Finding Music
With few exceptions, you can not walk into a mainstream music store to purchase a CD of good ballroom dance music. There are some American and Canadian CDs of "strict tempo" dance music sold in regular music stores, but they are typically junk made by someone with a synthesizer and a metronome. You have several alternatives.
- Fair-to-excellent ballroom dance CDs recorded by German, British, and Japanese ballroom dance orchestras (e.g., Klaus Hallen, Ross Mitchell, or Dance Dance Dance) are sold at dance supply stores and dance studios for about $25-30 each. These orchestras play much better Standard dance music than Latin dance music. Recommended: "The Werner Tauber Modern Collection" (music for Standard dances).
- There are a few good American and Canadian CDs of Latin dance music intended for ballroom dancers. (These are not the aforementioned strict-tempo CDs found in the "ballroom dance" section of ordinary music stores.)
- I recommend the Dutch "Giants of Latin" series.
- A ballroom-dance music vendor (Ballroom Dance Supply) presents downloadable sound clips from ballroom dance CDs on its website.
- Many excellent ballroom dance songs are available from mainstream CDs. Unfortunately, few discs have more than one or two dance tracks, so collecting music this way can also grow expensive. Buying CDs from stores that offer 75% to 100% credit on returns will give you some freedom to explore.
- Public libraries typically lend music, and many have computerized catalogs that can be searched remotely.
- Online vendors of mainstream music (e.g., CDNow, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble; others are listed on Yahoo) have large, searchable music databases, and offer downloadable 30-second sound clips from several songs on each CD. These websites are very helpful when you're looking for a song and guessing at the artist or title.
The best source for music varies by dance, as listed below. "U.S. pop" refers to U.S. popular music, including rock, rhythm & blues, jazz vocalists, big band, Top 40, film soundtracks, etc. "Latin pop" refers to Latin American popular music, which usually has its own section in mainstream U.S. record stores.
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Dance |
Music Sources |
|---|---|
|
Waltz |
ballroom dance CDs; U.S. pop; Irish music |
|
Foxtrot |
U.S. pop, esp. jazz vocalists (e.g., Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Connick Jr., Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine) |
|
Tango |
ballroom dance CDs; Tango orchestras |
|
Viennese Waltz |
ballroom dance CDs; classical music (e.g., Strauss, Tchaikovsky) |
|
Quickstep |
ballroom dance CDs; film soundtracks; U.S. pop |
|
Cha Cha |
U.S. pop; Latin pop |
|
Rumba |
U.S. pop; Latin pop |
|
Samba |
Latin pop |
|
Paso Doble |
ballroom dance CDs |
|
East Coast Swing/Jive |
U.S. pop |
|
Bolero |
Latin pop |
|
Mambo |
Latin pop; film soundtracks |
|
Salsa |
Latin pop |
|
West Coast Swing |
U.S. pop, esp. rhythm & blues |
|
Hustle |
U.S. pop, esp. Top 40 |
|
Nightclub Two Step |
U.S. pop |
|
Argentine Tango |
Tango show soundtracks (e.g., Forever Tango, The Tango Lesson) |
|
Lindy Hop |
U.S. pop, esp. jump blues, big band, jazz vocalists |
Ballroom Dance Orchestras
I suggest that you avoid Foxtrots from ballroom dance orchestras--American jazz vocalists produce much better Foxtrots. Likewise, avoid most Latin music from the ballroom dance orchestras. They play a few acceptable Rumbas and Sambas, but their Latin numbers are generally poor.
Soundtracks
Good dance music can often be found on film and show soundtracks.
The soundtracks listed below each have at least one good dance song; those
starred each have several useful songs.
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Popular Music
Certain pop artists appear frequently in my collection. The artists listed below each have at least two good dance songs. Those single-starred have at least three, while those double-starred have at least five.
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