Magic Dance · David Bowie

111 bars of 4/4 at a walking 106 BPM, 4:11 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare and kick.

90 to 119 BPMFour drums or fewer
TEMPO
106 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
111
LENGTH
4:11
DIFFICULTY
70/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 77% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 4-20, 23-25 and 27-46, and 10 more places -- 76.9% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

LOOP · 106 BPM
MAGIC DANCE · BAR 4
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

4 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 21, 47, 84, 100, 101 and 102.

LOOP · 106 BPM
BAR 21 · LANDS ON BAR 22
LOOP · 106 BPM
BAR 47 · LANDS ON BAR 48
LOOP · 106 BPM
BAR 84 · LANDS ON BAR 85
LOOP · 106 BPM
BARS 100-102 · LANDS ON BAR 103 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

111 bars across 3 sections: 100 keep time, 6 are fills and 3 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 48-83.

VERSE
OUTRO
3 groovesBDS1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Magic Dance?

106 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in sixteenth notes. The room plays it at any tempo from a quarter of that up to the written one, against the record where the record can follow.

Is Magic Dance hard to play on drums?

70 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how much of it falls off the beat. The beat itself is 62 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

111 bars, about 4:11 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 10 exercises over 4 sittings, about 22 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. Nothing in the part asks for anything else.

How many fills are in Magic Dance?

4 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 21, 47, 84, 100, 101 and 102.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 111 BARS ANALYSED
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