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

[Jeff Gaynor]

Jake Spatz (TangoDC.com) wrote:

> Hi Jeff,
>
> Good points all around. But please bear in mind that the open-crossed 
> (step) and parallel-cross (joint motion) systems are analysis, not 
> notation.

ok

> (Your clock directions are, by comparison, denotation.) You can write 
> with whatever shorthand you like. I dislike the term overlap too, though.
>
> How do you notate a stationary step in your tab? "0"? 

Normally this gets a beat and a comment, e.g. (remember duration : 
direction : movement : comment -- you could use another punctuation mark 
instead of a :, like a | if you want)

1/2 : 12 : step left
1/2 : stay : shift weight to right
1 : 0 : shuffle left to right    <-- actually, I write 0 for the center 
of the clock at such times.

does a rock step and returns to start.

> What about differentiating a pause from a stationary weight-shift? 

There are a couple of these. Here might be a suspension as you slowly 
turn CW

1 : 12 : step left
3 : 3 : twist CW
1 : 12 : shuffle left to right

means step to 12 o'clock then slowly twist (both feet on the floor) to 3 
o'clock over the next 3 beats, then close. Note that the directions are 
always relative to your direction, so once you have twisted in the 
second part, your new orientation is now your direction of travel. This 
is old hat to folks like me who are used to it ("local coordinates" in 
Geometry) but might take some getting used to.

Staying put (how often do we do that in tango?) would be something like

4 : stay

so you come to a dead stop for 4 beats.

> (We need more than one kind of zero, perhaps... tango analysis 
> generally neglects pauses, 

And I think that playing with the beat by pauses and suspensions is 
where some little art is needed. If done well it looks oh so sexy and if 
done badly just looks like you forgot what you were up to. One plus with 
notation is that you can see the relations with the times and 
directions. You can then more easily think about variations in duration 
and direction. Really an awful lot of tango boils down to rocks, steps 
and partial turns (ochos are two partial turns, e.g.). Another plus is 
that you can write out several patterns and see where they can be 
combined. This is an aid for those of us who are slaves to the printed word.

> or what a math-head might call an "identity transformation.") Do you 
> keep a second tab for the second dancer, or have you not had any need 
> for that?

Sure! The follower gets his/her own tablature as well in a double column 
entry (yup, I use steno pads too.) No difference needed in notation. 
However, to save space the follower is assumed to be mirroring the lead, 
so not so much has to go into the second column.

Thanks for your interest in what I wrote and your insightful commentary. 
I'm just a beginner so this is very good for me and I do appreciate your 
feedback!

Jeff