[Tango-L] Musicality. What is it?

['Mash]

mu·si·cal·i·ty

   1. The quality or condition of being musical.
   2. Musical sensitivity or talent.

I suppose through listening to a lot of Tango one would pick up on the predictably of it and apply that to new Tangos.
I agree that one would dance better if you knew the song or have the aptitude to learn very quickly and identify the general repetition, melody of the song. (I am sure there is better jargon.) 

I think that is why suddenly being faced with say a new Tango, especially Neuvo, is daunting as it is not easily understood the first time round. Unless you are very confident in your creativity you would "simplify" your dance while you pay attention to the music. 

Musicality for me would then be how sensitive you are to the music and the confidence you have in being able to change your movements to suit the music.

'Mash
London,UK


On Wed, Dec 05, 2007 at 10:51:04AM -0700, Huck Kennedy wrote:
> Igor Polk writes:
> > Huck Kennedy: "You will be seriously handicapped unless
> > you always know exactly which note, phrase, etc. is coming
> > next in the song."
> > 
> > You are "seriously handicapped", if you can not dance
> > tango ( musically ! ) to an unfamiliar song !
> 
>      Reading is fundamental.  I did not say one cannot
> dance musically *at all* to an unfamiliar tune, but rather
> that one is seriously handicapped.  That means you can't
> dance the song nearly as musically as you could if you did
> know the music intimately.
> 
>      The reason for this is that you have to listen to
> the unfamiliar song analytically while you are dancing,
> and consciously figure out what the music is doing and
> where you guess it might go next.  Contrast this conscious
> analyzing process with the unconscious, straight from the
> heart without thinking musicality you can dance with if
> you know the song intimately.
> 
>      Add onto that the lack of an emotional investment
> in an unfamiliar song (which is the other half of the
> musicality equation and just as important, if not more
> so), and you are just as I said, seriously handicapped.
> That doesn't mean, however, that you can't dance with any
> musicality at all, and will just plod around clumsily like
> Frankenstein's monster.
> 
> Huck
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