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kinda sh*tting myself...
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at_leo_87
Posts: 3055
Joined: Aug. 30 2008
From: Boston, MA, U.S.A
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 RE: kinda sh*tting myself... (in reply to HolyEvil)
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here's how i think of it. fear is a highly illogical response to playing in front of people. fear is there to help you run away from or to fight off predators. are you doing either of those? what are you actually scared of? are you in mortal danger? fear will actually hinder you rather than help you. so make a CHOICE not to be scared. choose to be excited and curious instead.
and if you think about it, the girls are going to be the ones that are self conscious. they're the ones up there dancing and you're watching. you have the easy job!
it's really no big deal. soon you're going to be saying to your teacher, "hey man, get out of the way, let ME handle this!!!"
always watch what they're doing. like florian said, pay attention when the teacher break things down. because that's what you're going to accompany next. figure out cool rhythms to support or contrast.
if you don't do this already, practice with a metronome at home. a lot of people speed up during the 6, 8, 10 or whenever they do a rasgueado. tap your foot in class, if you need to. if it's audible, it helps the dancers too. actually, sometimes i catch the beginners cheating when they're practicing palmas. they listen to my foot instead of my guitar, then when i stop the foot, they get lost. lol.
no need to **** yourself! have fun!
oh and be professional. show up on time, have your guitar tuned up and ready to go, your nails already filed, wear clean underwear, etc.
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Date Mar. 15 2010 22:20:21
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Stu
Posts: 2549
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England
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RE: kinda sh*tting myself... (in reply to Arash)
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This is a great chance!! I think its natural to be a little nervous..its helpful too.
After playing for about 7 years, I've only started accompanying recently (done about 6 classes) but I must say its fantastic.. the benefits are instantly evident.
I've messed up loads of times musically and a couple of times I've completely ****ed the compas and no one has shouted at me yet.. the dance teacher is extremely understanding and we have a little laugh when the errors happen.
All I've played so far is
Improvised Solea for warm up
Farruca, Sevillanas, Rumba (for castanet work) and some simple bulerias rythms....(havent played the whole Alegrias yet cos I always forget parts!) I'd even go so far as to say, its slightly boring at times.
All the stuff I've played, I pretty much learnt in the first year of study from beginners books, (and thats all they want) although I wouldn't have been able to play it as confidently as now..
I'd just be honest with the teacher and yourself, play what you can, simple stuff without too much fancy bizniz thats gonna screw you up..... and you'll probably play stuff at slow/middling speeds as the dancers are learning too remember.......
ahah listen to me....and here I was only a few months ago asking the same questions as you... I guess its testament to what these dance classes mean to me and how they've built my confidence.
Once you get through the first twenty mins of the class you'll be fine...you'll be the man!
Starting to play for dance is the one of the best decisions I've made in a long time, I finally feel like all the hours of hard work are for something...I'm learning and improving constantly. I leave that class with a massive grin across my cakehole every week and you will too!...unless the teacher shouts at ya 
Stu
ps. I hope there some helpful stuff in there and I havent just spoken about myself 
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Date Mar. 16 2010 4:15:48
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Adam
Posts: 1156
Joined: Dec. 6 2006
From: Hamilton, ON
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RE: kinda sh*tting myself... (in reply to HolyEvil)
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I started playing for dancers last fall and had a lot of the same worries. My compás is terrible, and I'm generally petrified playing for other people. Major perfectionist Playing for dancers has been really fun and actually helped with those issues. Dancers are totally non-judgemental and generally just happy to have live music instead of playing to a recording. And culturally I've noticed that while we can be really picky with falsetas and chord choice and all that, dancers are way more interested in the dancing than in the guitar/cante - and especially outside of Spain a lot of them are not really aficionaos but are just doing flamenco because they think it's fun and exotic - so they'll really have no clue whether what you're playing is ultra-advanced or the most basic por arriba progression.
As for the compás, let's face it, most of these dancers (unless you're in a super-advanced class) are way less familiar with the compás than you are, so the teacher will be doing very simple palmas - strong downbeats, no contratiempos - so it'll be ultra-easy to follow. Start off playing the most basic chord progressions for whatever palo you're in, get the compás down and in sync with the dancers, then maybe try some more complicated chord changes or little falsetitas or whatever, just to shake things up. You'll find that you've been playing things which may have been slightly out of compás, or some chord change somewhere was trickier than you thought, and it ends up being a very useful learning experience.
Good luck!
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Date Mar. 24 2010 10:34:35
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gato
Posts: 322
Joined: Jun. 9 2007
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RE: kinda sh*tting myself... (in reply to HolyEvil)
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Enjoy yourself, because it's your time to learn too, so let your teacher be there to teach you, and he will impart things to you, that's why he's going to be there with you, to teach you also.
You know enough already and you must trust his judgement in putting you in that situation, you're his student, so be a student and don't expect to have it right the whole time or anything at all, and follow his lead. I think that is why this is happening, because he needs you there to learn from him.
Be humble and let your teacher impart to you, and don't you think at all that you have to be an experianced player, the dancers will be aware that you too are a student. Think about it, vanity does not learn, it's a kind of awareness and openness to learn that you must impart, and you must be willing to be wrong sometimes or in need of slight correction.
So remember your place, and do try to compliment the dancers with your music and most of all, be paitent with them. Their very presence will be teaching you quite a lot.
And most of all, keep trying your best but don't impersonate an experianced player, because that is where all of the problems will result in a situation such as this. You have this chance, and there will be others if you don't discourage yourself with false hopes that will blot the learning experiance, the reason you will be there.
You are there to learn so learn something and maybe someday you will take your experiance and teach someone else who needs to know; the point is you have to try and learn something first, and then go and put it to practice and to good use when you are done with this phase in your development. I think you will do just fine so have at it! Don't worry about it, students do well who remember always first of all they are students and take it as it comes.
Gary
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The Life Everlasting/Oswald Utopia
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Date Mar. 24 2010 21:19:39
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(thats what i did anyway, no need to waste time imo) 
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