Music and Dance
October 2, 2009
Dance music might be an ancient cause of music as well as a church , so we have two origins that have continued. Church music doesn't need the dance in fact as late as the mid- sixties I remember when the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church decided to allow it's members to dance in social occasions and that didn't include the church .There was a semi-popular movie with Kevin Bacon playing the son of a preacher in the fictional church that brought attention to this very idea .The preacher's part was played by a tall actor that has since gone into over acting on television comedy series but he used to play roles with a lot of frowning or where he was the "heavy".I went to a Missouri Synod church but the drama was never there , in fact I was never told not to dance . I was an acolyte on Sundays and still play some of the tunes I liked on organ that I heard at the services while I sat in costume or assisted at communion, a dress-like white frock over a long black gown which was similar to the pastors .
I did dance even at ten when I remember repeatedly bumping against my baby sitter as we practiced the jitterbug and exciting her fifteen year old hormones . My school went on the local television dance show in the fifties . Dance contest to pop music was the "cool" thing for people who were socially popular . I did participate till I aspired to become a "Beatnik" and separated from the crowd . I had found jazz and classical music by twelve when my parents separated and divorced. My father left some records which I guess I wanted to enjoy as he wasn't there .Looking back now , I realize that he hadn't been there too much for years .I think I was trying to please him in his absence by getting into the music and actually practicing and performing music. My father was a trumpet player who became an arranger and eventually a composer.It is easier to see this concept now but I didn't see this for most of my life and certainly didn't suspect this as a motive . I guess I wasn't looking for a motive.Anyway , the music I found in Stravinsky's "Petroushka" opened my ears and made me want more. The trumpet stylings and character of Chet Baker , another of the chance recordings left there, also seemed to direct me to follow , finding improvisation excited my mind.By 1958 I was into Miles Davis and searching for more electronic music. In 59 Ornette opened up my ears more and soon classical ,music concrete, jazz, and electronic music seemed to be agreeing and co-operating together .
Music can be abstract ,mathematical, make sense or not, and also just noise moving from one time to another.Certainly social situations like dances can be the initiate of taste for the sound of music but music doesn't have to dance all the time. Music can be rewarding in the abstract as a painting , a sculpture, an independent work standing alone. Beauty in the eye of the beholder , as it were , becomes an individual experience.What if music is as abstract as "Friendship", "Love", or even "God". Certainly the phrase"My music" isn't something foreign to the ear ,in fact it has taken a very familiar ring . It isn't a phrase always associated with classical composers or jazz but also with popular ,dance music. The selling of music has become an enormous business and the characterization of legitimacy , creativeness , and even the illusion of individualism has become a part of the spin by advertising agents. The subliminal excitations of "Sub-sonics" has become a part of marketing in music . Indeed , the "Beat" , the drums , the rhythm ,and the suggested motion of dance is integral in today's pop music . Rap ,ironically uses sounds that are below the human ear range which create tension .This technique was also used by the Nazis at Hitler rallies before his speeches . His speech gave the illusion of ,ironically ,bringing peace .The beat goes on . Perhaps the lower denominator and the earliest rhythm music is still the most powerful communicator to the most people . The dance did invoke the rituals of fertilization and rebirth and even sacrifice to the basic gods of agriculture , sex , war ,and more abstract ideas as culture progressed .Perhaps today we see a revitalization of the basic call to the dance but music still progresses outside the dance as well.
Posted by Bob Bruno.
