5616 tango and rhythm
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 09:07:47 GMT
From: "larrynla@juno.com" <larrynla@juno.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] tango and rhythm
To: tango-L@mit.edu
The basic rhythm of tango is a medium-paced walk, slow-slow as some
would call it. But the beauty of tango is that it's an improvised
dance. The leader can create any rhythm, any combination of quicks,
very quicks, slows, very slows, stops, and so on.
If he firms up his embrace his partner knows to adopt the same rhythm.
If he relaxes it she knows to keep to the basic rhythm. Her
predictability lets him do movements like sacadas.
With this freedom comes the possibility (maybe the likelihood) that
some of these invented rhythms will fail because they don't fit the
music, confuse his partner, cause him to forget the rest of the
dancers, and so on. Or because they are just ugly.
With this freedom also comes the responsibility to first master the
basics of movement, balance, embrace, musicality, and so on that your
inventions add to your dancing rather than show you up as as inept
fool.
Trying to make rules about which invented rhythm is right for what
movement is a game for fools, or for authoritarians who want to make
everyone else conform to their idea of what is right.
Larry de Los Angeles
https://ShapechangerTales.com
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Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:13:31 GMT
From: "larrynla@juno.com" <larrynla@juno.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] tango and rhythm
To: tango-L@mit.edu
So how fast is a Quick and a Slow? It depends on the orchestra leader, who sets the
TEMPO by which his orchestra plays each measure. Early tangos were usually quite
fast, about a half-second per measure. Tango music evolved from that tempo, partly
because conservatory-trained musicians from Europe began playing with their
sophisticated toolkit of techniques. Then a measure might take about a second or,
if di Sarli was the leader, a second and a half.
So in a second/measure tempo a Slow would be a half second, and a Quick a quarter
of a second. A dancer would typically step on the 1 and the 3 quarter notes of a
piece of music written with a 4/4 signature.
You likely noticed the qualifiers in the previous: "about" and "typically" and so
on. That's because orchestra leaders in the 30s began to vary the tempo with which
they had their musicians play individual pieces - and the tempo WITHIN a piece.
D'Arienzo was one of the first to do this. He also began to vary the force by which
his musicians played different parts of a piece: very loud here and very soft
there. So soft that sometimes dancers had to infer the tempo and the beats of music
- as here starting at about 1:10 minutes into "La Cumparsita."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y7Cnw99GKQ
As the 1940s passed and dancers became more numerous and more musically
sophisticated orchestra leaders had to come up with more sophisticated techniques
to capture and keep dancers and other listeners. One such technique was swapping
the bass and melody lines. So the beat would be kept by a violin, and the melody by
the bass viol or the left (bass) hand on the piano.
OK. That decides it. I will send "The Alfar's Husband" to the magazine first, THEN
"Lady Death." Ciao!
Larry de Los Angeles
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Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:02:01 +1000
From: Noughts <damian.thompson@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] tango and rhythm
To: "larrynla@juno.com" <larrynla@juno.com>
Cc: tango-l@mit.edu
<cb8208d0904191902l20e9469co3993e7aa0f29a387@mail.gmail.com>
Slow is usually 2 beats at whatever rate the orchestra is playing....
Quick is usually 1...
Half time is usually 4...
Etc etc etc...
Traspie is where most fall apart and don't understand it..
==== ==== ==== ====
If the above is 4 beats, then in milonga with a 2/4 timing, that would
be 2 bars...
Breaking it into stepping on the beat for Lise, then this for traspie..
==== === = ==== ==== (stepping at all the breaks...)
or....
==== = === ==== ====
Probably a poor example.. but it gives you an idea...
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:45:57 GMT
From: "larrynla@juno.com" <larrynla@juno.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] tango and rhythm 3
To: tango-L@mit.edu
The natural rhythm of the tango has several profound consequences.
One is that learning to dance tango at the most basic level is fairly
easy. You just embrace your partner and walk around the dance floor to
the music. Well, easy at first. When you become an advanced dancer
you may do what many before you have done - return to the most basic
level and start again, this time paying attention to subtleties you may
not have even been able to notice when you began tango. As milonguero
Puppy Castello said, "Figures are easy; walking is hard."
One other is that, not having to focus on a difficult rhythm such as
West Coast Swing's slow-slow-quickity-quick, you have more time to
focus on your embrace and the person in it, other people sharing the
floor, and the music. The intimacy of the first of those is why it is
possible in tango to feel so much depth of emotion in a simple dance.
Another consequence is that it is easier to recover from mistakes made
while dancing, something everyone does no matter how great they are.
We've had decades of practice recovering to a simple walk. We may even
come to welcome mistakes, as proof that we have the courage to risk
adventures. And discover new ways of dancing in the midst of the
recovery. And gain confidence in our ability to meet challenges.
Another is that if a simple walk becomes boring we already have many
tricks to enliven it. We can add adornos between each step by tapping
the floor with the ball or toe of our foot (golpes and golpecitos). Or
giving little kicks in front of or behind or beside our supporting foot
(or larger kicks when the traffic allows.): amagues, boleos, and so on.
We can play with the rhythm. We can play with our relationship with
our partner, perhaps by walking to their left or right rather than with
our right (or rarely left) leg inside their legs.
And if we grow tired or faint-hearted or aware of an annoyed partner
tired of our foolishments we can always retreat to the basics. Or if a
sad tango is being played we can express sorrow by dancing with simple
but deeply-felt emotion, remembering those people away from us, perhaps
forever.
Larry de Los Angeles
https://ShapechangerTales.com
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