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I haven't been here for a few years, in fact I haven't played flamenco for just as long. Life has too many distractions. But I've never stopped listening to flamenco, or watching it on the Tube.
When I first got the taste for flamenco guitar, there only seemed to be Juan Martin's El Arte Flamenco. That wasn't really the case, but it was the only book I ever saw.
The next time I started into flamenco, the Graf-Martinez books were out, and Manuel Granados had a few books.
This time I looked at Storemusic (other stores available!) and found dozens of method books - almost too many. Just looking at the store descriptions, it's difficult to really get a sense of the musical language used by each author - traditional, modern, jazz-influenced, neo-traditional (I just made that one up, but it probably exists).
Maybe you can help me out? I don't speak Spanish, so books with English in them somewhere would help, but, depending on the book's content, that might not be necessary.
The authors I'm looking at are:
Jorge Berges Andrés Batista (lots of books) David Leiva Manuel Granados - many more books than I remember: Didactic Manual, Academic Treatise, Visual Method, etc. Oscar Herrero Juan Martin - many more books. Is he still mining the old school, traditional falsettos and compases? Claude Worms Oscar Herero AND Claude Worms together
Where would you place these guys on the line from Traditional to Very Modern?
Are there any particular books you would recommend? I'm not a complete beginner.
Thanks, Paul. Genuine spellchecker-bomb on the falsetas. I've now directed my computer to "Learn Spelling".
I have Koster's first book - awaiting the others to appear from Mel Bay, if ever. I have Juan Martin's El Arte, as well as the first book of studies. Haven't seen Juan Greco's book.
But this is my point - all these books have been around for years, decades even. Yet the website of Storemusic shows a few dozen more books than were available before. I was just wondering about their standard and style, and who used them.
Your kind of spot on. Between YouTube, website subscriptions, free websites, Skype, and more flamencos around the world to teach in person, books are not of the same value they once were. It's easier to learn flamenco than it's ever been in the past. Although nothing beats everything in person, nasty looks from dancers, wagging fingers from cantaores, that's really how you learn. Lol
Are there any particular books you would recommend? I'm not a complete beginner.
Manuel Granados has IMO the most thorough work on technique out there. Mainly in his "manuel didactico" (4 or 5 of them I think). He has put up quite a few exercices (and one of his book on theory) on his website that are downloadable free of charge: http://www.manuelgranados.net/estudios-descargas/ I don't know about the palos sections and pieces, never really made it to learning pieces from method books (at the exception of the Encuentro series). My loss I have no doubt.
The more stuck beginners have been sitting at home with their books since the start, the working pros never opened any book about flamenco guitar in most cases. I must admit I dont' see a whole lot of value except at the very initial stage, and even then there needs to be a teacher to guide toward improvisation/arranging and UTILIZING the material in functioning context. However, the academic side of me also simply enjoys "books" to some extent, about music.
I notice the other thread about methods throughout history and it seems you are focused about "Modern" flamenco here, or at least books from the modern era. Keep in mind there is not really, despite popular miss conceptions, a special method for modern style flamenco vs the old school. It's the same. What we have are the specific transcriptions which contain all the info needed. I prescribe to the work of Alain Faucher, new or old players, and the video/book series by Encuentro. Both of these approaches are "player specific", but at the high level that is what it comes down to. If I were to generalize about technique, the players in the series that are more similar to PDL/Sanlucar/ ie coming from Niño Ricardo school, I would stick guys like Nunez, Tomatito, M. Franco, Chicuelo, Riqueni, from the series Encuentro together. The other players tend to have a unique or personal take on techniques, though have equally advanced music:Moraito, Habichuela, Merengue de Cordoba, etc. Again these are generalizations. Nuñez is the unique teacher of the series that separated his own compositions, the modern style music, from what he considers the more traditional repertoire.
From there you have the score books of well known albums that can always be taken as a treatise or "method" of a particular style and it's time, not unlike the way Bach suites or Beethoven sonatas are used in classical music education world. I know what most students are looking for is "pieces of graduating difficulty" with flamenco guitar methods, but the world of flamenco as a discipline is not really so neatly packaged. IMO.
Fair enough, Ricardo. I get the point about player-centred books. I just like books, always have, but that doesn't mean I play like I've only learned from books. Far from it.
Rob, Dennis Koster's Volume 2 is available at Amazon. I'm in the US but I see it is also available in the UK. See link. If posting the Amazon link is not allowed, I apologize.
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