The Musical Characteristics of Dance

Musical Characteristics of Dance

Tonality 

 Dance music often can surprisingly use minor tonality for a darker sound which is common in house and techno. Dance still use a lot of major tonality for that brighter feel which is more inspired by pop music and festival music.

Harmony 

Dance music's harmony is usually involves limited chord progressions, typically with 2-4 chord loops. An example of this is the typical progression of : I-V-vi-IV and vi-IV-I-V.

Extensions 

The typical extensions in Dance music are 7th chords and 9th chords to add flavour to the chords giving soulful and brighter sounds.

Scales 

A common scale in dance music is a Natural Minor Scale, common in subgenres like house, techno and trance. It gives the music a more dark driving sound perfect for tense build ups.

Riffs 

Dance riffs are often simple and catchy to create one continuous groove, used to keep people dancing.

Rhythms 

The most common rhythm in dance is a 4/4 rhythm used in disco, techno and EDM, rhythms often have a strong back beat. There can also be syncopation to create a funkier sound and more spontaneous dynamically tense sound.

Melody 

Melodies are often repetitive and looped, they also always include a hook to make the melody memorable, dance melodies try to keep people dancing so they keep it simple.

Instruments 

Common instruments in dance music are drum machines, electric guitars, samplers, synthesizers and percussion instruments.

Textures 

Typical textures in dance music are homophonic, call and response. There also could be polyphonic rhythms due to the layering gin dance music.

Lyrics 

The lyrical themes can be about celebration, partying, love, personal empowerment and escapism, dance lyrics don't tend to have sad themes.

Instrumental Techniques  

Common techniques are four-on-the-floor kick patterns which is a staple in house and techno, another common technique is layered percussion to create more complex rhythms.

Improvisation

Drummers can often do improvised spontaneous fills, to keep listeners on their toes, keyboards and synthesizers can also do improvised riffs.

Important notation  

<  This is notation for "Murder on The Dancefloor''

3 Subgenre's of Dance

- Three subgenres of dance include House, Drum & Bass and Techno.

- All 3 have in similar their structures, like how they are repetitive with steady 4/4 beats, they also all produced by digital tools/electric instruments like drum machines, synthesizers, sequencers and samplers.

- House music originated in Chicago in the 80's with inspirations from disco, funk and soul. The tempo is typically between 118-135 BPM, it often uses the four-on-the-floor rhythm with a kick drum on every beat. Melodies can often feel soulful, with vocals and uplifting bass lines. - Armand Van Helden - You Don't Know Me (Original Mix) (1998)

- Techno originated in Detroit in the 80s with a electro, industrial glitchy sound. The tempo is typically between 120-150 BPM. It has a 4/4 repetitive rhythm with a bass drum on each quarter note.  Melodies can sound minimalist, hypnotic and mechanical, techno is more known for its experimentation. - Da Hool - meet her at the Loveparade - Official Video (HQ)

- Drum and Bass originated in the UK in the 90s being evolved from Jungle music. Its tempo is typically between 160-180 BPM, being the fastest out of the 3. Rhythms can be complex with fast-paced backbeats. The melodies are energetic, aggressive and intense. - Q Project - Champion Sound - Alliance Remix

Opinions on Subgenre's 

- My personal favourite out of the 3 is probably house because in my opinion it is the best to dance to, the other 2 were a bit too funky.

Famous musicians in each subgenre 

- A famous House musician is Frankie Knuckles, he shaped house music in the 70s-80s. He was a DJ and he introduced seamless DJ transitions, live remixing and reel-to-reel tapes. He made famously known tracks like Your Love and Baby Wants To Ride.

- A famous Techno musician is Jeff Mills, he was known as ''The Wizard''. He was based in Detroit and was famous for his high-speed DJ sets. He is most famous for his track called The Bells, it is a classic in the techno genre which makes him a key figure in techno history.

- A famous D&B musician is Goldie, he is a UK music producer, DJ and the founder of the label Metalheadz. People say he pioneered drum and bass with his 1995 album ''Timeless'' which remains a classic to British culture to this day.

Evolution of Dance

- Dance music has involved from ancient traditional roots, where tribes and prehistoric communities can come together in a sort of ceremonial, communal dance. Then it turned into folk music in the more European countries, this brought new instruments into the mix like string instruments. Then came jazz where music sounded more swung with a range of styles some more chilled and some that could get a crowd dancing. When the Disco era came around there was a rise of certain communities that came together with dance to express their freedom. Then onwards Dance itself became its own genres specifically for night clubs and then paved the way for all it's subgenres.

What Dance has in common with other styles 

- The main thing Dance has in common with other genre's is it's goal to make people move, Dance like many genre's brings people together with it's catchy rhythms and repetitive melodies, much like Pop.