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RE: Which is your favorite groovy bu... (in reply to Ricardo)
it's good that you posted this because I had been revisiting my bulerias repertoire and trying to analyze the falsetas and coincidentally your falseta was one of them.
I'd learnt the very first falseta from your first video months ago (the one with kids running). Great falseta btw, I almost always use it when opening my bulerias.
Now coming to what I tried to analyze, is it also an example of 'tonality' going on in flamenco? The 3 jazz chords you use at from 0:04 up until come the Bb major at 0:09 seem to be a progression from Am - Gm - F major.
Are you going briefly going to E prhyg? (since that's a progression we often use there) And then the Bb is your entry point to por medio once again?
Kind of similar to how in that falseta by paco, he played a progression from D phrygian and landed back to por medio; I was wondering if the underlying concept in your falseta and that falseta by PDL is the same.
But one thing to note is you are using Gm instead of Gmaj, so I am not entirely sure if my assumption that you're going to E phrygian is correct. If it's not E phrg, then what is it?
If you do not understand what I mean then I can once again record a video to articulate better.
Posts: 16377
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Which is your favorite groovy bu... (in reply to metalhead)
quote:
Are you going briefly going to E prhyg? (since that's a progression we often use there) And then the Bb is your entry point to por medio once again?
No. The thing is por medio and por arriba are the same notes minus ONE alteration, the B natural or B flat. That is why the circle of keys is important to know via 5ths relations because it makes these types of overlapping musical nuanced ideas crystal clear.
The opening chord already established the A Phrygian sound via the bass note and the picado cross trill (see recent thread on cross trills that Devilhand thought "never is used") between C# and Bb. See full falseta here:
The chord position Paco uses often ever since his duet with Al dimeola called "passion grace and fire", which we could say was my inspiration for the opening arpegio.
When moving the pattern down the neck the diatonic scale is used. Em7b5 to Am7 is actually the natural "tonic" v-i of phrygian, however, with C in the bass it projects as a C chord with the added 6th degree up top. The notes are C A E A and open E in the pattern, however the A shifts to G giving either the minor 7th above A or the 5th above C bass. In that moment the concept of Am7/C or C6 is arbitrary (they are the same) then the same deal for the G MINOR 7th add 13. That chord is actually the "cadential" vii6 (Em7b5/Bb or the v chord again) chord in Phrygian mode that could resolve back to A major next if you wanted. But I continue on down to F major 7. Again that chord is the relative major "cambio" then I finally resolve to Bb which is the cadential "II" that has historically replaced the old Gm/Bb as a cadential "option".
Notice how at no point in the sequence is the note B natural EVER introduced. That means on the circle of 5ths we have stayed secure in ONE tonality and never moved anywhere. The B natural introduces an accidental against the normal order of notes or the "key signature" changes necessarily via that specific note. The other direction would be Eb on the wheel. I use neither. In your other earlier example Paco's use of Eb is specific as I described it as a brief modulation or "tonicization" of Gm, and later the Bb chords of por medio.
Here is a 5ths relation in flamenco guitar keys: Por abajo=Bb and Eb the rest are natural. Eb-E Por medio=Bb the rest natural. Bb-B Por arriba= all naturals. F-F# Por granaina=F# and the naturals.
Please note the relation of either Eb-Bb-F or E-B-F# are 5ths.
Shifting to adjecent tonalities is easy as the ONE NOTE alteration is the target, and is precisely what the cante does to invoke these changes as signals to the guitarist. From there maybe you could figure out the rest of the tonalities and complete the wheel on your own.
RE: Which is your favorite groovy bu... (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
The chord position Paco uses often ever since his duet with Al dimeola called "passion grace and fire", which we could say was my inspiration for the opening arpegio.
I was able to hear your falseta immediately.
Any theory concepts you encourage knowing that can help with understanding these kinds of stuff better? I have heard that flamenco defies western theory but I was wondering if there are still some concepts to know that can make one better at analyzing falsetas. I try to do it, but I don't go far.
Posts: 16377
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Which is your favorite groovy bu... (in reply to metalhead)
quote:
ORIGINAL: metalhead
quote:
The chord position Paco uses often ever since his duet with Al dimeola called "passion grace and fire", which we could say was my inspiration for the opening arpegio.
I was able to hear your falseta immediately.
Any theory concepts you encourage knowing that can help with understanding these kinds of stuff better? I have heard that flamenco defies western theory but I was wondering if there are still some concepts to know that can make one better at analyzing falsetas. I try to do it, but I don't go far.
Flamenco absolutely does not "defy western theory". The reason people claim that is two big misunderstandings.
2. the common practice Era of western classical music begins at a time when the modes collapse down into two keys, major and minor. Relics of the old modal system therefore seem to "defy" the rules of the common practice era, but are still "western music theory" by their very nature.
Even though I presently recognize the older modal system of 16th century flemish polyphonic music at work in our modern day flamenco formal structures, I still feel the best starting place to understanding music theory in general to be the circle of 5ths and what it represents. From there connecting or translating to modes and such is easier to see on your instrument.
Learning the traditional flamenco method bypasses any need for that study (just copy the maestros and build an intuition), however, even Paco de Lucia was left scratching his head about how to relate his understanding to what Mclaughlin and other musicians were doing. Also an inferiority complex about reading notes was always a problem for flamenco players.
Ironically I see that western music theory people also don't communicate well with each other if they come from either the Renaissance polyphonic school or the common practice era post modal collapse. The languages are just different.
Posts: 16377
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Which is your favorite groovy bu... (in reply to metalhead)
quote:
What type of intuition? Is it relying on your ears and see what feels right?
yes, you copy the masters that did things "right" and assuming you are not only copying one individual artist you will notice there are different ways to achieve the good results. PDL in particular taught us the limits of the evolution of single forms (trace one form through his career as accompaniment and solo from the late 1960s until his final concerts). In other words how you might change the traditional things with new ideas without going off the rails. In doing so your intuition starts driving your own creations or explorations or arrangements of material you have learned from maestros.
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