
Just watch and listen to some classic and well known tango, vals and milonga pieces, and look at some examples of people dancing to them. When listening try to hear the difference between the tango sub styles; vals, milonga and tango. When watching can you identify if there are certain moves that are only danced to that particular sub style, or other things you have noticed that are different movement wise between the style or how it is danced? What movements are the same for all 3 styles?
To support your active listening ask yourself the following questions:
- Can you hear a difference in rhythms in the 3 different sub styles of tango (vals, milonga and tango)?
- Do you hear which instruments are being played?
- Can you hear or feel the basic underlying pulse or beat of the music?
- What role do the instruments have i.e. melody, percussion, bridge / decoration, etc.?
- Do the roles change?
- Do the rhythms vary?
- Can you hear the first beat of each bar of music?
- Can you discern any other phrasing or structure in the music?
- What parts of the music do you enjoy?
- What part of the music do you like dancing to?
There is a structure that is common in tango songs. However as it is often improvised not all songs adhere to that to the same degree. A post on most used tango song structure will come in a separate article later.
Here are a few recommendations, watch and listen, to get you started:
Tango Vals
For just listening to music:
And to watch:
– Sebastian Arce & Mariana Montes Vals, TangoBâle Festival
– Osvaldo Zotto y Lorena Ermocida -Desde el alma,Vicente Munoz
Milonga
Listen
Watch
-Flaco Dani y Luna Palacios (Milonga, vieja milonga)
-Javier Rodriguez and Noelia Barsi – Milonga, vieja milonga030tango
Tango
Listen
Watch and compare
– Puppy Castello y Graciela Gonzalez – El Cencerro – Juan D’Arienzo
– Sebastian Arce and Mariana Montes – Gallo ciego by Tango en vivo #ArceMontes030tango