Dance Music 1985 to the Present Day

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Dance Music 1985 to the Present Day

• The New GCSE Topic for
• September 2006

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Common Musical Features in Dance Music

• Metre4 strong beats in a bar.
• Use of studio and live technology to create and
  manipulate sounds.
• DJ and producer turntable skills (scratching,
  pitch matching etc).
• Remixing and sampling existing material across
  all genres of music.
• Use of rap and MC-ing.
• Loud and extravagant bass lines.
• Rhythm, pulse and tempo more important than
  melody or harmony.

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Edexcel Specification
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Jamaican DUB

• Based on1960s Jamaican Reggae
• King Tubby (Bob Marleys Producer) / Lee
  Scratch Perry
• Dub as in overdub, either effects or new sounds
• Creativity born of a desire to save money
• Used originally for B
• sides

5
Funk

• From late 1960s onwards
• James Brown, The Meters, George Clinton,
  Funkadelic, later developed by Earth Wind Fire
  and the Tower of Power.
• Evolved from a combination Soul and Jazz.
• To create as intense groove as possible.
• Syncopated Rhythms, thick bass line, chanted
  vocals, rhythm orientated horn sections,
  razor-sharp rhythm guitar, prominent percussion,
  upbeat attitude, African tones, danceability,
  jazz influences.
• Reaction to the complexity of modern
• jazz and be-bop.

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Disco

• Disco developed during the 1970s in New Yorks
• gay clubs.
• Longer songs, the development of the 12 inch
  single assisted this.
• The film Saturday Night Fever brought the disco
  style to a global audience.
• Many venues for live music became discos and
  live musicians found work difficult to find.
• Key Ingredients 120 BPM with a strongly
  emphasised beat, clear-cut rhythms throughout,
  simple verse chorus structure and memorable
  melody.

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European Synth Pop

• Derived from the Krautrock bands of the 1970s-
  Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream Can. Other
  influences Gary Numan and Jean-Michel Jarre.
• The Moog and Mini-Moog synthesisers in the 1970s
• New, cheaper, polyphonic synthesisers Roland
  JV, Yamaha DX7 Korg M1 in the 1980s.
• Bands such as Depeche Mode, A-HA, The Pet Shop
  Boys, Erasure.
• The first commercial fully electronic music
• Characterised by metronomic rhythms and sparse
  arrangements.

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House

• 1985- Present day
• 110-130 bpm Disco Tempo 4/4 Beats
• Named after the Warehouse Club in Chicago
• Frankie Knuckles, Farley Jackmaster Funk, Jamie
  Principle
• Uses existing recordings from the 1970s with
  synthetic drums and bass added by machines such
  as the Roland TR909 TB303

9
Garage

• Named after New Yorks Paradise Garage Club
• Derived from R n B and Soul (James Brown)
• 110-130 Bpm
• Similar to house but with different style samples
  used

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TECHNO

• 130-150 Bpm All Electronic Instruments
• Heavy use of Sequencers Samplers, drum machines
  DJ Skills.
• An entire studio used as as a single instrument.
• Any melody can have the techno treatment
• Inspired by Euro-synth pop such as Jean-Michel
  Jarre and electronics pioneers Kraftwerk
• Popular in Central Europe

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Hip-Hop

• 80-110 Bpm Slower than other dance music
• Rap is an essential ingredient
• Use of vocal sampling
• Music of the urban black American (Eminem being
  the notable exception)
• Melodic content often takes a back seat

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Drum n Bass

• An electronic genre, also known as Jungle
• Heavy emphasis on fast tempo
• drums with intricate bass lines.
• A British invention
• Tempo usually between 170-180 Bpm
• Requires uncommonly loud and large sound systems
  to appreciate the extra low bass frequencies.

13
Sample Listening TestSomebody to Love by
Jefferson Airplane Somebody to Love by Boogie
Pimps

• Listen first to the Jefferson Airplane version
• (1967), then to the Boogie Pimps (2003).
• How is the original track used in the remix? Is
  it used in its entirety, only snippets or both?
• Does the remix use the same chord pattern as the
  original or has it changed?
• Does the remix only use music from the original
  or does it include new music of its own?