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Posts: 134
Joined: Jul. 12 2003
From: Livermore, CA USA
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Escribano)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Simon
Random or regimented
I'd say as of lately, definitely random. Much depends on whether my arthritic left hand will allow me to . A hectic work and family schedule doesn't help either, now that our grand daughter is living with us. Certainly my heart's desire is to play as much as I can when I can. It's a major contrast from when I first started out playing guitar. I'd start as soon as I got home from school, well into the late night, and for a few minutes in the morning before the school bus stopped to pick us up. I drove my parents and siblings crazy I never really followed a regimen though. I just played because it was so much fun trying to copy our guitar heroes. When I started studying flamenco I did follow a somewhat strict practice regimen for a while, but up to the point that I was satisfied that I learned a technique well enough to apply it to music. Flamenco has definitely been the most interesting and challenging music I've ever played. Sorry if this was long winded, sometimes I can get carried away
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Escribano)
I use the "verguenza" method becaue it motivates me: if I play in public and fluff something or fail to catch a tone, such as the C-B7 change in Mirabras, I go home and practice until I eradicate the error.
I had a picado run in Alegrias which I could not play in public for a year after inventing it because I messed it up the first time and it was a year of playing it at home before I had the confidence to try again. At the moment I am working on changing some arpegio falsetas to alzapua because it sounds more flamenco and I want more variety, so I need to practice my alzapus technique.
I also need to play more por medio: a lot of people want to sing fandangos and solea por medio.
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Escribano)
I play between 3-8 hours, with the average probably falling closer to 4 or so. In the morning, after doing my Buddhist chanting (a kind of meditation), I go to the basement (my studio) and do an hour/hour half of exercises from Iznaola's path to virtuosity. After that, the routine is much less regimented. I try to get in 15-30 minutes of listening to flamenco CDs, a couple times of week I'll do pure training in rhythm and syncopation. I also have a group of pieces that I am learning, right now trying to put together a solo tarantas, working on some solea falsetas, some tangos falsetas, the classical pieces Capricho Arabe and Las Abejas.
Also, I have to maintain and improve my repertoire pieces, so I try to play some of them every day, especially if I'm not gigging very much.
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Miguel de Maria)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Miguel de Maria I play between 3-8 hours, with the average probably falling closer to 4 or so. In the morning, after doing my Buddhist chanting
Eight hours practice & Buddhist chanting every day? Mike you have far too much time on your hands, you and your wife need to start a family immediately.
..then you'll be lucky to get eight minutes of practice in
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Escribano)
Kim's recently taken up beading, making prayer beads and selling them. While she works on this hobby I get to practice, which gives me ample opportunity to bulk up the hours. I'll practice as much as I can while the getting is good!
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Miguel de Maria)
I try to play maybe 4-8 hrs a day. But let me tell you. There´s a big difference between playing and practicing. sometimes i just play. improvise try to find new falsetas to work on. or just try to organise my old once into a pice of music. I belive i play more than practince....even though i do a lot of each one. (paractice/play)
Henrik (i was drunk when i wrote this so maybe im a bit off ..)
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to duende)
Hola
i PRACTISE for about 3-5 hours a day but more if possible.
And PLAY for much less mabye an hour or so. basically because i think its more important to have tequnique than to play full pieces like entre dos aguas.
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Escribano)
mmmm this is a good question,
When i was younger and had the fever, I would wake up and practice scales and arpeggieos and rasguados...have a coffee a fag and then work on my pracite plan! Lol yes I had a practices shcedule all worked out for the week..i had to to make sure I didn't waste time. two 45 minutes slots to knew pieces and then 15 mins to work on older pieces that needed polishing.....
Juan Martin told me the best time to compose is at nigh when everyone is alseep and it is quiet..and I have spent many a night playing quietly till the early hours.
I then met another flamenco guitarist and he taught me to improvise whilst performing!!!lol yep improvising..and I tell you what you can play all night with another guitarist improvising and make it as hard or as easy as you want. And we had good gigs, he opened my eyes to composing music on the spot. (it was more of a latin rumba with impro on top)
But then after a few years of that..and i had a repertoire under my belt i would work on one piece per week and the rest of the time just play..and make up stuff for the next gig...until sponylosis struck and my hands decided to have a mind of their own ..and since then I play as much as I can when I can. Work demands that I keep in good form and hence the guitar playing as gone on the side..but I still play and practice, but not as regular as when i was younger and more able.....
Good posture, relaxed muscles are essential in flamenco otherwise you will end up like me a mess...I have muscles that go into spasm if I play too much..and the pain is intense, so much so that it can take hold for up to 7 hours, and during that time I have to lie totally still.......Time and practice are not always the answer.. it has to do with posture! Keep you posture good, and if it hurts for Gods sake stop and have a rest, I would push myself beyond the barriers of pain, to good effect, but I pay for it now!!!
Does paco de lucia suffer? I have heard he has a bad back from playing is this true?
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Escribano)
Hey Grant,
You must have a big house with your own studio ;>) I too play late at night. Its great and relaxing. Unfortunately, I have no room for me to let the guitar sing, so I sit in the living room and use a piece of foam by the bridge and/or frets. It works as far as letting me practice without keeping the family up, or hearing doors slamming Bad side to it is that during the weekend, when I get a chance to play, I find that I'm making all kinds of mistakes or buzzes. Good thing I don't do it for a living, but just for the love of it.
After reading your post I do think I will change something. I'll start using a chair to sit on and have good posture instead of the couch. I'm an old man, and I can already feel it on my back.
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Escribano)
I do some 2 hours or a little less of playing/practicing a day. I always try to play a little bit in the morning. Half an hour or a bit more, and then later on in the evening I play between 1 hour 1 1/2. My problem is that in the evening my fingers/hands are tired because of my work (building guitars) and so it's sometimes a bit limited what I'm capable of doing. But that's very much OK. I've played music for more than 30 years and I'm not going to be professional, because I dont want to (i've been there, didn't like it) So I try to let the fun/relaxing part be the most important. But sometimes, I'm like Sean. If something doesn't work, then I work it. Because it's a NO FUN to stick with something that doesn't work. I was a classical trained violinist playing 4+ hours a day, so I know everything about discipline and how to practice. But sometimes I just pour a big glass of redwine and let the playing go wherever it feels like, or I might watch the football game saturday night with the volume low and do some rasgueados or picado exercises. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLL and you wake up and watch a replay.
Posts: 2008
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Escribano)
I practice when I want to or when I have to. I have a solo gig this fri and it's three sets. Usually i can fake a solo gig by just playing solea, bulerias, tango, tientos, alegrias, siq, and a few others, but for this one i'm dusting off some older stuff like mosaico gitano from Nino Ricardo, some sevillanas I used to know, and some old malaguenas. That way I'll feel like I have enough music for the gig. I also practice to try to clean stuff up, but the sad truth is that rarely works. Picado is the hardest for me, and I've got ones I've known for years that I'll probably never pull off in public.
Posts: 6447
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: How often do you practise? I nee... (in reply to mentrida)
Umm, looking at the choices of my original poll I must have been drunk when I posted it.
I have tailed off playing a lot with all the work going on at the moment; holding down two jobs and two mortgages to get the house in Granada fixed up.
I have a sketchy plan for a kind of ashram/temple/terrace/poop deck on the roof of the house, with golden Moorish arches, shaded by perfumed sail-cloths; soundproofed and air-conditioned for the evenings.
To quote Plutarch writing on Cleopatra's barge (as my inspiration)...
quote:
the poop whereof was of gold, the sails of purple, and the oars of silver, which kept stroke in rowing after the sound of the music of flutes, howboys [oboes], cithernes [guitars], viols, and such other instruments as they played upon in the barge.
Then I can practise whenever I like without bugging los vecinos.
Sounds great, but now I have to find the money. Maybe Miguel De Maria can write me a special mantra?
RE: How often do you practise? I nee... (in reply to Escribano)
quote:
I have a sketchy plan for a kind of ashram/temple/terrace/poop deck on the roof of the house, with golden Moorish arches, shaded by perfumed sail-cloths; soundproofed and air-conditioned for the evenings.
I'd have a hard job getting Planning Permission for that where I live!
(Jim's an Architect, so maybe he'll give you some discount on a good design...)
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Escribano)
I got a little disenchanted with the Buddhist sect here in Phoenix... in time I may investigate some other ones. It's a sad thing, because you are not satisfied with a lot of mainstream philosophies and religions, but then you go to the more exotic ones and find a lot of weirdos there. By weirdos, I mean castoffs and social misfits and not a lot of excellence. I like people who are accomplished in some way and I just don't identify with people who have nothing to offer other than irrational belief in a non-Christian religion! So no mantra...
You may want to try yoga to calm the mind, though. I have been doing that for awhile and I like it. Actually good for fitness of mind and body.
Lately my practices have been very sporadic. When you are gigging four days a week, sometimes you don't practice. Have to save the hands and they get sore. Also there are errands to run and so forth. And I work on my singing now, scales and exercises and learning songs, so less time for the guitar.
I'm with Mark on picado. Picado is a bastard! But I will conquer it...
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Miguel de Maria)
quote:
You may want to try yoga to calm the mind
Mike, I thought it was yoghurt! Damn.... that's where I've been going wrong all these years.
By the way, a great training for Flamenco singing is to work as a Glasgow coalman (carbonero) for a few months. (Mind you, I doubt if there are many left now.) These guys had great projection, and facility with articulation as I'm sure Jim will tell you.
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Escribano)
I have been practicing singing every day for about 45 min. I got a book called "Set Your Voice Free" by Roger Love (vocal coach to the stars!!). It's cheesy... but effective, and includes a CD with vocal exercises to sing along with. Quite easy to do, just singing along with the scales and such. It seems that proper breathing is quite key to singing well. Now I have trained with an opera singer as well, and he certainly had a different approach. The main problem I had is, his high notes sounded very light and delicate, and you know even in flamenco the high notes are fairly powerful. So that seemed a bit of a problem. But the main difference, apparently, is placement, or I guess where you choose to have your voice reverbate the most.
So I guess flamenco singing isn't necessarily different from "normal" technique, there is just a twist here or there. Also, the raspy sound, you get that sound when you let too much air get through, like if you have excess phlegm or nodes on your cords. Smoking can cause this too. Apparently this is something that can be developed, because Pepe de Lucia got a good rajo going, eventually. Although in Spain a lot of people talk with a rasp naturally.
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to mentrida)
No unfortunatly I have my own house and a little room with computers, guitars, keyboards, stereo, multi track all set up, and when night time comes i keep quiet as I have a hyperactive step daughter! LOL, and believe me you would not want to wake her up! LOL..when I used to live in the country side is when I did my night playing, but it is also a great skill to play flamenco quietly..it gives it more dynamics that can be used in solo performance..so many people play loud and hard all the time...and there is nothing more to give...but if you can play quietly you have more room for building a climax, lol, or crescendo...
Free course on cante flamenco. I haven't checked it out myself (guitar is enough for me) but it sounds interesting. It is in spanish though. Hope that's not a problem.
Posts: 1827
Joined: Jul. 8 2003
From: Living in Granada, Andalucía
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Miguel de Maria)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Miguel de Maria
You may want to try yoga to calm the mind, though. I have been doing that for awhile and I like it. Actually good for fitness of mind and body.
I just got a 'google alert' about a yoga teacher. What do you think ? I laughed my head off.
"Yomenco for Desperate Housewives: Yomenco Combines Yoga and flamenco-- Yoga Master Bruce Van Horn has produced a combination of Yoga movements and breathing exercises with Flamenco dance rhythms to create an ... "
Posts: 1827
Joined: Jul. 8 2003
From: Living in Granada, Andalucía
RE: How often do you practise? (in reply to Escribano)
Hi Simon,
Are you talking about the Tibetan Budhist Monastry in Bubion ? I've never been there but the articles I have read about the young andalucian boy who was the reincarnated Lama Tenzin Osel are absolutely fascinating.
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. A hectic work and family schedule doesn't help either, now that our grand daughter is living with us. Certainly my heart's desire is to play as much as I can when I can. It's a major contrast from when I first started out playing guitar. I'd start as soon as I got home from school, well into the late night, and for a few minutes in the morning before the school bus stopped to pick us up. I drove my parents and siblings crazy 
I never really followed a regimen though. I just played because it was so much fun trying to copy our guitar heroes. When I started studying flamenco I did follow a somewhat strict practice regimen for a while, but up to the point that I was satisfied that I learned a technique well enough to apply it to music. Flamenco has definitely been the most interesting and challenging music I've ever played. Sorry if this was long winded, sometimes I can get carried away 
Regards 
..and since then I play as much as I can when I can. Work demands that I keep in good form and hence the guitar playing as gone on the side..but I still play and practice, but not as regular as when i was younger and more able..... 
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