896  DJing in smaller communities

Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 19:16:49 -0900
From: Dan Boccia <redfox@ALASKA.NET>
Subject: DJing in smaller communities

This whole discussion began when Trini offered the idea to have a DJ
conference to help people in small, young communities develop some
understanding and skills so they can begin to DJ effectively for their
communities. Now we have the (predictable) discussions going on about
non-tangos, modern tangos, etc. Although I'm finding the discussions
interesting and very enticing, I imagine the people in the younger
communities are wondering what we're all talking about and trying to
figure out how much of this really matters to them ..

DJing in a small, young community is dramatically different than DJing
for the big festivals or in mature communities. Those who DJ in a young
community have a very important, demanding job. The dancers are new to
the dance and still wondering how much they like it, they are generally
not skilled/experienced enough to dance well to lots of different types
of music, the DJ is probably also busy/distracted organizing events, and
there are not enough people dancing at one time to create that magic
crowd energy. It can be a lot of work and even frustrating at times.
Further, the DJ in a small community has the responsibility of educating
the dancers about tango music, because the music you play has a very
high impact on the experience of the newer dancers - they will assume
that they are hearing good tango dance music because they don't know any
better. That means the DJs in the smaller communities have a
responsibility to find out what the good music is when they're pretty
new to the dance themselves, so there can be quite a bit of pressure.
My strong belief is that a new DJ is going to be way ahead by visiting a
mature community nearby to hear more experienced DJs and get a chance to
learn from them. Researching the music on the internet is also helpful,
at sites like www.tejastango.com <https://www.tejastango.com/> and
several others (most or all of which are linked on this site). On these
sites you can learn about the main orchestras from the golden age, some
of the most popular songs played at milongas today, where to purchase
music, and even get album recommendations. The research is valuable,
but again, make a priority to visit mature communities - it's the best
way to learn how to DJ, which involves MUCH more than just collecting
good music.

One thing that is definitely key for DJs in younger communities is to
play from a wide variety orchestras. Playing "bang-bang-bang" music as
Russell calls it all night is not going to get it, nor is it going to
work to play any other flavor of music exclusively. Begin your
collection with one or two CDs from a variety of the classic orchestras,
then increase your depth from there. Manuel's note had some good
points, outlining a traditional approach to DJing. I agree with the
people who point out that we're still listening mostly to older
recordings simply because this is still the best dance music available
to us. I personally enjoy a bit of alternative music when it is in the
hands of a sensitive DJ who knows how to manage the energy in the room
and who knows that if the energy for that music is not there, it's
better NOT to play it. I'm also perfectly happy to dance to good tango
music all night.

On a related note, don't fall into the trap of worrying about playing
music for certain "styles" of dancing - that's absolute nonsense and
it's not the DJ's business. Besides that, in a small community,
worrying too much about dance styles is the surest way to break a
community into sub-groups, which is the last thing a young community
needs. Just play good tango dance music and let people dance whatever
style they choose. I have seen good dancers of various styles happily
dancing to the same music on the same floor more than enough to convince
myself to dismiss this academic categorization of music and dancing.
The good dancers dance to the good music, period, and the DJ's job ends
at playing a variety of good music. Let the dancers take it from there.

Dan Boccia
Ancorage, AK
www.tangotrance.com <https://www.tangotrance.com/>

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2002 10:09:39 -0600
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: DJing in smaller communities

Dan Boccia wrote:

>My strong belief is that a new DJ is going to be way ahead by visiting a
>mature community nearby to hear more experienced DJs and get a chance to
>learn from them.

I agree completely with Dan's comments. In a big tango community, one has
the opportunity to hear 5-6 different DJs play music over the course of a
week. In Buenos Aires, you can hear several different DJs on the same
night. Also the tango weeks and weekends are getting into the act, by
using a variety of some of the best DJs. At the milonguero weekend in
Denver last Labor Day Weekend, there were six different DJs playing music
plus a live orchestra.

A little bit of advance preparation may be useful for such a trip... It
would be very helpful to familiarize oneself with the music of the
different orchestras whose music are used for social dancing. Recognizing
what one is hearing can be very helpful. As Dan wrote, the Tejas Tango
webpage <https://www.tejastango.com/> has a number of guides to tango music for social dancing. I consider
the guide, Classics of Tango Dance Music to be particularly helpful <https://www.tejastango.com/classic_tangos.html>. More than a dozen DJs and dancers contributed to the list. Although I
assembled the list and consider myself to know a fair amount tango music,
I used the list as a point of departure, when I put together my set of
pre-assembled tandas on CDs to play at milongas.

With best regards,
Steve

Stephen Brown
Tango Argentino de Tejas
https://www.tejastango.com/

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2002 15:37:34 -0700
From: Tom Stermitz <Stermitz@RAGTIME.ORG>
Subject: Re: DJing in smaller communities

>DJing in a small, young community is dramatically different than DJing
>for the big festivals or in mature communities. Those who DJ in a young
>community have a very important, demanding job. The dancers are new to
>the dance and still wondering how much they like it, they are generally
>not skilled/experienced enough to dance well to lots of different types
>of music, the DJ is probably also busy/distracted organizing events, and
>there are not enough people dancing at one time to create that magic
>crowd energy. It can be a lot of work and even frustrating at times.
>Further, the DJ in a small community has the responsibility of educating
>the dancers about tango music, because the music you play has a very
>high impact on the experience of the newer dancers - they will assume
>that they are hearing good tango dance music because they don't know any
>better. That means the DJs in the smaller communities have a
>responsibility to find out what the good music is when they're pretty
>new to the dance themselves, so there can be quite a bit of pressure.
>My strong belief is that a new DJ is going to be way ahead by visiting a

I couldn't agree with Dan more.

The DJ in a small community has an extreme influence that will mark
that community down the road for good or ill.

* I've attended a milonga where Gotan was played from beginning to
end. (Were they trying to attract the younger crowd by tangoing to
Frank Zappa!? Yes, one of the Gotan pieces was composed by Frank
Zappa.).
* I've attended milongas where the DJ played an entire evening of
modern tangos that meandered from melody to melody, as if clear beat
and staccato rhythm were INTENTIONALLY being avoided.
* I've also seen Pugliese played constantly. How does a beginner
even begin to interpret Pugliese? If they do this for months, what
kind of dancer do they become?

It takes a while for a newcomer to recognize and make sense of the
music. The DJs role is to make it easier for them. In new communities
I would suggest that the DJ play a MUCH SMALLER range of songs than
experienced dancers like. If there are 6000 tangos, and 600 are
considered appropriate for a milonga in Buenos Aires, maybe 60 are
reasonably accessible for newcomers in the US.

Your newcomers will fit in much faster if you play these 60 songs
frequently and regularly until they start to become familiar.

* A big collection is NOT better.
* Obscure is NOT a feature.

As Stephen points out at his Classics of Tango Dance Music website:
<https://www.tejastango.com/classic_tangos.html>, when you have a lot
of beginners it is so much better to stick with more obvious rhythms
and simpler music.

>On a related note, don't fall into the trap of worrying about playing
>music for certain "styles" of dancing - that's absolute nonsense and
>it's not the DJ's business. Besides that, in a small community,
>worrying too much about dance styles is the surest way to break a
>community into sub-groups, which is the last thing a young community
>needs. Just play good tango dance music and let people dance whatever
>style they choose. I have seen good dancers of various styles happily
>dancing to the same music on the same floor more than enough to convince
>myself to dismiss this academic categorization of music and dancing.
>The good dancers dance to the good music, period, and the DJ's job ends
>at playing a variety of good music. Let the dancers take it from there.

I disagree somewhat that music is completely style neutral. It is
true that a good dancer can dance to a wide variety of music, but
DiSarli lends itself to a more walking style of dance, and D'Arienzo
is a more staccato, rhythmic style.

I agree with Dan that a small community can ill-afford to split over
stylistic issues. Teachers may have their own preference, but they
should make sure their students receive the tools they need to dance
when they step out into the bigger world.

Clearly we don't have a consistent curriculum among tango teachers,
but to be fair to your students they need to show both rhythmic and
walking vocabulary. Likewise, they need close and open style
techniques.


--

Tom Stermitz
https://www.tango.org/
stermitz@tango.org
303-388-2560