History of Dance Music

[jody sweeney]

DANCE MUSIC
What is Dance Music? The definition of dance music is quite simply-
Music composed/ played specifically for dancing to. Dance music
includes a whole variety of music from waltz to tango, disco to
rock.From the dawn of mankind humans possessed the desire to danceIn
accient times, the first purpose of dance was ritual - to the gods of
nature. Dancing is proven to make us feel good. Dancing is used in
celebrations. In ancient Greece,after harvesting grapes, the occasion
was celebrated in honour of the God of wine, Dionysus, where people
danced all night long. Although dance and music can be traced back to
prehistoric times, it is unclear which came first. As rhythm and sound
go hand in hand and inspire movement.The relationship between the two
has always been symbiotic.
Our ears have the fewest sensory cells of any sensory organ--3,500
inner hair cells occupy our ears versus 100 million photoreceptors in
our eyes. Yet our mental response to music is amazingly adaptable;
even a little study can "retune" the way the brain handles musical
inputs. It's a well known fact that music is good for you, as it
builds neuropathways and stimulates the mind. Recently scientists
discovered what makes a tune catchy, after locating the brain area
where a song's "hook" gets caught. Its in the auditory cortex,which
handles information from ears. Dance Music in particular stimulates
our brains, as studies found, thus the popular demand for night clubs.
An uplifting melody with an uptembo rhythm increases our stimulation
in the auditory complex.
In recent times the term "dance music" is more familiarly known as
club music, electronic music...techno, trance, house, eurodance,
breakbeat and trance,drum and bass,hip hop,raga. Electronic dance
music evolved in the 1970s. Kraftwerk, Georgio Moroder, Donna Summer
and Sylvester are just a few of the artists who started the dance
music phenomenon. From 1988, many terms of dance music evolved From
Acid House to Techno to ambient wave to trance.
Nowadays we have all sorts of dance music from all over the world. We
hear it on our radios, Tvs, in our night clubs. A recent survey found
dance music is the most popular genre among music tastes, and is
growing in popularity even more each day. I found this interesting web
station last week with a nice mix of dance music.
http://www.energywebradio.com
By Tracey Lee