In the thread on swing and sway, Jonathan wrote:
Actually, 3 is the beat where sway is dissolved. It is at its maximum, which is really ITS ENDPOINT, RIGHT ON THE DOWNBEAT OF 3. You might hold it for a brief moment, but for the most part, the DURATION OF 3 is spent dissolving the sway. (my emphasis, that's what my question is about).
I don't really have any musical training, so forgive me if this is a very ignorant question, but I am somewhat confused about what people are really talking about when they talk about the beat.
There seems to me to be two aspects to beat: the moment of the beat itself (when your hands would meet if you were clapping to the beat), and the span of time between those moments. If ----- represents the span of time and the number the clapping moment, here's how I think of the rhythm of the waltz:
-------- 1 -------- 2 -------- 3
I think of the span of time before the number as belonging to that number, so a rhythm of 1 2 & 3 would look like this:
-------- 1 -------- 2 ---- & ---- 3
As a gross generalization, I dance so that the transfer of weight is complete on the number (I mostly dance American smooth).
Is this right? Maybe I don't understand what Jonathan means by "downbeat of 3." If that's the same as my "clapping moment," then it sounds like he is attaching the span of time after the number, like this:
1 -------- 2 --------- 3 ----------
Sorry if it seems like I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but I'm at the point in my dancing when I'm trying to break beats down and look at what happens during the -------- span of time. So it makes a difference whether doing something "on 3" happens before or after the "clapping moment" (I'm sure there's a technical term for that.) Obviously, I need to have an in-depth discussion of timing with my coach, but thought I'd see what Jonathan and others have to say.
Thanks!
