Ricardo -> RE: So learn to improvise as a beginner? (Jun. 30 2010 1:54:58)
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Improvisation happens in flamenco in different ways. There is the true pull it out of your butt type improv where you create on the fly. That happens both in compas or libre. Especially if you play for baile a lot, and you need to make some music that fits a choreography nicer then any set falsetas you might have. In that case, players often need to record their improvisations so that they can remember what they did and set it in stone for live shows. But after all this could happen in a juerga, and often set falsetas start out this way and evolve into something more concrete. This can happen with chord progressions too. Progressions can pop out in new funky ways on the fly so long as you keep the compas and cadence or resolution at the end. Again this will happen more for baile accomp then just for singers, where you don't want to be tossing out weird chords for a singer. Then you have the theme and variation idea where you have a traditional theme, such as many famous solea themes, that you do funky or weird variations on, or just fiddle with RH technique so the left hand is doing the normal thing, but the RH makes it sound "new". In that sense the left hand can stick to formulas and the RH can improvise in almost infinate variety of ways. Changing up arp patterns for example... Then you have the set falseta that you can chop the head or tail off and insert a new thing or very old thing as you please. Make a frankenstein of sorts out of a "falseta". Then you have the idea of only using set falsetas, but mixing up the order as you see fit. That is the most common and "safe" way to improvise in flamenco. Organizing falsetas into an unchanging format I would not consider improvising at all. I call it arranging. A good 50% of flamenco guitar solo or instrumental "pieces" are constructed this way. Finally you have the concept of a chord progression that repeats over which you can do variations or improvise melodically in a "jazz way". Not just rumba can have this, any palo can actually. What I remember being very revealing years ago was Gerardo showing us a concept for composing. He took 'grips' or chord positions mainly, and after playing through them in compas of solea por bulerias, he proceeded to demonstrate variations on those grips by doing arpegios, connecting with scales, etc, basically inventing a new melody or theme on every pass. The options seemed almost limitless with just a 4 chord or postion concept. In all cases, there is no point trying ANY of these concepts unless you have good rhythm, and specifically for flamenco, an understanding of compas such that you rarely get thrown off. So studying rhythm patterns and making them feel natural and ingrained is essential for beginners. Ricardo
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