关于音乐的笔记

跳探戈舞时要注意听音乐，从容不迫，不要着急。如果错过一个节拍，就等待下一个节拍。要花时间跳好每一步，不要急于赶节拍，不要害怕等待，可多用慢动作和暂停。跳探戈舞挑战你同时处理许多事的能力。而在诸多任务中，听音乐是你的首要任务。你跳的是音乐而不是步子。不要把注意力锁定在步伐上而忘记听音乐。

如果一首探戈曲缺少节奏变化，跳起来会感到单调。但是，如果它的节奏太不规则，无法预测，也不适合跳舞。并非所有的探戈曲都是为舞蹈编写制作的。在阿根廷历史上的某些时期，探戈作为舞蹈是被压制的，但音乐家们在那些时期仍然为音乐爱好者而不是舞者写探戈曲。一个好的DJ知道其中的区别，在舞会上只播放最好的，适合跳舞的探戈曲。

适合跳舞的探戈曲有清晰的节奏。虽然它时而会有一些有趣的变化，但并不难跳。事实上，一首好的探戈舞曲往往包含多层次的节奏和旋律，其中占主导地位的节奏和旋律通常与从属的节奏和旋律交织在一起。舞者可以选择跳主导节奏或旋律，或跳从属节奏或旋律，或由一种节奏/旋律转到另一种节奏/旋律，取决于他们对音乐的诠释和他们在那个瞬间想如何表达自己的感受。有些舞者喜欢跳节奏。有些舞者喜欢跳旋律。他们根据自己的乐感形成不同的舞蹈风格。

探戈舞曲是由不同的乐章乐句组成的。有些长，有些短，有些快，有些慢。它们表达不同的情绪：悲伤，快乐，浪漫，深情，忧郁，怀旧，等等。按音乐跳舞不仅意味着踩在节拍上，也意味着按音乐的情绪跳舞。好的舞者踩在节拍上。卓越的舞者按音乐的情绪跳舞。

探戈音乐是四四拍的，每小节有四拍。第一拍和第三拍是强拍，第二拍和第四拍是弱拍。跳舞时一般是踩在强拍上，但也有多种可能性。例如，你可以踩在弱拍上，或交替踩在强拍和弱拍上，或只踩在任何一拍上，或踩在所有节拍上，或在一拍上踩两步，或用暂停来跳过几拍，等等。

小步花时少，大步花时多。快步花时少，慢步花时多。180度旋转比360度旋转花时少，但比90度旋转花时多。一个好的舞者可以用不同（大，小，快，慢）的舞步来跳不同的音乐。

乐感准确性要求我们精确地踩在节拍上。有经验的舞者常常故意使用提前和耽延来追赶或拖延时间，保持造型，装饰步伐，缩短一步以延长另一步，或延长一步以缩短另一步，来增加节奏和动作的变化。但他们在这样做时会严格掌握计时，保持舞蹈与音乐的同步。

按音乐跳舞不仅意味着踩在节拍上，也意味着在舞蹈中运用CADENCIA。CADENCIA是指身体随着音乐而有节奏地摆动。人体在运动中会产生惯性。通过增加然后止住运动幅度，人们可以控制惯性，使身体有节奏地摆动。这种摆动是延水平而非垂直方向运动，好象波浪在音乐的流淌中有节奏地向前推动一样，给舞蹈添加更多的湧动感。因为探戈音乐节奏模式的变化性和复杂性，运用CADENCIA很具挑战性。具备这种能力是一个好舞者的标志之一。

太多的探戈学生把太多的注意力放在学习看得见的舞步上而不是放在学习看不见的音乐上。但是看不见的比看得见的更重要。音乐性是一门只有少数人掌握了的艺术，除非你掌握它，你不能成为一个卓越的探戈舞者。

 

Notes on Musicality

Dance to the music, be calm and unhurried, go slow. If you miss a beat, wait for the next. Take your time to finish the step, do not rush to catch up the beat, do not be afraid of waiting, use slow motion and pause. Tango challenges your multi-tasking ability, and among all the tasks, listening to the music is your first priority. You dance the music, not the steps. Do not fix your attention solely on the steps and forget about the music.

If a tango is mono-rhythmic, it is palling to dance to. But if its rhythm is too irregular and unpredictable, it is not suitable for dance either. Not all tangos are created for dance. There were periods in Argentine history that tango as a dance was doomed, but musicians continued to produce tango music for listening and not dancing. A good DJ knows the difference and plays only the best danceable tangos at a milonga.

A danceable tango has a clear rhythm with variations that are interesting but not too difficult to follow. In fact, a good, danceable tango often contains layers of rhythms and melodies, but there is usually a dominant rhythm and melody interwound with subordinate ones. Dancers can choose to follow the dominant rhythm or melody, or the subordinate ones, or jump from one to another, depending on their interpretations of the music and how they want to express their feelings in the moment. Some dancers are more rhythmic. Others are more melodic. They develop different dance styles according to their musicality.

Within each piece of music there are different movements and phrases. Some are shorter; some are longer. Some are slower; some are faster. They express different emotions: sad, happy, romantic, sentimental, passionate, melancholy, nostalgic… Dancing to the music not only means stepping on the beat, but dancing to the mood of the music as well. A good dancer steps on the beat. An excellent dancer dances to the mood of the music.

Tango music is quadruple time. It has four beats in each measure. The first and third beats are strong beats. The second and fourth beats are weak beats. The dancer usually steps on the strong beats, but there are many possibilities. For example, one can step on the weak beats, or a combination of strong and weak beats, or just on any one beat or all beats, or make two steps on one beat, or pause to skip few beats, etc.

A small step takes less time. A larger step takes more time. A quick step takes less time. A slow step takes more time. A 180-degree turn takes longer time than a 90-degree turn, but shorter time than a 360-degree turn. A good dancer can use different (fast, slow, small or large) steps to play with the music.

Precision requires us to step exactly on the beat. Experienced dancers may step slightly ahead of or after the beat to catch up time or delay, to sustain a posture, to adorn a footwork,  and to change the rhythm by shortening one step in order to elongate another, or vice versa. However, in doing so they still strictly time the steps so that their dance is in unison with the music.

Dancing to the music means more than just stepping on the beat. It also means dancing with cadencia. Cadencia is the correspondence of the motion of the body with the music. The body produces a momentum in each step when it is in motion. By increasing and then halting the motion, one can maneuver the momentum to create a lilt, swing, or cadence. The cadence is in horizontal rather than vertical direction, like waves of motion across each step in correspondence with the rhythmic flow of the music, adding more sensation to the dance. The ability to dance with cadencia is one of the things that mark a good dancer. It is a challenging task due to the variation and complication of the rhythmic pattern of tango music.

Too many tango students pay too much attention on learning visible steps than invisible musicality, but what is invisible is more important than what is visible. Musicality is an art that only few master. Unless you master it you can’t reach excellence.