Log In

Username:

Password:

   Stay logged in?

Forgot Password?

User Status

 

Attention

 

Recover Password

Username or Email:

Loading...
Change Image
Enter the code in the photo at left:

Before We Continue...

Are you absolutely sure you want
to delete this message?

Premium Membership

Upgrade to
Premium Membership!

Renew Your
Premium Membership!

$99
PER YEAR
$79
PER YEAR
$79
PER YEAR

Premium Membership includes the following benefits:

Don't let your Premium Membership expire, or you'll miss out on:

  • Exclusive access to over 1,620 video demonstrations of patterns in the full bronze, silver and gold levels.
  • Access to all previous variations of the week, including full video instruction of man's and lady's parts.
  • Over twice as many videos as basic membership.
  • A completely ad-free experience!

 

Sponsored Ad

+ View Older Messages

Re: counts East Coast S.
Posted by Administrator
3/6/2013  12:25:00 AM
Hi Francois,

All swing variants, including EC Swing, WC Swing, Jitterbug, Jive, etc have odd phrasing as the patterns do not match up neatly with the bar-lines of the written music. The basic pattern in all of the aforementioned consists of 6 counts, whereas the individual bars / measures of music consist of only 4 counts each. This creates an interesting dilemma, for which there are many solutions.

If one is to count strictly the music, he should count only to 4, regardless of the construction of the patterns being danced. This is the most "correct" way to count, but not always the clearest, and very difficult for the novice dancer. Many dancers actually prefer to count to 8, which has its own set of advantages, but still technically less correct since there is precious little music written in 8/4 time.

Also simpler than counting to 4 is counting to 2 (e.g. "1a2, 1a2, 1, 2"), which like the 8 count is less musically correct where the time signature is concerned. But it does solve the problem of the 6's of the patterns and the 4's of the musical bars not lining up. With this method, everything is broken into smaller pieces, and those smaller pieces always line up neatly.

Another way to count, which is the method we've chosen for EC Swing, is to ignore the time signature and count the structure of the patterns. We have found that people learning to dance tend to respond best to this method, because it is simple and clear. True, it isn't technically correct, but neither is counting to 2 or 8. And "technically correct" is not always in the students' best interest -- especially dancers, many of whom don't know what a time signature is.

If your goal is to take an exam, I might recommend buckling down and spending the time to count properly. Counting 4's over 6's is an interesting challenge that helps develop your musical brain. But if you're a dance teacher with a new student, or, say, a guy dreaming of building a website to teach the masses, you might be better off starting with a simpler presentation that doesn't involve complex polyrhythms. This is where either counting to 2, or simply counting the structure of the patterns is most advantageous.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com
Copyright  ©  1997-2024 BallroomDancers.com