[Tango-L] musicality

[Crrtango@aol.com]

 Sherrie wrote:

<<<<<You can really learn what musicality isn't when you listen to the types 
of
songs DJ's outside of Argentina juxtapose during a tanda.  Part of musicality 
is the finely tuned blending of
one song practically melting seamlessly into the next so that the leads can
move with the same rhythm and maintain a certain flow of dancing that is
characterized by all the songs in the tanda.  The horror of going from a 
nuevo tune
to a show tango song to a song from the 40's is jarring and impedes and 
defies
the concept of musicality.  If as a dancer you find that you can easily shift
gears to adopt to these poorly arranged tandas, you probably are not
experiencing musicality and are just dancing over the music, oblivious to 
beats,
rhythms, counter rhythms and melodies.  Oouch>>>>>

Sherrie brings up a very good point about the flow of music. Having three or 
more similar songs from a particular artistic style such as D'Arienzo or 
Canaro, or at least mixed songs that have a similar tempo or cadence helps create a 
consistent mood and can help one find the musicality.   In Buenos Aires there 
is a very distinct mood to each tanda. Dancing through three or four similar 
songs can help you hear a steady rhythm long enough to start to feel it.   But 
too many is also bad.
One related problem that has arisen here in NYC over the last few years is 
DJs who play long sets of just tangos without breaking them up with waltzes or 
milongas. Or just randomly playing long sets without paying attention to any 
pattern. A set might start with tangos by one artist, then after a few songs 
switch to another artist but continue to play tangos, and sometimes even play a 
third set before switching to milongas or waltzes. One of the great things 
about the tanda is that the dancing experience becomes a round of emotions: 
perhaps starting serious with the tangos, then playful with milongas then romantic 
with the waltzes. A cortina adds the punctuation between sets, then you start 
again, but dragging out too many of the same types of songs can also be 
overkill. Recently I was at a milonga when a set started with Fresedo tangos, then 
went to DiAngelis tangos, played a cortina then went to Pugliese tangos, all 
before changing to a milonga set.   

Musicality can be elusive and difficult to master but too much repetition, or 
too much variety, can   kill a mood and tire one's ear. 

Cheers,
Charles


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