Measuring Tempi

[Indiana_Jay]

In music school (especially in conducting class), we learned to discuss the tempo of a piece of music in "beats per minute."

Here in the dance world, the standard unit appears to be "measures per minute" or the synonymous "bars per minute."

Anyone know why it's different here?

 

[DanceMentor]

Good question. I guess one reason would be that choreography is done in phrases. So if you want a routine that is 1½ minutes lond and the music is 50 bars per minute, that would mean we need 75 bars, but actually 37 sets of 8 beats. I really don't know why though...just guessing.

 

[musicchica86]

It's even more confusing when one gets to waltz, which isn't the standard 4-beats-per-measure counting, and especially Viennese Waltz, which can be counted 2 different ways...

 

[Indiana_Jay]

It's even more confusing when one gets to waltz, which isn't the standard 4-beats-per-measure counting, and especially Viennese Waltz, which can be counted 2 different ways...

In my book, all the more reason to use beats per minute rather than measures per minute!

At the risk of getting too technical, printed music often has metronome markings which not only indicate the number of beats per minute, but also which value of note gets one beat. That's how we musicians know whether a waltz will be counted "in one" or "in three."

-IJ

 

[Flat Shoes]

In music school (especially in conducting class), we learned to discuss the tempo of a piece of music in "beats per minute."

Here in the dance world, the standard unit appears to be "measures per minute" or the synonymous "bars per minute."

Anyone know why it's different here?

I'm from Norway and doing Lindy Hop, and over here we count all the swing music in beats per minute. But, as you say, the bars per minute measure is common many places. My guess is that it's coincidence and local variations.

 

[Indiana_Jay]

I think I've discovered the answer, while listening to music to include in my dance collection. When you want to determine the tempo of music to which you are listening, it's a heck of a lot easier to count 30 or 60 seconds of downbeats than it is to count every beat, especially if the tempo is fast.

That's probably why the dance rules use measures per minute. It's the easiest way for a competition official to determine by listening whether a given piece of music meets the requirements.

 

[cornutt]

It is frustrating to those of us who are used to BPM, though. From long-time use of music sequencers, I have a feel for what various tempi are in BPM. When I have to look at them in MPM, it just messes me up.

 

[Indiana_Jay]

It is frustrating to those of us who are used to BPM, though. From long-time use of music sequencers, I have a feel for what various tempi are in BPM. When I have to look at them in MPM, it just messes me up.

Yep, as a musician, I have the same response. I wanna see "quarter note = 128" (which means something inside my head), not "32 MPM" (which doesn't, until I do the math).

 

[Joe]

Yes, but as a dancer do you think "quarter note = 128?"