itwillhappen
Forum Master
I normalize the tags of the files in use to the record in https://tango.info .
Don't want to see "Roberto Firpo - 2012" on the beamer.
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Tango DJ-ing
- Thread starter ardix
- Start date
Don't want to see "Roberto Firpo - 2012" on the beamer.
opendoor
Forum Master
But "normalizing" would suggest some degree of compatibility, doesn't it?..normalize the tags.. to https://tango.info .
Don't want to see "Roberto Firpo - 2012" on the beamer.
ID3 has got title-artist-album
tango.info has title-tiwc-genre-instrumentalist-vocalist
apple has title-artist-album artist-album
So Carlos Varela and Roberto Firpo always appear in different categories, if they do appear at all, depending on the effort the publisher took.
opendoor
Forum Master
Thus I started recoding my entire library to
soloist 1 = Varela (Firpo);
soloist 2 = Varela (Firpo).
So at least I had certainty that the important information could be read out somewhere, somehow, at some point by the app. But at what price? Soon I deleted Beam annoyed. Your predecessors weren't particularly interested either. Today I use "album art" for the projection of the information. I can photoshop faster than laboriously changing tags back and forth all the time.
soloist 1 = Varela (Firpo);
soloist 2 = Varela (Firpo).
So at least I had certainty that the important information could be read out somewhere, somehow, at some point by the app. But at what price? Soon I deleted Beam annoyed. Your predecessors weren't particularly interested either. Today I use "album art" for the projection of the information. I can photoshop faster than laboriously changing tags back and forth all the time.
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itwillhappen
Forum Master
I'm not a collector but a dj. I map that to
title-genre-albumartist-artist
and accept minor issues.
I guess my question in general is... does projecting information really enhance the experience of the dance at all or is it just an intellectual distraction? Everything one needs to dance the music, after all, is right there in the music itself - I don't need to know that an unfamiliar song was recorded by some guy called Firpo in 2012.
I think you're looking at the glass-half-empty scenario. If you know some of the orchestras, then it tells you something before the music starts, or tells you that one of the 'popular' pieces you like is about to be played, or that it's that awful, obscure, scratchy recording that would otherwise be in the bargain bin and now's a good time for a break. And if it is awful, and you didn't know, you have some detail and can avoid it in future.
Sure, it's all in the music, and in its heyday dancers would have been more familiar with what was likely to be played. Maybe you like the song about the guy whose wife has walked out after he got drunk and lost their money on the horses, and he's now left to look after the screaming kids? Or you avoid it.
On the glass-half-full, it does educate about what you like, or hate. I don't have to think who's playing. And if you like it, then it can enhance the dance experience.
I don't really care whether it's written down (I've been given a spreadsheet printout in the past), or on cards, or on a separate screen, or the laser-display board, or a hologram of the details hanging over the ronda; it just shows someone considered the music.
ArbeeNYC
Forum Master
No, maybe, but it helps to know the orchestra and the period. Even better if you know it without needing visual feedback.
ArbeeNYC
Forum Master
Listen and dance long enough and you'll get better at it. I can't identify an awful lot of tangos but I can certainly identify more than I could when I first started out.
JournalInTime
Forum Master
While I use the cabeceo, I agree with the sentiment that knowing what's coming up in 30 seconds helps me choose a partner.
I rarely travel, so 95% of my dancing is with locals . . . but I live in a big city with a lot of locals. Therefore, I have specific partners I like for specific types of music; e.g., I find it more fun to dance energetic D'Arienzo with the playful, energetic, rhythmic partners, and dramatic Pugliese with those with the athleticism to hold a highly dissociated position throughout long lyric passages. I'm also positive that those who know me prefer to dance or not dance with me based on how I dance. Everybody wins.
It's true that what precise recording with what particular soloist gets to be a bit too much information, but "What orquesta?" and "What piece?" are useful things to know. Still, the year is nice, too, since my tango preferences pretty much ramp up from a low in the 1920s to a high in the 1950s, so if it's something I don't recognize, I can at least figure out that something from 1923 is going to be a dump-a-dump march while something from 1953 may offer interesting melodies that are challenging and therefore fun to dance.
Well, that's the 'apprenticeship' method
Maybe you didn't check which orquestas were playing on the way in? Or you didn't ask the DJ what that tanda was?
Not every AT afficionado can, or wants, to study the history of the various orchestras, singers, groups, bands, recordings, etc., or listen to an AT music stream.
How about the idea of informing dancers what's going to be played beforehand? And do it in useful, unobtrusive, snippets before the tanda? Might even educate some dancers. Might even spark an interest in, say, d'Arienzo or Canaro (other orchestras are available). Maybe they seek out that music and even do some practice to it. Or tell the DJ that the awful digitisation, complete with scratches and poor dynamic range, of some obscure 1920's piece just wasn't danceable, but there's a later recording which is.
Ok i'm going to continue to play devil's advocate here
1) I don't think they should have to. That's the DJ's job.
2) I don't think we should make them feel like studying the history is something they "should" be doing. Tango is already more than academic enough.
3) The music recorded by any orchestra or band is generally very diverse and shouldn't all be danced the same way. Putting all di Sarli or Troilo or Pugliese in the same mental basket is not something I would like to encourage.
4) Musicality is about "I hear A. so I feel like doing B", and NOT the incorrect alternate version "I hear A, and I think that's orchestra X, Which I was told should be danced in style Y, so I will do B". i think explicitly presenting X helps to promote the wrong model.
1) I don't think they should have to. That's the DJ's job.
2) I don't think we should make them feel like studying the history is something they "should" be doing. Tango is already more than academic enough.
3) The music recorded by any orchestra or band is generally very diverse and shouldn't all be danced the same way. Putting all di Sarli or Troilo or Pugliese in the same mental basket is not something I would like to encourage.
4) Musicality is about "I hear A. so I feel like doing B", and NOT the incorrect alternate version "I hear A, and I think that's orchestra X, Which I was told should be danced in style Y, so I will do B". i think explicitly presenting X helps to promote the wrong model.
OK, you were objecting to being given the information. Back in the day of live orchestras, they'd typically get a 15-min slot (4 pieces). You knew what that orchestra played - then there was a break, the curtain (cortina) closed, people milled around and chose their partner for the next orchestra session. Maybe it was silent; maybe some other group got to play. Along came electrification, and 'DJs' - they followed the same format. Maybe the music was known; maybe it got announced (suspect the conductor announced something to give the orchestra a brief break). Somewhere in the 1960's (?) we got a strict rule of tanda followed by a brief cortina of other music. Would a DJ today announce what's coming next? Maybe it got announced on those radio shows after the 'cortina' advert. A new 'tradition' has evolved.
Not suggesting that. You learn the popular music you like through osmosis. How did you find out about that single, or that album for your victrola? But some people do make the effort. Why not just make that osmosis easier? Ignore announcements or other tanda information if you don't like it.
Well, that's how the DJ constructs that basket, the tanda. Someone put it as starter-main course-desert-coffee - but usually the same vintage. Other viewpoints are available.
So what's stopping you expressing how you interpret that? OK, the DJ may make a poor choice (let's hope not mixing milonga with tango in the same tanda).
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