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RE: Ricardo Marlow Cory Whitehead Method (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Ricardo
Honestly sounds like you would prefer the newest one that is in the printers still. If you want to wait for that one I will let you know about it. The Formative works has many technique things I want everybody on board with, but of course the classical exercises might be extra fat you don't need.
I studied the pages of contents of the books on Mel Bay site. The classical pieces in the first books are all things I have. I have Sor/Coste’ method book and other anthologies of Carcassi / to Sor etc.
Interested in your works on how to fit together solos
Posts: 16192
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Ricardo Marlow Cory Whitehead Method (in reply to Arash)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Arash
quote:
ORIGINAL: Ricardo
Honestly sounds like you would prefer the newest one that is in the printers still. If you want to wait for that one I will let you know about it. The Formative works has many technique things I want everybody on board with, but of course the classical exercises might be extra fat you don't need.
can you tell a bit more about the new one? what is the difference to one I ordered ? also any chance of getting a signed copy of the new one or is that logistically too much of a hassle?
The difference of the 4 books.
book 1. Is very rudimentary stuff. For people learning classical guitar it is a great introduction to tip toe into the exotic world of flamenco, while not going off the path of normal classical pedagogy, reading first position, simple rhythms etc. He does have a nice peteneras with the cante melody, which is essential! (LOL).
book 2a-Formative works....is a supplement or transition or bridge to volume 2 which is considerably more advanced. What I did for this is create short examples that are very authentic for techniques of compas (R. for rasgueado), P (pulgar), A (arpegio), Pic (Picado), etc., with numbers that represent the level, 1-8, if we need that many levels (only rasgueado and pulgar I think), mostly palos that are por medio and por arriba. The idea is as you work the examples you can put them together on your own via palo so, slowly constructing solos out of it. That is 50% of the book. The first half is classical pedagogical reading of your typical open position etudes advancing up the neck or through different keys to get used to reading standard notation. I know that not having tablature is a turn-off to many, but I had to go along with it as this is geared for that unique curriculum that Juan Serrano began which requires overlap with typical academic classical note reading. It is just we needed authentic flamenco technique as well. So for most people I recommend this method.
Book 2(b)-this is the large method book that assumes you can read now and work at your own pace. 50% (or more perhaps) of this book is the classical repertoire of the 1800s that relates to the flamenco palos. Meaning Aguado fandango, Arcas Murciana, Malagueña, Tarrega, Seguidillas etc., all the classical "fakemenco" standards plus some interesting obscure ones (Damas for example I really like), all done by Corey. Then we take the exercises and examples from the formative works and essentially do the work for you of linking them all together into complete "pieces". This is mainly for the classical minded folks that are not capable of doing that on their own, or at least prefer a guide of how to do it. Honestly it was not easy for me to record those examples as I tend to improvise my own arrangements of those things, and had to learn the setting that Corey created of MY music. . Maybe the hardest thing I have ever done! But the music is essentially the same as formative works with additional short chord chart/patterns that outline where the cante MIGHT go in the middle of the arrangement. Again that is for people that don't have experience accompanying cante, and without the true cante there to follow, it is again just a basic guide ... it won't teach anybody how to do it. I also sort of improvise those sections imagining the singing in my head, so it was super tricky. I find the value of this volume 2 more about the classical repertoire overlap historically with Flamenco traditional forms. If you don't care at all about that, and can already link together the falsetas and compás phrases on your own, this volume might be redundant if you have the Formative works already (hence I am pushing Formative works more on the serious flamenco students). Vol 2. does become an important reference for vol. 3 however.
Book 3 (IN PUBLICATION)- I hoped it would be finished because I wanted a 2025 copyright. No news when it will get in the cue but they have it and reviewed it. This book is 100% flamenco, although in contrast to vol. 2 I am introducing some Renaissance and Baroque themes as falsetas in the palos to reveal a bit deeper connection to the flamenco and classical guitar connection/tradition. These are brand new compositions (21 in all), full solos, however, Corey might have arranged a couple ideas from Formative works here and there in his creations (making this entire book feel like "my baby" honestly). Each piece has a detailed analysis about what the inspiration is, what is the relevance to the traditional forms and history, specific ideas etc., it is very detailed. The music is pretty advanced for the most part. We get outside of the basic por medio and por arriba and do the other tonalities, Taranta, minera, Rondeña, etc. I finally show some Rumba, it basically covers the rest of the song forms you did not get in Formative works, while upgrading the standard stuff. I am quite proud of this one and anxious for it to get out. I have included many footnotes in the analysis with historical info related to my research. Many of the solos have instrumental arrangements of cante melody as well, rather than only chordal accompaniment sections we had in volume 2, so you get to engage with actual sung melody and its harmony. (In particular fandango de gloria, Malagueña of M. Torre, Minera of Morato, Soleá....), I think if students learn to play a few cantes on the fingerboard the ear opens up to the actual singing in a big way. The main purpose of the book is to reveal arrangement, pure creation, adaptation, etc., from sources like cante, baile, standard maestro influences, and even outside influences, while maintaining authenticity. My 10 audio tracks constitute my "new album" you get for free, and Corey's 11 tracks, while paying only for the score, is how I view this project honestly, with massive historical liner notes (how I miss those from when we had records and CDs).
In terms of signed copies, I have to pay a discounted fee for those from Mel Bay (they only give 4 free copies to authors), so doing that and shipping it out of USA might push the price up a bit. The size is about 200 pages so similar price as the Vol 2. I will let people know how many I end up buying and how much I need to charge for signed copy/shipping etc.
RE: Ricardo Marlow Cory Whitehead Method (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
I think if students learn to play a few cantes on the fingerboard the ear opens up to the actual singing in a big way.
This is my experience. And the more I understand what they're doing the more beautiful and awesome it is to me.
I read someone suggesting that because guitarists play with frets they often don't develop an ear for intervals/notes etc... Compared to learning a non-fretted instrument where it's required.
Look forward to getting your third book and reading the "massive historical liner notes". I can't read notation so it'll be slow work to understand, but I managed with the Whitney Talega solea article. I'm hoping the notation might be relative to the capo position, rather than what the notes actually are?
Posts: 16192
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Ricardo Marlow Cory Whitehead Method (in reply to orsonw)
quote:
I can't read notation so it'll be slow work to understand, but I managed with the Whitney Talega solea article. I'm hoping the notation might be relative to the capo position, rather than what the notes actually are?
At least the starting exercise is trying to follow the score with the audio recording, so you follow the rhythm basically and track the melody up or down visually (that is hard to do with tablature), so you get an overview of where the music is going visually. If you want to learn to read notes on guitar, that is basically what the first half of Formative Works is showing you, though I admit it is a big leap when the flamenco section arrives because we are doing a lot more than single notes at a time.
In terms of key, yes we absolutely write as if there is no capo, then provide the suggested capo position for the piece that matches the audio recording. For experienced readers, the book 3 gets fun toward the end when we introduce Rondeña tuning as it displaces what you normally know as notes on the third string, and you have to pay attention to the fingerings and position markers that clue the reader in to the correct fret.
Years ago we had an argument on foro about which is superior, Tab or standard notation for guitar. I was in the middle of the road at the time as the standard score is easier to sight read and follow the musical line and structure, rhythm etc., but fingerings and positions get messy. A classical guitar score is quite messy compared to other instrument scores for that reason. Sadly, many tab readers never develop proper music theory intuitions and bigger picture understanding, sometimes rhythm too can suffer. Using both tab and score is ideal, however, very little music fits on one page and a book like ours would have to be twice as many pages and twice the cost. Today, seeing this ancient vihuela tablature forces a reality on me that this "cipher" or "cifra" was always the way to do it, and it gets the music into the hearts and minds of the general public faster with little training required. "Put your finger here and go!"...it is no wonder it still survives. But I advocate for both equally still.
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. Maybe the hardest thing I have ever done! 
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