[Tango-L] Some leaders *are* trying to learn Tango rhythm - for some of us, it's just not easy

[John Sing]

Hi, all,

I very much appreciate what Bruno said below, 

"I believe you always need to take into account how much each person
you are teaching actually "knows and breathes" music".

For many of us (especially guys), who have not grown up with music as part 
of our lives, finding and learning the ability to 
even hear the tango rhythm properly, let alone dance to it, can be a real 
challenge.

For me, after nearly four years of struggle (and patience by my wife), I 
am finally developing
the basic skills in hearing the Tango music and being able to dance on 
beat
and with some basic syncopation.  Four years is a very long time to be 
frustrated...
yet that is what it took for me to finally develop the basic ability to 
hear and then
be able to express the music at basic level.

I would ask that many readers just know that I know that while for some of 
you it is quite easy....

For some of us, it is just not easy at all (and we certainly wish it was 
not so as well)l. 

I ask that  you at least have some empathy for those of us guys who are 
trying so
hard to learn this difficult dance..... we just don't have the background 
or innate
skill to know how to hear and express the music (yet).

Certainly, followers should not feel obligated to subject themselves to 
leaders who do not
yet have developed the musicality skill - I am not advocating that, of 
course. 

Just want to express that there are those of us who know that musicality 
is important,
who try mightly, but ....... nature just did not give us the
tools to pick it up fast, and we have to keep learning it until (finally) 
we do learn it.....

I for one am an advocate of continual innovation in the teaching of tango. 
  Just as
modern science and natural sports medicine has helped gymnastics, other 
dance
forms, and athletic performance to excel....   and well-produced 
television like Fox TV's
"So You Think You Can Dance"  exposes dance in a popular way to wide 
audiences...

I hope that Tango teaching methods also evolve in a positive direction, to 
help
students learn necessary skills at a reasonably faster pace.

Certainly, such successful continued teaching innovation would raise the 
overall level and 
participation of Tango and the number of good leaders in the dancing pool!

Thx.


John Sing
San Mateo, Calif

================================

referencing what was said on the Tango-L list:


Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 01:54:00 -0400
From: "Bruno Afonso" <bafonso at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Igor's Question: a woman's perspective
To: Tango-L <tango-l at mit.edu>
Message-ID:
 <4f5d14730710032254j686c914fue7cffa32dc1b4c6b at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hi,

I believe you always need to take into account how much each person
you are teaching actually "knows and breathes" music.

There's a couple of aspects that are important to me:

1) A good leader should be able to interpret the music and dance
accordingly. (let's assume for now that the person has basic skills to
do that). One of the hardest part is to transmit that interpretation
to the follower in a non-imposing way. It's hard to search for
alternatives interpretations when it is not working with the follower
while you are in the middle of the music. But that's why we need to
practice more :-) Getting to know more and more the follower helps of
course.

2) Interpreting music at a non-basic level. After a while it's easy to
dance to the beat, as in a step in a beat or similar. The hard part is
to start playing with the beat. This playing w/ the beat allows you to
"flow" through the music and be creative and putting those flashy
moves of 15 "steps" in a musical context. One can imprint a slight
vals flavor in a normal 4/4 by swinging 3 on 1 beat or on 2. Why not
go for 3 + 2 and get a salsa'esq flavor for an instant?

When I started out I was amazed at how people could dance/ do moves
not on the rhythm. But I've learned that definitely not a lot of
people have the background experience to actually understand what's
happening at a rhythmical level or even tonal or timbric. We're all
different and we all can improve in multiple dimensions. The more we
listen and dance, the better we will get at it.

I've found that some followers don't enjoy so much as others when I
play a bit and don't do a "standard" interpretation. Others say they
love it. That's the tao of any human interaction I guess :-) I'll go
back to lurking mode.

peace
b

On 10/2/07, Tom Stermitz <stermitz at tango.org> wrote:
> I understand there is a problem, but disagree that it has to be a
> problem.
>
> Argentine Tango seems so improvisational and flexible that you can't
> find the structure. Specifically, the phrasing structure of Tango is 4
> +4=8. This is easy count and easy to match with simple steps. But
> when you have too many steps, you lose the musicality. That is why it
> is so hard to teach musicality to intermediate and advanced dancers.
>
> The cool thing is: IT IS VERY EASY TO TEACH MUSICALITY TO BEGINNERS.
>
>
> On Oct 2, 2007, at 12:40 PM, Endzone 102 wrote:
>
> > On 10/2/07, Tom Stermitz <stermitz at tango.org> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> Teaching Musicality.
> >>
> >> So, when I teach I am highly focused on showing the men where the
> >> beat is and where the musical phrasing is. Change the music, repeat
> >> and rinse. It takes repetition and time, as this is a strange foreign
> >> genre to most. Basically, if they don't know the music, then they
> >> have to be shown exactly where it is, and how to make their movements
> >> relate to it.
> >>