Upping the tempo.

Message

mousethief · #16 Post by **mousethief** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:53 am

If I played a different version, I would just get a worse Big Apple.

Sad but true. That's the problem with learning a line dance to one song, which is often the case.

Kalman

Mr Awesomer · #17 Post by **Mr Awesomer** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:11 am

You know, I don't think I've ever seen the Big Apple being done to Flying Home. I would think it's to slow a song anyway.

Nate Dogg · #18 Post by **Nate Dogg** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 12:37 pm

GuruReuben wrote:You know, I don't think I've ever seen the Big Apple being done to Flying Home. I would think it's to slow a song anyway.

It was used for Big Apple music at Frankie Manning workshops, as recently as 2003. He actually taught it in class to a slower song, Erskine Hawkin's version of "Tuxedo Junction." Once everybody learned it, the class did the Big Apple to the faster song, Flying Home.

Kyle · #19 Post by **Kyle** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 12:51 pm

Swingtime In The Rockies is a much better tune to do it to. Better tempo than FH.

Tuxedo Junction? Oh man, that is a crawl of a song

sonofvu · #20 Post by **sonofvu** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:08 pm

Bob the Builder wrote:I’m fed up of having to DJ slow - mid range songs, because people don’t want to dance to faster tempos.
I’m also fed up of dancers just turning to Balboa when I put on an upper tempo song, even if it screams Swing out.

Swing is a music that goes from amazingly fast tempos to very slow tempos. I want to be able to DJ them all.
Who do we start to convince the dancers that fast music is a lot of fun and is not as difficult to dance to as they appear to think?

Brian

I hear you. But it all depends on your scene. I dj primarly in two scenes. In one scene I can slowly up the tempo from about 140 all the way up to about 200. A nice slow ramp up. I then will either back down slowly again or give them an abrupt drop. Depends on the situation and my mood. In the other scene I have to keep it mid-tempo and then hit them with a 180 to 200 song. Sometimes I can get away with two in a row but not usually. One is it but then back to the mid-tempo stuff.

As far as balboa is concerned, in my scene it used to be that a fast song would be played and no one would dance. Now they dance balboa. I think that is a step in the right direction.

Nate Dogg · #21 Post by **Nate Dogg** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:20 pm

Nate Dogg wrote:
GuruReuben wrote:You know, I don't think I've ever seen the Big Apple being done to Flying Home. I would think it's to slow a song anyway.
It was used for Big Apple music at Frankie Manning workshops, as recently as 2003. He actually taught it in class to a slower song, Erskine Hawkins'version of "Tuxedo Junction." Once everybody learned it, the class did the Big Apple to the faster song, Flying Home.

Lawrence · #22 Post by **Lawrence** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 3:35 pm

I hate people who dance slow
I hate people who don't like my music
I hate people who don't understand my music
I hate people who don't understand.... (period)
I hate people who like post-Swing Era music
I hate people who like Celine Dion
I hate people who purchase Celine Dion records
I hate secretaries
I hate politicians
I hate criminals
I hate cultural anthropologists
I hate people who do not share my entusiasm about things that I feel enthusiastic about
I hate people who are not as strong as I am
I hate people who do not like food as spicy as I do
I hate people who can't hit a frickin' softball
I hate people who can't throw a football
I hate people who get tired
I hate people who improvise
I hate people with asthma
I hate people with bad knees
I hate people with bad backs
I hate people with club feet
I hate people who comb-over
I hate smokers
I hate people with big bouncy breasts
I hate people who cut me off in traffic and then give me the finger
I hate people who like apple fritters
I hate people who speak Polish with a Western accent
I hate people who live in D.C., L.A., or Houston
I hate people who Hollywood Lindy
I hate people who West Coast Swing
I hate people who Disco Hustle
I hate people who Ballroom Dance
I hate people who... Macarena
I hate people who drive too fast
I hate people who drive too slow
I hate people who nod their heads off-beat and sing dreadfully off-key
I hate people who enjoy soccer
I hate people who eat meat... overcooked
I hate people who laugh too loud while I'm working
I hate people who don't laugh at all
I hate people who don't cheer for the Cubs
I hate the Florida Marlins
I love Steve Bartman because he gives me reason to hate
I hate store-bought apples
I hate gang fights
I hate tornadoes
I hate thorns
I hate liver
I hate snotty cheerleaders
I hate bullies
I hate painful rectal itch
I hate evil
I hate people who vote for Nader and don't even know the name of his VP
I hate Chihuahuas
I hate Smurfs
I hate Ziggy
I hate Cathy
I hate people who disagree with me
I hate people who dance proudly in front of others because FINALLY they can do something somewhat competently, even if they live the rest of their lives in a miserable cesspool of incompetence and mediocrity
I hate people who disguise insecurity with arrogance
I hate people who mistake insecurity for arrogance
I hate it when I finally get something and others are two seconds behind me ("What took you so long?")
I hate it when still others are two seconds or five years ahead of me

[stop]

Lawrence · #23 Post by **Lawrence** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 3:47 pm

I really enjoy the rush of dancing fast
I really enjoy getting in the groove while dancing slower
I really enjoy slowly dancing to even slower music
I really enjoy a great dance partner
I really enjoy giving that great partner room to inspire me
I really enjoy someone who smiles at me when we dance
I really enjoy feeling humbled by that smile
I really enjoy screwing up a move and laughing at it
I really enjoy a roomful of people enthusiastically dancing to music I select
I really enjoy finding a new song I've never heard before, thinking it will be great, and it turning out even better.
I really enjoy people spontaneously and joyfully thanking me for DJing
I really enjoy teaching someone with absolutely no natural ability to not only enjoy those same things, but enjoy them more than I do and become a better dancer than I ever was

*
*
*

mousethief · #24 Post by **mousethief** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:32 am

You know, I had something to say about that, but I'm afraid you'll do another list of Page-isms, so I won't bother.

Kalman

Bob the Builder · #25 Post by **Bob the Builder** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 3:53 pm

Thanks for the help everyone.
In regard to Bal, my problem in not dancers dancing it, my problem is that many dancers are not willing to Lindyhop at faster tempos.
To them a fast song, is automatically a Bal song.

Brian

sonofvu · #26 Post by **sonofvu** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:05 am

Bob the Builder wrote:Thanks for the help everyone.
In regard to Bal, my problem in not dancers dancing it, my problem is that many dancers are not willing to Lindyhop at faster tempos.
To them a fast song, is automatically a Bal song.

Brian

Give them time. Slowly work the fas stuff in. Dancers are creative and they want to grow. Pretty soon they will tart to throw in some swingouts.

sonofvu · #27 Post by **sonofvu** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:11 am

Lawrence wrote:I hate ...

[stop]

Lawrence, I think the impetus here is to bring diversity to the dancer and not to denigrate dancers who dance slow or slower music.

Lawrence · #28 Post by **Lawrence** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:49 am

sonofvu wrote:
Lawrence wrote:I hate ...
[stop]
Lawrence, I think the impetus here is to bring diversity to the dancer and not to denigrate dancers who dance slow or slower music.

I definitely would understand if that's the case. But with the "I'm fed up DJing slow music" and the naive "teachers baby them" comments that kicked the thread off, as well as the complaints about people Balboaing to anything over 160 BPM, it comes across as just another whiny thread about the fact that 1) some people simply have different preferences and 2) some people don't measure quality by speed. It's NOT all about inability and laziness.

Much like my comments sometimes backfire and make people wnat to DJ nothing but fast vintage music, it also makes me want to DJ NOTHING over 140 BPM as a knee jerk reaction instead of play some fast songs (as I usually do and did last Thursday) to please a part of the crowd that likes it and bring that diversity to the dance.

Plus, once I started, I was just having fun making that list.

mousethief · #29 Post by **mousethief** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:37 am

Lawrence wrote:
Much like my comments sometimes backfire and make people wnat to DJ nothing but fast vintage music, it also makes me want to DJ NOTHING over 140 BPM as a knee jerk reaction instead of play some fast songs (as I usually do and did last Thursday) to please a part of the crowd that likes it and bring that diversity to the dance.

Wow, I guess you showed us. Way to keep the dancers happy.

I think most DJs on the board know that my collection is roughly 50% newer, groovier music. Advocating playing more classic music is not a call to arms, nor should it promote a "knee-jerk" reaction that caps the night as an object lesson or form of protest.

Kalman

jmatthew · #30 Post by **jmatthew** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 2:28 pm

I've always felt that my first priority was to keep people dancing happilly, however they wish to dance.

Increasing the dancers range of music and tempos should be secondary to that goal.

Of course, I'm new, so if some of the more experienced DJs know differently please educate me.

SwingDJs

Upping the tempo.

Re: Upping the tempo.