--- On Sun, 12/21/08, Jack Dylan <[email protected]> wrote:
> Since you obviously think it''s important, could
> you provide us with an explanation, preferably with examples, of what you
> mean by a 'syncopated rhythm' in milonga?
>
WARNING, if you don't like to think a lot about the music, delete this post.
I found Korey's explanation in the link that Norman sent a bit unclear if one
is not already familiar with syncopa. So here's the explanation I use that I
borrow from Alex Krebs.
Let's start with a base of 4 counts in tango in slow time. In other words,
every time you walk on the main beat in tango, you'll count "1234". Each "1"
is a step on the strong beat. If you took 2 steps, you'd be counting "12341".
Your weight has the entire time for counts "234" to arrive at where you place
your foot at "1". Get off of the computer and try this first to see what I
mean.
For quick time, say for a rock step, you'll end up dancing "1 3 1". Here, the
spaces for beats 2 and 4 are left blank. I suggest still mentally counting
1234 in your head or out loud, and you'll see that "1 3 1" marks the desired
weight positions for a rock step.
A syncopa is either the addition of a beat or a taking away of a beat in an
unexpected place. For example, a rock step that is "12 1". Here, the spaces
for beats 3 and 4 are blank. The result is something that feel very fast at
first, but then hangs like a pause. Common syncopa variations for tango
include:
12 1
1 41
123 1
1 341
I suppose you could skip the "1" but that's never made sense to me. The
feeling of a syncopa is similar in feeling to dancing the "12 1" or "1 31" in
vals (which has a normal rhythm of 1231), but that's not considered syncopa
because it's not unexpected.
Concerning it's application to milonga, I usually don't think of milonga as
having a syncopated rhythm because it happens fairly rarely compared to the
other rhythms. One can also dance syncopated even if the music is not
syncopated. For example, the piano is clearly playing the same milonga rhythm
over and over again throughout the piece, but at 39 seconds, the other
instruments suddenly stop playing while the piano continues with &341. The
absence of the other instruments is a syncopa, but the piano is not playing
syncopa. So a someone can either dance the syncopa (which is what Gustavo or
Giselle do) or dance the milonga rhythm.
Trini de Pittsburgh
Hope this helps.
Trini de Pittsburgh
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