Improvisation2Coreography Part II: Music

Improvisation2Coreography: Concepts in Restructuring Modern Raks
By Asim al-Talib/Woodrow Jarvis Hill
Adapted from work done for my Sept. 2002 seminar , kindly sponsored by Belly Revelations in Durham, NC

Part Two: Music

Many dancers, when they first start in the raks shaquri form, learn music in, essentially, the same way Egyptian dancers do; by listening to it over and over. For a start, their teachers generally play the same pieces over and over in class, which gives the beginning student an understanding of the basic rhythms of Arabic music. That understanding is critical to the dance.

But building a strong choreography, or even a solid base for doing improvisational work, is much easier with a bit of extra work. It's a very wise idea to start developing a feel for the fundamental rhythms of Arabic music; Beledi, Masmoudi, Ayoub, Saudi, and so on. These are rhythms that you'll find as the base for everything that's played for raks shaquri dancers. Even when the rhythm “feels” weird, usually some form of one of the base rhythms is located in there.

Why know this, then, when you can just dance to the feel of it? Because known the rhythm means you can predict the rhythm. And if you can predict it, you have a much better chance at dancing an improv set that looks choreographed, and you'll find it much simpler to fit the pieces to the puzzle in making a choreography. The base rhythm lends itself to a number of alternative functions, as well, including using moves designed specifically to go with a particular rhythm (such as the Beledi series), accuracy with zills, and a more confidant dance style overall.

The next level above known the base rhythm involves knowledge of the musical piece as a whole. Most people do this when their choreography is based on the entire piece as one whole, instend of locking in to specific rhythms within the music. When you know the base rhythm, you can cut your work into layers; a part of your dance can focus on the rhythm, while another on one or another part of the melody, and yet another on the accents in the rhythm. Many people do this unconsciously; one of the powerful things about many dancers from “over there” is their strong knowledge of the music, and their ability to design their dance around these various layers without even thinking about it. Here, we analyze it to try to gain some level of that knowledge, since we lack (generally speaking) an Arabic upbringing to help in that.

You can do this without learning a great deal of music theory. How I tend to break down song is fairly simple; I listen and count. The tools can be as simple as a CD player with a timer for the track and some paper, or as complex as making an mp3 file and typing into a spreadsheet. Either way, the focus is on listening and breaking down the piece in question.

First, I note exactly in the time scale where changes in th musical structure take place. Counting the changes means that you can predict major shifts in the music, allowing you to build an overview of the piece. This overview means that you can see how long you have for each segment in the dance before the music changes on you, and you’re forced to consider changing the focus of your moves. For example, a change from a fast 4/4 rhythm to a taxsim means your dance should change from, say, a shimmy into some slow undulations, reflecting the musical cue. This is critical to a successful choreography, and many dancers who build choreography do this anyway.

Counting the beats is the next stage, and more difficult. It is done exactly as it is named; by listening to the music and mapping out the fundamental rhythm structure. You don’t have to know the exact rhythms at this stage, all you have to do is recognize when the 4 or 8 (generally speaking) count has occurred. At this level, you’re able to start mapping out specific pieces of dance you’d like to include, such as a particular combo you’ve just learned.

Here’s an example of such a mapout, from a very complex piece by the band Helm:

1-2 drum

3-4 Wind

5-6 Wind

7-8 Wind

9 wind, clack (:49)

10 Wind

11 small drum roll, wind

12 wind

13 string starts, clack (1:16)

14 string

15 string

16 string

17 string, drum roll (1:39 - 1:42)

string taksim (to 2:33)

Closely related is understanding the rhythms that are playing in that piece. A musical selection’s rhythms are closely related to how that piece can be worked in terms of your dance. When you put together a set of moves for a specific part of your dance, you can layer your own dance accents based upon where the rhythm hits. Rhythmic understanding also leads to a cleaner form overall, because your moves match up well with the style of rhythm that’s being played.