The Grooved Whale Project » dance http://www.groovedwhale.com The whale dives deep. Follow it. Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:19:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 Dancing: The good, the bad and the ugly http://www.groovedwhale.com/2010/09/20/dancing-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ http://www.groovedwhale.com/2010/09/20/dancing-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comments Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:41:59 +0000 groovedwhale http://www.groovedwhale.com/?p=931 This week I spent my time contemplating Dr Nick Neave’s study that suggests a man’s attractiveness to women is directly proportional to how well he performs on the dance floor. The study found “that women paid more attention to the core body region: the torso, the neck, the head. It was not just the speed of the movements, it was also the variability of the movement. So someone who is twisting, bending, moving, nodding.”

I have always been curious about what makes a dancer a “good” dancer and awhile back found myself on the dance floor with what I consider to be two of Vancouver’s best musicians. I was amazed at how differently the two interpreted the beat. I tried copying their moves and found that in order to dance like the first, I had to conceptualize the beat in my hip region. To dance like the second, I had to conceptualize the beat at the base of my neck.

As I recover from my back injuries I beginning to realize what a huge role my neck plays in correctly interpreting the beat while drumming. If I sense the beat from any other region (hip, toe tapping etc.) I have to mentally calculate the strokes my arms have to make to accurately render the rhythm. However, if I let the back of my neck sense the pulse (whereby my chin and head fall down in time with the beat) my arms correctly fall into place without any conscious calculation – a side product of which is a deep trance.

The study raises a whole bunch of questions for me: Did the less attractive dancers limit their movements due to social conditioning? Physical ailments? Would the researchers find the same conclusions if they had men rate women dancing?

In any case, its well worth checking out the study and making your own conclusions from the video – but next time you are dancing/drumming, try feeling the pulse from the back of your neck and let me know what you find.

]]> http://www.groovedwhale.com/2010/09/20/dancing-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/feed/ 0 The Art and Science of Whale Song http://www.groovedwhale.com/2010/02/05/the-art-and-science-of-whale-song/ http://www.groovedwhale.com/2010/02/05/the-art-and-science-of-whale-song/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:33:02 +0000 groovedwhale http://www.groovedwhale.com/?p=564 Over the course of the Grooved Whale Project and my research into whale song I’ve radically altered how I process the world. I’ve become accustom to analyzing myself and my behaviors much as I would do another species. The challenge I had with analyzing my musical behavior was that when my brain was in the state of music, no logic was allowed to enter. Let me explain:

When I am fully involved in music (most often while playing my violin) I am in a place where the sound plays me. There is no conscious decision of what notes to play, of moving the bow up and down. There is no conscious recognition of individual notes, patterns or progressions. The music just is. It pulls me in and directs me where to go.

This state is recognizable – I see it in performers when they hit the zone. Have a look at this James Brown video but first turn the sound down. If you were a non-musical species studying this behavior, what would you conclude?

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