Listening to Music: 100 Times or More

Have you ever listened to one song or a set of tunes 10 times, 20, 30, 50 or 100 times? All within a few weeks or so?

Have you ever listed to the same song repeating for 30-60 minutes, then did it again a few times that same week? Only to repeat the exercise again over the next few weeks or months?

You should! Start doing it on your next drive! You will not believe the insights you'll get into music just by listing to a set of tunes over and over and over and over and over. You want the music flowing out of your pores, because so much is inside you it just has to come out or you will explode.

Every dancer should be listening to music when they're driving, jogging, working out or otherwise in a position to hear music while doing something else. There is magic in hearing the same tune(s) 100 times or more, focusing on different aspects of the music.

The goal is to find a few tunes you love, and play them to death, 50 or 100 times (or more). Then leave them for a few weeks and do it again. A few months later, do it again. Listen to different instruments, trying to hear each one by itself (something that takes practice, just like dance movements).

In my car, I have set my CD player to "repeat" one song over and over while driving 45 minutes to a club. Then on the way home I let it repeat the same tune again, for another 45 minutes. A couple of times per week I drive 20-45 minutes to get to specific clubs I like. I use that time to play tunes I like, trying to find new sounds I never heard before. Look for opportunities to use your iPod, CD, MP3 players or whatever to hear more music.

If I find a new song I really like, I often play it 20 to 50 times in the first two weeks I have it.

Sometimes I'll listen to the same tune in my car during those club drives, singing along with different instruments. (Nobody is in the car, and the windows are up, otherwise I might set the local dogs howling.) I might focus on the bass player or the piano, or pick out one percussionist, or focus on the horn section, trying to ignore all the other instruments. I may figure out how many horns are playing in a section (it varies at different points in the song), how many vocalists are singing, the combination of percussion instruments at different points and how it all fits together.

Sometimes it's fine NOT to focus on anything specific during some of the listenings, instead letting it wash over your brain without worrying about the details. I let it play in the background while thinking about other things. The idea is to go back and forth between picking out specifics and occasionally just taking it all in as one complete work.

I also listen to the same music at different volume levels, varying between a whisper and roaring, and different points between. Your ears hear different things depending on the volume, so don't only listen at one level. (I am careful about overall volume levels being too loud. See my previous article on club music being too loud.)

Of course, I recommend salsa music, but anything you really like is fine. Great music has depth, and you'll hear different things as you listen over and over, especially when you return to a favorite tune two months from now. It's like seeing a great movie over and over. You pick up things you didn't notice the first few viewings. In the music you'll start hearing instruments in the background that were too subtle to hear in the first 25 listenings.

Going to Palm Springs one time to teach at the SalsaMambo Festival, I repeated one song for the complete trip (three hours with traffic). Admittedly, it wasn't "We Will Rock You", but the title tune from Havana Nights (Do You Only Wanna Dance - Julio Daviel Big Band Conducted by Cucco Pena). I love the way the tune flows, the trumpet solo, the way the different instruments combine to create interesting textures, the build-up to a climax, and the great finish. (Ah, the mind starts daydreaming...)

In time, your dancing will reflect a new-found intimacy with the music. In a few months you'll be hearing music with a completely new set of ears, and your dancing will grow as well without your directly trying.

This is one of those "secrets" that few believe because it's so simple. Dancers who enjoy music over and over start hearing things their friends don't hear, and they grow faster than their peers. Get it started today. Find your tune(s) and see how many times you can hear them over the next month, then repeat in a few months and start adding new tunes slowly.

You'll love the results and your dancing will improve without direct effort!

Success is sweet; but it usually has the scent of sweat about it.
-Anonymous