[Tango-L] What to call the normal tango walking beat?

[Jack Dylan]

I'm not a musician so I don't understand your terminology and, IMHO,
using it would create the "unnecessary confusion" you want to avoid
because most dancers, including teachers, wouldn't know what you're 
talking about.
 
Most tango music is in 4/4, i.e. 4 beats to a bar and the 'normal' tango
walking beat is when the dancers step on beats 1 and 3 and the lady
would pass her supporting foot on beats 2 and 4. The man can vary 
this to suit his style. In 'double time', the dancers would step on beats
1, 2 and 3.
 
In dancers' terminology, slow is 2 beats while quick is one beat. So the
normal walking beat would be slow, slow .... and the double time would
be Q,Q,S. 
 
Maybe you can convert this into musicians' terminolgy. 
 
Tango for dancers can be as simple or as complicated [confusing] as
you want to make it. I like to keep it simple.
 
Jack


----- Original Message -----
> From: Jamie Gifford <tango at cocolisa.com>
> To: tango-l at mit.edu
> Cc: 
> Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 12:11 AM
> Subject: [Tango-L] What to call the normal tango walking beat?
> 
> I am interested in what terminology people use to refer to the tango 
> walking beat. I'd like to find terms that are precise but which don't 
> create unnecessary confusion.
> 
> By the "tango walking beat", I mean the natural walking beat that 
> usually has a speed of about 1 beat per second, that appears in the 
> usual "caminata". I want to distinguish it from the faster (double 
> speed) beat that appears in the "corrida".
> 
> I have heard some people talk about "slow" and "quick". I am 
> interested 
> in more precise terms than this.
> 
> An obvious possibility would be to borrow terms from musical theory - 
> "half note", "quarter note" or "eighth note" (or 
> minim, crotchet, quaver 
> if you are not from the US, or blanca, negra, corchea if you prefer 
> Spanish...)
> 
> My question is: of those of you that are familiar with the terms "half 
> note/minim" and "quarter note/crotchet", which would you 
> associate with 
> the normal tango walking beat? Is it a half note or a quarter note or 
> something else?
> 
> Jamie
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Tango-L mailing list
> Tango-L at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
>