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RE: Exercises to help internalize co... (in reply to Guest)
what about using the regular metronome but with some accents? for example Buleria .. an accent each 3 beat like : bom tak tak bom tak tak etc .. and then tap your foot along with the beats till you feel the falseta perfectly .. I think using this way frees you from relying on compas metronome sorry if you already know this method
RE: Exercises to help internalize co... (in reply to Guest)
Greetings, Rumbaking
It's taken me years and it still isn't perfect but if you 'play' your foot on the 1,2: 4,5:, 7,8: 10,11 it can help with integrating bulerias. I suspect there may be different schools of thought on the advisability of this, but I can say that it has helped me enormously. Good luck!
RE: Exercises to help internalize co... (in reply to Guest)
quote:
Are there some practical exercises that some of you have found that will help accomplish this?
Listen and play its that simple.
I never practiced palmes to learn compas, I never used compas tracks and it was not the singing which got me into compas.
I just listen very much and played for over a decade for a ton of dance classes. No exercises. Just listen + play. If you analyze and count too much your playing will sound sterile. Learn by feeling. And listen ...much. Not background music. Listen carefully. Over and over,...and over,.. and...oooover.... .. . . and -....over...
Posts: 1156
Joined: Dec. 6 2006
From: Hamilton, ON
RE: Exercises to help internalize co... (in reply to Guest)
Listen! A lot! And when you're listening, make sure you're understanding the compás. Clap along, tap along, whatever, as long as you're playing along somehow. And then practice with a metronome, or better yet with Doctor Compás.
RE: Exercises to help internalize co... (in reply to Guest)
Rumbaking - I'm away from HQ until the end of the week but when I get back I'll have an attempt at making a video or an audio recording. It's the kind of thing that if you see it or hear it clearly you'll get the concept straight away.
I'm a bit hesitant here as I fear I might complicate this for you but here goes; essentially, out of every three pulses in a 12-pulse cycle the foot plays two; foot, foot, three; foot foot six etc. Put on something like 'Cayos Reales' or one of those Jerez compilations of endless bulerias. See if you can hear the 'seven, eight'. Once you've got the 'seven, eight' try and get your foot to play along from there.
My experience would suggest that this foot thing is something really worth learning but, equally, there's a ton of merit in what others are saying, particularly about the amount of compas you expose yourself to and trying to play palmas.
Posts: 1827
Joined: Jul. 8 2003
From: Living in Granada, Andalucía
RE: Exercises to help internalize co... (in reply to Guest)
Here is a master class of Solea on youtube by my friend Pablo Maldonado.
He talks a lot in the beginning which is no use if you dont understand Spanish but at the end of the clip when he is showing the compas and the audience joins in it is very easy to get a grasp without understanding the language. if you can count you can follow this. By the third part he breaks down and demonstrates the singing and the compas.
Here is the second part
and third part
Hope this is useful. I personally wish he had done masterclasses of all the palos as I found this very helpful to get a grasp of solea.
Posts: 15725
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Exercises to help internalize co... (in reply to Guest)
quote:
Are there some practical exercises that some of you have found that will help accomplish this?
for flamenco, the thing that makes you internalize the compas is learning a strumming pattern, and repeating constantly. No counting, just keep the beat with a simple click metronome and foot as suggested. Can be any pattern so long as you know it is authentic and not something you just made up or a hack version. Then you add to it a variation, very minor perhaps just the end is different. And keep adding to that but always keep your base pattern to work from.
In flamenco guitar, every guitarist modern or old uses some sort of base pattern that never gets old. The reason for listening to cante for guitar students is to get the base patterns down, because from this the music is built upon.
Not simple accent pattern of beats with counts etc that a metronome can give you that you waste time chasing down with any notes you know. Not even a palmas pattern. You have to have a specific technique down for strumming....that is what compas is built from and how you internalize it.
For example here are some basic techniques that are authentic: