February 13, 2008

Learning to Listen to Salsa Rhythms and Other Social Dance Music

After a bit of a false start last year, I'm back to learning how to listen to salsa music and other social dance music.

I'm working with Don Baarns of The Unlikely Salsero blog. You can read Don's post about this project and I created a public Google document that details this process and the exercises that Don has recommended. This Google doc will be updated as we continue.

As you'll read in Don's post and the Google doc, we are starting with a non-Salsa tune simply because the beat is easy to hear and will help me develop strong, consistent counting skills. It doesn't really matter at this point if we start with a Salsa song or not--even though most will be. We will also delve into Argentine Tango music later on in the process.

Not being able to hear the rhythm in Salsa music has been a real roadblock in my efforts to learn how to Salsa dance. After the progress I've made over the past week working with Don, I'm pretty confident that in 3 to 6 months I'll be able to both hear the "1" in Salsa music on a consistent basis and appreciate the music in ways that I've never been able to.

If you have suggestions of rhythm-learning resources for social dancing that I can add to the Google doc, please let me know. I've added a few links at the bottom of that document.

Much thanks to Don for sharing his advice and experiences, and for helping me to hear the rhythm!

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