Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
3 or 4 equal copolas (depends on what is set) in 3's like fandangos de huelva but insted of the basic rythm beeing built around 4 chords like fdh, its built around 2 typically. to simplifie.. once you know the structure of 1 copola u know the structure of all of them , just the melody and keys differ.
theres not that much to know , its a set structure so all copolas are the same length.
1 typical seviallianas for dances would be aprox like this...
3 cycles of rythm---- salida (short litlle introduction)--- (melody) and it comes to a brief complete stop-------- and u do this same thing 4 times
for the exact length of everything listen to as many sevillanas as you can get your hands on so u can see the similarities.
I count it.. 123 456 123 456 etc.. hope this helps
Hey Jim This took me ages to figure out and even longer to feel it so that you dont have to count. My method was the "sitting in a spanish bar" school of Sevilaana until i got it. It is similar to fandangos but has a very strict structure. The spanish manage make it easy by doing it every other day from childhood until they dont have to think about it. We payos have to do it the hard way by learning the structure and memorising it. I am sure you will get lots of different methods and advice on this forum but the way i think of it is in groups of sixes. (otherwise i lose count) The song starts with a rhythmical introduction 5,6, 1,2,3,4,5,6, 1,2,3,4,5,6, 1,2,3,4,5,6, 1,2,3,4,5. The number of groups of six in the middle will vary and sometimes in live/bar situation you have to wait for the dancers to get ready, or the singer to remember the copla but the basic rule is you start on 5,6 and in the last group of six you end on the 5th beat. Next comes the salida, a brief melody (usually over 3 compas) 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 ,1,2,3,4,5. Again this can be longer but usually it goes straight to the melody which is 6 groups of 6 beats with the last group ending on the 5th beat...then 6 groups of 6 beats with the last group ending on the 5th beat... then 5 groups of 6 beats with the last group ending on the 4th beat.
Dont ask why, there is no why..it just is!
This would go 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5. 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5. 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6 1,2,3,4.
Then you back to the rythmic introduction and this pattern repeats 4 times to make one sevillana.
Normally the singers sing each whole sevillana in the same key and guitar solos make each copla a different key but the structure is always the same.
Wow Jason that is so funky! I had to say, although I enjoy dancing Sevillanas cos it's great to dance with someone else, I don't usually choose to listen to them. Some are a bit 'folky', and while there's nothing wrong with that, it's not really my taste. But that one was great - listened to it three times already!
Thanks everyone for your help. I've got problems with numbers and get lost with long sequences. It's got to click inside first and once it's in there it's generally no problem. I think this is why I have always steered away from Sev but now I've got to learn it.
Wow Jason that is so funky! I had to say, although I enjoy dancing Sevillanas cos it's great to dance with someone else, I don't usually choose to listen to them. Some are a bit 'folky', and while there's nothing wrong with that, it's not really my taste. But that one was great - listened to it three times already!
Thanks Alisa. I composed that for a student one day in a private class and never forgot it.
I think one thing to consider in Sevillanas is the length of the phrases. The salida melody is 9 beats long (usually) and then you have a rhythmic 9 beats in response. After that a 6 beat melodic phrase, another 6 beat melodic phrase and then another followed by often the same 9 beat melodic phrase as the salida (but it could be different) and then the 9 beat rhythmic response again (sort of a llamada). Repeat from the 6 beat melodic phrases through the 9 beat rhythmic response and then repeat again from the 6 beat melodic phrases through the 9 beat melodic phrase and hit the tonic chord on the down beat that follows.
It is a bit complex for a simple folk dance huh? People think these are so simple, but in fact Sevillanas musically are pretty rhythmically sophisticated as far as folk dances go.
Here is another way of thinking about it....
start to play compas for sevillanas. 6beats,6beats,6beats,6beats........(repeat until dancer have found partners and everyone looks ready to dance) then.......
It is a bit complex for a simple folk dance huh? People think these are so simple, but in fact Sevillanas musically are pretty rhythmically sophisticated as far as folk dances go.
Yup fair point - I shouldn't be so judgemental about other people's music!
Printable Version
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread