Ceroc Scotland Forum - View Single Post - t-t-timing

**DavidB** · 15th-December-2002, 07:29 PM

(I'm neither a musician, or a music teacher. This is a dance-based view of music.)

A break is an interruption in the music. You are expecting a beat - but there isn't one. The idea of "hitting the breaks" is that if the music stops, then you should stop moving. And when the music starts again - you start moving again. It is sometimes called the second stage of musical interpretation (the first is dancing in time!)

Since is a partner dance, hitting the breaks looks best when you both do it. Unless you are doing a choreographed routine, or are both telepathic, you have to try to lead the pause. This is when you get 2 problems - when is the break coming, and how do you lead it.

Knowing when the breaks are coming is fairly easy - even if you have never heard the song before. Although each song is different, within each song the breaks are almost always in the same place. As a dancer I generally count music in eights (ie 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, etc.) In pop music there are 4 eights to a verse or chorus. In Blues music there are 6 eights in a verse or chorus. The break is usually on the 1 or the 5 of the last eight in the verse
So count all the way through the first verse, and note when the break happens - is it on the 1 or the 5. (Don't worry about hitting the first break.) Then when you want to hit the next break - start counting at the beginning of a verse. It will be in the same place. The only problem is that you have to dance at the same time...

Leading the breaks is harder in jive than other dances. Jive emphasises the odd beats (1 3 5 7), whereas most other dances emphasise the even beats (2 4 6 8). In other dances, it is immediately noticable when you emphasise an odd beat, because you are doing something different. But in Jive we do this anyway. To do something different tends to mean leading differently - usually 'bigger'. If like most jivers you already lead big - you risk injuring your partner. This is why if you notice the people who are good at hitting breaks (Nigel, Roger Chin etc) they have pretty light leads in the first place.

The other thing is don't assume you have to do everything. If you have a good partner, then the chances are she can hit breaks all by herself. So give her a chance - and just take the credit!

When you start playing around with all this, expect your dancing to get worse. Most people can only think of one thing at a time when dancing - usually for the men this is what move do I do next. As soon as you start thinking about the music, the rest of your dancing will go downhill very quickly, and you will feel like a beginner again. But it is worth it.

David

(Again I didn't discover any of this by myself - this time credit goes to Mario Robau.)

15th-December-2002, 07:29 PM	#8 (permalink)
DavidB Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 2,130 Rep Power: 5 Reputation Total: 1417	(I'm neither a musician, or a music teacher. This is a dance-based view of music.) A break is an interruption in the music. You are expecting a beat - but there isn't one. The idea of "hitting the breaks" is that if the music stops, then you should stop moving. And when the music starts again - you start moving again. It is sometimes called the second stage of musical interpretation (the first is dancing in time!) Since is a partner dance, hitting the breaks looks best when you both do it. Unless you are doing a choreographed routine, or are both telepathic, you have to try to lead the pause. This is when you get 2 problems - when is the break coming, and how do you lead it. Knowing when the breaks are coming is fairly easy - even if you have never heard the song before. Although each song is different, within each song the breaks are almost always in the same place. As a dancer I generally count music in eights (ie 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, etc.) In pop music there are 4 eights to a verse or chorus. In Blues music there are 6 eights in a verse or chorus. The break is usually on the 1 or the 5 of the last eight in the verse So count all the way through the first verse, and note when the break happens - is it on the 1 or the 5. (Don't worry about hitting the first break.) Then when you want to hit the next break - start counting at the beginning of a verse. It will be in the same place. The only problem is that you have to dance at the same time... Leading the breaks is harder in jive than other dances. Jive emphasises the odd beats (1 3 5 7), whereas most other dances emphasise the even beats (2 4 6 8). In other dances, it is immediately noticable when you emphasise an odd beat, because you are doing something different. But in Jive we do this anyway. To do something different tends to mean leading differently - usually 'bigger'. If like most jivers you already lead big - you risk injuring your partner. This is why if you notice the people who are good at hitting breaks (Nigel, Roger Chin etc) they have pretty light leads in the first place. The other thing is don't assume you have to do everything. If you have a good partner, then the chances are she can hit breaks all by herself. So give her a chance - and just take the credit! When you start playing around with all this, expect your dancing to get worse. Most people can only think of one thing at a time when dancing - usually for the men this is what move do I do next. As soon as you start thinking about the music, the rest of your dancing will go downhill very quickly, and you will feel like a beginner again. But it is worth it. David (Again I didn't discover any of this by myself - this time credit goes to Mario Robau.)