[Tango-L] Why dancers should judge musicians in Tango not otherwise

[Igor Polk]

Aj,
You said:
"Dance in a vacuum of no music is no dance at all. Just movement. It can be
musical but, only one
part of music. Rhythm. You do not create melody or harmony."

Yet rhythm alone. It is said that tango has a very reach rhythm. And there
is much more than rhythm in tango dancing. Of course, we can not make
neither melody nor harmony.
When you listen to complex rhythms produced on sets of drums, like Brazilian
Samba, and other genres, one does have an impression that this is music not
else. The same with us.
When we dance without music it is so intense..

I can not tell you what note to play after what, but I do have more grounds
to tell you what constitutes good tango music and what is not. While
dancing, I do listen to the best pieces of music of various styles and play
along with the whole of my body, not just listen. I am a part of that
orchestra ! Let it be only a drum part. But a part ! I do feel most subtle
notes and variations, it reverberates in me. And when a musician says to me
here is the music, dance to it - I say, I can not, I do not want to, sorry,
it is not right, it feels wrong, believe me, I know what I am talking about
even though I am not able to express it in musical terms.

The whole classes of movements are tailored to subtle elements of tango
music. If the music lucks it - it is not tango !

I understand that there is time to pass until new DiSarli is matured, but I
want to see in musicians the movement into the right direction. And I know
many do move there.

Aj: "Listening to old recordings will only cause to parrot back copies of
said music"

Well, if it is so easy to parrot them - do it ! Show that you are able to
parrot it. We only will applaude ! Then move to new frontiers. And we will
applaude too.
But if you are not there yet, what can one say? You want to prove theorems
of high math without finishing high school yet?

Parroting... Many pieces of old music may sound similar. Yet they are
different. I strongly feel there is unlimited creative space in tango. You
do not want to copy, you want to make your own style. I understand. But for
that one has to have a solid foundation to start from. If your music is
intended to be tango, you should start with the best foundation, that is the
way to success, not trying building the foundation yourself. Do you want to
be another Piazzolla or to have success like Piazzolla? Then start not from
him. Start where he started.

My "No poetic descriptions of dance" are not poetic. They are real. We do
have "legato" and "staccato". And many other things. That is what I am
trying to tell.

AJ: "researching old music I do daily". "Sure I'd love to hear your idea of
the 4 styles."

Good ! Thank you! Than I hope you can check those 4 very distinctive musical
styles of old music:
I could call them Salon of 1920s, Canyengue, Orillero, and
Milonguero-Apilado. Plenty of records available. As soon as music starts a
dancer should unmistakenly point you to the difference. Of course, there are
pieces which remind 2 styles.

To check them, you do not need many CDs. Check DiSarli from 1920 to 1940s.
D'Arienzo has a lot of orillero. Firpo and Canaro have great examples of
Canyengue. Many musicians with long music life played in several of these
styles. All of them have different dancing feel ( and should be danced
differently, but that is for us, dancers ! ). Of course, musical styles
directly correspond to dancing styles. Music and dancing were being created
cooperativelly at those times as everyone points out.

Igor Polk