The Synthesis of Music and Dance
Scenario: You will be teaching a series of dance classes at the local community center. In order to appeal to as many students as possible, you want to incorporate various types of dances and music in your classes from a variety of times, places, and cultures. You also want to get a better understanding of how music and dance complement one another so that you can make appropriate music selections for the dances you will be teaching.
Use the following dance videos to start thinking about the types of music you want to use in your dance classes, as well as the movements associated with each type of dance. Consider how you will use music and movement to convey emotion as you synthesize music and dance.
You will first listen to the music in each of the following videos to get a sense of the mood the composer created. Think about how the composer used melody, rhythm, texture, timbre, and dynamics in the musical piece. You might be tempted to watch the videos at this point, but please wait until you have listened to the music and written your response before you watch each dance.
Then, you will watch each video to see how the music and dance are combined to evoke emotion. Pay attention to the movements made by the dancers and consider how these movements work with the music that was selected for each dance.
Ballet: Misty Copeland and Sterling Baca Nutcracker Pas de Deux 2014 (Music Only)
The first series of dance classes you will teach includes some introductory ballet. To get a better sense of the music that might be used in your ballet classes, listen to the piece of music without watching the dance and answer the following questions:
Note: The music featured in this video is from the“Pas de Deux” of The Nutcracker, which was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
| Question |
Response |
| What is the mood of the music? |
[Insert your response here.] |
| How does the composer create this mood using the elements of music?
You must include an explanation of melody, rhythm (beat, tempo), texture, timbre, and dynamics. |
[Insert your response here.] |
Ballet: Misty Copeland and Sterling Baca Nutcracker Pas de Deux 2014 (Music and Dance)
After listening to the music, think about how you could use ballet movements to evoke the emotion of the music. Now, watch the dance with the musicto see how the dancers effectively combine music and dance, and answer the following questions:
Note: In the video, Misty Copeland and Sterling Baca are performing a pas de deux(ballet duet)from The Nutcracker. In this dance, a male and a female perform classical ballet steps together.
| Question |
Response |
| How do the dancers communicate emotion in their dance?
|
[Insert your response here.] |
| How does the music support the dancersand the mood they are trying to evoke?
|
[Insert your response here.] |
Jazz/Swing: RTSF 2018 – Nils & Bianca (Music Only)
The second series of dance classes you will teach includes some introductory jazz/swing. To get a better sense of the music that might be used in jazz/swing classes, listen to the piece of music without watching the dance and answer the following questions:
Note: The music featured in this video is “Hey! Baby,” written by Margaret Cobb and Bruce Channel, and used in the movie Dirty Dancing.
| Question |
Response |
| What is the mood of the music? |
[Insert your response here.] |
| How do the composers create this mood using the elements of music?
You must include an explanation of melody, rhythm (beat, tempo), texture, timbre, and dynamics. |
[Insert your response here.]
|
Jazz/Swing: RTSF 2018 – Nils & Bianca (Music and Dance)
After listening to the music, think about how you could use jazz/swing movements to evoke the emotion of the music. Now, watch the dance with the musicto see how the dancers effectively combine music and dance, and answer the following questions:
Note: Nils and Bianca, a male and female, are performing a swing dance. A swing dance is a lively dance in which a dancer often lifts, spins, and flips his or her partner.
| Question |
Response |
| How do the dancers communicate emotion in their dance?
|
[Insert your response here.] |
| How does the music support the dancersand the mood they are trying to evoke?
|
[Insert your response here.] |
Modern/Hip Hop: Zedd, Alessia Cara – Stay – Choreography by Jojo Gomez & Jake Kodish (Music Only)
The last series of dance classes you will teach includes some introductory hip hop and modern dance. To get a better sense of the music that might be used in hip hop and modern dance classes, listen to the piece of music without watching the dance and answer the following questions:
Note: The music featured in this video is “Stay” by Alessia Cara and Zedd.
| Question |
Response |
| What is the mood of the music? |
[Insert your response here.] |
| How do the composers create this mood using the elements of music?
You must include an explanation of melody, rhythm (beat, tempo), texture, timbre, and dynamics. |
[Insert your response here.] |
Modern/Hip Hop: Zedd, Alessia Cara – Stay – Choreography by Jojo Gomez & Jake Kodish (Music and Dance)
After listening to the music, think about how you could use hip hop or other modern dance movements to evoke the emotion of the music. Now, watch the dance with the musicto see how the dancers effectively combine music and dance, and answer the following questions:
Note: Two dancers, a male and a female, are performing a modern/hiphop dance. This type of dance includes freestyle movements including popping, locking, and breaking, among other modern dance movements.
| Question |
Response |
| How do the dancers communicate emotion in their dance?
|
[Insert your response here.] |
| How does the music support the dancersand the mood they are trying to evoke?
|
[Insert your response here.] |
Submit your assignment.
