Hitting the breaks and loving it!

[Cornish Pixie]

I know its been mentioned countless times, but how much better are dances when you lead to let the woman improvise on certain breaks and she hits the beat perfectly!

People say it takes practice to hit those breaks but is that just because the more you practise the more you get to know the songs and so can hit the breaks/interpret them better?
What im trying to say is - once you learn basic invitations to the lady to interpret such as the half backhander thing what can you do to improve upon your ability to hit the breaks/improvise

U get me?

i read in one thread about being able to predict breaks by counting bars etc.

Can anyone elaborate?

[Dreadful Scathe]

It takes a visit to at least 3 bars before you fall over and break something

[Andreas]

There is little art in hitting the breaks of a song you know inside out. Practicing it means you hit the breaks in songs you are not familiar with/heard for the first time

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by thewurlitzerrocks

i read in one thread about being able to predict breaks by counting bars etc.

Can anyone elaborate?

Lots of tracks have breaks occurring at regular intervals.

A few that come to mind are:

Wade in the water (Eva Cassidy)
Crawling up a hill (Katie Melua)
King of the Road (??)
Sixteen tons (Tom Jones)

There are lots of others. Mostly the break happens at the beginning of bar 7, where each phrase is 8 bars.

Sixteen tons is slightly different, cos ISTR there's a couple of bars of glue after the chorus and before the start of the next verse.

If you listen to tracks like this you can predict the breaks by counting bars, but try not to make it just based on counting. If you listen to the way the music sounds leading up to the break then you'll start to hear it coming, which is essential for tracks where the breaks aren't at regular intervals.

An extreme example of the latter is Every Little Thing (Carlene Carter), in which there is only one break about 2/3 of the way through. But if you listen carefully, eventually you'll start to hear what's going on in the music and the break will become completely unmissable.

Lots of practice at listening to music with breaks in it is the answer, IMHO

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by Andreas

There is little art in hitting the breaks of a song you know inside out.

Even if this is true (and I'm not so sure it is, given the variety of things you can do with breaks), I don't think it's helpful to someone just beginning to think about listening for, and hitting, the breaks in tracks.

Given that the vast majority of people dance through them completely oblivious to their existence (and I was one of them until about a couple of years ago ), I think it's fab that someone is interested enough in doing stuff other than 'just moves' with the music, especially so soon after being a beginner.

Hitting the breaks in tracks you know well is a perfectly sound thing to do, and IMHO not to be belittled - I hope that wasn't your intention

Of course it's the case that as you get better, it gets easier to hear breaks coming even in tracks you've never heard before, but becoming able to set up a break ahead of time, even in a track you know, marks a huge milestone in one's dance progress, and shouldn't be sneezed at.

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Even if this is true (and I'm not so sure it is, given the variety of things you can do with breaks), I don't think it's helpful to someone just beginning to think about listening for, and hitting, the breaks in tracks.

Given that the vast majority of people dance through them completely oblivious to their existence (and I was one of them until about a couple of years ago ), I think it's fab that someone is interested enough in doing stuff other than 'just moves' with the music, especially so soon after being a beginner.

Hitting the breaks in tracks you know well is a perfectly sound thing to do, and IMHO not to be belittled - I hope that wasn't your intention

Of course it's the case that as you get better, it gets easier to hear breaks coming even in tracks you've never heard before, but becoming able to set up a break ahead of time, even in a track you know, marks a huge milestone in one's dance progress, and shouldn't be sneezed at.

Don't get me wrong the LAST thing I was wanting to do is discourage somebody. My response was mainly to the sentence below but I admit to being guilty of not reading the post to its end where the request for elaboration was

but is that just because the more you practise the more you get to know the songs

[Zebra Woman]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

An extreme example of the latter is Every Little Thing (Carlene Carter), in which there is only one break about 2/3 of the way through. But if you listen carefully, eventually you'll start to hear what's going on in the music and the break will become completely unmissable.

'Completely umissable' huh?



Now there's a challenge

[drathzel]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Lots of practice at listening to music with breaks in it is the answer, IMHO

If you listen to music and really listen (sounds daft but its like you actauuly get into the music as apposed to just listening to the finished product) you will learn to find where things are, including breaks, where to put dips for most effect etc!

This is something you can train yourself to do as until recently(prob when i satrted dancing) i had very little clue about music. I was always crap in procussion section in school !

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by Zebra Woman

'Completely unmissable' huh?

Yep.

And I said

will become completely unmissable

... not 'always was completely unmissable'

[Lory]

Originally Posted by thewurlitzerrocks

i read in one thread about being able to predict breaks by counting bars etc.

Can anyone elaborate?

Well, (I've had a drink and will probably regret saying this tomorrow, as i'll probably come across as really cocky but ) I can just sort of hear them, instinctively, even if i've never heard a piece of music before!

Sorry, that was absolutely no help at all, was it?

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by Lory

I can just sort of hear them, instinctively, even if i've never heard a piece of music before!

Sorry, that was absolutely no help at all, was it?

...makes mental note not to dance with Lory if not on top break-predicting form

[MartinHarper]

I heard from someone that:

Sometimes dancing is with the music. The music goes "Zap-bu-dee-Da", and we dance "Zap-bu-dee-Da".
Sometimes dancing is a response to the music. The music goes "Zap-bu-dee-Da", and we dance "Zap-bu-dee-(pause)-DA!"

Translated back to the land of non-gods... You can "miss" the break, but still hit it by responding to it.

[Bigger Andy]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

I think it's fab that someone is interested enough in doing stuff other than 'just moves' with the music

A commendable attitude. People should be continually striving for improvement, and encouraged to do so.

[Nick M]

[quote=Lory]Well, (I've had a drink and will probably regret saying this tomorrow, as i'll probably come across as really cocky but ) I can just sort of hear them, instinctively, even if i've never heard a piece of music before!QUOTE]

I can hear them instinctively too ........

usually about half-a-beat too late to hit them

[Daisy Chain]

[quote=Nick M
I can hear them instinctively too ........

usually about half-a-beat too late to hit them [/QUOTE]

Oh me too! I also have 20/20 hindsight.

Daisy

(A Myopic Little Flower)

[Cornish Pixie]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Given that the vast majority of people dance through them completely oblivious to their existence

Oh, i thought it was just a cornish thing that a large majority of dancers down heres only association with the word musicality is a tv programme!

[Trish]

Originally Posted by Lory

Well, (I've had a drink and will probably regret saying this tomorrow, as i'll probably come across as really cocky but ) I can just sort of hear them, instinctively, even if i've never heard a piece of music before!

Sorry, that was absolutely no help at all, was it?

I find I can hear them whether I know the music or not (and if the guy allows me to - stop or whatever) when dancing as a follower. It's much more difficult to realise they are about to happen, and get into a position where you lead something interesting at exactly the right time though! I can do it sometimes, but even though I often know it's coming, it doesn't always mean I hit the break exactly, as you have to get the timing right. If it was leading you were talking about Lory then - !!

[under par]

Originally Posted by Trish

I find I can hear them whether I know the music or not (and if the guy allows me to - stop or whatever) when dancing as a follower. It's much more difficult to realise they are about to happen, and get into a position where you lead something interesting at exactly the right time though! I can do it sometimes, but even though I often know it's coming, it doesn't always mean I hit the break exactly, as you have to get the timing right. If it was leading you were talking about Lory then - !!

I think I know what you mean , 3 years ago music was just somethng in the background of my life something I used to listen to as a teeenager. Top of th pops was now something for the youngsters to watch, whereas many others I know took an active part in listening to and accumulating music.

Then through starting to dance MJ there came a dawning moment when the haze lifted....

i was dancing MJ moves and MJ moves and MJ moves over and over again at classes and weekends.

I was in fear of forgetting the moves when going onto the dance floor or not having enough moves, but it was the moves that where in my head not the music!!!

then about a year ago at the first Southport (I know this topical but it just happened to be there for me) something happened ..... during the freestyle on the friday nightthere was a moment with a couple of dancers when I realised i was dancing TO the music and not to my preconcieved set of dance moves.

halleluja (sp?) I was flowing through moves into others without a concious thought of doing so......and........I began to find the odd break just "happening" for me! Almost sneaking up on me and shouting "BOO! I'm here!!"

That weekend really allowed me to practice this soooo sooo much that I suddenly actually believed in myself and realised I did have some ability to dance and was not a man with 2 left feet,(which was an honest held belief).

The breaks now come through thick and fast, as I believe I now usually dance to the music that I now hear much better.

I still get carried away and suddenly can hear a break approaching fast and really muck it up trying to chase round a move or 2 to get to the position I feel would suit the break in the music. but a lot of the times I find breaks well and can give up some time for my partner to have a play too.

(I would particularly like to thank Mrs Par, Miss Conduct and Zebra Woman for helping me to get through the haze last year )

[Zebra Woman]

Originally Posted by under par

That weekend really allowed me to practice this soooo sooo much that I suddenly actually believed in myself and realised I did have some ability to dance and was not a man with 2 left feet,(which was an honest held belief).

The breaks now come through thick and fast, as I believe I now usually dance to the music that I now hear much better.

I still get carried away and suddenly can hear a break approaching fast and really muck it up trying to chase round a move or 2 to get to the position I feel would suit the break in the music. but a lot of the times I find breaks well and can give up some time for my partner to have a play too.

(I would particularly like to thank Mrs Par, Miss Conduct and Zebra Woman for helping me to get through the haze last year )

Thank you Paul . I can assure you the pleasure was ours....We had a lot of fun in dancing in the haze didn't we? Plus the long term benefit for us has been beyond our wildest imaginings. You have blossomed into a stupendous dancer now ...So musical and dramatic .

Those drops on Sunday night...well. They were so original, and one was very very low and fast! I thought I'd died and gone to heaven . You are the master .

[Minnie M]

Originally Posted by Zebra Woman

Thank you Paul ..........

Had some great dances with you this weekend - especially that bum wiggle move at the 'bar' - or was it a pole dance move whatever it was enjoyed every dance second on the track we made use of every break