Ramon Amira -> RE: 1 year of flamenco (Dec. 5 2009 9:41:14)
|
quote:
This is not classical guitar. 1) I never said that flamenco guitar was the same as classical guitar. 2) I did say, and it is an indisputable fact, that most but not all of the techniques used in flamenco guitar are the same as classical guitar technique, and I added the modifying statement that the techniques that are used in flamenco really are "more or less" the same as in classical, except that flamenco uses some techniques not used in classical – rasgueado, etc., and some techniques, though the same, are sometimes executed slightly differently in flamenco." It's clear from the above that at no time have I ever said that flamenco guitar is the same as classical guitar. Nor have I ever said that anyone can learn to play flamenco guitar from a book. To the contrary, I have twice said with respect to learning flamenco guitar that "You can learn the notes, but making it sound like flamenco is an entirely different matter." I also said "You can learn it from a book, but obviously you can never make it sound right merely from playing sheet music." It should also be noted that not everyone has access to a teacher, and even less so to a good and qualified teacher, nor can everyone afford a teacher, which is an expensive proposition. But a student who has been seriously studying flamenco guitar with a teacher and through other venues for one full year, should have at least a knowledge of the main toques, and should have learned the main techniques utilized in flamenco guitar – at least rasgueado, picado, arpeggios, and tremolo. Having reached that point, a one year student needs to hone those techniques, and a thorough study of classical guitar technique combines buttressing technique with simultaneously learning to read music, so he kills two birds with one stone, and no time goes to waste. Also at that point a one year student needs to learn more material, not only to play, but also that new material is used to continue to improve the above mentioned techniques. Where will he learn this new material. From a teacher? He will go through an awful lot of money to learn not a great deal of new music. On the other hand, anyone who can read music can – as I said – simply buy any number of books containing more falsetas than he could ever learn from a teacher or from recordings, etc., and for what amounts relatively to a pittance. I will reiterate that there is no end of flamenco music published in standard musical notation. Without even rummaging through my own pile of such music, I can state for a certainty that I have books and sheet music with music by Sabicas, Juan Serrano, Carlos Montoya, Mario Escudero, Luis Maravilla, Mariano Cordoba, Manuel Moreno, Emilio Medina, Juan Grecos, Martin Rosado, Jose de Azpiazu, and many more, including even Nino Ricardo. And learning new material from sheet music is infinitely easier and much faster than learning by ear from a teacher or recordings. Learning falsetas from a teacher is very slow going, and expensive. Recordings cost very little, but to learn from a record entails playing it back numerous times, which means lifting the needle, putting it back, never in exactly the right place, etc. Incredibly cumbersome. A tape has to be rewound again and again to listen to it numerous times. On the other hand, you put some sheet music down next to you, play through the falseta, then you just instantly play through it again and again – it's incredibly fast and easy, and you can play through a falseta ten times in less time than it takes to rewind a tape twice and play back. By pure chance, just last week I plucked out a book of Nino Ricardo sheet music. I was in the mood for Siguiriyas, so I just opened the book, and played straight through pages of his Siguiriyas. Now I'm not all that wild about his music, but out of all those falsetas I found three that I really liked. I was able to learn them in no time flat for the very reason I have stated above – it's right in front of you, so you can easily play it many time in succession. Another advantage to using sheet music is that you can modify any falseta to suit yourself by simply doing it right on the music – a few pencil strokes does it, and then you can read the ensuing falseta right off the sheet. Nor is this unrelated to practicing technique. Obviously you must use your technique to play this sheet music, and so you are at the same time engaging in practice, and really in a better way than rote practice of the various techniques, which is better done in the early stages of learning. No one can learn to play flamenco guitar from a book. But having learned the basics, the ability to read music is an additional invaluable asset to a budding flamenco guitarist. As is a complete mastery of classical guitar technique.
|
|
|
|