Monday 17 May 2010

Tap Dance Music CDs

Welcome to the blog!

Tap Dance Music and some History of Tap Dancing

Royalty free Music to Tap Dance to!

Now you can practice Tap Dancing without stopping and starting as you learn or rehearse tap dance routines. NEW Practice Tap comes in a series of 3CDs. It’s a new concept - as each CD has 3 tracks about 20 minutes long, with approx 10 instrumental tunes in each track, all played at a constant speed or tempo – with no gaps between the tunes. Each track is at a different tempo. Tap Dance Music CDs - three Tap Dance CDs, with three twenty minute tracks at different tempi ...

They are all popular favourites, recorded live in our studio by the Brian Dee trio.

Great to rehearse to – great to dance to - and great to just listen to!

Check out this site ...

http://www.dancemusic-eshop.co.uk/home

Saturday 15 May 2010

How Music Influences Children - Influence your children with music

The Powerful Influence of Good Music: Dance Music can provide this ...

From within the womb music can begin to advance our intelligence and shape our future. The comfort you feel in your prenatal state associates with the sounds outside the belly, triggering a state of calm when you hear the same sounds in the future outside world. As a toddler, I remember when my dad used to sing me to sleep, little did I know it would help mold the person I am today. Music can play a crucial role in developing the mental, physical and emotional growth of a human being.

Music can also be used as a tool to strengthen family relationships and bridge generation gaps.

Music inspires creativity by stimulating the imagination of children at an early age. As a child, when we hear a song that touches on things familiar and symbolic to everyday life such as a favorite color, animal, or food, we begin to visualize and stretch our imagination. This exercise sets a tone for creativity later in life. It also provides a tool for expression that perpetuates our creative abilities.

Music builds coordination. Human beings have an inner rhythm. Our heart beats to a rhythm, we breathe in rhythm, and we even communicate in rhythm. When children become in tune to the rhythm of a song, they sway, tap, and shout syncing in to the music. We begin to develop physical coordination in unison to the sounds that we hear as infants.

Music develops self awareness. Every culture has its own anthem or song that represents them. Many cultures create a unique sound and style that explains who they are. We learn very much about our purpose, sense of self, and place in the universe through the music that is around us.

Music Reduces Stress. The emotion we feel from soothing music can actually slow down your heart and ease tension in your body. A warm lullaby sung by grandma can be a potent sleep medication for babies. The endorphins our brain releases through music can trigger emotions of happiness, excitement, bliss and calm that all contribute to stress release.

Music is healthy for you. One thing music does for sure is make you move. We dance, jump, shake, wave, nod, make faces and do funny things to music. It is a tool that can be used for exercise and physical fitness. The entire family can work up a sweat together right in the living room and complete the amount of daily physical exercise recommended by health experts all through listening to music.

Music Advances social skills. As a child, when we learn the words to a song it builds confidence. From the moment the song begins we know we can impress our parents, grandparents, and friends by singing along with the song. We become comfortable with moving to the music and learn how to interact with people through it. We discover dancing with partners, singing in groups, and even creating sounds with each other by tapping on surfaces and clapping our hands. This early interactive behavior can instill confidence with those who might ordinarily be shy. It provides a tool to advance our social skills and communicate on higher levels.

Music bonds the family together. From lullabies to birthday songs music plays a valuable role in uniting family. We can re-arrange our favorite songs catering them to our children's liking, improvise made-up language and expressive movement, and communicate our love and admiration for one another through music. Grandparents can cross generations of time, communicating intimately with a child before it knows how to speak by using music as a communication tool. Music is the fountain of youth, the bridge to understanding, and the power to unite.

I was 9 years old in 1983 when my parents bought me my first 3 albums: Michael Jackson "Thriller", the Police "Synchronicity" and Billy Joel "glass houses". I am so thankful to have received such a diverse collection of music. The music I was introduced to as a child helped me to make choices, build relationships, discover preferences, and sharpen my perception of the world around me.

Music can strengthen the bond between distant family members. A child can deepen the love they have for their far away grandparents by singing songs over the phone, or "video visiting" online. Music is the bridge between generations that allow us to communicate with our grandparents from birth.

Whether you practice the enjoyment of singing traditional family songs with your children, or practice the scientific approach of musical advancement and psychological development, the benefits of music for children at an early age are endless. Music brings family together. Music is the key to a complete human being.

Marc Herstein has over 20 years of song composition and music production experience. He currently works in a special education day school for emotionally disturbed children in the south Bronx NYC. He is also the music and song composer at http://grandchildconnection.com a service that helps to strengthen the bond between children and their distant grandparents.

Visit http://grandchildconnection.com and discover the incredible tools and techniques used to maintain a child's attention through video conferencing. Grandchild Connection has music videos, games, ebooks, coloring books, video games and even makes customized songs with a child's name and favorite things.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marc_Herstein


Find a local class to practice movement to music - your children will love it!

www.centrestagedanceanddrama.co.uk

Monday 10 May 2010

Tap Dancing and Tap Dance Music and Tap Dancing History

History of Tap Dance

Tap dance has developed with influence from Irish step and stomp dancing, English clog dancing, ballet, and African dance. In America, dances bought to the States from Africa through the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade were adapted to be incorporated in minstrel shows in the 1820's. Much later, Gene Kelly was also famous for adding elements from his extensive ballet training and other modern dance forms to tap.

Tap dancing was made famous by (among others) Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Junior, who are all well known dancers of 'rhythmic tap'. Rhythmic tap is a kind of tap dancing whose performers are called 'hoofers' as they make a louder sound with their shoes and dance primarily using leg movements.

Tap dancing rose in popularity in the 1930s, 40s and 50s when dancers like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, who were prominent on the vaudeville circuit, migrated to television and film to showcase their talents.

Tap is very rhythmic in its style and the footwork is intentionally percussive, therefore adding a welcoming sound element to the choreography.

Tap shoes are a necessary ingredient for any tap dancer as they provide the sound that sets this dance apart! Tap shoes are fitted with a metal plate on the sole, at the heel and the toe, which makes a clicking noise against the floor when the dancer does a move. Popular tap dance movements are the shuffle, flap, brush, cramp roll and ball change.

Tap shoes usually come in black but are available in other colours and are made of leather for the outer material, canvas for the inside then wood and plastic on the sole. There are several different styles of tap shoes, called the Mary Jane, which are good for beginners, the Oxford, which are flat and better for experienced dancers, and split sole jazz tap shoes which advanced dancers usually wear as they are more flexible for harder dance steps.

The most important part of tap shoes is the sound. The three different sounds for taps are teletone, duotone and supertone. The placement and number of screws at the bottom of the shoes are what produce the different sounds and they are adjustable in order to vary the sounds. Teletone tap shoes are the most common; they have three screws on each tap. Dancers may start to prefer a specific sound once they are used to dancing and the taps that their shoes make.

Comfort is also paramount as dancing in uncomfortable shoes is not enjoyable for anyone. It's advisable to dance a little in a pair of shoes before buying them and to bear in mind that they may need to be broken in a little before they are ready to be danced in.

Also, fit is important when it comes to tap shoes because the tap sounds will sound different if a shoe is too big or too small, so optimum fit will produce optimum sounds from the shoe.

Once a dancer has decided on the tap shoes they want, the fun part of learning the technique of tap dancing commences. It has been popular throughout history as an entertaining and exciting form of dance. A successful tap dancer needs to be agile as many quick movements are involved in a good choreography routine. If you watch dancers like Sammy Davis Jr. or Fred Astaire performing, it's not hard to guess how they stayed so in shape!

Europe's leading online retailer of dancewear - Dance Direct. For further information regarding our range of tap shoes and other dance products, please visit our website at http://www.dancedirect.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Treak_Eric