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Posts: 223
Joined: Mar. 17 2015
From: Virginia USA
What to expect and how to prepare?
I have registered for two weeks of guitar accompaniment for dance in Seville next month. What should I expect? Fun and frustration? What and how do I prepare for this workshop? Thanks.
RE: What to expect and how to prepare? (in reply to Goldwinghai)
Expect to be REALLY HOT! Lol Sevilla’s brutal that time of year. Other than that I’d say learn to identify dance llamadas, they all look fairly similar no matter the palo. A lot of arms and spinning :) Then make sure you have a basic llamada for all the big palos, that should help you a bit. Learn some basic letra stuff too if you have the time.
The other thing you should definitely do to get your head in the right place is read a few of those novels where a sensitive woman goes to Spain for dance lessons and gets involved with the guitar player. ;-)
Posts: 223
Joined: Mar. 17 2015
From: Virginia USA
RE: What to expect and how to prepare? (in reply to Goldwinghai)
After a couple of months of preparation and anticipation, I now had to scrap my guitar vacation. All flights, Airbnb reservations, guitar classes have to be cancelled. My father-in-law just passed away last night in his sleep. Sad time for our family. We were scheduled to leave tomorrow. Well, will go another time.
RE: What to expect and how to prepare? (in reply to Goldwinghai)
Condolences to you and your family, Goldwinghai.
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Posts: 223
Joined: Mar. 17 2015
From: Virginia USA
RE: What to expect and how to prepare? (in reply to Goldwinghai)
My guitar vacation is back on again, I’ll be in Seville the first two weeks of November. Instead of being a part of the workshops, I will be taking private classes with a guitarist and a dancer. I do not expect much, just want to have fun learning something new and get some exposure in guitar accompaniment for dance. I will let you know how it goes.
Posts: 223
Joined: Mar. 17 2015
From: Virginia USA
RE: What to expect and how to prepare? (in reply to Goldwinghai)
The following is the learning experience described by an aficionado, new and green in Flamenco.
The arrangements I made with the school was 90 minutes each day with a guitarist and a dancer joining us in the last 60 minutes of the session. I told the teachers that I like Alegrias, Farucca, Solea and Fandango. Bulerias is too fast for my fingers so I didn’t bother to mention it. They suggested that we do Alegrias for 2 weeks. Since I have only two weeks, we decided Alegrias week 1, Solea week 2.
Week one was just finished. The first 2 days we spent on strumming the alegrias compas with emphasis on playing in tempo. Occasionally a falseta was thrown in. I learned several variations of strumming the 12 beat compas, sometimes with silent, no strumming, on beats 4,5,6 followed by heavy rasgueado attack on beats 7,8 and 7,8,9. The dancer showed me the basic palmas and I followed with the guitar. She did 2 claps on beat 7, one on 8, 2 claps on 9.
Days 3,4: We continued.working on the opening or introduction to the dance, ti ti ti tran tran tran something like that. I started having a rough time on changing chords on the correct beat count, especially when the dancer counted 9, 10, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3... instead of 9,10, 11, twelve...When I played the falsetas from Nino Ricardo’s Chiclana a Cai, she danced fine without foot stomping but she emphasized that I should play in tempo.
Day 5: The guitarist sang, the dancer danced. All these “distractions”, singing, palmas, foot stomping, I was lost on the counts and chord changes very quickly although the guitar teacher was helping along.
Overall, I really enjoyed the learning experience and got a little flavor of what accompaniment is all about. The teachers were very patient and constantly encouraging. Now on my way to Granada. It’s cold. I see snow on the mountain.
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