Salsa Timing Songs

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digistyle

I came upon a Salsa Timing Song today and thought that I'd share it with the forum.

Salsa Con Soul Timing Workout - Alex Wilson
amazon.com/Salsa-Con-Soul-Timing-Workout/dp/B0032MLNMM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1277421824&sr=8-2-catcorr

I also thought that we could use this thread to compile a list, so feel free to add your songs or any thoughts that you might have on the subject.
 
There are two other CDs 'Rhythm and Timing' from Salsaventura and 'Salsa Timing on 1 as well as 'Salsa Timing on 2' from Bailatelo. I've reviewed them in the past here.
 
If you are a complete newbie I wouldn't recommend the Mike Bello timing CD. In all fairness it has been at least five years since I've listened to. From what I remember it is just audio clips with no real explanations. It was mostly just various instruments and rhythm patterns with a count in the first two measures. I think you can get about the same level of information from these free resources available on the net...

www.salsa-merengue.co.uk
http://scphillips.com/dance/salsarhythm.html
http://www.salsabeatmachine.org/

BTW - Here is a post I made 4 years ago on this very subject...

http://www.salsaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2103
 
What do you mean by "timing"?

Hi all,

When you say "timing" are you talking about for the music or the dance? If you're talking about learning to play the music, I would definitely recommend "Yo Te Conozco" by Domingo Quiñones. It's a good bit slower than most salsas and the the specific instruments stand out nicely (they don't blend as much as in most salsas so you can really pick out the instrument you want to learn).

But if you're talking dance... sorry I can't help you... but I have a friend who has been trying to practice her timing for salsa. She has a hard time when there are no bells playing (during the verses). I think she times her steps to teh bongo bell (cencerro), also when you throw in other rhythms like plena or guaguancó i can see where it would get tricky. So what would you recommend to a fairly experienced dancer? She's in the Fred Astaire "senior bronze" program (I think that's what it's called lol).

Thanks :)
 
El Conguero said:
So what would you recommend to a fairly experienced dancer? She's in the Fred Astaire "senior bronze" program (I think that's what it's called lol).

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

It's tricky to recommend something for someone with talking to them first -- people have different ways of keying in to the rhythms. I teach a "salsa rhythm for dancers" class where we demonstrate all the parts in the percussion lineup and explain how they fit together. Some people finally got it when we explained the conga, some the cascara. The campanas a good indicator but is not reliably present, whereas the conga is much more reliable.

One other interesting tidbit, which I haven't taught before but I'm considering trying this approach, is to teach finding the 4 rather than finding the 1. I think I got this from Michael Spiro, the notion that the afrocuban rhythms are centered around 4 rather than 1. The open conga, the low bongo and the bass tumbao all hit the 4 so it might be easier to orient yourself that way. Listen for the "kun kun" on the conga, and say "4 and" over the top of it. Then say "4 and 1" and you found the 1.

IMO two of the top three things that make the 1 hardest to find are (2) the highly syncopated melodies on, e.g. vocals, make it hard to orient to the beat, and (3) the bass hitting 2& and 4 when we are used to bass hitting 1 all the time.

( I still need to research (1) -- it's something to do with a lot of modern music stemming from a dysfunctional imitation of clave (e.g. Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones is a cha-cha-cha but running a beat early), so a lot of phrasing is in a different place in modern rock / pop etc than it would be in salsa. )
 
timing track/book

Hi ... if you like my timing workout track then do check out a whole book we wrote based around the same concept ... www.findtherhythm.com ... hope this is useful - Alex
 
Timing to the congas / looking for 4 - good plan!

sweavo said:
One other interesting tidbit, which I haven't taught before but I'm considering trying this approach, is to teach finding the 4 rather than finding the 1. I think I got this from Michael Spiro, the notion that the afrocuban rhythms are centered around 4 rather than 1. The open conga, the low bongo and the bass tumbao all hit the 4 so it might be easier to orient yourself that way. Listen for the "kun kun" on the conga, and say "4 and" over the top of it. Then say "4 and 1" and you found the 1.
Click to expand...

I've never thought of timing it to the 1. I'll have to suggest that to her. I know what you mean - at the end of the tumbao on the congas they play open tones (the ringing or "kun kun" sounds) and that's consistent no matter what the bongocero and timbalero are doing.

As far as the generalization about afrocuban rhythms, I don't honestly know. I got a buddy who plays a djembe (is that how u spell it? lol), and when he heard me play tumbao once he called it the "african six". I'm guessing it means everything but the last two open tones...? oh well just a thought.

Thanks! :)
 
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