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Composing a Solea... any advice?   You are logged in as Guest
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gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

Composing a Solea... any advice? 
I composed a new serenade, my 8th . I am so pleased with it, as I have so much fun playing it.
But it is this “flamenco influenced music” that ain’t it really flamenco.

I want to compose a “Solea” which can authentically stand as such, true to its palo.

Would anyone be so patient as to set forth the rhythm I need to respect, and any other structural requirements I should follow?

From Norman’s site”
“Because of the irregular distribution of the accents we can interpret the twelve beats in different ways: a full set of twelve; two sets of three and three sets of two (3+3+2+2+2=12); or four sets of three (3+3+3+3=12), with the first two sets of three accented on the third beat (1, 2, *3*), the third set accented on the second beat (1, *2*, 3), and the fourth set accented on the first and third beat (*1*, 2, *3*). Look at the diagrams below:
One set of twelve beats:

Two sets of three beats and three sets of two beats (3+3+2+2+2=12):

Four sets of three beats (3+3+3+3=12):

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gj Michelob
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 26 2009 13:17:59
 
bursche

Posts: 1182
Joined: Jul. 19 2007
From: Frankfurt, Germany

RE: Composing a Solea... any advice? (in reply to gj Michelob) 
Do you already play Soleares by other composers?
I think you need quite a time of studying other compositions in order to get ideas for your own one. At least for me this is necessary

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 26 2009 14:06:59
 
Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: Composing a Solea... any advice? (in reply to gj Michelob) 
hmm...yeah bursche is right you have to listen, listen, and study. Not just Vicente or Tomatito either, go back to really old school stuff to learn where all of those new variations came from.
Start with a traditional falseta or chord progression, and make your own variation on it by applying different techniques, changing the timing, etc. From there your ear will suggest new places to go if you have listened to enough Flamenco. Just try to find the notes that seem natural. Or sometimes you may want to go somewhere that's unexpected.

The hard part is finding the notes that you hear in your head...for me anyway.

The compas of Solea is just the simple 3 6 8 10 12. Don't make it too fast.

Hope that helped

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Andy Culpepper, luthier
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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 26 2009 18:27:57
 
gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

RE: Composing a Solea... any advice? (in reply to bursche) 
quote:

you need quite a time of studying other compositions in order to get ideas for your own one.


Thank you Bursche and Deteresa1, I should be more humble or less ambitious in this approach. I will delay "composing" a piece. Starting from elementary falsetas, and perhaps inventing a bit as i go along, would appear to be the wiser course of action.

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gj Michelob
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 26 2009 19:18:20
 
srshea

Posts: 833
Joined: Oct. 29 2006
From: Olympia, WA in the Great Pacific Northwest

RE: Composing a Solea... any advice? (in reply to gj Michelob) 
gj,

Go back to Norman’s site and take a look through “Basic classic falsetas for arriba” page. Taking all those standard, basic building blocks and figuring out how to put them together and make them sound and feel right and flow from one to the other would be a great place to get started. Kinda making your own “arrangement” of all that really classic stuff……
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 26 2009 19:39:55
 
at_leo_87

Posts: 3055
Joined: Aug. 30 2008
From: Boston, MA, U.S.A

RE: Composing a Solea... any advice? (in reply to gj Michelob) 
here is something else that might help you.

line 1 is an intro
line 2 is a basic compas
line 3 is a falsetta

you can add a golpes on the accented beats (3,6,8,10,12).

a trait that helps me identify this palo immediately is the return to E and the remate, which you can see here in every line, beats 10 to 12. there's lots of variations of the remate and you can make up your own.

someone with more knowledge, please correct me if i'm wrong about this. you have a lot of freedom and can play around a lot as long as you stay in compas and eventually come back down to E.



how coincidental, as soon as i finished typing, a solea with duquende and tomatito started playing on my ipod.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jun. 26 2009 21:20:15
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