Dance Music

Dance music is music composed to accompany dancing. It has been around for centuries accompanying the waltz, tango, samba and in the 1970’s music for nightclubs. This kind of music became known as trance, disco, house and techno.

The main difference between dance music and pop music is that all four beats in a bar are accented whereas in pop music only the 1st and 3rd beat are accented. This is called ‘four to the floor’.

The average speed of a dance track can be anywhere between 120 bpm (beats per minute) to 180 bmp.

Dance music is often made up of synthesized sounds. This means that the sounds are created electronically using a sequencer and not conventional instruments. Because of this Dance music is usually heard via a DJ. The DJ mixes between records so as not to lose the continuous beat. The DJ may also use techniques such as ‘scratching’,  ‘rewind’ (spinning the record back and restarting it at a chosen point) and ‘double drops’ (where two tracks are synchronised so that both drop at the same time).

• List as many dance songs as you know

• Why are most dance songs played by a DJ and not performed live?

• What does ‘Four to the floor’ mean?

• Name 2 techniques a DJ may use whilst mixing a dance track?

• Explain what these techniques are.