Wednesday 18 October 2017

Counts Commonly Used in Salsa

Counts Commonly Used in Salsa.
A explanation of the most common counts used in salsa classes and a discussion of their pros and cons. I've also included my preferences and recommendations.

What is counting for?
Counting serves several main purposes:
  • To connect us to the rhythm within the music, thereby synchronising the foot work sequence FWS to the speed of the music. This is achieved through identifying the pulses or beats within the music and vocalising them with a word. Our actions, including the FWS can be timed to those words.
  • Counts are used to synchronise the start of the FWS with the desired beat of the bar (usually the first) i.e. dancing in time.
  • Some counts may inform the dancer which foot they should be using at any time. This can either be in real time e.g. “left” is instantly comprehensible as your left foot, or as a debugging tool for when something has gone wrong e.g. “seven” in the 8-count will mean leaders right foot. (With practise this can become instant)

What’s wrong with counting?
The downside of counting is that the nuance of the music is often lost if the count is allowed to dominate your thoughts. Then you’re dancing only to the count and not the music. This prevents you from interpreting the music, or noticing if you are still synchronised to it i.e. dancing out of time.
Counts should be used as a temporary tool, to be discarded as soon as unnecessary. They should be viewed as a way to connect to the music not a replacement.
Worst case you find yourself out of time, with your mouth silently mouthing the words of a count. Beware it’s hard to loose a bad habit!

There are many counts commonly used in dance classes. There is no correct or official count, although some are more popular than others. The important thing is to understand their limitations and benefits and select the best tool for you at any particular time and not to use them when they are unnecessary.

Counts:


Pulse:
Any noise is used to mark the the beat of the music. I’ve used the word ‘Tak’ as this is a popular word used to mark the pulse in mainland Europe.
e.g. Tak Tak Tak ___ Tak Tak Tak ___
Pros:
It makes the beats stand out from the music and allows the dancer to connect to them.
Cons:
It doesn’t inform the dancer which foot they should be used next.
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4-Count A.K.A  'The musician’s count':
e.g.  1234 1234
1 Bar = 4 beats or 1 measure (USA)

Pros:
This is a global musical convention used by musicians all over the world. It is also used in almost all school music curriculum's and is clearly defined.
Salsa music is always notated as four beats to a bar i.e. 4:4 time. The length of a bar is not optional if you wish to remain within the musical convention*.
We can choose not to honour the convention but it may cause confusion and even sound ignorant if musical convention terms are used e.g. beats and bars, when we are deliberately not within the convention. I think best practise should be to avoid the phase ‘beat five’ as there is no beat five within the musical convention. Better to say ‘step five’ or ‘foot five’ to lessen the confusion. It may seem just semantics but I’ve seen many incorrect assumption presented in classes e.g. “The musical count spans the same period as the 8-count but is half the speed” THIS IS NOT CORRECT! The correct definition in terms of the musical convention, is that the FWS spans two bars of music.

The 4-Count allows for turnarounds in the music. (see below)

Cons:
This count does not describe which foot is being stepped into. i.e. ‘One’ may refer to a left or right foot.

Left Right Left Pause Right Left Right Pause
1     2      3     4       1       2     3      4

*I took the opportunity to discuss this fully with the head of conducting at The Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the head of percussion at The Royal College of Music, both are two of the world's leading conservatoires of music.

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8-count A.K.A.'The footwork count':
e.g. 123_567_
Spanning two bars, the footwork is clearly described, each step has it’s own number. Usually One is leader’s left foot and follower’s right, two is leader’s right and follower’s left etc.  The fourth and eighth beats are silent as no step is taken.

Pros:
  • Referencing the feet allows an instructor to say an action happens on beat five and the whole class understands which foot is required.
  • It’s a very popular count used by many teachers.
  • Eight beats is a near ideal length for remembering movement. I once found some scientific research on this but have since lost the reference. 
  • It’s excellent for conveying a series of moves or combos to groups who have already mastered their FWS.

Cons:
  • For beginners quoting numbers does not have any instant meaning compared to quoting left and right so there is not error prevention only debugging. In fairness to the 8-count, dancers quickly gain mastery of ‘one’ and ‘five’ and it’s almost as instant as ‘left’ and right’.

  • It addictive! So many dancers keep counting when they no longer need to, often moving their lips which looks idiotic. Vocalising numbers seems far more addictive than other words. The cure for count addiction is simple. Don’t count or ditch it ASAP!

  • Often the dancer is not dancing to the music but to the count in their head, which prevents them from interpreting the music.

  • The ‘One’ and ‘five’ is over emphasised leading to a stronger step on the ‘One’ or ‘five’ where there is no emphasis desired or in the the music.

  • The main benefit i.e. referencing the feet is often undermined in classes where the  follower’s One is their right foot when dancing with a partner, and their left foot when dancing in a line-up. This can be confusing.

  • Turnaround: In salsa music there are phrases and sections, like sentences and paragraphs, that form verses and choruses etc. These phrases often end with a distinctive ‘break’ that is easy to hear. In the genre of salsa sections are mainly an even number of bars in length but quite often there’s a ‘Turnaround’ where an extra bar is included. The Turnaround deliberately changes it’s feel of the following section’s rhythmic structure.
Dancers who use an eight count often fall into the trap of assuming the first beat at the
start of a section to always be a ‘One’. After a turnaround it may be a ‘Five’ which make them believe they have made a mistake. I have worked with teachers who have outlawed dancing on ‘Five’ or elevated it to an ‘Advanced Only’ technique. I believe this is not best practice. There is nothing wrong with dancing on ‘five.’  Get used to it. It may feel different and unfamiliar but that’s what learning something new is all about. It will also provoke a different repertoire of moves for the leaders. Listen out for tracks with turnarounds, there’s lots of them.
There is nothing wrong or unusual about dancing on five, but if you don’t want to you’ll need to find ways of flipping your FWS and your partners. I recommend Freezes, Transition Steps and eight beat moves, or just wait for another turnaround.

Without turnaround:
123 567 123 567 123 567 123 567 break 123 567 123 567
note the the first beat after the break is a one.

With turnaround:
123 567 123 567 123 567 123 567 123 break  567 123 567 123
note the the first beat after the break is now a five.   


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Beats 'n Bars:  
1234 2234 3234 4234 (underlined indicates which bar, the remainder which beat)
I believe this is a Ballroom/Latin count.
Pros: Great for long choreography
Cons: Choreography is the bane of freestyle salsa.


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Quick Quick Slow:
The quicks last one beat and the slow lasts two beats.
Another popular Ballroom/Latin count.
Interestingly the words are used to convey the period in between the pulses rather than the pulses as in ‘Tak Tak Tak’. This is actually more accurate as a beat is a period of time rather than a point in time.

Quick Quick Slooooooow
1       2       3       4

Pros:
Can be effective in emphasising a fluid transition from one bar to the next.
Cons:
Very limited apart from above use. The words have no connection to the FWP.
I wonder if ‘Medium’ would mean one and a half beats!
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Position to Position:
Unusual and rare but effective for getting the shape of the move.
Position 1 -(no fixed amount of time)- Position 2 -(no fixed amount of time) -Position 3
I’m not sure if this counts as a count, but it uses numbers so I’ve put it in. I once went to a class that used this count and it was confusing as hell at first. Later I enjoyed the way that it assumes you already have mastered FWS and timing.
Pros: It makes the dancer think about certain positions, how they look and the transitions to get there.

Cons: It has no connection with the music at all at!

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Left Right Left Pause Right Left Right Pause      
  
My personal favourite for use with beginners and anyone who has asked the question which foot am I on?
I recommended its use whenever under stress i.e. the move is new or flawed.
Pros:
Many hesitation mistakes are avoided as it’s very clear which foot is next.
We’ve usually learnt left and right and numbers by around six years old but numbers are never used to describe direction, so in a moment of hesitation, the dancers vocalising left or right will generally take the correct step without having to think. The dancer counting will have to work out which foot it should be.
As a debugging tool. To identify and fix an error quoting the FWS lets the dancer know exactly where the error is before it’s been practised.
It does not linger i.e. it's  not addictive. In fact you'll drop it to soon.

cons:
It's difficult to use at first and requires a little practise to become fluent saying the phrase: left right left pause, right left right pause.
It feels mechanical which is fine if you're debugging something or attempting it for the time. Because of this mechanical feel it doesn’t feel cool.

About 5% of the population have convinced themselves that they are rubbish at left and right, and these people feel a great resistance to the tool. This is sad because it may in fact help them with left and right.


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Tick Tock:
Quote Tick or Tock on alternate first beats of the bar.

Tick         Tock          Tick         Tock            
1  2  3  4  1  2  3  4  1  2  3  4  1  2  3  4

This is my prefered tool which is surprisingly useful and easy to adopt.
It’s best used when not under great stress (see Left Right Left Pause)
I recommend it for when things are working but still require a little help regarding which foot you're on.

Pros:
  • Easy to teach and adopt.

  • Non addictive.

  • These plenty of silence to hear and connect to the music leading to interpretation.

  • The secret is to be very light as is the words touch the beat like a butterfly landing for a moment. This seems to lift the dancer from a dogmatic mechanical mode into a lighter conversational mode.
Cons: Not as useful as 8-count in conveying choreography, and has no sense of cool about it.

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Conclusion:
People often confuse the style of teaching with the resulting salsa style. Counts are just tools to be used and discarded when no longer necessary. Understanding where the pros and cons of each are enable you to get on with the business of dancing and having fun.

My Salsa Rapido method's approach to counts used when teaching is to use ‘Left Right Left Pause’ for the high concentration mechanics. ‘Tick and Tock’ for to practise up a combo and the 8-count for conveying moves to those who no longer need to count.

No advanced dancer or competent Intermediate counts when they dance freestyle salsa. In other words: It's the music that counts not the dancer!

One final tip: Avoid ANY track or app that puts a count over the music. If they count for you, you’ll be slow to find your timing. 

That's it my number's up :-)