the way through eight, and then start over with one, and so on. This will get you more familiar with what a measure is. |
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| 2. Clap your hands to the beat of the music, then snap your fingers to the beat of the music, and then tap either foot to the beat of the music. Do each one at least eight times to get a decent amount of practice. |
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| 3. Identify the upbeat and the downbeat and try to take a step each time the downbeat occurs. It doesn’t matter which foot; you’re simply trying to align your perception with your motor skills. The upbeat is where you’d start your motion, and the downbeat is where you’d come down to the floor with your foot. |
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| 4. Try walking with “slow” steps, which take up two beats. Start on the downbeat, or one, and walk on the numbers one, three, five, and seven, and then repeat it over and over. You can do this in place, in a small circle, or however it best fits in the room. The idea on this one is to take a step and then hold a beat, and then continue. Try not to completely stop while you’re holding the beat, though—it will look choppy and unnatural. |
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| 5. Try walking with “quick” steps, which take up only one beat each. Start on the downbeat, or one, and walk on the numbers one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight, and then repeat it over and over. Just like in Step 4, you can do it in whatever fashion best suits your surroundings. |
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| 6. Try walking with a combination of “slow” steps and “quick” steps. Start with doing eight slows and eight quicks, then try it with four slows and four quicks, and then try it by doing just two slows then two quicks, and repeat it over and over again. |
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| The combination of the two slows and two quicks is very common in all types of social dancing and is something you really should spend some time working on before you get too far along. If you’re able to transition between the two and feel as though you’re doing so smoothly and evenly, then your rhythm is also being strengthened. If you don’t feel natural yet, try to relax and take a deep breath. Dancing is nothing more than walking to different speeds, so if your walk is natural, it’s just a matter of time until you can incorporate it into your dancing. |
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