Jumping in

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Jumping in

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flyeogh

Posts: 729
Joined: Oct. 13 2004

Jumping in

Although I have never met the guy face to face I have been in communication with Tomas Jimenez for over a year. He’s a flamenco now based in London. I’m going to his course “Accompany flamenco dance” at the Latin Quarter in central London. Four sessions each Saturday in March. Although I doubt my ability is up to it I thought if I don’t jump in I could be dead before I get there

. First anyone going?

Second he says he will use Alegrias as a base and for those with limited experience – talent – ability – (all applies to me) he will use mainly chords like E M , B 7 , A M.

So any suggestions as to some practice exercises? All my stuff seems falseta based. And any experience of non-experts visiting such sessions? Any encouragement, hints, prays or whatever welcome.
Info at www.flamencotomas.com in the section Diary.

I'll let you know if I survive

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nigel (el raton de Watford - now Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 18 2006 20:34:30

Mark2

Posts: 1872
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco

RE: Jumping in (in reply to flyeogh)

practice playing compas with a metronome, changing chords on the 10 and/or the 3......
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
E.......................E
E.......................B7
B7.....................E
E.......................B7 etc.

that's the basic accompaniment for the letra. When the dance is happening it's more like:

E...B7.................E

that will get you started, but, it's just the absolute basics-I'm sure he'll give you more than that, but if you knew it already, you wouldn't go! also listen to recorded alegrias with cante, or cante and baile.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 18 2006 21:43:54

flyeogh

Posts: 729
Joined: Oct. 13 2004

RE: Jumping in (in reply to Mark2)

Thanks Mark. So now I'm pumping the i down and up. I'm bashing the strings harder on the down for the stressed 3,6,8 and 10. Yes it could be a golpe but for me that is a little way off

As I understand Alegrias the 12 does not need to be stressed.

So what speed do I need to do this smoothly? Unfortunately I don't have a video of an Alegrias dance. Any thoughts welcome - now back to pumping that i

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nigel (el raton de Watford - now Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 19 2006 9:44:17

Gecko

Posts: 218
Joined: Jan. 2 2006
From: New Mexico

RE: Jumping in (in reply to flyeogh)

Don't know if this will help, but here are a couple of Alegrias with cante, in MP3.

Alegrias

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 20 2006 12:01:00

flyeogh

Posts: 729
Joined: Oct. 13 2004

RE: Jumping in (in reply to Gecko)

Gecko thanks. I make the second one, which I like a lot, about 140 beats per minute. Now would baile be the same, or perhaps faster, in general? I guess this 140 sounds good to me for baile as well so that is what I will go for.

I guess we hear a lot about Pdl and friends cracking it out at 200 bpm; but of course dancers are human - as opposed to Pdl and friends

_____________________________

nigel (el raton de Watford - now Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 20 2006 12:27:12

flyeogh

Posts: 729
Joined: Oct. 13 2004

RE: Jumping in (in reply to flyeogh)

Update on first session “Flamenco guitar accompaniment”

Well the day started well. I saw the baggage handlers at Luton handling my Anders with due care. I arrived in London 2 hours early. The dance studio (Latin Quarter) looked after my dirty socks (been working in Scotland last week) and my guitar. Then I saw the second half of Chelsea vs WBA on an enormous plasma in the pub while taking a burger and a little dutch courage - never been to anything like this before

. Convenient having such a pub next to the dance studio.

Down in the basement of the dance studio I met Tomas (Jimenez) and Marie Jose. Ian was the only other student. Professional classical player with years of experience. So chalk and cheese took our seats and tuned up and we were off. Now I won’t bore you all with the details but:

The session was relaxed and informal.
It was all Alegrias
I just strummed a few E, B7, A (*) occasionally in the right order – listened and learnt.
Tomas and Maria Jose went through the: pasear, cierre, llamada, marcaje, pasolento, escobilla, castellana .. Hope that’s right but I recorded a video so not to worry.
Great interaction, some laughs, really enjoyable.

Now for beginners like me it was great. The structure explained with a real live dancer made sense of all that stuff I had read and seen and heard. We didn’t have a singer but Tomas even had a crack at that to help explain the relationships and interactions. It all sort of comes together.

The hour just flew by. Afterwards we took some notes. Although my playing is not up to the necessary standard to accompany any dancer (gracias to Maria Jose for suffering so – she must have the patience of a god) you learn so much I just can’t wait for next week.

So if you’re a beginner like me I recommend you “just jump in”. This course by Tomas is for four weeks but you can just drop by for one, pay a tenner, and enjoy.

More next week perhaps with a little video