Comments on The Unlikely Salsero - Don Baarns: Musicians Don't Dance

Nice piece, pretty much hits it on the nail. Howe...

2010-09-12T05:40:32.350-07:00

Nice piece, pretty much hits it on the nail.

However, I have to challenge the last paragraph. One of the more striking things you learn as a Musician/Dancer is how musically deaf most people are.

About 1 in 4 people can hold a beat, maybe 1 in 10 understand rhythm and syncopation.

The whole concept of strict tempo ballroom dancing implies the dancers can't dance to syncopated, rhythmic music (and mostly they can't, even at very high levels of physical performance).

Although we are surrounded by music - most people can't actually understand it. They are musically deaf, that applies to many dancers as well.

One of the horrors of learning to dance for a muscian is having to dance 'Against' the music, that is ignore the rhythm of the music in order to hit the tempo with precision.

A piece might cry out for syncopation at a certain point - but many dancers will often dance straight through it.

Whatever you do first you do best. If you started ...

2009-12-18T06:50:19.386-08:00

Whatever you do first you do best. If you started playing music at a young age then you are developing your fine motor skills at the expense of your gross motor skills. If you started off running around playing football etc you are going to be training your gross motor skills at the expense of finer motor skills. Being able to hear the music well gives and advantage but equal advantage to well coordinated large muscle groups. Another point is that it is very rare for someone not to have been exposed to a lot of music throughout their life - especially in this stone age. I would have thought that "feeling" music is pretty standard and much of why we like it so much, it is an integral part of every culture on the planet. Dancing well shows that you are an all-rounder with skills across the board -which is perhaps why good dancers appear quite attractive. I believe that a musician would be just as good at dance as a sportsperson would be playing an instrument. You cannot say that a musician can move any better or worse to music than a footballer can listen to or hear it. Whatever you would rather be is irrelevent.
Rachelle

Just heard the phrase 'musicians don't dance' so I...

2009-02-21T14:52:00.000-08:00

Just heard the phrase 'musicians don't dance' so I googled it and here I am. It makes sence since I'm a musician (band experience in rock, punk, hardcore, jazz, folk, - nowadays 95% classical) and don't dance. I think it's because we - the royal musician we (i.e. creative artists, no dj's etc.) - tend to analyze what we hear. Even subconsciously. Most cannot rationalize (listen instead of hear) and emotionalize (physical expression) at the same time. I'm not a dancer and never will be. Which is fine. I'd rather be a musician than no musician and a bad dancer.

Greetz from Old Europe

Your rewording is accurate. When you feel the emot...

2008-02-27T15:00:00.000-08:00

Your rewording is accurate. When you feel the emotion in the music, it's easier to recognize the dancers who are in sync with the music.

You also quickly know that your moves are NOT representing the music, and it can be disappointing because you hear it, but can't express it with your body.

In order to dance well, you have to dance for a while and gain some experience. People who grow very quickly as dancers often have some background (martial arts, gymnastics, or other athletics) which provide foundational body control that kick starts their dancing.

Musicians often sit and watch dancers, and that is fine. But listening to music doesn't make you a strong musician unless you also practice your instrument consistantly.

To dance well you have to be willing to dance poorly for a while, and that can be tougher when you went through a similar learning curve before.

I found this to be a more coherent explanation for...

2008-02-27T12:43:00.000-08:00

I found this to be a more coherent explanation for these sayings about musicians lacking in dancing skills than I found over at Dance Forums.

Maybe I'm just rephrasing your words here, but I would also suspect that a trained musician would be more prone to take the music more "seriously", and tend to not enjoy dancing "badly" as much as the average beginner, as well as being more aware of the actual difficulties involved when learning a new instrument.

Could make it more understandable if musicians might hesitate to enter the dance floor altogether, they already have a pretty good way of using the music already.

Eliza,

Yes, the "just listen to the music" ...

2008-02-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

Eliza,

Yes, the "just listen to the music" comment makes it sound like that is the "key" to dancing well. (Similar to the "let the music move you" comment which also makes me smile.)

Part of that is the realization that many dancers don't really understand the music well, and that is their weakness. When they start hearing what you are hearing, their dancing soars quickly, because they already know their instrument well (their bodies).

The musicians have to give it enough time and effort to get to the "feeling it" stage that many dancers have due to their experience. In some ways we "think to much" because we recognize the feel of the music.

Best to you! Keep on dancing so we have more musical dancers in the scene.

Hi. i just stumbled on your blog and was very inte...

2008-02-08T05:57:00.000-08:00

Hi. i just stumbled on your blog and was very interested to read your piece on musicians and why they don't dance. I played bass guitar in my 20s and started learning salsa at 39, but was frustrated as I could clearly hear the music while being unable to express this in my dancing. I was told by a few people to "listen to the music", but your article explains it all very well - you just have to be patient and keep going. I've been dancing for 4 years and I still have a long way to go before I can dance to the music and the different instruments in the way I want to! Eliza