WRITING THE SONG - Part 5

With the turn of the century, public dancing was introduced and took the country by storm. The influx of Viennese waltzes, culminating in "The Hesitation Waltz," made dancing popular. Supplementing the waltz were some variations on the "Two-Step," "The Turkey Trot," "Grizzly Bear," "Bunny Hug," "Fox Trot" and "Lovers Walk." Everybody's Doing It and Tres Moutarde, two hit songs based on the turkey trot, set the pattern for the popular songs to follow. Before long, restaurants featured dance floors and dance orchestras, and the fad had come to stay. The tango, introduced by the Castles, became a social function. After the first smoke of novelty had cleared away, three dance forms remained—the waltz, foxtrot and tango. These forms still set the pattern for popular songs although, at this writing, the rhumba and La Conga have replaced the tango.

Dance Tempo

The measure is the partition of time regularly used in music and may be compared, in this respect, to the "foot" in poetry. Time in music refers to the number and type of beats in a measure. For instance the foxtrot has four beats to a measure and the fundamental beat is a quarter note. This time is indicated at the beginning of the foxtrot by the signature 4/4 or by the letter "C" signifying "common time." The top figure of the fraction indicates the number of beats; the lower figure, that the unit of beat is the quarter note.

This, of course, does not mean that every measure in the song must have four quarter notes. This would be exceedingly monotonous. As long as there are four beats to a measure, each beat being equivalent to a quarter note, the time requirement is fulfilled. For instance, a phrase with the following fundamental beat, might actually show this rhythmic pattern.

Notice that the value of the notes in each measure in the second example still totals four beats; the half note being equal to two quarter notes, each eighth note equaling one-half a quarter note, and the whole note equaling four quarter notes.

The time established at the beginning of the song never changes throughout the song. The note values in each measure must always total the number of beats indicated in the time signature.

The same principle applies to waltzes where the fundamental rhythm is three beats to a measure (3/4 time) or to tangoes or rhumbas which are in 2/4 or fast 4/4 time.

Dance tempo, of course, consists of much more than the mere beating out of a steady rhythm. Here again, monotony must be avoided and it is done, in this instance, by accenting alternate beats. Thus, in a 4/4 measure, the first beat is accented; the second, unaccented; the third, accented; and the fourth, unaccented. This system of alternate beats may be likened to the iambic measure in poetry which consists of alternate accented and unaccented beats.