4 Great Reasons You Would Want to Slow Down Music - Get The Most From Your Dance or Music Practice

No matter if you are a dancer or dance instructor, music teacher or musician; there are amazing benefits when you slow down music that you are trying to learn.

When learning a dance routine or a selection of music it makes sense to begin slow, until you are perfect (or close to it), and then build tempo until you can perform it confidently at the desired speed. It may be even beneficial to go quicker than necessary, then when you have to actually perform at the exact speed of the original song, you will find it a cinch.

By beginning your practice slow you "program" the song or dance routine into your brain and by the repetition of the action you should easily build "muscle memory".

Instead of entrenching a bunch of mistakes into your brain from the start, it makes sense to ingrain a correct activity in your mind right from the beginning.

4 Reasons You May Want to Slow Down Music.

1 - Makes Learning Easier.

What if you are trying to learn a dance routine or piece of music but you are having trouble getting your fingers or feet around it because it is too fast. It may be difficult or it just might be simply too fast. By slowing down the music you can simply learn the routine and then once you are confident you can gradually get it up to "speed".

2 - Makes Learning Much More Enjoyable.

When you are having trouble getting a routine right it can be extremely frustrating. No matter how intensely you try it can easily put you off practicing. But if you slow down the music by even a small amount it can be the difference between having fun and being frustrated, being successful and failing, winning or losing, becoming a star or being a schmuck, getting ahead or being left behind.

3 - Fix Certain Segments Of The Song.

You might be having problems with just one part or section of a number. The best option is to isolate just that section, slow down the music and go over and over it. Build "Muscle memory" correctly.

4 - Don't Work Harder Than Is Necessary.

The choice is yours. In anything you do you can either do it the hard way or the easy way.

Simply Put, slowing down a song or track will make you a much better dancer, musician or teacher and I am sure you can see how incredibly beneficial it can be to slow down music and fix mistakes at the start of your (or your students) learning path, and then gradually building speed.

I spent hours and hours of frustration searching for a simple way to slow down music. At last I stumbled upon an uncomplicated solution. Check out my video tutorials at http://slowdownmusicsecrets.com/ You'll be surprised how easy it can be once you know how.

I can now slow down a song and save it to my hard drive for later use in 26 seconds - And so can you. Find out how you can slow down music

Original article

3 Reasons Salsa Is Awesome and 2 Reasons It's Not

Why did you start dancing? If you are like me its because you wanted some sort of regular social activity that didn't necessarily involve a club or bar. You wanted something that you could work/improve; a hobby and something that could help you meet people. I started for all those reasons and its for those reasons that salsa is awesome. Let me clarify.

1) Its an alternative to bars

I love going out on the weekends, but I am not much of a bar/nightclub person. At least I am not anymore. The salsa scene is a great alternative. If gives you something to do and somewhere to go at night. Most cities have larger regular parties on the weekends and smaller more casual social dancers during the week. Salsa keeps me off my couch after work and gives me something to look forward to on the weekends.

2) Its OK to go alone

When I started dancing I didn't really know anyone in my town. Salsa lessons gave me something to do for a few weeks but as I started getting immersed in the salsa seen I realized that most salsa dancers are going just to dance and as a result most dancers come out alone. Its really funny actually seeing the line up to get in and everyone shows up alone, but knows everyone else who shows up alone. Its amazing how many people you will meet to the point that you won't even feel like you are showing up alone, cause you will now most everyone else there. Which brings me to my next point.

3) It opens up a social network and community.

Salsa is a community, a "scene". By that I mean that it has lots of regulars and people who dance tend to do it very regularly. People who get hooked on dancing and do it as their passion and hobby. Start dancing and very quickly you will see many of the same faces and sooner or later you will become one of them and start meeting people. Also whenever you travel you will be able to access a social network of salsa dancers in that city/town. Lastly almost every weekend somewhere in the world there will be a salsa festival or congress. I know have so many great memories of road trips with salsa friends to other cities to experience their salsa congresses.

Now here is why its not so hot.

1) It can be elitist

When I started dancing and even to this day there are people who will only dance with other "dancers" meaning they tend to be very picky and hold others to a certain standard. This is just one dimension of the scene and I am guilty of it myself. For most of us this tends to be a stage in development that most people will grow out of. I personally try to dance with someone new/beginner dancer every time I go out to help the community and the scene grow. If you have been dancing for awhile do the same.

2) It can lack a fun factor.

One of the major comments I hear from newcomers to the salsa scene is that it tends to be a little serious. As I said before the majority of people who are going out salsa dancing are their just to dance, but this can be a double edged sword. When not dancing a lot of the people along the edges of the dance floor are watching and there is not the social interaction aspect that I find in clubs and bars. Of course this varies, but its something that I see and hear a lot from Hong Kong to LA. This is not to say that people are not having fun, but the dancing tends to take precedent and people have fund while dancing.

So that is the salsa scene, good and bad like most things in life. If you are curious about salsa or want to learn how to salsa and are reading this I think you will find it a great adventure and something that will change your life...serious. If you are already a "salsero" than hopefully you will read the not so good and prevent it from happening to you and make your salsa scene even better for it.

Ivan Wan is a teacher and dance in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He originally learned how to dance in south america while growing up. He has been dancing for over 10 years around the world in a variety of dance styles, but is a self confessed salsa addict. You can contact him through his website http://www.dance4uvancouver.com/.

Original article