Swing Kids Musicality Series
Teachers: Anh Tan and Thai Tran
Class 1: Breaks
A break is a place in the song where the music seems to stop. Usually the
rhythm section drops out of the song and you hear only one
voice/instrument playing. When a break occurs, you can acknowledge it
by doing something that is different from what you have been doing.
The simplest thing to do is to just stop. Fancier alternatives include
slides and dips.
| Steps: |
Glide-to-the-Side
Butter (Barrel) Roll |
| Songs: |
"Whistle Stop" by Louis Prima
"Farther On Up the Road" by Lucky Peterson
"Big Fine Daddy" by Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet
Lickers |
Class 2: Phrasing
There's an analogy between how prose and music are structured:
| Word | = | Note |
| Sentence | = | 8-count |
| Paragraph | = | Phrase |
| Story | = | Song |
In most swing songs, a phrase is composed of four 8-counts. The last
8-count of a phrase sounds different from the three that precede it and is
known as a turnaround -- you know that a phrase is ending when you hear the
turnaround. A good place to do a transition step (e.g. starting the
dance, Lindy Circle, Tuck Turn, entrance/exit into Charleston Kicks) is at
a phrase change. A lot of older swing songs have phrases that are
organized in an AABA pattern (the 1st, 2nd, and 4th phrases are the
same). In blues songs, a phrase is composed of six 8-counts and may not
have pronounced turnarounds.
| Steps: |
Crossover (Rolling) Charleston Kicks |
| Songs: |
"The Dirty Rooster" by Slim Galliard
"Jump Session" by Slim Galliard
"Rockin' Robin" by Bobby Day
"The Madison Time (Part II)" by Ray Bryant |
Class 3: Highlighting Accents in the Music
Sometimes there are "hits" in the music and sometimes notes feel like they
are "stretched out" in the music. You can match this by either speeding
up or slowing
down whatever you were already doing. Don't have a default rhythm for
your steps!
| Steps: |
Outside Turn variations (stop turn, slow turn, punctuated turn) |
| Songs: |
"Shiny Stockings" by Count Basie
"I Diddle" by Dinah Washington |
Class 4: Dancing to the Melody
Normally our dance steps match the rhythm section of the music. To dance
to the melody, pick out a single instrument from the song and step in
response to it. Don't try to do this for the entire song or you'll drive
yourself crazy -- alternate between dancing to the rhythm and dancing to
the melody.
| Steps: |
Make them up in response to the music! |
| Songs: |
"Splanky" by Count Basie |
Final Comments
I want to dispel two common myths: 1. You have to already know the music
very well; and 2. You have to know a lot of fancy steps to dance
musically. Throughout this series, we have tried to focus on reacting to
the music rather than planning in advance, and we have focused on many
variations of a few simple steps rather than giving you a lot of different
steps. Being attentive to the music is sufficient -- you already know
what to do.
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