[InventFMC]

Originally Posted by Bboy-LoVe you gotta point there inventfmc but style does matter also! but that depends on what syle we r talkin about im talkin bout foundation/style! if ya got good style, you cant lose bro! get what i am sayin??? so letz not hate on other bboyz! love you all!!! lol

Love, you're misinterpreting my words.

To me style is above ANY tricks. But your style doesn't mean anything if you can't rock it to the music. You can have the best style abilities in the world, but if you can't sync it with the music, you're not dancing. You're just moving.

And yes, I can knock on bboys, because even a lot with style don't know how to listen to the music and use the music as an extention of their moves.

Look:
You're moves are a weapon.
The music is a weapon also.

You're moves are like a machine gun. You can kill, but you'll run out of bullets.
Use the music, it's like a napalm bomb. It does a lot of damage, but it's area is limited.

Use your moves WITH the music, it's like a nuclear bomb. Not only will you flatten everything within a 20 mile radius, but you'll continue killing for decades past when you rocked it that one moment in time.

Invent

[drizzt5]

Originally Posted by InventFMC Love, you're misinterpreting my words. To me style is above ANY tricks. But your style doesn't mean anything if you can't rock it to the music. You can have the best style abilities in the world, but if you can't sync it with the music, you're not dancing. You're just moving. And yes, I can knock on bboys, because even a lot with style don't know how to listen to the music and use the music as an extention of their moves. Look: You're moves are a weapon. The music is a weapon also. You're moves are like a machine gun. You can kill, but you'll run out of bullets. Use the music, it's like a napalm bomb. It does a lot of damage, but it's area is limited. Use your moves WITH the music, it's like a nuclear bomb. Not only will you flatten everything within a 20 mile radius, but you'll continue killing for decades past when you rocked it that one moment in time. Invent

haha, good post

[drareg]

Originally Posted by InventFMC Style ain't SHIT if you can't rock the MUSIC. Use your moves WITH the music, it's like a nuclear bomb. Not only will you flatten everything within a 20 mile radius, but you'll continue killing for decades past when you rocked it that one moment in time. Invent

This dude is my hero.

[InventFMC]

I don't think this thread should be closed. Just delete out the BS. It is a pretty important thread.
Invent

[Chippa]

opened and agreed

[InventFMC]

WOOOO!!! this thread was so flaming it was on fire... Just look at the little envelope.


Anyways:
Hmmm... Whether you guys are in HS or college, or none of the above, go to a community college or see if your school has a course on basic musicianship or music appreciation. Either of those will teach you better ways of listening to music.

I can't say enough how much my knowledge of music (and having studied/performed classical music) has developed from actually LEARNING about music instead of doing something like asking on a message board how to listen to music and how to hear things. I can type about that stuff for days, but I'd need to find musical examples and really create a whole course, when you guys should go and discover stuff for yourself.

How about this... for those of you who have played an instrument or sang or anything like that, can you relate your knowledge of music and its structure and how it has affected your dancing?

I'll start with a new post about mine.

[benjaminlibl]

Aight.. I've been playing the piano for 10 years. I'm taking a theory class now.

I can differentiate between the clap of the beat and the other so-called kinky sounds in the music. However, I don't know how to apply what I've heard to how I move.

[Bboybreakthru]

best thing i would say to do is have some 1 thats real good sho u kuz thats wat i did

[InventFMC]

I actually started my journey into music in the 5th grade. We had an introduction to music and did singing for two weeks and playing in band (trumpet) for two weeks. The band director demonstrated the other instruments played in the band and said the flute was the hardest, so I wanted to take it up for the challenge.

Later on I became a member of a couple different orchestras throughout middle school and high school. When you really study music theory (which is something I despised) then you realize that there are chord progressions in music that tell you a change is coming. This rings true for classical, rock, blues and jazz (and others, I'm just trying to keep basic). A chord is a series of notes played at one time. So, when it moves from one chord to the next to the next to the next, then you can pretty much assume where the music is headed.

As I was saying, I was never big into theory (or counting when I was waiting during rests in the music) so I would listen for the changes and the times when I was supposed to come in. Playing in an orchestra, another thing I would do is try to hear ALL of the parts that were being played at one time (so I could listen out for certain cues...), so I learned how to listen and tune into only specific sounds, melodies, harmonies that most people wouldn't hear normally.

This brings me to popping:
musicality is something a lot of people talk about. One person in the beginning of this thread said something about listening for the little noises that come up. (Like say in chromeo's music, how they have the little breaks around every 8 measures). That's predictable. That's not musicality. If you're just hittin the claps and riding the straight forward beat (1234...)

Musicality has to do with listening to the MUSIC. Not the beats. And then interpreting the music into a rhythm that is displayed through your body.

Music, and leading into musicality, is the horns, the guitar, the piano, the tones of the vocals... etc. It's being able to hear all of those at one time and selecting which one you want to move to. Then it's also using combinations of those rhythms to create new rhythms and really a new "body music" to express the visual movement of the song. (It's easy to say "how does a song move?" but its another to put it into movement). That's why I say (and I recently found out Rennie Harris uses a similar analogy) that when you are popping (or doing hip-hop/house/freestyle, etc) then its like you're a jazz musician, you have freedom to do whatever you want within the limitations of the music, but those limitations are few, so you can create a whole new part of the song with your body and your dance movements.

If anyone is confused by this, please ask questions. I want y'all to get what I'm talking about.
Invent

PS- The stuff chromeo does... that was earlier called the "kinky sounds..." haha

[InventFMC]

See... I don't think anyone can be "shown" how to do this. I teach. That's my passion. And this is something where you need to explain it as best as you can, you can demonstrate, etc, but it really takes the student learning and experimenting and discovering things out on their own in order to get this.

That is unless they have an incredible natural talent, in which case they wouldn't be asking you to teach them how to "listen to the music."

[kentchichi]

ey.. i got a question.. as you start listening to the music, right.. u select which one u feel like getting down to and all, correct? however, at this point i seem to channel down to only that part of the music.. and when i try to switch to another say instrument or rhythm that can be found in the music, it just seems weird.. when is it the right time then to transition to another part such going from the guitar to lyrics or whichever?

[drareg]

Originally Posted by InventFMC Step 1: Take a basic music theory class. If you don't want to do that... then look this stuff up, and get an understanding of all this... Measure Beat Common Time Pulse Notes (and the various lengths) Rhythm Melody Harmony (Be able to distinguish those last two when you are listening to something) EVERYONE here should have a basic understanding of these things. These are the foundations of ALL music. If you understand them, it makes listening to the music easier. It also improves your understanding of the STRUCTURE of a song and will help your ability to interpret the sounds you hear.

To be honest, I have no idea what measure, common time, pulse and all that stuff really are. But I've been dancing for a long time and I'm pretty sure that I stay on beat or I would've stopped a long time ago. Thanks for the advice though.. I'll hit up a Music Theory class in the fall or something..

[Chippa]

Originally Posted by kentchichi and when i try to switch to another say instrument or rhythm that can be found in the music, it just seems weird.. when is it the right time then to transition to another part such going from the guitar to lyrics or whichever?

if you wanna talk about a basic musical transition, you would revert to the clap, as that should be your functional baseline. Again, on a basic level, you would do that at an end of an 8 count. The clap is basically the foundation that you set your musical rollercoaster on(visually speaking)

[kentchichi]

Originally Posted by ChippaStyles if you wanna talk about a basic musical transition, you would revert to the clap, as that should be your functional baseline. Again, on a basic level, you would do that at an end of an 8 count. The clap is basically the foundation that you set your musical rollercoaster on(visually speaking)

ayt man.. thanks a lot! ill work on that! =)

[InventFMC]

See guys....
intelligence is important in dance!

(I just have to say, Chip's right in the last post... just to qualify his statement....)