How To Write A Tango - Composer Focus.pdf

8/13/2019 How To Write A Tango - Composer Focus.pdf

1/18

19/01/14 16:58How To Write A Tango - Composer Focus

Page 1 sur 18http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/

Search...

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

ARTICLE CATEGORIES

Career

Composition

Interview

Music Theory

Production

Roundups

Your View

By Chris Mooney

In Composition

How To Write A TangoAs a serious dance form, it is epitomized by the dancers jerky

movements to the characteristic rhythms. When composing your

tango, remember that tangos are composed to be danced to, not just

listened to! The main musical features to work on when starting to

compose your first tango are the bass, melody and general rhythmic

feel. The easiest way to begin composing this type of music, is to

familiarize yourself with the style through listening, or better still

playing some tangos, and other Latin American music.

The Basics

The two main rhythms that characterize tango music are:

Composer Focus

772LikeLike

HOME ARTICLES + REVIEWS COURSES
http://www.facebook.com/composerfocushttp://www.facebook.com/composerfocushttp://www.facebook.com/composerfocushttp://composerfocus.com/http://composerfocus.com/http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/#http://composerfocus.com/reviews/http://composerfocus.com/courses/http://composerfocus.com/reviews/http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/#http://composerfocus.com/http://www.facebook.com/composerfocushttp://www.facebook.com/composerfocushttp://composerfocus.com/category/composition/http://composerfocus.com/author/chris-mooney/http://composerfocus.com/http://composerfocus.com/category/your-view/http://composerfocus.com/category/roundups/http://composerfocus.com/category/production/http://composerfocus.com/category/music-theory/http://composerfocus.com/category/interview/http://composerfocus.com/category/composition/http://composerfocus.com/category/career/


2/18



The first rhythm is taken from Cuba, and is called the Habanera. These rhythms are used as the basis

for both the bass line and the percussion parts. Make sure that when you compose your own music,

these rhythms feature heavily (dont worry about not being original, this is important in getting the

tango sound). Although there are many variations, these two are the main rhythmic cells. Remember,

tangos tend to be in either 4/4 or 2/4, and while there are some exceptions in other meters, this is

considerably less common and makes it much harder to produce convincing results.

You can begin to add your own personality and originality when creating your percussion parts; begin
http://composerfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/01.jpg


3/18



with one of these rhythmic cells as a basis. Once you have this simple starting point, begin to

intuitively add other notes until you have a fuller sounding percussion part. However, be careful not to

overcrowd the percussion part, as this may hide the tango pulse. Also, be careful not to add too many

short notes; try to make quaver notes (eighth-notes) the shortest notes that you use. Look at this

example to get an idea how to make a successful tango percussion part:


4/18



MelodyMost tangos begin in a minor key, reflecting the serious nature of the dance (indeed, most dancers

keep stern faces when dancing tangos). When starting out, the easiest key to use is the harmonic

minor, but all minor key variations are fine to use. Melodies also tend to use lots of chromatic notes, so

use these to fill in any gaps between tones in your melody. Rhythmically, melodies can move either


5/18



with your bass line, or they can play flowing straight notes to contrast the dotted rhythms in the other

instruments. Moving by step, or by leap is equally okay (as long as the melody works with the

harmony!) so as long as your melody sounds musical, its okay!

Bellow are a few examples of the type melodic ideas that work in tangos:


6/18



Harmony

Tangos use relatively simple harmony, which contrasts the more complicated rhythms and melodies.

The main chords used when the music is in the minor key are the chords i, iv, V7 and VI. In A minor

these chords would be A minor, D minor, E7 and F major. In most tangos, the harmony comes out

through the bass line, or a through a piano accompaniment.

Composing A Tango From Scratch

The first step to writing your first tango is sketching out a chord sequence and a bass part. To begin,

make an 8 bar chord sequence using only the four allowed chords. The most important two chords are

i and V7, so use these most of all!

Here are some examples of typical 8 bar chord sequences:

Example 1: Am |Am |E7 |E7 |E7 |E7 |Am |Am |


7/18



Example 2: Am |Dm |E7 |Am |Am |Dm |F |E7 |

To make your bass part, start by copying one of the tango rhythms into your bass line.

The first note of every bar should be the root of the harmony. So for an A minor chord, move first note

in the bar should be an A, and for and E7 chord the first note should be an E. The remaining notes can

be any pitched from any note in the chord. This includes the 7th if your using the V7 chord. Examples

of bass lines can be seen below.


8/18



Now, using your chord sequence and a bass pattern like the ones above, construct a skeleton score like

the one bellow:


9/18



Now that you have your skeleton score, begin to add a melody. You can try to add one of the melodies

you made earlier, or make a new one specifically to fit the harmony. Most melodies should work;

though make sure you have some consonant notes in every bar! If your melody doesnt seem to fit the

harmony, try checking whether you can fit more consonant notes into your melody. If you cant add any

more notes and the melody still doesnt fit, then you can add more chromatic scales to the melody tohelp mask this. As mentioned earlier, melodies in tangos tend to be chromatic. The melody doesnt

have to be too fancy however, just look at the example below made when using the skeleton score

above:


10/18




11/18



Once you have got a melody and harmony that works well together, repeat these steps to create

another 8 bars of music. Try to make these a bit different from the first bars, either by making the

rhythms more complex, or by making the melody more chromatic. If you arrange your music later on,

then arrange these bars differently to the first. An example of the sort of contrast you might want can

be seen below:


12/18



We now have two sections of music written, both of them in a minor key. Two thirds of your tango is

now composed.

For the final composed section of a tango, we need to modulate to the relative major. If you are using A

minor so far, then we now will move to C major. We can extend the chords we can use to make

harmony to I, ii, iii, IV, V7 and vi to help once again build our 8 bar skeleton score. As before, add a bass

part, and then a melody, aiming to make this section sound a bit di fferent from the other two.

Finishing Your Piece

Use your 8 bar sections, to form a structure akin to the one below:

Section A (8 Bars) -> Section B (8 Bars) -> Section C (8 Bars) -> Section A (8 Bars)

If you want to make the piece longer, you can repeat each section. You can also add an introduction or

a separate ending based upon the material youve created to make the piece even more musical.


13/18



Learn anything? Please share! 82

JaimeJaime

6

Want more like this?

We're working on new courses that will teach you a College level education for gym membership

prices. You interested?

Find Out More !

You Might Also Like

Add your percussion part you created at the very beginning, and if you want, you can also add your

own drum fills every four, eight or sixteen bars.

In essence, you now have successfully completed writing a tango. To develop your material further, you

may consider arranging the material for a different ensemble.

Another way of developing your piece is by adding a second (or even third) melody. You can use a

second melody antiphonally, as a call and response feature with your existing melody. If you have less

space for call and response type melodies, you can use harmonize the melody in thirds or sixths (but

be careful in the places you have use chromaticism!)

Congratulations on composing your first tango!
http://composerfocus.com/courses/http://twitter.com/search?q=http%3A%2F%2Fcomposerfocus.com%2Fhow-to-write-a-tango%2Fhttps://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fcomposerfocus.com%2Fhow-to-write-a-tango%2F&related=anywhereTheJavascriptAPI&text=How%20To%20Write%20A%20Tango%20-%20Composer%20Focus&tw_p=tweetbutton&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcomposerfocus.com%2Fhow-to-write-a-tango%2F&via=composerfocus


14/18



How to Write in the

Golden Age of

Hollywood Style

What James Horners

Score to Braveheart

Teaches Us About

Modulation

The Guitar as a Scoring

Instrument

The Art of MIDI

Orchestration (Part 2)

Reply

Reply

Comments

Joe

Posted 1 year ago

This page is awesome! Im an amateur composer and honestly this is amazing. Thank you

so much. The world needs more teachers like this

Colin

Posted 1 year ago

Thank you so much! I was familiar with the rhythmic aspect of tangos, since my band

teacher loves torturing me with them, but this really helped me clear up any problems I
http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/#comment-1507http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/#comment-1347http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/?replytocom=1507#respondhttp://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/?replytocom=1347#respondhttp://composerfocus.com/the-art-of-midi-orchestration-part-2/http://composerfocus.com/the-art-of-midi-orchestration-part-2/http://composerfocus.com/the-guitar-as-a-scoring-instrument/http://composerfocus.com/the-guitar-as-a-scoring-instrument/http://composerfocus.com/what-james-horners-score-to-braveheart-can-teach-us-about-modulation/http://composerfocus.com/what-james-horners-score-to-braveheart-can-teach-us-about-modulation/http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-in-the-golden-age-of-hollywood-style-part-1/http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-in-the-golden-age-of-hollywood-style-part-1/


15/18



Reply

Reply

Reply

had and showed me the tango chord structure, about which I knew very little.

Sune

Posted 1 year ago

What a fabulous way to spend a saturday evening. You just helped me grow, and thats

actually something Thank you very much for teaching me the tango!

Lulu

Posted 10 months ago

thanks so much i had to write a tango composition and this helped me so much oh it was

for school by the way

Leon

Posted 10 months ago

Thank you very, very much! I needed to give in my tango composition in the next day, but I

had realized that my piece hadnt saved from the week before! I qu ickly looked a few things

up, and your advice is amazing! Thank you very much! With your help I got the grade I

needed! Thank you again!

Leave a Comment
http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/#comment-5401http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/#comment-4562http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/#comment-1752http://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/?replytocom=5401#respondhttp://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/?replytocom=4562#respondhttp://composerfocus.com/how-to-write-a-tango/?replytocom=1752#respond


16/18



Awesome! You've decided to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that comments are moderated.

Your Name *

Your Email * (never published)

Website

Post Comment

Write For Us Privacy Policy Contact Us Copyright 2012, Composer Focus
http://composerfocus.com/contact/http://composerfocus.com/privacy-policy/http://composerfocus.com/write-for-us/


17/18




18/18



Documents

How To Write A Tango - Composer Focus.pdf