Music FAQ

1. Introduction and History

Centuries ago, there wasn't much in the way of music. People hit objects together, like the heads of their children, to see what noise it would make. By putting different sounds together (e.g. stick beating head, rock beating head, paper beats rock, rock beats sissors), primitive man began to create music. Around the same time, man began to dance. The first forms of dance began in conjunction with the rock hitting foot sound. The man would scream "oow!" and jump around. Today we call that "modern interpretive dance," or, "what only a nut would consider art." The rest of us stick to ballroom. The origins of ballroom date back to, well, sometime before I was born. Consequently, the music is sometimes rather old, and you're probably not used to hearing it (preferring the fresher, canned MTV version of such classics as Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers" as performed by Cyprus Hill). If you're one of those history buffs who frets over things like "accuracy" and "facts," then you might want to follow this link for a different version of ballroom history.

Anyway, to help familiarize new dancers with the music we use, I've created this list of Fairly Aromatic Quarrymen.

2. Recognizing Music

2.1 Overview

There are 3 components to ballroom music: the timing, the speed, and the feel. The timing is simply the count, e.g. 3/3 or 4/4. The speed is how many measures per minute (mpm) or beats per minute (bpm) the music has. Music with 4/4 timing will have 4 beats per measure and therefore the bpm = 4 x mpm. Finally, there's the feel to the music. A waltz needs to flow, a cha-cha needs the right syncopation, and a rumba needs passion. That's not to say you can't map a dance onto a beat, you certainly can, it just won't feel right. Tom Nugent notes that new dancers often suddenly find all sorts of great "new" ballroom music and will actually listen to Rod Stewart thinking it's dancable. (Warning: listening to Rod Stewart may cause brain damage.)

2.2 The Dances

The music breaks down as follows:

DanceCategoryTiming MPM (USABDA)Feel
Waltz Standard 3/3 30 graceful, flowing
Tango Standard 33 staccato, conflict
Viennese Waltz Standard 3/3 60
Foxtrot Standard 4/4 30 steady flow
Quickstep Standard 4/4 50 fast, charleston
Samba Latin 50
Cha Cha Latin 4/4 30 syncopated "cha-cha-cha"
Rumba Latin 4/4 27 emotional, passionate
Paso Doble Latin 62 aggressive
Jive Latin 4/4 44 excited
Waltz Smooth 3/3 28-30 graceful, flowing
Tango Smooth 30-32 staccato, conflict
Foxtrot Smooth 30-32 steady flowing
Viennese Waltz Smooth 54
Bolero Rhythm 4/4 24 emotional
Cha Cha Rhythm 4/4 30 syncopated "cha-cha-cha"
Mambo Rhythm 4/4 47
Rumba Rhythm 4/4 32 emotional
Swing Rhythm 4/4 36
West Coast Swing 4/4 28-32 laid back swing
Hustle 4/4 28-30 disco, funky
Polka 60-62 happy
Merengue 2/2 29-32 party
For a more up-to-date, as well as IDSF and ICBD specifications, see section 3.6 Music Tempi of the USA Dancesport Rulebook. Also note that the USABDA rulebook lists a minimum time each song must play during a competition, usually between 70-120 seconds. When using songs, becareful of tempo changes.

This, however, only tells you the mechanics of the music. The best way to get a feel for the music is to listen to it. Listed below are a few songs which we feel are top notch examples of the particular type of music.
MusicTitleAlbum
Waltz Foolish Superior Dancing Vol. 2
Jean Superior Dancing Vol. 1
Moon River Andy Williams' Greatest Hits
Tango Tango d'Amour Superior Dancing Vol. 2
Se Ti Prendo Dancelife's Int'l Standard
Wilkommen in der Traumfabrik Superior Dancing #1
Viennese Waltz I Feel Pretty Muscials for Dancing
Schatzwalzer Weltmelodien in Strikten Tanzrhythmus (Tauber)
Carousel Waltz 70 Years of Broadway 1935-1952
Foxtrot I Will Wait For You Superior Dancing Vol. 2
More Superior Dancing #3
Fly Me to the Moon Opening Night (and many other Frank Sinatra songs)
Singin' In The Rain 70 Years of Broadway 1924-1935
Quickstep Sing, Sing, Sing Swing Kids (soundtrack)
Flying Superior Dancing #4
It Don't Mean a Thing Bam-Boom
Friend Like Me Aladdin (soundtrack)
Cha-Cha Love Potion #9 LatinoAmericano
I Like It Like That Jock Jams Vol 3
Cantaloop Cantaloop (single)
It's in His Kiss Bam-Boom
Rumba Beautiful Maria of My Soul Mambo Kings (soundtrack)
Falling Into You Celine Dion
Quizas Quizas Quizas (Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps) Strictly Ballroom
Time After Time Strictly Ballroom
Truely, Madly, Deeply Savage Garden
Samba Tic Tic Tac A Lo Latina
I Just Can't Wait to be King More Cartoon Songs for Dancing
Macarena Ultimate Dance Party 1997
Paso Spanish Gipsy Dance (this is the archtype for paso doble)
Jive Stuff Like That There For The Boys (soundtrack)
Trickle Trickle Best of Manhattan Transfer
Hanky Panky Madonna: I'm Breathless
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Swing Alive! at Hollywood Palladium
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go Billboard Hits 1984
Mambo Johnny's Mambo More Dirty Dancing
De Todo Un Poco More Dirty Dancing
Ran Kan Kan Mambo Kings (soundtrack)
Tequila Jock Rock Vol 1
Bolero
Swing Kansas City Billboard Hits, 1959
Boy From New York City Manhattan Transfer Orchestra
Stagger Lee Billboard Hits, 1962
most Beach Boys (but they tend to be around 40mpm)
Hustle I Will Sruvive Billboard Hits 1979
Heart of Glass Billboard Hits 1979
Turn the Beat Around Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me
(anything danced by people in bellbottoms)
Note that the version is important because different artisit and different albums have different versions of the songs which may not have the correct speed and/or tempo.

3. Buying Music

Eventually, you'll want to get some music for yourself, so you can have it for your practice sessions. Unfortunately, ballroom music is expensive, so you might want to hold off on buying music until you have sufficient collateral for the loans you'll need (it's usually about $20-30 per CD)All vets have music and many are willing to let you borrow it. The team also has a (currently) limited music library (we're always welcoming donations of CDs, tapes, or money to get more CDs).

3.1 What to get

If you want to go buy some music, I would recommend getting a compilation of as much as possible for your first few CDs. This will allow you the most variety of music for your buck. Only later should you bother with more specialize CDs, e.g a swing/waltz CD. Obviously you should ask people you know to recommend CDs (and borrow them first if possible). Barring that, the following are fairly good ballroom series, and would be great for a first purchase. On the other hand, thse should be avoided until you really know your music, and know exactly what you're getting, as generally these aren't good bets:

In general, you can recognize a ballroom CD very easily. On the back, where it lists the music, next to each song wiill be it's type (e.g. samba, quickstep) and a mpm or bpm. There are exceptions, though, so be careful.

3.2 Where to get it

Places like Tower and HMV don't have much in the way of ballroom sections. However, if you know what you wnat, they can probabyl order it for you. I haven't checked on-line stores yet. ProDance is probably a good place to start. Tom also recommends Dance Trax International, who will play songs for you over the phone at 517-799-0348 (note that music of the phone will sonds flat since it's limited to 0-4kHz). When you go to USABDA competitions, music vendors (as well as other dance related vendors) are usually there selling their wares, and it's probably the best place to find ballroom music. If you do go to Tower, their section is currently loctaed on the 3rd floor. As you get off the escalator, slightly to your left towards the Lazz section. The music is against the outside wall, nearest the escalator.

4. Questions

Finally note that everyone has different taste. Whereas I, by definition, have good tatse, other people taste like leftover meatloaf. So don't take everything we say as gospel, or even coherent. If you have questions, feel free to ask me (hershey@mit.edu) or any other vet for their, offen differing, advice.




Categories:
W,T,F,Q,VWC,R,Sw,J,Sa,P,B,M
International Standard Latin
American Smooth Rhythm









[MIT Ballroom Dance Team]