Alex Wilson's Find the Rhythm

[t0mt0m]

Ah, influenced by the reviews. Got my copy in the post. Will see what it's like

[KP-salsa]

Originally Posted by t0mt0m

Ah, influenced by the reviews. Got my copy in the post. Will see what it's like

As a book touted to dancers, it makes an excellent manual for musicians.

(It has almost no help whatsoever for dancers: literal example exercise, "listen to the intro of a song, now think about how you'd dance to it". Okay - maybe he could have expanded it to: listen to an entire song, now imagine how you'd dance to it. Neither are any use at all.)

[t0mt0m]

Originally Posted by KP-salsa

As a book touted to dancers, it makes an excellent manual for musicians.

(It has almost no help whatsoever for dancers: literal example exercise, "listen to the intro of a song, now think about how you'd dance to it". Okay - maybe he could have expanded it to: listen to an entire song, now imagine how you'd dance to it. Neither are any use at all.)

Hmm. How's it useful for musicians?

Edit - I picked up a copy of "Dancing in the UK" Issue 39 (£1.99, news likely also on for free at dancingintheuk.co.uk).

Page 31 has Ansell Chezan (Fellow & Examiner UKA, Chairman Latino/Caribbean Committe IDO, VP IDO England, Lifemember IDTA &ISTD)

Originally Posted by Ansell Chezan in Dancing in the UK magazine

Find the Rhythm! The Ultimate Salsa Work Book for Dancers Who Want to Connect to the Music

Authors: Alex Wilson & Lee Knights (IDTA Dance Instructor)
Price:£19.99 [It's £17.99 on salsafever (excl. shipping, inc VAT afaik]

This well written and informative book is exactly what the dancer, teacher, professional and student needs - and not just for Salsa.

Find the Rhythm! has been a long time coming, but Alex and Lee's experience and research gives you the Sabor of Salsa. Although this is a serious subject, I liked the odd touches of humour that Alex and Lee added, to make this an enjoyable read.

Entwined within the musical information, you are also given the history of how, when and where the music developed. I love the 'workbook exercises' with the accompanying CD. The reader can actually play the many tiers and colours of Latin/Salsa rhythms, and play along to some well known pieces. I also liked the highlighted 'Dancer Take Note' segments.

I have no problem in recommending Find the Rhythm! to dancers. In fact, Find the Rhythm! The Dancer's Guide has been added to the UKA Professional Salsa Assessment as essential reading. Every student of dance must read this, and every professional must add it to their library. In fact, I would go further - this is essential reading not just for UKA Professional Salsa Assessment, but any other dance related qualification.

More gushing than Old Faithful at Yellowstone. Distinct feelings initially for me when reading this, of a 1st version/generation product, and a reviewer who hasn't kept in touch with technology.

Now how does this square with the other reactions of this thread? Worked out why Alex got a decent bit of promo space on http://www.londonsalsascene.co.uk/ (Editor being Alex).


Edit - Got it delivered today. Had an issue with skipping/not being able to play the disc (possible reasons - my cd player, the use of 80 minute CDs, some slight micro scratching, (copy protection?)). Salsafever happy to send out a replace when the next batch get completed in a few days.

[KP-salsa]

Originally Posted by t0mt0m

Hmm. How's it useful for musicians?

It's useful for musicians because it breaks down the various latin rhythms, but I found its attempts to apply these to exercises for dancers laughably simplistic. It also needed a competent copy-editor to go over it (it very much has the feel of a first or sedond draft rather than a finished piece) and a semi-professional typesetter rather than simply using Word and clipart.

[t0mt0m]

Originally Posted by KP-salsa

It's useful for musicians because it breaks down the various latin rhythms, but I found its attempts to apply these to exercises for dancers laughably simplistic. It also needed a competent copy-editor to go over it (it very much has the feel of a first or sedond draft rather than a finished piece) and a semi-professional typesetter rather than simply using Word and clipart.

Looks like part of the issue is quality of the images, and then printing those B&W - Some just don't carry over well (e.g. p39, or p117 - londonsalsascene's advert at the back). Makes the musical notation pictures seem less vector, than grainy bitmap (the "Dancer's take note" picture . Sucks, as they've used a decent printer, readable font.

Legible still, and for a first go at this, version 1 - it isn't too bad. Haven't read through yet, so not sure about copy-editing (is that purely the text, or does that include the flow, layout etc too?).

Haven't done the exercises yet - might be interesting to see how different people take them. I'd imagine some might appear facile or over simplistic, but they could be being aimed at intro exercises for those less learned/versed in music, song structure etc. Tough balance to get right between accessible and comprehensive.
I'd be interested to see if Rebeca Mauleon or similar have alternative breakdown material for latin rhythms - presumably drummers, piano players have instructional books on this? (would be interested to learn more about them/compare).

All in all though, what else is there to rival this? What is the competition?
EDIT - Will start a new thread here on that topic here

Listened to the CD a couple of times - like the production. Makes a hell of a difference to load it up into a playlist onto my iPhone.