Using the
Dance Phrases Count Books    

Sample Dance Phrases CD4 Countbook page

Play this MP3 excerpt  Quarter Turns from DANCE PHRASES II - Variations CD4 and follow along with the counts on the sample page.

The music begins with an introduction, 4 measures of three beats, counted 123,223,323,423.  The first phrase is 6 measures long (123,223,323,423,523,623).  The melody accents in that phrase are organized as 4 measures followed by 2 measures (123,223,323,423 - 523,623).  This 6 measure phrase repeats 4 times. The end of this section is marked by the // lines on the count book page.

The music then moves to a second section organized in 3 groups of 3, or a 9 measure phrase grouped in groups of 3 measures each. ( 123,223,323 . 423,523,623 . 723,823,923. ).  In this excerpt, this phrase of 9 repeats twice.  The entire exercise would then repeat again, as indicated by 2 reps on the count book page. (The original piece is longer and is faded out.)

Advanced students can work against the inherent inner rhythmic structure of this piece & thereby develop stronger rhythmic accuracy by learning a dance phrase that follows only the larger/ broader musical phrase.  For example, in section 1, instead of dancing to 123,223,323,423 - 523,623 as is; the danced phrase could be 123,223,323 - 423,523,623, with a strong accent on the 4th measure instead of the 5th measure given in the music.  In this way the dancer would be showing an accent on an unaccented measure of the music.  A more difficult example might be applied in section 2 by showing a dance phrase of 123,223 - 323,423 - 523,623 - 723,823,923 against the music.  In this example, the dance combination would show accents every 2 measures, going against the flow of the music which is showing an accent every 3 measures.  They would then come together for the last 3 measures of each group.  

These techniques can be applied to all the selections in DANCE PHRASES & DANCE PHRASES II - Variations and can help modern students to both listen to the music and develop rhythmic independence.

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