486  Wonderful moments

Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 11:24:22 -0600
From: "Frank G. Williams" <frankw@MAIL.AHC.UMN.EDU>
Subject: Wonderful moments

Friends,

Portions of two private e-mails (shared with permission) speak
to my question of reacting very strongly to the music. Certain
music can stop me cold, so my replies are totally in fun.

From the midwest, a writer shares the after-glow of his partner,
as sent to him in a 'morning-after' e-mail.

__________

"i have never felt the music the way i do when i dance with you...
i guess it's because you get to dance with my soul..."
__________

Dr. Frank sez: "Remember to breathe!"


...and from the left coast, a writer shares the musical genesis of a
relationship that, apparently, is only beginning to unfold...

__________

Frank -
Re your question, I'd like to tell you of something that happened just
this past weekend.
As a result of a local DJ playing some European vocal tangos from the
'30s, I recently acquired the CD for myself. I took the disk to a
milonga, had the DJ preview some of my favorites, which he loved and
agreed to play at the end of the evening to close the milonga.
Now, these are extraordinarily beautiful and romantic pieces,
wonderfully sung by a leading singer of the period. I
identify this music totally with a particular partner with whom I am
very close; I introduced her to this music soon after I first heard
it, and we danced all of it together, immediately and in a private
setting, and then did it all over again -- for almost two hours. Need
I add that she and I have an intense, magical connection to each other
and the music whenever we dance and whatever tango, vals, or milonga
we dance to.
One of the tangos, the last one the DJ played, strikes both of
us as being among the most beautiful tangos we've ever heard, and we
both react to it emotionally every time we hear it: in my mind's eye I
am always dancing it with this particular partner (in fact, I will not
dance any of this music with anyone else). So she and I danced it in
extremely close embrace at the end of the milonga, and we were in
ecstasy. As the music was ending, I could no longer hold my emotions
in check -- tears came into my eyes and I started trembling. My
partner was very tender with me, and we simply stood there, holding
each other tightly well after the music had ended, until we were able
to return to this world.--

_____________

Dr. Frank sez: Thanks for the story - I think you're on a roll! I
suspect that the trembling was also in anticipation of the future.
The tears... I think tears are quite common in tango, but they usually
stay slightly below the surface. Of course, you don't have to taste
'em to feel 'em. With tango we can almost celebrate tears, wherever
they are lurking.


Thanks for these nice e-mails!

Frank - Minneapolis




Frank G. Williams, Ph.D. University of Minnesota
frankw@mail.ahc.umn.edu Dept. of Neuroscience
(612) 625-6441 (office) 321 Church Street SE
(612) 624-4436 (lab) Minneapolis, MN 55455
(612) 281-3860 (cellular/home)