The upbeat is a widespread phenomenon in music. For us conductors, it has a particularly great significance, because there are different kinds of upbeats.

With the Tango, I finish together with Adrian, the Music Theory MentOWL, the mini article series on dance music. The Tango stands for Latin American temperament and is also becoming increasingly popular in Europe. What elements make up a tango?

You know the waltz - of course. Probably you were even tormented with it in dance school. What is often forgotten: not all waltzes are the same. This dance is characterized by an extraordinary richness of facets. Adrian and I will give you an insight.

After our time travel to 17th century France, we now make a trip to Hungary. We dance Csárdás! You don’t know Csárdás? You have certainly heard this dance before – perhaps unconsciously.

A time machine hurls you into the year 1665 and you end up in the ballroom of the Palace of Versailles in Paris. The 27-year-old, luxurious Louis XIV is King of France. However, you only have a brief opportunity to admire the young monarch in his elegant and sinfully expensive fur coat, because at this moment the royal court orchestra starts playing.

You will see two score examples. Both are four bars long. Answer without thinking too much about it: Which one is shorter?

Maybe you know this: When you wake up, a sequence of tones buzzes around in your head. What do you do with it now? One possibility: create different pieces of music with one and the same tone sequence – by using different time signatures.

Family celebrations are an exciting thing. If there are small children in your family, you know that singing the theme tunes of current children's series is always highly appreciated. Wouldn't it be practical if you could spontaneously sit down at the piano to accompany a song? Together with Adrian, the Music Theory MentOWL, I'll show you how to do it.

Imagine you're Beethoven. You must captivate your audience with your melodies. How do you do that? Fortunately, you have a toolbox full of compositional tricks at your disposal. One of them is syncopation.