El Choclo: A Musical Analysis

[tangomonkey]

I am going to provide a musical analysis of El Choclo, composed by Ángel Villoldo in 1903. I’ll first define some musical terms then break the piece down from a big picture overview to smaller and smaller bits.

The piano reduction is available here http://www.todotango.com/english/las_obras/partitura.aspx?id=24 . The visual quality is not great. I used Photoshop to sharpen it up a bit. The music can be saved to a file by right clicking and choosing “Save image as...” (In Chrome, other browsers will have some other menu option). There are two pages, so right click near the top of the score and save, then right click near the bottom and save again.

(The reason I called the music a “piano reduction” and not a score is because that’s what it is. A score has all the instrumental (and vocal) parts aligned horizontally by measure. The version we will look at has been “reduced” to two lines and is intended to be played on a piano)

I suggest even those who cannot read music download and print the sheet music. I’ll be going through it bar by bar and talk about the time signature, the primary beat and how it is subdivided, the form, phrasing, rhythms, maybe keys and harmonies. There will be definition of terms and you'll be able to pick up some important stuff about how music is printed and what all those weird markings mean.

(The recording at todotango.com is by Canaro with Tita Merello singing. I won’t be discussing any of the vocal recordings. I don’t care to dance to most music with singers (the proper definition of “song”, by the way. If there is no singing it is not a song). I find the arrangements have been altered to showcase the singer. It certainly has been in this case. There are many exceptions of course, but I’d rather dance to instrumental music written and performed for dancers.)

Our version is as Villoldo wrote it – so I assume. I can’t be sure. There are some lyrics but no vocal part. I don’t know if Villoldo wrote one or somebody else did later. At any rate, it isn’t included in the music we have. Every “orchestra” does something unique with the music, so what we are working with is close enough. (I put orchestra in quotes because a (modern classical) orchestra has strings (violins, violas, cellos, bass), several different wind, brass, and percussion instruments. Tango ensembles do not. I refer to them as group, band, ensemble, trio, sextet…)

Some terminology first - can’t escape it, we need to have a common, well defined language for discussion. I ask anyone who knows of a good source for music definitions and rudiments (basic theory) to post some links for us. No doubt there are good definitions in Wikipedia.


Off the top of my head and kept short and simple (mostly):

• Beat: the underlying pulse of the music. See Measure and Time Signature.
  
• Measure (or bar): small sections which contain all the number of beats as specified by the time signature. Marked with a vertical line across the two pairs of five horizontal lines (called staff lines or staves). A bar in our piano reduction is both pairs of staves. (The top one is called the treble clef, played with the pianist’s right hand, and the bottom one is called the bass clef, played with the left hand).
  
• Time Signature: The two numbers, one above the other, written near the beginning of the first line (or whenever it changes). It is not a fraction but is usually typed as one. Time signature tells the number of beats in a measure and the type of note that gets one beat. 2/4 tells us there will be two beats per measure and the quarter note gets one beat. 4/4, four beats and the quarter note gets one beat. 6/8, six beats and the eighth note gets one beat. (Look up what whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth notes look like on Wikipedia. And if you are in the UK look up quavers, semiquavers…but I won’t be using those terms)
  
• Structure (or “form”): how the piece is structured (duh). The way the major sections are organized and the order they are performed. Unique sections are labeled “A”, “B”, “C”, Introduction, Coda (a concluding section).
  
• Phrase: difficult to describe simply, but for our purpose think of them as a short section of music with a clear start and end quality. Phrases usually happen over a specific number of bars, usually 4, and can have two smaller sections of 2 bars each. There is usually a call and response or question and answer quality to them.
  
• Time Value: what portion of the beat a note gets. We know in 2/4 there will be two beats and the quarter note’s time value is one beat. There is one 1/4 note in one beat, two 1/8 notes in one beat, four 1/16 notes in one beat. They can be written as fractions: ¼, 1/8, 1/16, because that’s what they are, in terms of a 4/4 time signature, which is the most common one. Still with me? Think of it this way. In 4/4 there are 4 ¼ notes per bar, eight 1/8 notes, sixteen 1/16 notes. A “whole note” will always get the full number of beats defined by the time signature. In 2/4 it will get two beats, in 4/4 four, etc. And there can be dots added to increase the basic time value of the notes by 1.5 times the undotted value. A dotted 1/8 note will get 1/8 + 1/16 = 3/16. Keep that in mind, tango uses the dotted 1/8 (which has a time value of three 1/16 notes) followed by a 1/16 note rhythm very frequently. It is part of one of the two habanera rhythms we’ll see in El Choclo.
  
• Rhythmic Pattern: a succession of notes usually played in a mix of time values (but necessarily a mix).

If you are going to follow along with the score (and you should even if you don’t read music) I suggest you write the bar number in the left margins beside each pair of staves. In the print out there are 4 bars in the first line (Consider the two groups of five lines as one line), so put “5” in the left margin of the second line, “9” on the third line and so on. If I say to look at bar 15 it will easy to do so if the bar numbers are marked in.



Glad that’s out of the way. Now on to El Choclo...tomorrow. Going to a practica soon.

 

[Ray Sison]

Bravo! :cheers: Thanks for this very impressive, detailed report on a familiar piece. :notworth:

I will definitely read this several times, while also listening to the music a few times to help me appreciate your fabulous analysis even more...

 

[tangomonkey]

Bravo! :cheers: Thanks for this very impressive, detailed report on a familiar piece. :notworth:

I will definitely read this several times, while also listening to the music a few times to help me appreciate your fabulous analysis even more...

Hi Ray. The analysis hasn't started yet. That was only groundwork - musical terminology mostly. The real fun will start tomorrow.

 

[AndaBien]

Wow! TangoMonk. I am very impressed with your beginning, and eagerly await your next installment.

 

[Ray Sison]

Wow! TangoMonk. I am very impressed with your beginning, and eagerly await your next installment.

+1... :cheers:

 

[dchester]

Very nice. The way I "feel" this song is (not surprisingly) different from the time signature listed. I feel it as a 4/4 which basically equates to merging every two measures into one. A quarter note would be a "slow" beat, and thus an eighth note would be a "quick" beat. The melody in this song has lots sixteenth notes, thus 4 of these grouped together would (also) be a slow beat (with respect to stepping).

 

[opendoor]

canyengue is different

.. I won’t be discussing any of the vocal recordings. I don’t care to dance to most music with singers... I find the arrangements have been altered to showcase the singer. It certainly has been in this case.

Thanks tm for your detailed explanations. Only in one point, I do not agree. Isn´t it actually yet the other way round? Most tangos were born as a song and use to be domesticated when jammed into the form of an arreglo. El Choclo anyway started as a song dedicated to the pimp and night club owner, who employed Villoldo. Villoldo wrote words and melody. The original (lot of dirtier) lyrics were replaced by the more smoothed version of Discépolo later on, when he produced the title for Libertad Lamarque. The linked arreglo seems to trace back to Roncallo, beeing revised by Discépolo as well. You see, this piece has more than three lives: a first one in the brothels of BsAs, an orchestrated version for the dancing halls which actually was living on hiding the words everyone knew, and finally Discépolo´s version for our current media age, and so on...

.. I won’t be discussing any of the vocal recordings. I don’t care to dance to most music with singers..

That really is too bad. Dancing to sung tangos seems to be much closer to the origins of our hobby. And, concerning me, I dance a great deal better to sung tangos than to orchestrated versions.

.. "feel" this song is (not surprisingly) different from the time signature listed. I feel it as a 4/4...

I think and feel the same. But there are such a lot of eighths in it, so 2/4 only looks (sic !) more elegant on the sheets. El Choclo is a canyengue piece and canyengue is genuine 4/4 music. And, speaking frankly, I don´t like all those tango liso and tango bravo versions of it flooding our ears all around.

 

[bordertangoman]

Thanks tm for your detailed explanations. Only in one point, I do not agree. Isn´t it actually yet the other way round? Most tangos were born as a song and use to be domesticated when jammed into the form of an arreglo. El Choclo anyway started as a song dedicated to a pimp and night club owner. Villoldo wrote words and melody. The original (lot of dirtier) lyrics were replaced by the more smoothed version of Discépolo later on, also a composer and author. The linked arreglo seems to trace back to Roncallo.



That really is too bad. Dancing to sung tangos seems to be much closer to the origins of our hobby. And, concerning me, I dance a great deal better to sung tangos than to orchestrated versions.



I think and feel the same. But there are such a lot of eiths in it, so 2/4 only looks (sic !) more elegant on the sheets. El Choclo is a canyengue piece and canyengue is genuine 4/4 music.

I dont think its signature has much bearing for a dancer..you can buy the tango fake book in 2/4 or 4/4 I seem to recall. Its what you hear that counts. Joaquin Amenabar's workshops always avoided using music terminology other than simple terms all would understand like beat rhythm, phrase, melody and so forth and listening. he used simple diagrams to explain milonga rythm- which is helpful for those who learn best with a visual input.

I too prefer instrumental tangos. The lyrics of El Choclo were after all full of innunendo and smutty

 

[UKDancer]

2/4 and 4/4 basic rhythmic patterns are not interchangeable: and it isn't just a matter of halving or doubling the pulse/note values. If you put aside particular rhythmic devices, like canyengue, then 2/4 has a basic stress pattern of STRONG, weak (and can be at any tempo), while 4/4 has the pattern STRONGEST, weak, STRONG, weak (ie a primary stress on the 1st beat and a secondary stress on the 3rd).

The difference between them is often abused in BR tango (standard technique assumes 2/4 rhythm, but then wrongly says that both beats are 'equally' stressed, which is nonsense). Rhythm is very often misunderstood by dancers.

 

[sudoplatov]

Very nice. The way I "feel" this song is (not surprisingly) different from the time signature listed. I feel it as a 4/4 which basically equates to merging every two measures into one. A quarter note would be a "slow" beat, and thus an eighth note would be a "quick" beat. The melody in this song has lots sixteenth notes, thus 4 of these grouped together would (also) be a slow beat (with respect to stepping).

Tangos (and ragtime) is often written with a 2/4 time signature but played like is was 4/8. Some composers preferred to write in 4/4 (Salgan?) and others in 2/4. It's a convention.

I haven't can't post links but "Bahia Blanca" has a 4/8 time signature, "Adionos Nonino" has C. The basic tempo is still 4 beats per measure.

 

[bordertangoman]

2/4 and 4/4 basic rhythmic patterns are not interchangeable: and it isn't just a matter of halving or doubling the pulse/note values. If you put aside particular rhythmic devices, like canyengue, then 2/4 has a basic stress pattern of STRONG, weak (and can be at any tempo), while 4/4 has the pattern STRONGEST, weak, STRONG, weak (ie a primary stress on the 1st beat and a secondary stress on the 3rd).

The difference between them is often abused in BR tango (standard technique assumes 2/4 rhythm, but then wrongly says that both beats are 'equally' stressed, which is nonsense). Rhythm is very often misunderstood by dancers.

according to what I have learnt; i quote form the torito.NL website

What difference will an amature listener hear between '2/4 and 4/4 versions'? Can you explain something about this 2/4 and 4/4, for a non musician?

For a listener, there is really no difference. It is strictly for the performer. These numbers refer to the time signature (often used interchangeably with 'meter'), a musical measurement, the organisation of music into units of accented and unaccented beats.

Meter is actually what is heard and is not the same as a time signature, which is what is written.

So what is heard, as a tango is performed, is the same, regardless of what is written.
Tango originally was written in 2/4 (to be technical: 2 beats per measure, a 1/4 note gets one beat).

This to me reflects the dance in the best way. The dance is generally danced two steps per measure. This is the original 'dos por cuatro', two strong beats on four.

But modern tango composers such as Astor Piazzolla began writing in 4/4. This for them was easier to read, and reflected the more even beat pattern in the music, in such tunes as 'Michelangelo 70'. These days, many tango musicians, though not all, prefer to see tango written in 4/4.

 

[tangomonkey]

Some more definitions. I may need to add definitions as I get into the analysis. Hopefully, not many more. I promise. I will get to the analysis eventually.

• Tempo: the speed at which the beats move through time, or the number of beats per minute. There are numerous tempo definitions, usually in Italian, and they not only imply the tempo but usually the character of the music as well. They aren’t printed in tango music because the tempi are mostly very similar. If there was a printed tempo indication it would be Andante, which means a “walking pace”. (How appropriate) In terms of beats per minute Andante tempi fall around 80-100.
• Key Signature: don’t want to go into too much detail here. Key signatures tell us what key the music is in. For our needs we just need to know there are two types of key, major and minor They have a distinct sound and character. Major keys are generally happier while minor keys are sadder. (Very broadly speaking).
• Modulation: when the music changes to a different key.
• Rests: think time value again. A rest is the same as a played note in terms of time value, but there is to be no sound. So, a quarter rest means there should be no sound for one full beat, etc….
• Treble and Bass lines (or parts): again I won’t go into too much detail here. Think of the treble line as the top line of notes in the treble clef (the top staff). It is the melody line (although there can be more than one melody and it can be played anywhere). The bass line is the very bottom line of notes in the bass clef (the bottom staff).
• Theme: the melody (means much more but that’s all we need to know)
• Syncopation: ah yes, some dancers have a peculiar idea about this one. Syncopation is any time the music emphasizes the off- beat, which is the time between the primary beat of our quarter note. There is usually an accent (played a bit louder or clipped short, called staccato). For our purposes, the off-beat can be an eighth note, sixteenth note or a grouping of notes that when played place an emphasis/accent between the primary beats. Syncopation is very common in tango music.
• Cadence: essentially the end of a phrase or section. When it happens the music feels like it has reached a concluding point, because it has.
• Chord (harmony): several different notes played simultaneously, usually built in intervals of a third. Eg. C-E-G; B-D-F. There are many types, the most common are major, minor, dominant seventh. Major chords sound bright and cheerful. Minor chords sound sad. Dominant seventh chords sound incomplete, like they need to go somewhere. And in fact that’s their purpose: to resolve back to a major or minor chord. These sound qualities are determined by the intervals, the distance between the notes, in terms of pitch. Take a C major chord: its notes are C-E-G. The distance between the C and E is a major third. A b minor chord is B-D-F. The distance between B and D is a minor third. The dominant seventh chord has four notes, the fourth one is the interval of a (minor ) seventh away from the bottom note.G dominant seventh (or simply G7) has the notes G-B-D-F. It’s that (minor) seventh, the F, which gives this chord the feeling of needing to move onto something else. Dominant sevenths will frequently occur at candences in the music, ie at the end of phrases, and almost certainly the end of a larger section (the A, B parts). In fact, the resolution of the dominant seventh to the next chord is what makes a cadence sound like the end of something.

I realized I’ve been talking about “note” all along and haven’t defined it in terms of pitch. I wasn’t going to go into detail about notes (other than time value) and clefs and what those lines and spaces represent. I will for those of you who don’t read music. If you understand clefs and notes you are mostly there in terms of reading music. (Aside from the technical part of playing notes on an instrument). If you know all about clefs and notes, no need to read the rest of this post.

• Clef: Remember clefs from my definition of Measure? Our piano reduction has two. The top one is called the treble or G clef because that backwards S looking thing at the beginning of every top line is actually a stylized G, and the staff line that goes through the bottom curly bit is called G. The bottom clef is a bass or F clef. It is a stylized F and the staff line between the two dots is called F.
• Note: a pitch, a specific sound with a specific frequency measured in Herz. When classical musicians tune up they tune to the note A, at 440 Herz. Notes are positioned on staves, with the lines running through them, or in the spaces between the lines. The location determines both the name of the note and its pitch when played. Notes have both pitch and time value (also called note value).

Naming notes.
There are only seven basic note names: A B C D E F G. Keep that in mind.
Imagine drawing a line between the two clefs. Just a short one, a dash. A note placed with that line going through it is called C. And the dash-sized line is called a ledger line. The lines and spaces can continue beyond the lines and spaces of the staff, using ledger lines. That C is called “Middle C” because it is in the middle of the two clefs and it is a C in both of them.

Naming Notes in the Treble Clef: We know where G is on the treble clef. It is the second line from the bottom. And middle C is one ledger line below the treble staff. Going up from middle C, alphabetically, the space between the ledger line and the bottom line in the treble clef is a D. Continuing up: the bottom line is an E, the space above is a F, the next line is a G (which we know from the treble clef discussion). There is no H note, so we start again at A, the space between the second and third lines (from the bottom). And so on…

Naming Notes in the Bass Clef: We know where F is on the bass clef. It is the second line from the top. And middle C is one ledger line above the bass staff. Going down from middle C, alphabetically, the space between the ledger line and the top line in the bass clef is a B. Continuing down: the top line is an A, the next space is a G, the next line is a F (which we know from the bass clef discussion). And so on…

I should define “scale”, “key”, “sharp”, “flat”, "tone", "semi-tone" but I think that’s enough (more than!) for now. This is supposed to be an analysis of El Choclo not a diatribe on rudimentary theory. And I’m getting tired.

 

[dchester]

according to what I have learnt; i quote form the torito.NL website

What difference will an amature listener hear between '2/4 and 4/4 versions'? Can you explain something about this 2/4 and 4/4, for a non musician?

For a listener, there is really no difference. It is strictly for the performer. These numbers refer to the time signature (often used interchangeably with 'meter'), a musical measurement, the organisation of music into units of accented and unaccented beats.

Meter is actually what is heard and is not the same as a time signature, which is what is written.

So what is heard, as a tango is performed, is the same, regardless of what is written.
Tango originally was written in 2/4 (to be technical: 2 beats per measure, a 1/4 note gets one beat).

This to me reflects the dance in the best way. The dance is generally danced two steps per measure. This is the original 'dos por cuatro', two strong beats on four.

But modern tango composers such as Astor Piazzolla began writing in 4/4. This for them was easier to read, and reflected the more even beat pattern in the music, in such tunes as 'Michelangelo 70'. These days, many tango musicians, though not all, prefer to see tango written in 4/4.

Just to add, what is written, and how something is played, is not always the same. For me, I "feel" 4/4 to most tangos, which amounts to just combining every two (2/4) measures into one (4/4) measure (at least in this song). The difference is subtle, and at the end of the day, the band is going to play it how they wish, regardless of how it was written.

 

[opendoor]

2/4 and 4/4 basic rhythmic patterns are not interchangeable...

I do not agree. Even 3/4 and 4/4 are interchangeable if you make some effort with the notation.

For the rest I follow BTM with

For a listener, there is really no difference. It is strictly for the performer. These numbers refer to the time signature (often used interchangeably with 'meter'), a musical measurement, the organisation of music into units of accented and unaccented beats...

 

[tangomonkey]

Just to add, what is written, and how something is played, is not always the same. For me, I "feel" 4/4 to most tangos, which amounts to just combining every two (2/4) measures into one (4/4) measure (at least in this song). The difference is subtle, and at the end of the day, the band is going to play it how they wish, regardless of how it was written.

Regarding 2/4 versus 4/4 and meter, UDancer has it right. 2/4 meter is stong-weak, 4/4 is strongest-weak-stong-weak. They are different, but I agree how it feels to listeners and dancers will depend on how the musician choose to play the stong-weak. In general beat one is almost always strong, so there should be a different feel when every other beat is noticably strong (2/4) compared to when it isn't (4/4).

There is also the phrase and candence to consider. 2/4 phrases are shorter in duration, in terms of real time not bars. And there will be more cadences (pauses).