Category: Music

Of all the articles that I’ve written about in Tango and of all the videos I’ve shot, this is probably the most controversial and most seminal work I’ve ever done. Not because it is groundbreaking. It is. Not because it shows deep technique. It does not. It is because it goes against everything that you have been socialized to do. Note what I said there > SOCIALIZED to do and everything that every teacher has ever told you to do! What follows is one method of how to interpret the music. Buckle up!

A song in Tango (the genre, not to be confused with the entire idea of tango music), consists of 5 to 6 musical paragraphs. Those musical paragraphs are generally 6 to 8 phrases in length. Each one of those phrases is punctuated by 6 to 8 musical pause types based on the 5 Musical Pause Types of Argentine Tango music (See article). 

SIDE BAR: It should be made clear that the ‘phrases’ that you’re used to identifying in the 8 Count Beat Methodology ARE NOT THE SAME phrases as the phrases in the 5 Pause Type Methodology. The reason ? In the 8 Count Beat Methodology, they’re arbitrary markers that are independent of the structure of the music > IE — Every 8 beats you change regardless of what’s happening musically. Typically that methodology does NOT respect the CHARACTER of the music. Further still that methodology leads to the typical A/B methodology which again does not respect the aforementioned. The 5 Pause Types Methodology does! So that pauses and phrases are actually representative of the music and structure.

From this idea, we can start to think about how best to: a.) Structure what we’re doing. And b.) answer the all-important question that every Lead has at the beginning of their tango lives, “What do I do ?”.  As time passes, they ask that question less and less. The answer reveals itself through repetition of what works for them, and more importantly, what no one complains about.  They develop patterns, ideas, and things that they believe have succeeded.  They actually don’t know if any of what they’re doing has succeeded because they haven’t done any investigation to ask the question. And even if they do, they look for confirmation bias to confirm their belief that X is in fact true. While all that is happening, if it happens at all, there’s a lot of fumbling around in the dark. There is some trial and error. More error than trial in most cases.

In this article, we are going to answer a very basic question: “How Do I Dance The Structure of a Song?” And if we extend the idea beyond that, ultimately the entire tanda! Also, in this article, we will continually reference the ‘FIRST DATE’ mindset. 

First and foremost, if you’ve gotten this far and are wondering “What on earth is this Five Pause Types thing that Miles is yammering on about ?”, then not only have you not been keeping up with the Madness that is Miles Tangos (mad in his own mind for certain), but you have certainly been missing a few things. So it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you go down that rabbit hole  before you do anything else. Why ? Because everything that I will talk about from this point forward uses that as a reference point. If you fail to understand the 5 Pause Type Methodology, you’re going to miss the whole nine yards of this article. In fact, it’s the underbelly of the whole thing. 

Secondly, this article and the video go hand in hand. Further, they invoke a rule-based system to guide you into working structures that you do not want to violate for now, until you are very familiar with the idea.  Also, don’t believe for one instant that I don’t practice what I preach. I do constantly. This isn’t a case of do what I do and shut up about it. Everything that you see in the video, I do constantly. 

Next, this is NOT a technique video at all. It is, however, assumed that you have more than a passing understanding of proper tango technique. But also the 5 Social Figures of Argentine Tango. If you don’t, then this video may be more than a little confusing to you. If that’s the case, then I strongly suggest you put this idea aside for a while until you do. Because the things that I am going to suggest here are going to run counter to everything you’ve been told. You have to have been dancing for a while to develop a sense of the Milonga environment as well as having a command of the vocabulary used in that environment. This isn’t a sales pitch — BUT it is strongly recommended that you subscribe to the site, become a paying subscriber so that you can see and take advantage of the materials that the outside user doesn’t have access to like > THE FIVE SOCIAL FIGURES of ARGENTINE TANGO. 

Next, it is assumed that you will be dancing in Close Embrace. While these ideas can be applied to Open Embrace dancing. The very first suggestion will seem more than a little ‘creepy’ if done in Open Embrace. So you may have to modify these ideas for such. 

Next, it occurs to me that we do need to talk about what LANE this all takes place in. In my mind, I’d like to see this done in the outer track. However, I know some of you folks like to be in the inner tracks. Do as you wish here but I always dance in the outer track.

Next, we have to Floorcraft issues with this stuff. And so that we’re clear here, do not confuse the complete idea of Tango Floorcraft as just a spacing issue here. It’s not. This is stuff is all about Floorcraft. You must keep time, make safe, choreograph, and keep things moving in the line of dance at all times. And sometimes that means stretching things out to fit within the pauses and or the paragraph. And sometimes that means shortening them to fit, which may mean dropping certain ‘fluff’ or ‘filler’ ideas. 

Lastly, it is also assumed that you have a clear and present understanding of Intention-Based Dancing. Meaning that you do not use resistance, tension, force, your arms, hands, or fingers to direct or indicate to your dance partner what you would like them to do. If you do not, then pushing and pulling your way through these ideas defeats the entire purpose of the instruction set, which is easeful. And resistance-based dancing is NOT easeful. In fact, it’s downright stressful. 

That said, let’s dive in. 

The First Song of the Tanda. 

There are a few assumptions that we need to address in what follows. a.) You cabeceo someone and then walk around the floor (not across) the floor to get to them. b.) This is the first song of the entire tanda. c.) You’ve never danced with the person you cabeceoed before. d.) This is a TANGO or VALS tanda ONLY. Milonga is its own separate thing. So you would NOT do this with Milonga at all. 

And now for the instruction set. 

The First Paragraph – This first paragraph suggestion is going to run counter to everything that you’ve been taught. Everything that you’ve seen socially. Why ? Because your first instinct with your partner is going to be to get on the floor and get moving immediately. And under normal conditions, with a crowded Milonga and soon to be a crowded floor, this advice is not only to hold up the line of dance, it’s going to piss off a lot of people that want to get moving and do their thing. The mindset ? It’s the complete opposite of what you want to do and why!

I want you to imagine that you’re on a first date with someone and you’re just getting to know someone. Question: Do you show that first date your most intimate of intimates right off the bat or do you wait a little while to fly your freak flag ? I’ll put this another way, when you invite a new friend over to your place, do you clean up first so that they don’t think you’re a slob or do you let them see how you really live ? Most people, most sane people, want to put their best foot (no pun intended) forward. With that spirit in mind, you are going to do something that seems on the surface so whacked that you will reject it out of hand. And what’s that ? The Advice > You’re going to spend that entire first musical paragraph getting into the embrace with your partner.  You’re literally going to burn that entire first paragraph doing nothing but getting into the embrace and getting comfortable with your partner.

The Reason > I know there are a lot of people that will radically disagree with this instruction. And I also know why they’ll disagree with it. The most common reason being that if you take that amount of time, you’re going to piss off the LINE of people trying to get onto the floor. True. Further, I also know that it will seem creepy. Also true! I also know that some will see it as controlling and controversial. All true. So why do it ? Let’s first address the floorcraft move. If you follow the instruction, you’re thinking that you are going to enter the line of dance at the general entry point. And that would be wrong. In fact, you are going to walk your dance partner ACROSS THE ROOM to the furthest most point AWAY from the entry points to the dance floor (in case there are multiples)! Secondly, the most important reason this is done is to CREATE THE CONVERSATION with your partner to that particular orchestra and that particular tanda. As we all know, going forward, not every partner is the same, and you have not danced to every orchestra with every partner. So believe it or not, you have an opportunity here to express different parts of yourself with that particular orchestra and perhaps the same partner or someone new! Again, FIRST DATE! Which I believe addresses the ‘Creepiness’ factor as well as the controversial factor. So in other words, > Sit Down and Listen! 

You are only going to do this once, and only once. You are going to use bits and pieces of this idea throughout the beginnings of each song, but not for this length of time.

The Second Paragraph – This is really going to a.) piss off a whole swath of Leads, and b.) Make a whole swath of Followers insanely happy. The Advice > You are going to do nothing but engage one of the 6 Ways of Walking. Now in your brain what I said and what you heard were two very different things. Remember I said above that it’s important you familiarize yourself with the 5 Social Figures of Argentine Tango ? The first figure is … say it with me > THE SIX WAYS OF WALKING. In your brain what you heard was PARALLEL SYSTEM WALKING. What I said was engage ONE of the SIX WAYS of WALKING! It’s at this point, you may not begin to see the logic of what I’m doing and why. Again > FIRST DATE territory. You are not wasting time here vamping until you’re ready. You are in fact BUILDING an idea very carefully. You are sculpting with your walk very judiciously. You are using that walk (one of the 6 ways of walking) to express the music! Now you can engage in Symmetry and Alternation if you want by switching to any of the other 4 ways of walking. FOUR ? Miles, you said SIX! Yup. I did. But you’re going to put aside one of them. In specific > The Type 3 Walk – The ‘Lazy’ Ocho. So you’re really only going to use 5 of the 6 Ways. And at this point you’re only playing with 4 of them in this paragraph! The timing ? > You want to slow things down to HALF TIME as an option. OR you could follow not the beat but an instrument on the beat. I suggest either the bando or the violins. Which is to say, when you hear either, that’s when you walk. Trust me, using this methodology, it adds a completely different character to what you’re doing and why! 

The reason ? This gives the follower time to get comfortable with you, and more importantly, it gives you time to get comfortable with them. You do not want to rush into vocabulary here. Again, > FIRST DATE. Stop wanting to spew your wad here. Bad idea. Take your time with this stuff. Some of the most satisfying experiences we have as human beings are when we take our time with certain things. Ahem. This is one of those times. So … take your time with your walk here. You’re only going to do this ONCE, so don’t blow it. It’s a single paragraph. 

The Third Paragraph – In most Tango Songs of 5 Paragraphs, the 3rd Paragraph is the Singer’s Paragraph. However, if there is a paragraph between the Second and Singer’s Paragraph, then you want to do this. The Advice > This is where you introduce Ochos. Now, before you get all excited — Remember this is the first song of the tanda. Also remember that you’re still on your first date. Meaning ? These are not your typical Type 3 Ocho that you use all the time. In fact, they’re a Type 2 Ocho or a Type 3 Walk known as the ‘Lazy’ or Milonguero Ocho! 

The Reason ? We do not want to make the Follower work AND/OR jar or jostle the Follower! 

Now, if you’re one of those Leads that has never Followed in their lives and sees it as beneath them, then what I am about to say is going to go right over your head! The Traveling Ocho is a F-ton of work for the Follower. It also causes way more problems than it’s worth — And yes I AM going to mention it — Lazy Ochos do none of that. And again, not to mention but I will, the way that most Leads use that Traveling Ocho, it’s certainly a PIA for most Followers. Here we are taking it off the table. You will get to use it later in the 3rd song of the Tanda. In this instance, we are using it in what’s called ‘Alternation’ fashion. Meaning you’re going to alternate it with a walk using the Pauses of the Paragraph as the change points. Meaning that when you hear a pause, you change from a walk to a Lazy Ocho, and vice versa. Ideally, we want to start the Paragraph with a Walk, then Lazy Ochos, and then proceed from there to the Singer’s Paragraph.

Side Bar: There are a whole bunch of Followers that have no idea what a ‘Lazy’ Ocho is and they will default to the only ‘Ocho’ they’ve ever been taught. And for that reason you just have to roll with this one. You can not force the Lazy Ocho here. You just have to go with the idea that they understand. They’ll get the hint soon enough that what they’re doing is entirely too much work. Furthermore, and this goes right to the heart of those Leads that like to a.) talk to their Followers while their dancing — UMM … DON’T, and b.) This is not the time to instruct the Follower in the line of dance while you are dancing with them on the merits of a Lazy Ocho over a Traveling Ocho. Furthermore, Followers this is not the time to ask the question either. Milongas are for dancing — not for teaching. Not for talking. It is not a class. 

The Singer’s Paragraph – This is probably the single most important paragraph of the entire piece of music unless this is an instrumental. In which case this paragraph will get replaced with the 4th paragraph, which we’ll talk about in a minute. And just so that we’re clear, I do NOT discuss this in the video. This is something you will only get from the article. Moving on….

The Advice > In the Singer’s Paragraph, we are going to do nothing more than WALK USING ONE of the SIX WAYS of WALKING! 

The Reason ? The singer is there for a reason, and primarily that’s to give voice to the emotional story of the music. The singer is telling a story, literally singing it. And because of that, we don’t want to do anything that would detract from that storytelling. In fact, you want to drop everything and literally just walk to the pauses! You can add in some variation of alternation here and there. But really, it’s all walking. My first tango teacher used to say, “The singer gets the girl for you! So let them and stop interrupting them!”. Meaning ? The singer has a beautiful voice, and you want to let that singer’s voice speak for you. And if you’re busy adding tons of vocabulary on top of that, then you’re completely missing the point of the Singer in the first place. In other words ? STFU and let the singer do their damned job! 

Now to be fair, most people do not speak ‘Lunfardo’ (Argentine Spanish slang), which is what the lyrics are written in. And because of that, most don’t understand it nor have they spent years living in 1930s Argentina. Nor has anyone for literally decades. So some of the turn of phrase has fallen out of use, but the ideas and concepts are not that foreign to most people. Boy meets girl. Boy chases girl. Boy falls for girl. Girl breaks boy’s heart. Etc. Because of this, it’s really easy to hear the emotional content even if you don’t understand the words. You can hear the excitement, the thrill, and the loss in the timbre of the singer’s intonations. So — In this instance let the singer do their job. 

The Singer’s Paragraph Notation. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes the Singer’s Paragraph appears as the 3rd Paragraph and NOT the 4th. When that happens, as it did in the example song in the video (Carlos Di Sarlis – No Esta), then simply follow the advice of the Singer’s Paragraph no matter where it appears.

The Alternate Fourth Paragraph – In the case of an instrumental and NOT a singer in this position, you’re still going to walk, but you’re going to add in strong usage of ALTERNATES and INSIDE/OUTSIDE SNAKE WALKS adjusted to the Pauses. The Reason ? We are world building here. We are building up a lot of potential that we may use elsewhere, but again, remember first date mindset. The entire first song of the tanda is that first date! So we keep things insanely simple and easy. We do NOT stress the follower or the Lead. As an alternative or an expressive idea here, you can engage in walking turns using one  of the Five of the Six Ways of Walking, OR Lazy Ocho Walking Turns, OR Lazy Ocho Back Crosses Turns … What I reference on the site as Floating Back Crosses on a Circle. You can also make the choice of going half time here, respecting the pauses, and/or adjusting to an instrument on the beat! Again, dancing this way adds depth and character to the music! 

The Last Paragraph – OK, in this paragraph you’re going to say, “This is the paragraph that we’re going to go crazy and blow my wad. Right ?”. Ummm no. Get that thought right out of your head. Why would you build all that potential just to blow it all in one singular paragraph ? In short, no. Keep in mind you still have 3 more songs to go, and keeping with the DATE Metaphor we want to do something VERY specific here. The Advice > In this paragraph, assuming there is NO La Variacion, we are going to use a structured methodology. 1.) Parallel Walk to the First Pause. 2.) Lazy Ochos to the Second Pause. 3.) Alternate to the 3rd Pause. 4.) Parallel Walk to the Fourth Pause. 5.) Lazy Ocho to the 5th Pause. 6.) And finally ending on Walk to the Cross at the final ‘BUM-BUM’ of the song. Where the Follower’s crossing steps happen directly on the BUM-BUM. 

IF there is a La Variacion, then you can invoke Patter to adjust to the faster tempo of the Variacion but we intersperse that patter with a break, then going in the opposite direction of the patter we started with. In the end we are going to end on the BUM-BUM with a walk to the cross! So the structure should be something like > 1.) Parallel Walk to the First Pause. 2.) Lazy Ochos to the Second Pause. 3.) LA VARIACION – Patter to the left. 4.) Patter to the right. 5.) And finally ending on Walk to the Cross at the final ‘BUM-BUM’ of the song.

You should have noticed something by now. Up until now, there have been no traveling ochos, no turns, and certainly no follower’s molinete/lead giros, no cortados, and no crosses. Anywhere. None of that stuff. As a matter of fact, this is the ONLY time when you’re going to invoke a singular cross in the entire first song of the tanda. Why ? Again beating a dead horse — WORLD BUILDING and FIRST DATE!  

The song ends, you do NOT hold the embrace here. You release when the last note ends. Do not linger. Again, first date. You don’t want to seem too creepy.  Some people have a hard time knowing their boundaries and knowing what’s acceptable and what isn’t. So here’s my advice: The last note ends, release the embrace IMMEDIATELY. And the older you are, the more disaffected you want to be for a whole swath of reasons. Let your dancing speak for itself — not your want to hold someone. 

The Embrace Component that ‘Breathes’.

This is another, as we say in English, ‘Pink Elephant in the Room’. What’s that ? Your idea of the embrace and my idea of the embrace is VERY different from each other. Further the reason why this stuff matters is because you’re going to read what’s below and think that you’re doing the same thing you always do. It’s not. So I’d like to present you with another thing that has to be addressed before you make this attempt > Revisit this idea on the embrace. And when you’re done with that, look at this item on ‘2 Millimeters‘. And finally > This is about constantly re-adjusting your body position and body placement not with your arms but with your feet. The arms are merely coming along for the ride without compression, or hanging. The desirable conversation is happening cuerpa de cuerpa. The arms and hands are merely VISUAL constructs. However you continually have to reposition them for the optimal visual but at the same time, NOT use them to direct or be directed. They’re there for visual decoration, like window dressing. There will be a lot of people that will be upset by this statement. Further they’ll dismiss it out of hand because it doesn’t vibe with what they’ve been told or their own confirmation bias like > 1.) They like to believe in the flowery, emotional, experience that they’ve cultivated as reality. or 2.) Their focus is resistance based dancing that teaches and demonstrates that if you push here, and pull there that you get what you want. or 3.) They’re completely unaware of their own physicality. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The fact is that the embrace construct that I teach, demonstrate, and dance constantly is not an opinion or style. It’s a fact of dancing tango that is Intention Based.

The End of the First Song.

Let’s pause here. Just a reminder — this is a subscription site, and for that reason, the rest of this information here can only be seen by a paying subscriber. I have already released an enormous amount in this article, and not to mention this side. Which is to say if you agree with this, or just want to see how this story turns out and why, then may I suggest you pay for a month and see what happens ? At the very least, you get to read this rest of this article, and you’ll have access to all the resources here in. I’m just saying. This is not a sales pitch, however what follows after this…is one.

First let’s get a few things out of the way, more than likely you are thinking about ‘Musicality’ when we invoke the clearer and much more direct implication: Musical Interpretation. Yes ? If so, then understand that what you’re actually saying when you invoke this term is that you want to ‘be’ music. Which is entirely impossible. You can dance to the music, you can write the music, you can listen to the music, but ‘be’ the music ? Not unless you’ve become a sheet of musical notation of late. No. You can not ‘be’ the music. Sorry. This reality of specificity is exceptionally important when teaching Musical Interpretation.

Secondly, Tango Topics does have a Tango Music Section, it has a library of over 1000+ pieces that are updated with some frequency. It also has a collection of tango music educational videos that were part of the Tango Intensive and are now available to paying subscribers. This Tango Music Archive and Educational Tool is constantly being expanded with new quizzes and video resources to help you to hear what is probably one of the most underused and misunderstood aspects about Tango music: The Musical Pause. One student asked me once, “how do you hear something that isn’t there ?”. Answer ? By learning that there are tell tale signs, markers really, that are indicative to every type of Musical Pause. There are 13 of Musical Pause types in Argentine Tango, with 5 common ones. It’s the 5 common ones that we study at first, and then practice hearing, and once you begin to hear them, you will start to do things dance-wise that you never thought of before.

Thirdly, there are a number of Tango teachers out there that teach the idea of the 8 count beat. There’s just one tiny little problem with this idea. Fully 60% of tango music does not contain an 8 count beat in a specific measure, nor is it consistent! That number includes Tango-Valses, Tango-Milongas, Milonga, Vals, and the Tango-Foxtrots which are erroneously played as Milongas which aren’t Milongas at all. Again, this stuff is in the music library and the educational tools.

Lastly, in the last few years there has been an outgrowth of books on Tango music, these are more about the histories of these musicians and their life stories more than anything else. Do not confuse these with learning or studying the music. At the same time, don’t mishear this last statement as bashing or disparaging these valuable resources. Learning the histories of the orchestral leads, and what their music was all about is a vital and insanely important part of educating yourself about Tango Music. Once you understand the man and his musical tastes, you have a bare hint of the musical tapestry that you’re dancing to, combine this with knowing where the musical pauses are at and you’re onto something! Something that can quite literally change your dancing life. Mind you, again, this is all included in the Tango Music Section of Tango Topics, it’s part of Tango Del Dia – 30 days, Tango Del Dia – 15 Days, and Tango Del Dia – Advanced. Each Tango Del Dia has a section that requires you to go out and find the requisite information (which is available on the web in multiple places) and educate yourself about the composers and orchestral leads.

If all of this sounds like an Ad for Tango Topics in one respect you’d be right, and in another you’d be wrong. How’s that ? The right part is that it is informing you that said musical resource on Tango Topics is already there and growing by the day. The wrong part is that the I’m laying the groundwork for the statements below:

The Real Challenge

1.) Learning the Pauses. First let’s dispense with the fact that you ‘Yes you must know where the beat is at’! That’s a given. Tango Topics does an adequate job of giving you the tools to hear the beat, not to mention describes what the on or down beat is, also what the off beat is and how to hear it, as well as the tempo of the music, and the frequent error that happens in relation to ‘tempo’ for a lot of people when hearing and then dancing to the music. Learning the Pauses is only one method of learning the music. The other major method is to memorize, note for note every tango song. Good luck with that. Learning the Pauses method (or the Tango Topics method), is all about hearing the markers that are there. They’re present in EVERY piece of tango music. Every. Single. One. In 10+ years of study and practice, since I came up with this idea, I’ve listened to over 10,000 pieces, and each and every one of them contains these markers. Learn the markers, and cool things start to happen to your dancing, and not just from a Leading perspective but also from a Following perspective.

Frequently, all too frequently for my taste, you have tango teachers that speak ONLY to the Leads in the room, and the Followers are there as instrumentations to the Lead’s execution. This extends to hearing and executing the music as well. As a side note: I detest this way of talking about the dance. I absolutely abhor it. There is another way of discussing the roles of the dance and it’s music that does not degenderize or disassemble the dancers in this way. The role of the Active Follower, which in my opinion should be the evolutionary goal of every Follower to aspire towards being an active Follower, winds through the right of passage through the role of the Passive Follower first. But as such the role of the Follower is to not only hear the beat, and to execute it, but is also to engage with the musical pauses as well. As there are LOADS of things the Follower can engage in as those pauses occur that can not only decorate, but quite literally change the course of dance for the better. Simply by engaging the musical pauses.

At the same time, once you hear the pauses, that’s great, but it’s not enough. You must practice this idea, constantly for weeks, if not months on end to the point where it becomes second nature in you. There are 3 reasons why we want to engage the musical pauses. 1.) To reset the embrace and to reset the couple. 2.) It is a logical place to change our vocabulary choices. and 3.) It is the beginning of what will become the structure of the dance or ‘phrasing’.

If this sounds like a lot of work. It’s not. It’s actually a lot of fun, while at the same time being very challenging. The reality is that you don’t need to know every song note for note, just learning the markers is enough! Tango Topics has a number of free resources that if you just go register (it costs nothing), you can access the free musical resources, there’s about 10 standard quizzes that touches on this stuff. https://tangotopics.com/techniquelib… Mind you, only a registered user can see this resource. So if you go, and you get an error, it’s because you’re not logged in as a registered user!

2.) Learning Phrasing. Once you hear the pauses, and are able to execute them, this is only the first part of the process. The next part is what you do with them! And this is NOT open to interpretation yet. There are some rules that we have to learn first that can help us to dance in a much more elegant way. However before we get there we have to first engage this idea of the Musical Phrases. Put simply the musical phrases are what happens between the pauses. So once you hear the pauses, you can infer where the musical phrases are at! Capice ? This topic should not be confused with ‘Phrasing’. Learning the Phrases is only a component of Phrasing which is the activity of what you DO with those Musical Phrases.

And this where most people turn off. And yet it’s the place where they want to turn on. The thing that most people have in their heads about musical phrases is that they believe or think (as I did, especially the way they are explained) is that you must know note for note these specific ‘phrases’ in order to do X to them. That’s not true. It’s a complete fallacy. The reality is that this is a long process of unlearning what you have learned and then applying an idea to that musical phrase. First you must hear the pause, and what’s in between the pauses IS the phrase, now comes the hard part: What you do with it IS the Phrasing Part!

There are several methods to creating awareness about this stuff. One of them is what’s called the Simple Musical Assignment Method which was detailed in Tango Truisms Volume 3 – Truism 1112 . Which is, as simple as it sounds, a simple replacement method. How’s that ? When you hear X in the music, you do/execute Y in your dance. Really simple. There are some obvious flaws to this idea. However, it is only a stepping stone to a much larger idea, and that’s the next method in this stepping stone approach, the Complex Musical Assignment Method. This method expands on the idea of Simple Replacement and instead of waiting until the next pause to do something you instead insert a singular complementary idea in between the pauses, there are rules to these ideas.

Example: Assuming you hear a type 2 pause, what should come next is either one of the 6 ways of walking, or the 8 kinds of ochos, or the 10 types of turns. Pick one. However, doing so, you can choose a preselected type of complementary walk, ocho, or turn that will easily lead into the next pause! This method has some benefits that allows for greater flexibility in one’s dance, and there’s a seemingly endless variety of things to do. But there is a built-in flaw to this method. The flaw is that there is structure to a piece of tango music. And that structure must be adhered to, and this is where the last method comes into the play. 

3.) Learning Mapping. The very last method of learning to create a successful interpretation is what Tango Topics refers to in its Intensive Sessions, as “Mapping”. This is 3 step process, that generates shall we say ‘clarity’ over what you want to do as a Lead or as Follower. It does not matter. Mapping asks the student to learn a very simple code which represents all of that stuff above, and then to map out the first 40 seconds of a song, and what they’d do it. The next part is to dance that map. What the student learns is that their idea was overly ambitious to begin with, and they realize that they have to pair it down. And this is where the real education begins. But this is only the first part of the process, because now we have to respect the musical structure that the composer intended. And now we’re thinking about planning a dance with that structure in mind (again from a leading perspective as well as from a following perspective). The very last part is dancing that structure on a regular basis! Easier said, than done.

The End Result ? The entire goal of this process is what Tango Topics refers to as Social Dance Musical Interpretation. The goal is not to perform for the 15th row, but to make your dance fun, engaging, exciting, and a pleasant and pleasing experience. However, getting there is a long process, which can take upwards of a year of your life, which almost no one wants to do for what is essentially a ‘hobby’. And therein lay the problem of teaching Musical Interpretation! 

Do we teach you little repeatable steps and patterns that can easily get repetitive, and highly annoying ? And in the end you end up needing more and more patterns and figures in order to make things continually exciting to your partners ? You’ll spend ooodles of money on that method. And this method is exactly the same method that every teacher wants you to invest in. I don’t. I want to be rid of you as soon as is humanly possible. Why ? Because, like you, I want to go out social dancing with nice partners!

There is another way, and that’s the Tango Topics Method:

1.) Learn your tango foundation (about 3 to 4 months)
1.5.) Learning the pauses. (about 60 days ish near the end of step 1)
2.) Then executing both roles. (about 6 to 9 months)
3.) Add in the Simple Replacement Method. (2 to 3 weeks)
4.) The Complex Replacement Method. (2 to 3 weeks)
and finally….
5.) Mapping ( 1 to 2 months).

Musical Interpretation. When most people hear the phrase ‘Musical Interpretation’ they usually end up looking at you with a blank stare, blinking their eyes at you now and again, until you use the word that makes sense to them: “Musicality”. And then they’re like, “Weeeeellll! Why didn’t you say so in the first place…..”, and then it’s like you’re best buddies again! 

First and foremost, let’s get something out of the way. “Musicality” doesn’t mean what you think it does, as you’ll soon see. Secondly and most importantly the word itself means ‘to BE music’! Hmm, you can write the music, you can listen to the music, you can dance to the music, but you can not…if I am not mistaken, BE music. It is impossible. However, you can INTERPRET the Music! 

The Workshop Problem. A class or workshop tutorial on ‘Musicality” doesn’t actually teach you about music, nor does it teach to dance to the music as a whole. A 1hr (or 1.5 hr) workshop or even a 6 week series is not going to teach you to dance to the music. The topic is wide and vast, and seemingly overwhelming. Further still, the very idea that you can ‘interpret’ the music is so far beyond most people’s understanding (or so they believe) that it overwhelms them when they begin to see the complexity of the topic at hand. 

Usually most people’s experience with ‘musicality’ workshops that they’ve had in the past is as follows: 1.) you are first shown/taught a step, a pattern, or a figure. 2.) You go through several rotations of partners learning the step/pattern/figure. 3.) The last 15 minutes to half hour of class is showing you the same example of the figure you’ve spent 45 minutes learning only now somehow, magically, it goes with a piece of music or a style of music or an aspect that is specific to that piece of music that may sometimes occur here and there. 4.) You’re shown a few variations on a theme of the figure, and somewhere about the 3rd or 4th your eyes start to glaze over. 5.) The idea of Counting Beats is reinforced: On the 2nd beat you step here, on the 3rd beat the Follower is supposed to step there, on the 4th….and so on.

Is this dancing ? No.

It’s a game of Twister, only to music. 🙁

What is ‘Musical Interpretation’ ? Musical Interpretation is a term that brings together two very different skillsets that should not be confused or co-mingled together. And they usually are, sadly. Both have to be accessed at the same time in order for Musical Interpretation to work properly, however these are two very different skills that must be pursued with all due diligence.  

The first part is ’Musical’. Which can be, but is not limited to – Either role hears the music in a very specific way, whereby they’re collectively, and/or separately, able to hear the beat, pause, and phrase (not phrasing – that’s entirely different idea) within the overall structure of a piece of music. This is about hearing the music, and its individual components. Not acting on them, but instead hearing them, keeping track of them, and understanding what’s going on. That last part is insanely difficult to do, and takes some time to get. Sometimes, ok – a lot of the time, most people get too wrapped up in their own excitement of the next part of this stuff and never focus on the one thing that they absolutely must… AND/OR they focus on one aspect (the beat, usually) alone and believe that this will be ‘enough’. It’s not by the way. This idea is, and this is not to disparage your ideas, can be almost pedestrian in nature. We do want to aspire to something more that accentuates the nuance and spirit of the music, not just it’s beat alone.

The second part is ‘Interpretation’, which is what you do with that beat, pause, and phrase (the ‘phrasing’, that’s the doing part of phrases) of the overall piece of music so that you see the movement or dancing part in the music. Ideally this is the desired result. However, and this where Interpretation takes on its real meaning. While you can vary that idea to express a point, a counterpoint of the music, but in the end, one is always working towards creating a larger vision of the music. Not to just visually represent the song note for note or phrase to phrase, but to show its nuances as well as its overall presence in the physical world. This is the beginning of ‘Interpretation’.

A Few ‘Musical’ Problems. There are some problems with the Musical part above that must be addressed first and foremost. One problem that comes up a lot of people is that they’re beat challenged and don’t know it. 1.) They run too fast (ahead of the beat and actually think it’s one thing when it’s another). 2.) They run too slow (same problem as too fast, only in reverse). And/or 3.) They are slightly ahead, or slightly behind the beat, and/or running across the beat all at the same time.

Compounding the beat problem is that most of you reading this from a Leading perspective have been taught to Count Beats which is about as useful as a small kitchen appliance that’s been unplugged. From a Following perspective you’ve been taught to “do your thing as long as it doesn’t interrupt the lead (small ‘l’, the action, and not the person ‘L’) without actually ‘hearing’ what it is that you’re ‘not interrupting’.

Next we have the Musical Pause or ‘Rest’ issue that is frequently misread, misunderstood, or ignored completely by design or as is more likely the case, ignorant that a Musical Pause actually exists and is not arbitrary, but in fact built into the music and must be respected. But a question comes up in this, which is one reason why it’s highly misunderstood, “How do you hear something that isn’t there ?”.

Still another issue that compounds the Musical problem is purely psychological. Some people have been told from a very early age that they can’t find a beat to save their lives. This message is so ingrained that they buy into this fallacy without question over time. Still another is that some are so wrapped up in the fear of not getting the beat, or not understanding it, that their anxiety over their inadequacy that they anticipate the beat in the wrong places, and at a the wrong times. The common solution for a lot of Leads to these problems is to learn lots of steps, patterns, and figures to mask the overall problem.

How to Clean Up The Musical Problem ? In order to clean up the problems above, five things must happen in sequence:

1.) (Beat Course) Clarify what the beat is, and is not, and then develop a regime to teach how to hear a beat within its proper tempo (speed) consistently. What are the markers for a beat, and what to listen for.
2.) (Beat Course with Exercises) Recalibrate someone’s innate (and quite natural) ordering and sorting skills, as it relates to hearing the ‘pattern’ of the music out of the chaos of the music, with the goal to hearing and retraining someone to hear ‘Musical Time’.
3.) (Pauses Course) Introduce the Dancer to the 5 Common Types of Musical Pauses that occur everywhere in Tango Music, and then practice hearing those pauses every day for 44 days with examples of Tango, Vals, and finally Milonga music of where a pause is, and then type those pauses, consistently through daily Tango del Dia quizzes. 😉 Starting with the 14 Days of Tango Music.
4.) (Accents Course) Introduce the dancer to Musical Accents, Off Notes, La Variacion, and The Singer, and employ Tango Del Dia Level 2.
5.) (Structure Course) Introduce the dancer to the overall structure of the music and the 6 (sometimes 8) parts of a song.

About The Video. This video package comes in at 52m:32s in length in 6 Sections, and 8 Subsections.

Section 1 – Opening – 00:02:48 (this video is above)
Section 2 – The ‘What’ Part – 00:10:59
Section 3 – The ‘What’ Example – 00:05:40
Section 4 – The ‘How’ Part – 00:03:02
Section 5 – Level 1 – 00:12:32
   – part 1 – walking on every beat – parallel system. (metronome)
   – part 2 – walking on every other beat – parallel system. (metronome)
   – part 3 – walking on every beat to the pauses – parallel system. (metronome/music)
   – part 4 – walking on every other beat to the pauses – parallel system. (metronome/music)
Section 6 – Level 2 – 00:17:37
   – part 5 – walking on every beat to the pauses – 6 ways of walking. (metronome)
      a.) parallel. b.) 3 track cross. c.) milonguero ochos. d.) inside ‘snake’ walk. e.) outside ‘snake’ walk. f.) alternate walk ‘a’.
   – part 6 – example dance – walking on every beat to the pauses – 6 ways of walking. (music)
   – part 7 – walking on every other beat to the pauses – 6 ways of walking. (metronome)
      a.) parallel. b.) 3 track cross. c.) milonguero ochos. d.) inside ‘snake’ walk. e.) outside ‘snake’ walk. f.) alternate walk ‘a’.
   – part 8 – example dance – walking on every beat to the pauses – 6 ways of walking. (music)