question for musicians and historians
Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2002 2:04 am
is this true?
jpowell wrote:
Music lesson time:
Actually, Lindy was originally danced to "big band" music, not swing music. Swing music is a form of jazz music which "swings the beat" (or just "swings" for short) or in other words, the traditional 8th note subdivisions of a beat are replaced with the first and third note of a triplet (loosely felt -- it doesn't have to be an exact triplet), giving the song a more relaxed and lazy feeling. This can most prominently be heard in the drumbeat but it can also be manifest by the expression of the other players and can be heard from time to time in the notes that they play (esp. during solos).
The classic big band music to which Lindy was originally danced almost always uses straight 8th notes and does not "swing". Swing music (in its various forms) did not become popular until later.
Also, many swing dancers today (in all forms but especially Lindy) like to use boogie songs which generally use straight 8ths in the beat and do not "swing". I have no problem with this since the "swing" in "swing dancing" should be manifest in the dancer but doesn't necessarily have to be plainly audible in the music, so long as the music creates an atmosphere in which we can still feel good while dancing with a swing feeling to it (a.k.a. use a "rolling count" -- that is the dancers' word for "swinging the beat"). Boogie songs are great for that... so are a lot of Britney Spears songs -- it just depends how you use them when you dance. They are not "swing music" at all, but you still can "swing" to them.
http://www.westiemonkey.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=30