[Tango-L] Hucks theorem #1, Jake's Steno pad.

[Jeff Gaynor]

I'm going to have to jump in as a professional here... I'm a 
Mathematician (evil laughter). Notations generally can be made quite 
inclusive, so that everything is written down. They also then 
practically become extremely cumbersome and are therefore abandoned. 
(Trivia, in India Math was classically notated with different colors 
rather than variables which makes the manuscripts strikingly beautiful 
and almost incomprehensible.)  Pretty much any practical notation will 
be "lossy" (rhymes with posse and is from the word "loss" meaning that 
some information is not preserved). A good example is English, where the 
letter sort of represent the words spoken (it's not phonetic) and 
nuances such as pitch and duration are absent. This is why there is high 
art to reading Shakespeare.

Anywho, you have to keep this in mind for whatever you decide upon, what 
you plan on losing. Is it more important to be able to notate in real 
time, so that you can make a quick scribble during class? Do you want 
something that leaves nothing to the imagination? Are you ready to spend 
hours at your lecturn to pull this off? What is the least you can get 
away with? I settled on where the feet go and at what time [ummm, this 
idea is actually taken from 17th century German organ music] and rely on 
the fact that tango is by default some form of walking. Comments then 
are intended to replace a whole bevy of notations for things that would 
be too complex and time consuming to write.

The open-closed and crossed/parallel feet systems folks have mentioned 
also work fine, although I do not like the fact they lack rhythmic 
notation and the notations overlap, meaning that some notations are 
equivalent to others. That is not bad, just unclean (says he sniffily as 
a Mathematician ;-) ).

Just my $.02

Jeff


Jake Spatz (TangoDC.com) wrote:

>A few points from the sidelines of these topics...
>
>1. Women take notes. I've looked at them in workshops. I can't always 
>decipher others' notation, but I can't always decipher my own cartoons 
>either. In any case, these things don't pertain to men (or leaders) 
>alone. The desire for knowledge, or at least a record of kinesthetic 
>acts, has no demographic.
>
>2. The steno pad wasn't my idea. It's just the result of me repeating 
>(to my own boredom) how important note-taking is. One of my students 
>tried out several different methods, before arriving at this one. I'm 
>just passing it on to anyone who wants to see how well it works for 
>themselves. (Let me know too: I don't use it.) I prefer writing on 
>fine-ruled graph paper or else blank drawing paper.
>
>3. Awhile back there was a hiccup regarding notes vs. videotape. I think 
>the recent discussion proves the utility of notes, in that they 
>encourage critical thought, analysis, and experiment. (Even failed 
>experiment, in the case of Theorem #1, has its purpose.) Videos, in my 
>experience, encourage mimicry (not entirely bad in itself), 
>name-dropping (pointless), and self-evaluation (invaluable). Just wanted 
>to clarify what we're all up to here.
>
>4. There's nothing wrong with multiple notational methods, so long as 
>you can figure out what the hell you wrote down. Shorthand is one thing; 
>graphics another; analysis something else still; and full choreography 
>(most strict sense: graphic record of dance movements) is something 
>different again. Da Vinci wrote forwards when he cared to.
>
>5. Other notational ideas...
>
>I recently started playing around with dotted vs. solid lines, when 
>drawing foot patterns, to indicate the starting and ending positions of 
>pivoted movements. I've considered using colored pencils to 
>differentiate left and right feet (or leader and follower); but I don't 
>like colored pencils (they're a pain; I write & usually draw 
>left-handed, so I'm picky about it), and don't carry any. I've also 
>considered varying the thickness (visual weight) of arrows, to indicate 
>motion quality (e.g., related to the arrastre), but haven't yet figured 
>out the best way to associate the graphic with the kinetic reality.
>
>6. The stationary-step thing remains a topic of interest to me. Anyone 
>wanna pick that one up?
>
>Jake Spatz
>DC
>
>
>Nussbaum, Martin wrote:
>  
>
>> 
>>Huck Wrote:   " Theorem #1:  If you're in the parallel system
>>and both you and your partner take a step, either
>>you'll both be taking an open step, or you both
>>will be taking a closed step.  Likewise, if you're
>>in the crossed system and you both take a step,
>>one of you will be taking an open step while the
>>other will be taking a closed step. Huck"
>>
>>Sorry Huck, but this theorem is invalid. Either type can be led from
>>either system, in both close embrace or open embrace, and not just in
>>the sacada example Jake gave. All it requires is a bit of disassociation
>>between upper torso, which does the leading, and what your (leaders)legs
>>do. 
>>Jake,  I just slapped my head so hard for not thinking of something as
>>ridiculously obvious as that 2-column Steno pad ! Please keep the
>>notational ideas coming!    Yes indeed, there are people on this list
>>for whom the most efficient notation is essential to quickly jot down
>>ideas and concepts we "got" in workshops, or stumbled onto in a
>>practica, and due to insufficient practice burn-in time, forgot weeks
>>later, (for me, even hours later.)  I apologize to any followers who
>>find this discussion boring, or useless, but believe me this is all done
>>to increase variety and creativity (without sacrificing connection and
>>musicality- they are not mutually exclusive !)which not only makes tango
>>so much fun for me, but also increases the fun of the followers I dance
>>with. 
>>Martin
>>
>>
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>>
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>>
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