[Tango-L] Syncopation

[Jonathan Thornton]

Larry,

I applaud your extremely clear post. I do want to add that it also annoys
the heck out of some musicians or drummers who also dance, though I scarcely
respond to the word anymore, though I don't know if maybe a galvanic skin
response reading would show some subliminal negative reaction on my part or
not.

I think really jiving tap dancers syncopate. Traspie is as close as I've
seen tango dancers come. Traspie is a fine Argentine dance terms as far as I
know. I like it anyway but maybe that is because I don't speak the language?
The same reason that dance instructors can so easily let "syncopate" slip
off their tongues? The bliss of ignorance can be a blessing.

Jonathan Thornton

On 7/24/06, Larry Gmucs <gmucs at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> SYNCOPATION Syncopate; syncopated; syncopa: A musical term adopted by
> dancers and used in a way which is technically incorrect, musically, and
> leads to endless arguments between dancers and musicians. Musically it
> refers to an unexpected or unusual accenting of the beats in a measure such
> as the two and four beats of swing music rather than the more common accent
> on the one and three beats. Dancers have come to use the term to describe
> cutting the beat, or stepping on the half-beat, which annoys musicians all
> to heck. Maybe if they could dance the tango we would pay more attention to
> them.
>



-- 
"The tango can be debated, and we have debates over it,
but it still encloses, as does all that which is truthful, a secret."
Jorge Luis Borges