How To Train Your Musicality As A Dancer

Musicality in Choreography

Choreography is a thought out and planned form of showcasing your musicality. It’s like writing a research paper or doing homework. You take your time to prep to really understand the material and research it (by listening to the song repeatedly and exploring movements), and process the information you’ve gathered to create a final, cohesive piece.

Musicality In Freestyle

Freestyling is like taking a test. You’ve done your homework and did a bunch of practice problems (familiarizing yourself with songs/rhythms and drilling movements/technique), and then you apply what you’ve learned from the different songs on the fly. Now let’s train your musicality so you can become better at both choreographing and freestyling!

Step 1: Understand The Different Elements Of The Song

A song is like a puzzle.You want to break it down and understand each part of the piece.Listen to the song several times and break down and isolate a different instrument or voice that’s contributing to the song. Some are blaringly obvious, like the vocals or the basic four-on-the-floor drum beat, but what makes the songs really interesting are the things that are harder to catch.

For example, syncopated rhythms are really fun to listen to, but they’re pretty complicated to understand. When I get to a syncopated rhythm, sometimes I have to stop and really pick it apart to be able to just be able to sing it back. And even then, I still struggle with being able to count a syncopated rhythm. 

‍We also tend to focus on more of the obvious, so some sounds will be tucked in the song, but when you discover that dope, new sound in a song, it’s like finding gold. We’ve all had that “AH-HAH” moment in class where we FINALLY hear what the choreographer was trying to hit.

‍As you start to understand the song better, you can start fitting the pieces together and see how they relate to one another.This allows you to pick and choose what you want to show through your dancing.

Step 2: Understand How Each Instruments Sound

Now that you’ve isolated the elements in a song, you want to understand how they sound. Each layer of a song has different ways of being expressed. If you have a musical background, this may come easier for you since you understand that there are markings in the music that tells you exactly how to play the notes. When it comes to developing musicality, you’re doing the opposite. You’re extracting the quality of the sound out of what’s being played. A clear example of this is when you listen to the lyrics of the song

‍Some syllables will be short and quick, and some will be dragged out longer. Sometimes, the pitch will be higher or lower and alternate in between. As a dancer, you want your movement to emulate the sound. Short quick syllables can be translated to sharp, quick motions. Lower pitches may make you want to hit a lower level. A more nuanced example is being able to hear the qualities of drum instruments.

A snare is not always a quick, sharp sound – there is a space that the reverb fills afterwards. So a snare could be interpreted as a stick, rebound, or release depending on how you hear it.This goes for pretty much all instruments. The closer you listen, the more it will make sense.As you listen to music, your mind/body will create an image of the song to what you’re listening to through your ability to execute and dance vocabulary.

Step 3: Understand How You (Or Others) Perceive The Music

Each dancer has their own unique understanding of music. Now that you’ve picked apart the music and understand how the different voices in the song sound, you can pick and choose what you want to display. I tend to choreograph to mostly lyrics because I imagine myself being in the mind of the musician, but I also mix and match between beats and rhythm, too. And the best part about perception, is what you find interesting in a song will be completely different from what another dancer finds interesting in a song (try comparing different choreo to the same song).

Even when doing the same exact piece, you’ll see differences in how dancers perceive music. Though the timing and the frame of movements will be the same, the way they hit certain moves, soften some out more, or sit in others longer makes them who they are as a dancer.T ry thinking of ways to alter your understanding of a song. Maybe you always focus on the lyrics but there’s some dope beats going on in the back. Maybe instead of making a move for every single syllable, you can choose to move slowly and controlled through some lyrics instead.

Another great way to develop your own musicality is to study that of others. The greatest dancers out there have SUCH ridiculous and unique musicality.