I mix lots of genres of music for contras. The only track I’ve ever called without mixing
was the first release of Mika’s “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)” on Cartoon Motion. It goes
7x through so it was a real short dance but a nice filler with a no-walkthrough dance.
Everything else needs work. I only pick tracks that have clear 8-beat phrasing most of the
time. If I can I move the parts with indistinguishable phrases towards the end of the mix
once the dancers know the dance well. Alternatively I add a beat track to enhance the
beats and phrasing. I rarely mix by simple copy and paste, which allows me to do creative
stuff to ensure phrases are spot on. (“This is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before
Christmas was true to its name, a nightmare with a few slipped phrases of 9 or 7 beats,
but I *made* it to work.)
So it’s being selective, doing often heavy editing, and many other bits n bobs that are in
my secret sauce. I rarely try for AABB squaring since that can wreck the original music
too much. One still must count (I cheat: I perform from my mixing app which has the phrase
markings for me.)
\Bob
On Mar 29, 2019, at 11:58, jim saxe via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On Mar 28, 2019, at 2:39 PM, Bob via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
...
Live or mixed recordings? If live then it should be perfectly square AABB. If mixed, the
only thing you can count on is 8-beat phrases. ...
Can you even count on 8-beat phrases if someone, such as a caller or a knowledgeable DJ,
hasn't vetted the tracks?
I know practically nothing about techno music, but recordings in other genres that
aren't made for phrased dancing will not necessarily follow strict 8-beat phrasing.
For instance ...
It's pretty common for a folk singers accompanying themselves to play a few bars of
guitar strums--and not always the same number--while trying to remember the first line of
the next verse. While I haven't gone looking for examples, I'd be surprised if
such variable inter-verse vamping didn't sometimes appear even on studio recordings.
In some fiddle traditions, such as southern and Quebecois, besides straight tunes and
wildly crooked tunes, there are also tunes that are mostly straight but have an occasional
odd phrase. Even medleys of straight tunes can sometimes have some extra beats at the
transitions between tunes, as heard around 0:59 in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLUyg173n_M
Yo-Yo Ma - Fiddle Medley ft. Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile
Line dances are mostly choreographed to music that's in multiples of 8 beats, but
exceptions are hardly unusual. Also, in order to fit recordings that were made for
listening and not specifically for dance routines, line-dance step sheets may prescribe
various irregularities in the routines. Here are just a few of the examples a little
searching turned up:
https://www.learn2dance4fun.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Boot-Scootin-Boo…
Boot Scootin’ Boogie
38 count, 4 wall, beginner line dance
https://www.copperknob.co.uk/stepsheets/every-little-honky-tonk-ID132260.as…
Every Little Honky Tonk
32-count, 4 wall line dance with 12-count tag after wall 2
http://tinalinedancers.com/data/documents/Came-Here-To-Forget.pdf
Came Here To Forget
Description: Line Dance - 2 Wall (24ct.) - Intermediate 1 Restart, 2 Tags
Sequence: 24, 24, Tag 1, 14cts- Restart, 24, 24, Tag 2 (6cts.), 24, 24...
For some other examples of music that's largely, *but not entirely*, in chunks of 8
beats (or eight bars of triple meter), try listening to any of these while tapping your
foot or fingers and counting along:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg0kfd7kow4
Paul McCartney - When I'm 64
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33o32C0ogVM
Julie Andrews - My Favorite Things
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww
Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
So here's my question, for those of you who are more familiar with techno music than
I am: If you play a random track not already "vetted" for phrasing, if you find
a place where there's sufficiently discernible phrasing to establish a starting point
for your "mental metronome of 8 counts" (to quote Donna Hunt), if you use that
mental metronome to carry you through a part where phrasing is less evident, and if you
then get to another part with findable phrasing, how reliably (or not) can you expect that
the phrases will still line up with your mental eight-counts?
--Jim
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