Dance music facts for kids
Dance music is music that is made for people to dance to. It's a huge part of music history, just like dance itself!
Imagine thousands of years ago, people probably found joy in making sounds by beating sticks together in a rhythm. They likely danced as they did this, making dance music perhaps the very first kind of music ever!
Contents
Dance Music Through History
Ancient Times
We know that the Ancient Greeks danced to music. However, we don't know much about what their dance music sounded like.
The Middle Ages
During the time before the Middle Ages, dancing was very popular. Some people in the Christian Church believed dancing was not good because they thought it was linked to bad influences. This is also why some church leaders thought musical instruments were not good, as instruments were often used for dancing.
The earliest Western dance music we know comes from the Middle Ages. Examples include dances like caroles and the Estampie. This was when composers started writing music down on music staves. Dance music needed a steady beat so dancers could stay in time. This led to the invention of barlines, which divide music into sections with a set number of beats. This was different from church music, which was often based on plainchant and had a much freer rhythm.
The Baroque Period
In the Baroque period, many composers started writing pieces based on dance rhythms. Composers like Johann Sebastian Bach wrote collections of dance movements called suites. The most popular dances in a suite were the allemande, courante, sarabande, minuet, and gigue. Even when they weren't writing actual dance pieces, many Baroque composers used dance rhythms. For example, the big opening chorus of Bach’s St Matthew Passion uses the rhythm of a sicilienne.
The Classical Period
During the Classical music period, composers wrote many symphonies and string quartets. These usually had four parts, or movements. The third movement was often a minuet, even though it wasn't meant for dancing. Composers like Mozart and Schubert also wrote a lot of music specifically for dancing or just for people to enjoy listening to. This was like the popular music of their time.
The Romantic Era
In the Romantic era, the waltz became very popular. Many waltzes were written for dancing, but other composers simply wrote piano pieces called "waltz" that were meant for listening. Chopin wrote many piano pieces named after different dances, such as the waltz, polonaise, and mazurka. Ballet also became very popular, and there was a lot of dance music in operas, especially in French operas.
Dance Music Today
In the 20th century, "dance music" often meant music played by dance bands. This kind of music later developed into rock and roll in the 1960s. Today, there's a huge variety of popular dance music, including hip hop. Dances from Spanish or Latin American cultures, like the samba, tango, and cha cha cha, are popular all over the world.
Towards the end of the 20th century, a new type of dance music called electronic dance music (EDM) appeared. This is electronic music made specifically for dancing, usually in places like nightclubs or parties. Some types of EDM include post-disco, techno, house, and trance.
See also
In Spanish: Música de baile para niños
