| A couple of years ago as I was teaching Salsa to | | | | What proves to be more challenging however, is doing |
| beginners, I realized that many of my students had | | | | those patterns on beat, which for many is the hardest |
| problems finding the ONE. This is one of the aspects | | | | part about learning Salsa. Anybody can memorize |
| of Salsa where a lot of people struggle, and it is hard | | | | dozens of patterns, but dancing on time is what |
| to TEACH someone to find the ONE. Contrary to my | | | | separates complete beginners from more advanced |
| common sense, yelling at them did not work!! | | | | dancers. How then do you learn to dance to the beat |
| I know I had a hard time as a beginner finding the ONE, | | | | of the music? It turns out, that there are a couple of |
| and so this is a little tutorial I wrote. If you have learned | | | | tricks one can learn to distinguish where the ONE |
| the basic Salsa step, you are now well acquainted | | | | starts. After you have learned simple "tricks, you will |
| with the "one two three... five six seven...". There are a | | | | be able to start building your Salsa beat intuition. |
| total of eight counts for the salsa basic, two of which | | | | Once you are able to find the musical phrases in the |
| are pauses (on four and eight). The reason for this is | | | | music, which are especially easy to hear with the |
| that in Salsa music most phrases are 8 beats long, | | | | piano, you then need to predict when the next musical |
| which are divided in two bars of 4 beats. A phrase in | | | | phrase will start, or when the phrase starts all over |
| music could be thought of as a sentence. It contains a | | | | again. The beat where it starts all over again is the |
| developed "idea" | | | | ONE. Many times it's where the music is the loudest, |
| The tension that is built in the first four beats is | | | | since many musical instruments come together at that |
| resolved in the last four. This is also called a "call and | | | | beat. |
| response" pattern. The first bar makes the call and the | | | | When you are dancing on "the one"(or for that matter |
| second responds. If we just kept the first four beats, | | | | vocalizing 1,2,3..5,6,7..), you should feel a connection to |
| we would have an incomplete phrase, since there is no | | | | the melody. |
| resolution or response. | | | | Tips on how to find the beat in Salsa: |
| So in this case, we have a phrase that is eight beats | | | | 1) When listening to Salsa music, vocalize either out |
| long. Another way to think of a phrase is to view it as | | | | loud or in your head each count, meaning 1,2,3..5,6,7.. |
| a self contained musical pattern that can be repeated | | | | 2) Practice listening to different piano phrases |
| many times. | | | | (monotonous) to develop the intuition to predict |
| How to find the ONE? | | | | changes in the melody. Changes in the music will |
| Many people who are new to Salsa are able to do the | | | | mostly occur on ONE. |
| basic step and basic patterns without much trouble. | | | | |
