Dance music

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Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance music. While there exist attestations of the combination of dance and music in ancient history (for example Ancient Greek vases sometimes show dancers accompanied by musicians), the earliest Western dance music that we can still reproduce with a degree of certainty are old-fashioned dances. In the Baroque period, the major dance styles were noble court dances (see Baroque dance). In the classical music era, the minuet was frequently used as a third movement, although in this context it would not accompany any dancing. The waltz also arose later in the classical era. Both remained part of the romantic music period, which also saw the rise of various other nationalistic dance forms like the barcarolle, mazurka, ecossaise, ballade and polonaise.

Contents

Modern popular dance music initially emerged from late 19th century's Western ballroom and social dance music. During the early 20th century, ballroom dancing gained popularity among the working class who attended public dance halls. Dance music became enormously popular during the 1920s. In the 1930s, known as the Swing era, Swing music was the popular dance music in America. In the 1950s, rock and roll became the popular dance music. The late 1960s saw the rise of soul and R&B music. Dominican and Cuban New Yorkers created the popular salsa dance in the late 1960s which stemmed from the Latin music genre of salsa. The rise of disco in the early 1970s led to dance music becoming popular with the public. By the late 1970s, electronic dance music was developing. This music, made using electronics, is a style of popular music commonly played in nightclubs, radio stations, shows and raves. Many subgenres of electronic dance music have evolved.

Origins

Dancing to rhythmic music has long been a cherished tradition in both Western and Eastern African civilizations, where dynamic movements synchronized with percussion instruments such as drums, bells, and rattles serve as integral expressions of cultural identity, social cohesion, and spiritual significance.

Folk dance music is music accompanying traditional dance and may be contrasted with historical/classical, and popular/commercial dance music. An example of folk dance music in the United States is the old-time music played at square dances and contra dances.

Historical dance music

While there exist attestations of the combination of dance and music in ancient times (for example Ancient Greek vases sometimes show dancers accompanied by musicians), the earliest Western dance music that we can still reproduce with a degree of certainty are the surviving medieval dances such as carols and the Estampie. The earliest of these surviving dances are almost as old as Western staff-based music notation.

By period

The Renaissance dance music was written for instruments such as the lute, viol, tabor, pipe, and the sackbut.

In the Baroque period, the major dance styles were noble court dances (see Baroque dance). Examples of dances include the French courante, sarabande, minuet and gigue. Collections of dances were often collected together as dance suites.

In the classical music era, the minuet was frequently used as a third movement in four-movement non-vocal works such as sonatas, string quartets, and symphonies, although in this context it would not accompany any dancing. The waltz also arose later in the classical era, as the minuet evolved into the scherzo (literally, "joke"; a faster-paced minuet).

Both remained part of the romantic music period, which also saw the rise of various other nationalistic dance forms like the barcarolle, mazurka and polonaise. Also in the romantic music era, the growth and development of ballet extended the composition of dance music to a new height. Frequently, dance music was a part of opera.

Modern popular dance music initially emerged from late 19th century's Western ballroom and social dance music.

By genre

Dance music works often bear the name of the corresponding dance, e.g. waltzes, the tango, the bolero, the can-can, minuets, salsa, various kinds of jigs and the breakdown. Other dance forms include contradance, the merengue (Dominican Republic), and the cha-cha-cha. Often it is difficult to know whether the name of the music came first or the name of the dance.

Ballads are commonly chosen for slow-dance routines. However ballads have been commonly deemed the opposite of dance music in terms of their tempo.[ citation needed ] Originally, the ballad was a type of dance as well (hence the name "ballad", from the same root as "ballroom" and "ballet"). Ballads are still danced on the Faeroe Islands.

Dansband

"Dansband" ("Dance band") is a term in Swedish for bands who play a kind of popular music, "dansbandsmusik" ("Dance band music"), to partner dance to. These terms came into use around 1970, and before that, many of the bands were classified as "pop groups". This type of music is mostly popular in the Nordic countries.

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music containing elements of funk, soul, pop, and salsa. It was most popular during the mid to late 1970s, though it has had brief resurgences afterwards. The first notable fully synthesized disco hit was "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer. [1] Looping,It inspired the electronic dance music genre.

Electronic

Dance party in Kazantip Festival, Crimea. Electronic dance music. Kazantip, Popovka, Crimea, Dance party, Peak moments.jpg
Dance party in Kazantip Festival, Crimea. Electronic dance music.

By 1981, a new form of dance music was developing. This music, made using electronics, is a style of popular music commonly played in dance music nightclubs, radio stations, shows and raves. During its gradual decline in the late 1970s, disco became influenced by electronic musical instruments such as synthesizers. sampling and segueing as found in disco continued to be used as creative techniques within trance music, techno music and especially house music.

Electronic dance music experienced a boom in the late 1980s. In the UK, this manifested itself in the dance element of Tony Wilson's Haçienda scene (in Manchester) and London clubs like Delirium, The Trip, and Shoom. The scene rapidly expanded to the Summer Of Love in Ibiza, which became the European capital of house and trance. In 2018, the release of Fisher's "Losing It," a significant tech-house crossover by the Australian EDM producer, marked a notable shift in trends within the dance music landscape.

Many music genres that made use of electronic instruments developed into contemporary styles mainly due to the MIDI protocol, which enabled computers, synthesizers, sound cards, samplers, and drum machines to interact with each other and achieve the full synchronization of sounds. Electronic dance music is typically composed using synthesizers and computers, and rarely has any physical instruments. Instead, this is replaced by analogue and digital electronic sounds, with a 4/4 beat. Many producers of this kind of music however, such as Darren Tate and MJ Cole, were trained in classical music before they moved into the electronic medium.

Associated with dance music are usually commercial tracks that may not easily be categorized, such as "The Power" by Snap!, "No Limit" by 2 Unlimited, "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory, and the Beatmasters' "Rok da House" but the term "dance music" is applied to many forms of electronic music, both commercial and non-commercial.

Some of the most popular upbeat genres include house, techno, drum & bass, jungle, hardcore, electronica, industrial, breakbeat, trance, psychedelic trance, UK garage and electro. There are also much slower styles, such as downtempo, chillout and nu jazz.

Many subgenres of electronic dance music have evolved. Subgenres of house include acid house, electro house, hard house, funky house, deep house, tribal house, hip house, tech house and US garage. Subgenres of drum & bass include techstep, hardstep, jump-up, intelligent D&B/atmospheric D&B, liquid funk, sambass, drumfunk, neurofunk and ragga jungle. Subgenres of other styles include progressive breaks, booty bass, Goa trance, hard trance, hardstyle, minimal techno, gabber techno, breakcore, broken beat, trip hop, folktronica and glitch. Speed garage, breakstep, 2-step, bassline, grime, UK funky, future garage and the reggae-inspired dubstep are all subgenres of UK garage.

By decade

1900s–1910s

During the early 20th century, ballroom dancing gained popularity among the working class who attended public dance halls.

1920s

Dance music became enormously popular during the 1920s. Nightclubs were frequented by large numbers of people at which a form of jazz, which was characterized by fancy orchestras with strings instruments and complex arrangements, became the standard music at clubs. A particularly popular dance was the fox-trot. At the time this music was simply called jazz, although today people refer to it as "white jazz" or big band.

1930s–1940s

Genres: Swing music, Western swing. Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller gained swing jazz hits.

1950s

Genres: Rock and roll

In 1952, the television showed that American Bandstand switched to a format where teenagers dance along as records are played. American Bandstand continued to be shown until 1989. Since the late 1950s, disc jockeys (commonly known as DJs) played recorded music at nightclubs.

1960s

Genres: Rock and roll, R&B, funk

In 1960, Chubby Checker released his song "The Twist" setting off a dance craze. The late 1960s saw the rise of soul and R&B music which used lavish orchestral arrangements.

1970s

Genres: Disco, funk, R&B, hip hop

In 1970, the television show Soul Train premiered featuring famous soul artists who would play or lipsync their hits while the audience danced along. In the early '70s, Kool and the Gang, Ohio Players, and B.T. Express were popular funk bands. By the mid-1970s, disco had become one of the main genres featured. In 1974, Billboard added a Disco Action chart of top hits to its other charts (see List of Billboard number one dance club songs). Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, the Village People and Gloria Gaynor gained pop hits. [2] Disco was characterized by the use of real orchestral instruments, such as strings, which had largely been abandoned during the 1950s because of rock music. In contrast to the 1920s, however, the use of live orchestras in night clubs was extremely rare due to its expense. The disco craze reached its peak in the late 1970s when the word "disco" became synonymous with "dance music" and nightclubs were referred to as "discos".

1980s

Genres: Funk, hip hop, New jack swing, [3] R&B, bounce, Miami bass, boogie, disco, contemporary R&B, New wave, dark wave, Italo disco, Euro disco, post-disco, synth-pop, dance-pop, dance-rock, house, acid house, hip house, techno, freestyle, electro, hi-NRG, EBM, cosmic disco, Balearic beat, new beat

1990s

Genres: New jack swing, contemporary R&B, dancehall, hip hop, G-funk, Miami bass, House, Italo dance, Italo house, Eurodance, Europop, hip house, electro, electroclash, progressive house, French house, techno, minimal techno, trance, alternative dance, drum and bass, jungle, big beat, breakbeat, breakbeat hardcore, rave, hardcore, happy hardcore, speed garage, UK garage, soca, reggaeton, psytrance, Goa trance

2000s

Genres: Trance, electropop, dance-pop, snap, crunk, dancehall, reggaeton, dance-punk, nu-disco, electro house, minimal techno, dubstep, grime, bassline, UK funky, contemporary R&B, hip hop, drum and bass, progressive house, hardstyle, funky house

2010s

Genres: Electropop, synthpop, glitchpop, hip house, nu-disco, new wave, new rave, trance, house, hi-NRG, hard NRG, dance-pop, electro-industrial, deep house, drum and bass, dubstep, techstep, liquid funk, electro house, progressive house, breakbeat, hardstyle, dubstyle, drumstep, hip hop, ghetto house, Jersey club, trap, drill, moombahton, moombahcore, dancehall, tropical house, UK garage, Europop, hyperpop

2020s

In the 2020s a multitude of new dance music genres emerged prominently during this period, ranging from hardstyle, progressive (house), drum 'n' bass, dubstep, and an array of subgenres stemming from various modern genres. In 2024, EDM artists such as Tiësto, Calvin Harris, and Dom Dolla maintain residencies in Las Vegas, where they perform regularly at venues like LIV Las Vegas and LIV Miami, while the globalization of dance music has also facilitated popular producers like Fisher and David Guetta securing residencies in Ibiza to showcase their EDM talent throughout the summer season.

Radio formats

The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart tracks the most popular tracks played by radio stations using a "dance music" format. Modern dance music is typically a core component of the rhythmic adult contemporary and rhythmic contemporary formats, and an occasional component of the contemporary hit radio format in the case of dance songs which chart.

Mixshows are radio programmes which feature a sequence of dance music tracks where each track's outro is mixed into the intro of the next.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rave</span> Dance party

A rave is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance music scene when DJs played at illegal events in musical styles dominated by electronic dance music from a wide range of sub-genres, including drum and bass, dubstep, trap, break, happy hardcore, trance, techno, hardcore, house, and alternative dance. Occasionally live musicians have been known to perform at raves, in addition to other types of performance artists such as go-go dancers and fire dancers. The music is amplified with a large, powerful sound reinforcement system, typically with large subwoofers to produce a deep bass sound. The music is often accompanied by laser light shows, projected coloured images, visual effects and fog machines.

Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK garage styles.

Hardcore is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in the early 1990s. It is distinguished by faster tempos and a distorted sawtooth kick, the intensity of the kicks and the synthesized bass, the rhythm and the atmosphere of the themes, the usage of saturation and experimentation close to that of industrial dance music. It would spawn subgenres such as gabber.

Electro is a genre of electronic music and early hip hop directly influenced by the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machines and funk. Records in the genre typically feature heavy electronic sounds, usually without vocals, although if vocals are present they are delivered in a deadpan manner, often through electronic distortion such as vocoding and talkboxing. It palpably deviates from its predecessor boogie by being less vocal-oriented and more focused on electronic beats produced by drum machines.

Florida breaks, which may also be referred to as The Orlando Sound, Orlando breaks, or The Breaks, is a genre of breakbeat dance music that originated in the central region of the State of Florida, United States. Florida Breaks originates from a mixture of hip-hop, Miami bass and electro that often includes recognizable sampling of early jazz or funk beats from rare groove or popular film. Florida's breakbeat style feature vocal elements and retains the hip-hop rhythms on which is based. The Florida breakbeat style however is faster, more syncopated, and has a heavier and unrelenting bassline. The beat frequently slows and breaks down complex beat patterns and then rebuilds. The genre has been described as being easy to dance to while creating an uplifting, happy, or positive mood in the listener.

Hard trance is a subgenre of trance music that originated in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in the early 1990s as the Breakbeat hardcore production community began to diversify into new and different styles of electronic music, all influenced by Hard house, New beat, Happy hardcore and Jungle music. The popularity of hard trance peaked during the late 1990s and has since then faded in scope of newer forms of trance.

Electronic dance music (EDM) is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and festivals. It is generally produced for playback by DJs who create seamless selections of tracks, called a DJ mix, by segueing from one recording to another. EDM producers also perform their music live in a concert or festival setting in what is sometimes called a live PA. Since its inception EDM has expanded to include a wide range of subgenres.

The Perth Dance Music Awards highlights the year's major accomplishments in Electronic music by Western Australians. It is an annual event, with the first awards held in 1998. The Perth Dance Music Awards aim to provide recognition and reward to those who are the best in their chosen fields with in the Perth electronic music scene. The recipients of the awards are voted for by the public.

2-step garage, or simply 2-step, is a genre of electronic music and a subgenre of UK garage. One of the primary characteristics of the 2-step sound – the term being coined to describe "a general rubric for all kinds of jittery, irregular rhythms that don't conform to garage's traditional four-on-the-floor pulse" – is that the rhythm lacks the kick drum pattern found in many other styles of electronic music with a regular four-on-the-floor beat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DI.FM</span>

DI.FM is an Internet radio broadcaster consisting of over 90 channels dedicated to electronic music, such as house, trance, techno, drum and bass, and dubstep. DI.FM broadcasts handpicked selections consisting of classic, new and up-and-coming hits, as well as weekly and monthly mixed shows from professional DJs. It was founded in December 1999 as a hobby project by Ari Shohat in his Binghamton University dorm room and was one of the first Internet radio stations. It has often been listed as one of the top internet radio stations.

Radio Record is a Russian radio station that broadcasts on 106.3 FM from Saint Petersburg. It airs an electronic dance music format with primarily trance and house offerings now expanded to variety of different genres including Deep House, Future House, Dubstep.

Clubbing is the activity of visiting and gathering socially at nightclubs and festivals. That includes socializing, listening to music, dancing, drinking alcohol and using recreational drugs. It is often done to hear new music on larger, high-end audio systems than one would usually have in one's home, or for socializing and meeting new people. Clubbing and raves have historically referred to grass-roots organized, anti-establishment and unlicensed all night dance parties, typically featuring electronically produced dance music, such as techno, house, trance and drum and bass.

Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music and a subgenre of house music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 125–135 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many DJ Mag Top 100 DJs, including Benny Benassi, Skrillex, Steve Aoki, and Deadmau5.

Bleep techno is a regional subgenre of techno which developed in the late 1980s in Northern England, specifically Yorkshire. Named after its minimalistic synthesizer sounds, bleep techno combined influence from American techno and house with electro elements and heavy sub-bass inspired by reggae sound system culture. The style was commercially successful between 1989 and 1991, and became associated with artists on the Sheffield label Warp Records. It has been characterized as the first uniquely British style of electronic dance music.

References

  1. "Donna Summer 'I Feel Love' | Classic Tracks". Archived from the original on 2013-09-09. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
  2. Disco All Music Retrieved 15 December 2021
  3. Jenkins, Jake. "Groove Me! Re-creating New Jack Swing in the Box". inSync. Sweetwater Sound . Retrieved 26 January 2024.