This is a dump of the notes I took during a DJ seminar given by a well respected west coast DJ several years ago. I hope to come back and clean them up, but here they are as they were written.
End (like the bando) vs beginning (piano) Emphasis of the beat can be used to build families of tango sounds x = energy, y = rythm
Street band
Driving
Refined
Exploratory
Calo: Refined
DiSarli: Centered
Troilo: Driving, Exploratory
Pugliese: Exploratoy
DArienzo: Driving
Canaro: Street Band
DAgostino
De caro
Biagi
Rodriguez
Lomuto
Fresedo
DAngelis: hard to place, sometimes multiple styles even in same song
Demare: Refined, Exploratory
Speakers should be above head height
Should be along the long end of the floor so sound is distributed
Pointed slightly in
Keep your sound levels all below 75% (source? Research this)
Make sure bass isn’t turned up
Check volume on floor frequently
Before you start, check for loud or quiet areas
Watch number of dancers, sound will be muffled if there are a lot of dancers
Many of the pops and scratches on are on the higher frequencies
Most of the song data is in the midranges
Group songs with a similar sound so dancers know what they can expect. Dancers can pair based on what emotion they want to express given the theme of the tanda.
To help the dancers express the music.
To have them leave the floor feeling confident.
Keeping a balance so that everyone has something to dance to.
Sequencing the songs in a way that flows and feels sensible.
To bring them through key musical areas so they feel the entire range of “the milonga experience”.
To keep the early dancers happy even while warming up the dancers who arrive later.
A song is the atomic unit.
A tanda is the molecule.
Each atom has a specific feeling to contribute to the molecule.
The tanda should elicit a specific feeling which grows and progresses from song 1 to 4.
Each tanda needs to fit the flow of the night, blending smoothly from the previous one and into the next.
Song 1
Very familiar / well known
Draws dancers to the floor
El Cencerro
Pensalo Bien
Tristeza Marina
Vamos
Araca La Cana
Adios Buenos Aires
Song 2
Well known, almost on par with song 1
Danceable but not appropriate for beginning or ending
Gorriones
Caero Al As
Sencillo y Compadre
Song 3
Less familiar, good place to experiment (slightly)
Continues or revises direction
Higher energy than song 2
Song 4
Also very familiar
Highest energy
Has a strong ending, can feature a varacion or a nice vocal
Makes them feel confidence and lets them express their emotion
El Recodo (might be a good opener, but too powerful, nothing could go up from here)
Dime Mi Amor (voice at the end is nice)
La Capilla Blanca (slow down at the end doesn’t affect any “next song”)
Patetico (nice variacion)
The molecular chain
TTM or TTV - As a unit, lower energy tango to higher energy tango
Rectangle provides opportunity for different movement based on side length
Square can feel more consistent to some dancers
Permeate tables to allow more entry / exit points
Blur your vision and perceive the flow, are there big gaps or concentrations?
If people are focused on specific musical elements or movements too much, it suggests they aren’t feeling the music and their partner enough.
D’Arienzo: forces them to adhere to the beat
Pugliese / Podesta: allows them to focus inward and on each other
Watch for temperature
If the room is hot, don’t make them move enough to heat it up more
If the room is cold, make them move around and warm it up
Choose 3 songs that represent tandas Build a SuperTanda and justify it (TTM or TTV)
Example tanda - builds rythmic intensity
Dejame Ser Asi - Llorar por una mujer - Danza Maligna - En la buena y la mala
Example tanda - builds melodic emotional intensity
Tristeza Marina - Decime que paso - Charlemos - Griseta
Bad Example tanda - nice songs but doesn’t feel like it progresses
A Quien La Puede Importar - Esta Noche en Buenos Aires - Gorriones - El Yacare
Bad Example tanda - “wakes up” the dancers
Santa Milonguita - Trago Amargo - Infamia - Dime mi amor
Listen to the first and last song to check that there’s a progression
Listen to the entire song, they might get weird halfway in - A Pan y Agua
Facilitate the “milonga experience”
Curating the experience through the music
Having supertandas built is helpful
Example: Di Sarli / Rufino -> Laurenz / Casas
Compare a sawtooth energy pattern with a sinusoidal one
Sawtooth: doesn’t allow for pallate cleansers
T1 T3 V5 T2 T4 M6
DiSarli/Rufino -> Laurenz/Casas : Increasing strechiness
Fresedo -> Troilo : Rythmic playfulness (gentle to more gripping)
Crossing musical families between sets allows you to differentiate the adjacent sets
Avoid repeating musical familes (Canaro -> OTV would be too much)
Alternating rythmic melodic within the supertanda covers your dancers tastes better
Think about the thread between tango 1,2 and 4,5
Should be tighter in the beginning for newer dancers or people who just arrived
Should get wider toward the end to fill more of the milonga experience
Notes:
Canaro doesn’t work pre-milonga, not enough build
DiSarli/Podesta into a Biagi would be too abrupt
No vals after a DiSarli/Podesta - they’re too swirly and round (abrupt)
They should inspire motion, but in a vague way - Don’t suggest swing / salsa
Should follow the previous tanda to prevent ruining the embrace-feeling they had
Length based on how long it will take the floor to clear (20s - 70s)C
Last 30 minutes, or some defining point, she stops playing milongas and valses, just varies the energy levels of tangos
Reduces rotation and enhances flow
Disabling trackpad-touch-to-click or bringing a mouse
Build double the sets you need for the time
Mixing - Saca chispas only good decaro milonga, has to be mixed with others
Tanda placards - nice but if you use them make sure you actually use them