| Does your music dance in your body? |
| Always |
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26% |
[ 7 ] |
| Sometimes |
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65% |
[ 17 ] |
| Never |
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7% |
[ 2 ] |
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| Total Votes : 26 |
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Travis Coats
Joined: May 20, 2007
Posts: 64
Location: USA
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 Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 12:25 pm Post subject:
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I am about the same as kkissinger. If something I write is very rhythmic I can't help but move, but more instrumental music can be that way too. I still groove to a lot of the final fantasy and other well composed game piano scores.  |
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softfreak
Joined: Feb 12, 2006
Posts: 149
Location: zürich switzerland
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| Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 2:42 pm Post subject:
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a body that hears
is a body that dances.
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dewdrop_world
Joined: Aug 28, 2006
Posts: 858
Location: Guangzhou, China
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| Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:46 pm Post subject:
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I'm glad this thread has come back to life. I wanted to reply to this comment earlier, but forgot.
| Kassen wrote: | | I'm a bit surprised by these comments, I was expecting a lot more debate on the "dance" one. |
Well, in my answer, of course I didn't take "dance" literally... but I think I did take the initial question at face value. The question is not, "does your music make your body dance?" but rather, "does your music dance in your body?"
One can be sitting perfectly still and experience dancing within one's body, by which I suppose I mean movement of energy through the body, but I don't know if I can be more precise at the moment. Morton Feldman's music is not likely to inspire the kind of muscular twitching that we usually call "dancing," but when he hits the right chord at the right time, maybe it slides down the spine, maybe a light moves from the heart into the head, who knows? It's different for every person, I'm sure.
Which maybe sheds light on my earlier comment - "If my music doesn't get into my bones that way, then I know I have to throw that piece out." I don't have time for pure cerebral exercises - I need the music to move energy in my body, or I'm wasting my time (not to mention my audience's).
One of my first pieces post grad school was for Chinese flute and pre-recorded electronics - excerpt here. When I listen attentively, this piece slows down my breathing noticeably by the end. So it works. (And it works on non-musicians too... I played it once for a guy I was dating, and at the first half-dozen notes, he sat bolt upright and was paying attention. Something danced in his body at that moment!)
James
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Kassen
Janitor
Joined: Jul 06, 2004
Posts: 7678
Location: The Hague, NL
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| Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 2:54 am Post subject:
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| dewdrop_world wrote: |
One can be sitting perfectly still and experience dancing within one's body, by which I suppose I mean movement of energy through the body, but I don't know if I can be more precise at the moment. |
I think one of the most powerfull elements of music can be relating to the size of the body and it's movements; the time a step takes, the time a breath takes, the speed at which you can shake your fist....
With accoustical music you get a lot of that "for free", thanks to the things like the size your your lungs and the length of a bow. For something like D&B it's a lot harder. I've long suspected that not relating to the human body is one of the prime reasons why some people can't relate to (a lot of) electronic music.
| Quote: |
One of my first pieces post grad school was for Chinese flute and pre-recorded electronics - excerpt here. When I listen attentively, this piece slows down my breathing noticeably by the end. So it works. (And it works on non-musicians too... I played it once for a guy I was dating, and at the first half-dozen notes, he sat bolt upright and was paying attention. Something danced in his body at that moment!)
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:¬)
I always check wether rithmical pieces I'm writing affect my heart rate; if they don't they aren't good enough.
You can get a negative version of this effect too, BTW, playing on a leaky accordeon is a decidedly unpleasant feeling, kinda like being out of breath-
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bachus
Joined: Feb 29, 2004
Posts: 2922
Location: Up in that tree over there.
Audio files: 5
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| Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:36 am Post subject:
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| Kassen wrote: | | I think one of the most powerfull elements of music can be relating to the size of the body and it's movements; the time a step takes, the time a breath takes, the speed at which you can shake your fist.... |
I think this is so important that when I was working on a computer composition system one of its central features was to be quasi-physical objects for which various forces and force responsive properties could be assigned. The dynamics of these systems were to have both generative and guiding mappings to higher level musical abstractions.
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Acoustic Interloper
Joined: Jul 07, 2007
Posts: 2073
Location: Berks County, PA
Audio files: 89
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| Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 8:52 am Post subject:
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| dewdrop_world wrote: | One of my first pieces post grad school was for Chinese flute and pre-recorded electronics - excerpt here. When I listen attentively, this piece slows down my breathing noticeably by the end. So it works. (And it works on non-musicians too... I played it once for a guy I was dating, and at the first half-dozen notes, he sat bolt upright and was paying attention. Something danced in his body at that moment!)
James |
Thanks for the great, illustrative sample! It's nice to be working in an on-line medium where we can readily communicate non-verbally.
| Kassen wrote: | I think one of the most powerfull elements of music can be relating to the size of the body and it's movements; the time a step takes, the time a breath takes, the speed at which you can shake your fist....
With accoustical music you get a lot of that "for free", thanks to the things like the size your your lungs and the length of a bow. For something like D&B it's a lot harder. I've long suspected that not relating to the human body is one of the prime reasons why some people can't relate to (a lot of) electronic music.
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One of my more meditative compositions arose after cross-country skiing in solitude in some very quiet and beautiful snow-covered woods. Sustained cross-country skiing is a very gentle rhythmic activity, and the rhythm of the 'diagonal stride' used to pulse me through the woods came out perfectly in the piece.
I believe some of this has to do with alpha versus beta brainwave activity and the connection of that activity to the rest of the body. Alpha tends to find more resonances because it's not so immediately selective and critical, not so picky. It observes relationships in a field of attention. There is probably a relationship between the slower, more sustained alpha patterns in the brain, and the sensorimotor signals that drive sensation and volition. Beta is OK for abstract analysis of what's been observed, but on its own it's not so observant.
Last Sunday at an orienteering meet (racing thru woods with map & compass) a friend and I got into a discussion of music that drives us through the woods while we're racing. I don't know much about his relationship to music; we got into the discussion because I was distracted by a piece I am working on, and made navigational mistakes on his course. But usually, it works the other way. I can still hear the piece that was running in my head & body the first time I won a local orienteering race. He related similar experiences. There is also the well known effect of endorphins among runners, where the pain of running disappears and one seems to be sailing along, a foot off the ground. This is undoubtedly an undistracted alpha state, and it assists in navigation because more of the subconscious is engaged in noticing things about the environment, that strictly beta-driven navigation-as-planning might miss. There is definitely a tradeoff between the technical aspects of navigation (slavish fixation on the map & planning) and the attention aspects of racing while oxygen-deprived in this sport, and part of getting good at it is letting go (after having attained some level of technical proficiency) and letting the subconscious engage with the environment. Just like making music.
For me it's about finding resonances that are already mostly there. If in composing or playing a piece, I energize a resonance that you and I share, we both notice, without words. Those resonances seem to be mostly out there, and the practice is aimed at getting better at noticing and energizing them.
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mosc
Site Admin
Joined: Jan 31, 2003
Posts: 18251
Location: Durham, NC
Audio files: 226
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| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:41 am Post subject:
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| dewdrop_world wrote: |
One of my first pieces post grad school was for Chinese flute and pre-recorded electronics - excerpt here. |
Very nice. I like this music.
The long rest at the beginning got my full attention. 
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my music and other stuff |
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thisaccountisabandoned
Joined: Sep 07, 2007
Posts: 4
Location: nowhere
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| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 4:34 am Post subject:
Re: Poll: Does your music dance in your body? |
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| bachus wrote: | | Do you feel your music as implicit/explicit motion/force within your physical body? |
no, never. to fast, to abstract.  |
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bachus
Joined: Feb 29, 2004
Posts: 2922
Location: Up in that tree over there.
Audio files: 5
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| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 4:49 am Post subject:
Re: Poll: Does your music dance in your body? |
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| Benn Virus wrote: | | bachus wrote: | | Do you feel your music as implicit/explicit motion/force within your physical body? |
no, never. to fast, to abstract. |
You must be the first "never." Makes me want to hear some of your music. Could you post a link or an mp3?
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seraph
Editor
Joined: Jun 21, 2003
Posts: 12398
Location: Firenze, Italy
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| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:14 am Post subject:
Re: Poll: Does your music dance in your body? |
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| bachus wrote: |
You must be the first "never." Makes me want to hear some of your music. Could you post a link or an mp3? |
yes, please
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| Quote: | | Don't die with your music still in you - Wayne Dyer |
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thisaccountisabandoned
Joined: Sep 07, 2007
Posts: 4
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seraph
Editor
Joined: Jun 21, 2003
Posts: 12398
Location: Firenze, Italy
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| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 9:45 am Post subject:
Re: Poll: Does your music dance in your body? |
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| Benn Virus wrote: |
no, never. to fast, to abstract. |
after listening to a few of your songs I guess I understand what you mean 
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| Quote: | | Don't die with your music still in you - Wayne Dyer |
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bachus
Joined: Feb 29, 2004
Posts: 2922
Location: Up in that tree over there.
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| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 10:35 am Post subject:
Re: Poll: Does your music dance in your body? |
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| seraph wrote: | | Benn Virus wrote: |
no, never. to fast, to abstract. |
after listening to a few of your songs I guess I understand what you mean |
Weird.  I find them quite physical. And I liked the sense of logic in their progression and structure.
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Nth L0gik
Joined: Jul 07, 2007
Posts: 71
Location: near DC,USA
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| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 1:14 pm Post subject:
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| well i wont say it does that....more like it bounces around in my brain. every new/different thing i hear that isnt something i made tends to paint a some influence here & there |
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Kassen
Janitor
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Posts: 7678
Location: The Hague, NL
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| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 1:20 pm Post subject:
Re: Poll: Does your music dance in your body? |
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| bachus wrote: |
Weird. I find them quite physical. And I liked the sense of logic in their progression and structure. |
I agree, below all the effects the structure and tempo seem quite traditional to me. I like most of it though.
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laura woodswalker
Joined: Oct 06, 2007
Posts: 463
Location: phoenixville pa
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:02 pm Post subject:
Re: Poll: Does your music dance in your body? |
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| bachus wrote: | | Do you feel your music as implicit/explicit motion/force within your physical body? |
Pretty much always. I hear tunes in my head all the time & they always have rhythm. That's why I'm not sure if my compositions could really be called "ambient". That's why I call the music I want to write "hard progressive rock ambient."
And when I write poetry, I can hear it as punk lyrics. Which sucks because punk isn't one of the kinds of music I listen to.
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Grizzle
Joined: May 25, 2007
Posts: 31
Location: Ireland
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| Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:42 am Post subject:
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"You can walk a mile in my shoes, but you can't dance a step in my feet. Once you learn to dance you won't forget it" - Funkadelica
For me, music and sound generally is a physical thing. Especially once you amplify it. You have to feel the bass, feel the drums. Sometimes people mean feel as in an emotional state... I mean feel as in a physical force.
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Dovdimus Prime
Joined: Jul 26, 2004
Posts: 664
Location: Bristol, UK
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:14 pm Post subject:
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| Grizzle wrote: | | For me, music and sound generally is a physical thing. |
This whole thread reminds of a years-old discussion on this forum about the physicality or otherwise of music. For me, music is not physical, so my music doesn't dance in my body. That isn't to say it doesn't make me want to dance, only that the senses it stimulates don't include the sense of touch.
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nescivi
Joined: Mar 23, 2005
Posts: 94
Location: Montreal
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:13 pm Post subject:
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for me (physical) dancing to music is one of the ways I like to listen to music, I always try to follow as many rhythmic and melodic lines I can find; doing this with your body somehow makes you listen much better to the music, to find new ones within the music.
I still find it surprising how few people dance to dense noise music...
My own music tends to be more soundscape like, more relaxation for the body...
And then there's of course the work i do on having dancers drive the music... |
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aaronas
Joined: Apr 28, 2008
Posts: 3
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:42 pm Post subject:
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| sometimes when I am really feeling the music I will start to dance and bust out with some mad popping action, it will just erupt out of me, it's uncontrollable when you feel the groove that strongly, and sometimes I do, I love those moments, quite often more rare these days, much more rare, I used to get wicked in 2000 alot |
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mosc
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