Here are some tips on counting music:
Although most music is counted 4 beats per measure...
Dancers count by 8's or 2 4 beat measures..
Here is a great explanation of why dancers count by 8s:
Phrasing, the way dancers use the word, refers to the structure of the music. While phrasing is not for newbies, I believe beginners who have had a few months of classes should begin to develop an ear for it. I’ll be gentle.
One set of 8 is also called a mini-phrase, a term coined by dance educator Skippy Blair. To the ear, a set of 8 or mini-phrase usually has a theme: a short piece of melody or harmony with a beginning and an ending. The themes of mini-phrases have some integrity, but they don’t tell the whole story. A mini-phrase, like a sentence of words, only tells part of the story.
Music also has “paragraphs.” A paragraph in music is often called a phrase of music or, more descriptively, a major phrase. Just as a paragraph is a series of sentences, amajor phrase is a series of mini-phrases. To the ear, the theme of a major phrase typically encompasses the smaller themes of the mini-phrases to create a larger theme, which tells the whole story—a complete musical thought. For example, a group of mini-phrases can come together to form a chorus or verse, which is thematically complete.
Unlike the mini-phrase, which is always eight beats (except waltz music), the number of beats in a major phrase will vary depending on the music. The most common major phrase is the 32-beat phrase, which is sometimes described as “four sets of 8” (4 × 8 = 32), easy to hear in everything from jazz to Latin to rock ’n roll. Also common is the 48-beat phrase, which can be described as “six sets of 8” and is considered standard phrasing for blues music. (Arcane technical info: Musicians call it 12-bar blues, a bar being slang for a four-beat measure: 12 × 4 = 48.)
Phrasing is important, because at the intermediate level and above you will dance to the major phrases. You will choreograph step patterns in a way that acknowledges the major phrases, which will connect you to the music at a higher level. And women will love you for it.
Reading and Counting Music:
The majority of the contemporary rock and pop music you hear on the radio these days is written in the 4/4 time signature:
The top number tells us how many of the specified notes are in a bar and the bottom number tells us what duration (ie: how long) that specified note is. For example in 4/4 Time the top number tells us there are 4 notes in a bar and the bottom number tells us that each note is 1/4 of the length of the bar, or more simply put a quarter note. Therefore, we can tell that a song written with a 4/4 time signature is made up of bars (musical units a song is divided up into) which contain 4 quarter note long beats. The following picture may help in visualizing this:
In the 8 count measure:
DOWN beats - ODD counts - counts 1, 3, 5, and 7
UP Beats - EVEN counts - 2, 4, 6, 8.
The first step in understanding rhythms is to memorize the various notes and their 'values.' You don't need to understand them now, but for information's sake, look over the five most commonly used notes:
 whole note | four beats long |
 half note | two beats long |
 quarter note | one beat long |
 eighth note | half a beat long |
 sixteenth note | quarter of a beat. |
It's confusing to think of something being an eighth of a beat, and you may wonder why a note that is one beat long is called a quarter note. Why wouldn't it be called a whole note, since it's a whole beat?
It's because we name our notes based on the length of time they are played within a measure, not based on how many beats they are.
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