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Richard Jernigan -> RE: Left handed flamenco guitarists (Apr. 13 2015 18:06:09)
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There is "music theory" as taught in academia, and on the other hand a "theory of music" embodied in the compositions of the likes of Ramon Montoya, Sabicas, and Niño Ricardo.
My sister-in-law, who ran the Nurse Practitioner training program at a major medical school told of a parallel situation. A woman with Type II diabetes was labeled as "non-compliant" with the measures meant to control her blood sugar. My sister-in-law interviewed her. The woman said, "Yes, I use that little meter. When it's too high I go out and work in my garden for a while, and at dinner time I leave the potatoes on my plate. I do a few other things to keep those numbers low."
Measurement of long-term indicators of blood sugar level (A1C) indicated that the woman had been very effective in controlling her blood sugar level, without applying the prescribed insulin dosage algorithm. She didn't verbalize her strategy in the same way as the physicians, but her understanding and strategy were effective.
I read somewhere that when Montoya took a few lessons from the classical guitarist Miguel Llobet, he asked whether he should learn to read music. Llobet's advice was said to be, "No, you are fine working the way you do now."
When asked, Sabicas always claimed to be self taught, and unable to read music.
Niño Ricardo worked for Javier Molina, a noted guitarist and teacher, when Molina ran a tablao. So did Manolo de Huelva. I don´t know whether they picked up any of their shared falsetas from Molina, or whether they came from other sources. Like Molina, Manolo played classical as well as flamenco pieces in concert. But I know of no evidence that Ricardo knew any "music theory" as taught in academia.
Were Montoya, Sabicas and Niño Ricardo worse composers than say, Julian Arcas? Or did they each have their own effective "theory of music" than enabled them to compose very well?
RNJ
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