Me, I can definitely distinguish triplets (3 against 2) in any music I hear, but I have a lot of music training. I don't hear them in tango music. I hear them in Afro-Cuban music all the time, and in Brazilian samba drumlines (ie, percussion improvisation). But I don't hear them in tango or milonga orchestra music.
The confusion in the dance world about triplets comes from dancers and teachers equating "triple step" with "triplet". "Triple step" intuitively seems like 3 equal steps to a dancer who has no musical training. The rhythm is more accurately called out in dance classes as "quick quick slow" or "slow quick quick" to remind the dancers that there is a pause on the extra beat. And of course waltz and vals are in 3, but I don't hear any 2 against 3 in vals. I sometimes hear it in Viennese waltz orchestrations. Anyone can dance against the beat and improvise with these syncopated rhythms. In any kind of dance. It just won't look like it belongs in the dance, because it's not in the dance vocabulary -- ie, it will look like "doing your own thing." I'm fine with that, do it all the time in lindy hop and blues dancing. But it spoils the aesthetic for many. CS Bruno Afonso wrote: Can you easily distinguish triplets in music you hear? Every kind of music has them... even rock. I don't see how this will lead anyone anywhere. syncopation is a much stronger tool to use as far as creating timming "fun". Syncopating a triplet may make it not become so much of a triplet anymore. The music sheet is a guide that performers will either try to follow precisely or not. -- Carol Ruth Shepherd Arborlaw PLC Ann Arbor MI USA 734 668 4646 v 734 786 1241 f Arborlaw - a legal blog for entrepreneurs and small business http://arborlaw.com _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
