Proverbs - The Teacher

we are the main character but not the writer, be willing to listen and learn from God, and give him the greatest weight in the situation. You have access to wisdom if only you would ask.

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Latin American

With Latin American music, in particular Argentinian and it's roots in tango music, there seems to be a set structure of what makes Latin music distinctly Latin and a set list of instructions to writing a tango piece. While looking up key characteristics of Latin music, it wasn't long before I found several websites that gave pretty in depth guides to writing this particular style, but tango has such a distinct sound, even without the prior research I feel like writing a tango piece from scratch wouldn't have been impossible.

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Looking at the concept of tango both as a form of dance and a genre of music, it seems equally about leading and following, experimenting and following the flow within a set structure. Having researched a number of other cultural musical genres, I can say that this was by far the most structured and informed genre in terms of rules and guides, with two prominent rhythms that essentially make the genre, with people even going so far as to say "don’t worry about not being original, this is important in getting the tango sound". There is also emphasis on the fact that the melody should be the main part, with harmonies kept simple to contrast the intense complicatedness of the rhythm and melody, which often includes a lot of chromaticism, large leaps and runs. Tango music also sticks to a ternary form of either ABABC, ABCA or something similar with each part alternating between fast and slower paces. There is an emphasis on the use of i and V7 also, again being considered essential even if somewhat generic sounding.  Even the technique of the dance capitalises on the need for structure while still following the flow of the legs and body and of course the dance partner. As you are not dancing alone, while maintaining a 'abrazo' embrace as it is called and keeping with strict steps and movements, there is a need for the body to still have flexibility and flow to match the partner. In saying all this, there is a lot of flexibility and abstract sounds within the basic restraints of the genre. The melody itself can be quite free granted it sounds, well, there's really no specifics, in Latin American music there is strong use of chromatics and dissonance. 

 

In the book of Proverbs it follows the narration of a wise young teacher who speaks about taking a step back from life, loosening your grip on things and just trusting God because he is the writer of our story in which we are the main character, destined for a happy ending. I believe this is a beautiful example of how Tango should be viewed, with both structure and law which are meant to be followed but with a carefree and flexible melody and overall feel at the forefront of the piece, combining both staccato and legato. The book of the The Bible is what can be considered rules on life, a set of principals that set up and guide us through life as Christians, not just giving us rules and laws on what is right and wrong but leading us in a way that we find our own understand of right from wrong and encouraging us to live in freedom not in spite of those laws but because of those laws. Because we are not entirely in control of our life, because that order exist and we understand it, when we hear tango music we know what to expect and as a result we don't need a highly choreographed and rehearsed performance, we don't need to question whether what we as a composer have written, we can trust in the system and dance, play and live freely by just following what has been written, both in tango music and the Bible. 

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I think that the concept of Tango as a whole is the balance between form and freedom, and having the grace when performing or playing to keep everything sharp and structured. It is about respecting the traditional structure and form of the genre while still adding your own flare, learning to work with your dance partner and follow their steps rather than fighting against it. Someone that I have been largely inspired by in writing this piece is Astor Piazzolla, Argentinian Tango composer, arguably the best in his field. by stepping out and experimenting with the genre he has even managed to create an entire subgenre, Nuevo tango, added various instruments into the mix such as Saxaphone and Electric Guitar and brought a revival to the Tango genre.

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As expected, the instrumentation and actual composition of the piece has many features of traditional tango in it, the aforementioned ternary form, although I used an AABACB structure with slight variation to avoid large scale repetitiveness, and there is a large focus on i and V7 as that is a core element of what shapes Tango. Perhaps my one main major diversion from traditional tango is Part C where I have moved to A lydian mode, which I would say is not too big of a discrepancy given that the home key is A minor and quickly returns back. Both structurally and musically I was also a bit rebellious with the final bar, simply ending it in a major chord as opposed to continuing it and giving it a fully resolved conclusion, not necessarily because I just didn't know what to do(although that may have played a part) but because I felt like we needed to be reminded that music is supposed to be fun and unique, it doesn't have to be exactly how people want it and expect it. Throughout my musical career I feel like I've been constantly afraid to write because I don't know how to write for particular instruments or how to replicate the sounds and genres exactly, and I think this semester I finally realised that I don't have to to make good music, as long as I'm confident in what I am writing.

 

While researching Tango I found that there seemed to be a particular instrumentation that was favoured, always having a bandoneon and violin as the main base upon which the band was built. upon looking into bandoneon I have found that much of the way tango has evolved is due to the nature of it as a Free reed aerophone. These instruments produce sound by having air flow through them, however there is little to no control over which notes are getting priority and as a result heavy chords can drown out any tune or melody being played. To adapt, the Tango uses very short and sharp notes in the support and longer, more legato melodies to flow over that, particularly in the Bandoneon part. Unfortunately for my performance finding a Bandoneon player or even an Accordion player proved harder than I imagined, fortunately the Harmonium, also a free reed aerophone with the same limitations and feeling is an instrument I had available and can be easily played by a skilled Pianist, so for the live performance that will be used. When writing, I felt that the violin held too much of the melody for my liking, and I wanted to create a bit of interest by giving the bandoneon the melody in parts, for a small section in the repeat of A and in particular section C. Now section C is already quite a shift from what we've been hearing in the piece so I opted for a more progressive shift into the melody, with the Violin beginning with the melody over a simplified harmony, coming into full harmony with the bandoneon part and then falling back into a supporting sound. 

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