All posts by nigel

Uncategorized

Tango Tandas – of 4 or 3?

5 Comments

When I first started playing music at Milongas a few years ago my instincts were to go with what I think if as the ‘Modern Way’ – where Tango tandas have only 3 songs but there is one more Tango tanda before the Vals.

Traditional : T T V T T M

Modern : T T T V T T M – 3 tango sides in each tanda.

At the last minute I was persuaded to stick to tradition.

A few years on and from now on when it is my own milonga I am going with the ‘modern’ system. Here’s why:

  • For those waiting for a dance there is a much faster turnaround
  • If you love the dance you have you will love it for 3 songs or 4
  • If you really love it you can negotiate another tanda and have many more chances to end up with 6 songs
  • If you aren’t getting on 4 songs can feel like an age
  • I can play a significantly wider selection during an evening

So that’s my route for the next few years – tango tandas with 3 songs and one more of them every hour or so!

YAY – let’s enjoy …

musicality

De Angelis – The Singers

Leave a comment

As we learn more about ourselves and our Tango the music itself becomes a more and more important part of our emotional response.

For all of us it is hard enough to learn about the orchestras and the individual tracks they recorded. But in addition I do feel it is so worth understanding more about the individual singers.

The first singer in De Angelis’s orchestra was Floreal Ruiz, and others included Carlos Dante, Julio Martel, Oscar Larroca, Roberto Florio, Juan Carlos Godoy and Roberto Mancini.

At the Lewes Milonga on Sunday we will hear the orchestra with Oscar Larroca, Carlos Dante, Julio Martel and Godoy – from the 40s and the 50s

As De Angelis himself did I would like with this very short post concentrate on Tango itself – rather than Vals.

I have picked 2 of my favourite Tango tracks from the Sunday milonga – both from the 1950’s

Entre tu amor y mi amor – with Juan Carlos Godoy

Lágrimas De Sangre – with Oscar Larroca

To me these are both spectacular – wonderful to dance to – rich in emotion and so true to Tango. They show so well the impact and versatility of these amazing singers.

I do hope you enjoy dancing to them as much as I will.

musicality

Featured Orchestras – An Explanation of what this means at our Milongas.

Leave a comment

At the Lewes and Tango Revolution Milongas I will each month be featuring an orchestra. As this sounds a bit academic – and it isn’t at all –  I wanted to briefly explain this.

Although I play music that often extends past the golden age – because I love to dance to that full orchestral sound and because there is so much amazing music into the 50’s and even beyond – apart from that I am in so many ways a traditionalist.

 I follow the time honoured rules – such as always playing at least one Tanda – and almost always more – from each of the big 4 ( D’Arienzo, Troilo, Pugliese and  Di Sarli). I follow the established format of TTVTTM. I don’t play Nuevo. Our Milongas are inclusive – welcoming to all, and encourage the Cabaceo. 

What the featured orchestra means is simply that I will play two Tango tandas within the 4 hours from that Orchestra. I will chose tandas that show the different sides of their work – because to me that is the interesting part.

A featured orchestra will always be outside of the classic top orchestras –  because they will often already be repeated in a 4 hour Milonga – out of respect and more importantly because their music is amazing.

I will normally be illustrating different singers or different decades. If they are strong in Milonga or Vals I may also play one of their tandas in that genre. But only if it is truly great to dance to – the dancers mean everything to me.

Please don’t worry if you are not yet that concerned with the music! There are over 20 tandas in a 4 hour Milonga – you won’t notice and please just enjoy the dance, the Cava, the cake –  and the company of your friends.

But if you are interested in learning more about the music – just watch the heads up display – and there will always be a post before the event announcing who the featured orchestra is this month – presenting a side from each of the tandas and adding a bit more context for you.

I hope you enjoy this approach. Increasing our understanding of the music improves our dancing and our respect for the amazing musicians who made this whole thing possible.

It adds so much to our amazing tango world.

musicality, Tango, Tango Learning

Starting a new journey – Studying Individual Songs in Great Depth

Leave a comment

I have always been thrilled to watch the great performers being able to improvise and leverage the individual track they are dancing to.

It’s like they know every note.

In one of those moments we all get in Tango I now realise that this is because they actually do. They really do know every note. They aren’t pretending they do. They really do.

And this took a heck of a lot of focussed listening. It isn’t some freaky genetic gift or super hero talent – they put the work in.

They can improvise with such great speed, inspired creativity and heightened enjoyment precisely because they really do know exactly what is coming – their focus is free to emotionally respond to it – and how to express that with their partner.

So I am starting this journey. I guess that I will need to listen to each track 500 times to be anywhere near where I need to be. And to avoid going crazy I decided to work on this with 3 different songs.

Based on the songs I have chosen that is already going to take 8:34 * 500 which is 70 hours of listening.  If I can be disciplined I can do this 6 days a week – we all have off days – and on those days I listen to them all 3 times. That is mathematically fairly neat – it is going to take 6 months of effort.

So – now to the songs.

Criteria for selection :

  • They get played in Milongas. We all want the chance to show off a bit after so much effort – don’t we?
  • They are emotionally complex.
  • They vary in rhythmic and melodic sections.
  • They vary in emphasis between piano, strings, bandoneon and – where there is one – the singer’s voice.
  • I actually wanted a majority of instrumentals as I thought after a few hundred listens the words might irritate me.
  • There are frequent pauses and still areas.
  • They aren’t Pugliese tracks – I couldn’t survive listening to the same Pugliese track 500 times in a row, 6 days a week for 6 months. No one is that strong.
  • They are tracks I just love to dance to.

So here they are – with – just for interest – the number of times I have listened to each one at home to date ..

El Último Café – Juan D’Arienzo & Jorge Valdez (97)
Pura Clase – Biagi ( 275 )
Felicia – De Angelis ( 223 )

I am going to fall asleep to these songs. I am going to wake up to them. Eat and drink with them. Walk with them. I plan to waft around the room to them pretending to be Carlitos.

Wish me luck!

Tango, Tango Learning

How do you actually communicate that you enjoy something in Tango?

Leave a comment

We do this for pleasure. Don’t we?

We go through the mill, play the game, go through so many years of learning, we negotiate embraces, steps, the complexities of the dance floor – and  we try to avoid defaults.

We try always to listen and to respond – to not just do what we always do.

We move in a way that is how this music – and this person – makes us feel. To enjoy it.

But when your partner really gets it right – how do you actually communicate that – so they understand and change their dancing to use that knowledge of how you feel?

How – in Tango – do we simply say – “That was great”.

More of that please.

In the moment. So we can build on it – so it makes a difference.

By the end of 9 minutes we should be ready for fireworks – we both understand what the other person enjoys. And of course by exclusion what is average for them.

Sometimes I think we can just smile. If the connection is special for sure a smile will be felt. When there is little noise everything is communicated.

Perhaps a slight embrace change?

What a shame if we don’t work this out. What a blunt experience if neither of us learn what the other enjoys fast enough to offer more – to build on that foundation of understanding of what we enjoy.

We have to show them – in the moment – how – actually – do we do that?

Tango, Tango Learning

Why didn’t I understand that last year?

Leave a comment

I frequently find myself a bit fed up because I finally get something in Tango and then realise that great teachers have been telling me that for years.

Why didn’t I hear them?

The problem – I now realise – is that there is no “finally” in Tango.

Especially with the big concepts – like connection, the embrace, energy, focus and musicality.

I did hear them.

And I am sure I tried to improve.  But I was only at the skill level I had, so exactly the same word and even similar sentences of patient explanation – could only be interpreted by my mind according to the experienced and remembered feelings of my body.

It just isn’t possible to understand the depth of these huge concepts using words alone – exactly the same word – “connection” – just has a completely different meaning to a professional than it does for someone like me with not yet 6 years of study.

We think we understand – it is an explainable word – but we don’t. We have to crawl there day by day – and when we make a noticeable improvement we tend to think we have “got it”.

We haven’t.

 

Tango, Tango Learning

Down the Rabbit Hole – Again ..

Leave a comment

Increasingly I want to travel into the Tango world.

To explore my connections with outstanding people and teachers. To free up my mind.

To be inspired.

This is such a special gift that Tango gives us.  An opportunity to expand into an infinite landscape of ideas. To experience something truly special.

Behind that final bell  – lies a wealth of talent.

It’s a red pill blue pill thing – isn’t it.

Do you really want to wake up to how much you never knew – how much you took for granted? It certainly isn’t comfortable – it isn’t for everyone.

If you would rather not know the reality  -it’s easy – just don’t go.

Stay having fun. Dance.

Don’t shake yourself up. Stay doing what you did last week.

 

You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Me – I’m going Red.

So Red.

To the very, very best of my ability.

 

Creativity, Tango, Tango Learning, Thoughts

Crappy Ping Pong conversations in Tango

1 Comment

As an intermediate Tango student with 5 years of study it seems like I have already been hearing the concept of Tango conversations for forever.

I guess that for about 2 years now I have been improving my listening skills. Of course – it is critical to learning and I have great teachers. I have also been working a lot recently on focus.

But at my current skill levels it seems all I can create is not a conversation in any meaningful sense – but more like a series of alternate monologues.

I suggest that the follower pauses, they do, I give them time, they do  something. I lead them out of that and then I suggest something else – or perhaps they do.

So I do something and then it just endlessly repeats like some demented game of ping pong – until the 12 minutes are up and the TJ calls time out.

I accept that this sounds like a conversation. I speak, you speak, I speak.

But it frustrates me. Real conversations – or at least good ones – evolve as they go. Things said ripple over time and impact the next statements. The conversation reaches a conclusion based on what we actually said. The mood changes. We play and interact.

We react to each other not just because it is “my turn” but based on what the other person just communicated to me. We listen and say something different based on that input.

And that is what I find is so lacking in my intermediate Tango. We all just do what we do when given a welcome chance to create something rather than just shoved about.

I kind of guess at 2 more years. Maybe by then I will find the skill to have an actual conversation that leads somewhere that is new for both of us.

That would be wonderful, playful and creative.

 

Spanish, Tango, Tango Learning

My Golden Ratio : Learn, Create and Move

Leave a comment

As I get back into writing I have been thinking how to divide my time and attention across my company, writing, Tango, languages, photography, cooking –  and my deep personal relationships and my friends.

The classic problem that faces all generalists with too many interests.

Today I happened to come across a blog that interested me at a very high level – on how to balance your time.

It was written by Mark Sisson. The original is here.

“Learn For an Hour, Create For an Hour, Move For an Hour

So how would I apply this 1:1:1 learn, create move idea in my life?

I think that although I am very fortunate with my working life – it is indeed in itself both creative and inspiring – this kind of planning should be applied to my spare time – like most folks this is evenings, weekends and time away. This is after all where we have a lot of control and can make meaningful choices.

Learn, create, move.

  • Learning Tango from great teachers – and practising hard – is all of them.
  • Writing and photography are creative, so is cooking.
  • Learning Spanish is firmly in the learning camp.

But of course what we all need is motivation – and sustainability. Our path has to be something that we can walk onto, enjoy, sustain and then build on. Not just another task.

And this is where it gets really interesting for me. More and more I look to travel – study Tango in Spain and learn the language. And of course when we travel we find both images and culinary inspiration.

Of course ‘Move’ in the original context of this post means exercise – not ‘get on a plane’ – but for me going international is increasingly what I need to do.

Having lived in 5 countries the modern world of remote working calls me back.

Tango in the UK is so frustrating for me personally.

Perhaps after all it is not so silly to chose to interpret ‘move’ as exactly that.

For me it just might restore a lot of balance.

Spanish, Travel

Aspiring to have enough Spanish to read Marquez

1 Comment

I have been learning Spanish vocabulary consistently for 6 months now – after years of intermittently learning words as a background interest and through frequent trips to Spain largely connected with studying Tango.

I have been using vocabulary lists and e-readers to source new words, and entering those into a smart flash card app that manages the testing of each word according to how well you know it.

As I reached this 6 month marker I became curious as to how far away I am from my aspirational goal.

It is an interesting task to estimate your current vocabulary.

Personally I am as of today learning just over 3,000 words in my current flashcard system – the majority  of these are very much in progress and there were many simple words I already knew and so never entered into this learning system.

I also know that I can read easy readers at the B2 level of learning without too much trouble – although of course there are always new words. These are well defined as needing a 4,000 word vocabulary. B1 are a bit easy for me at 2,000

The next level up in the official classification is C1 – which doubles the vocabulary needed to am impressive 8,000 words.

A very interesting hour of research has led me to the fact that for comprehension of written material such as a novel you need get to the level where you cannot understand only 1 in 50 words. More than that will mean you lose the meaning. This fascinated me – I had never come across these kind of statistics.

In conjunction with the fact that further research indicates that a complex novel needs a vocabulary of 9,000 words to understand this becomes super informative.

So I took out a Marquez short story and measured accurately the number of words I did not know using a reasonable sample size of a few pages. This turned out to be 1 in 15.

As the required level is 1 in 50 this is perfectly in line with the fact that I cannot yet read Marquez at all. Nowhere near it.

In the format of this particular book it tunes out that I need ( at 49/50 known ) to only have 7 unknown words on each page. At my current level it is in fact 23. Three times too many.

So drawing all this together this means that I estimate my current vocabulary is around 4,000 words. Slightly less than half the requirement for my goal.

Due to the joys of data in decent software I can see on my efforts for the last 6 months I have been consistently learning an average of 16 new words every day – or 500 a month. Again most of these are in progress rather than truly learnt.

As I have every intention of continuing at exactly the same rate – I need 5,000 more words – which will take 10 months.

But then I need to turn those into learned rather than in testing – so I am allowing another 2 months for all of this to happen – as that on average is how long it takes me for a new word to go through the different levels on my app.

So after all this it looks like one more year. This does seem super optimistic – but let’s see!

I have therefore booked out the evening of Sunday 1st September  2019 as my next attempt to read Marquez.

If it is still a struggle  – which I am fairly sure it will be – I will enjoy spending that Sunday evening instead measuring again how many words I do not know – and comparing that new figure to my current 1 in 15 and the well researched target of 1 in 50.

Till then he’s back on the shelf and it’s easy readers and slow steady progress up the mountain of learning.