Ricardo -> RE: Flamenco--A Modest Proposal, Part 2 (Jan. 11 2009 13:56:07)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: runner Since even the oldest of us must rely upon the writings and studies of flamencologists to tell us about the early years of flamenco, I'd like to get Anders, in particular, and also Ricardo, to affirm the value of books and articles in helping us to better understand this flamenco that we all love so much. I sense sometimes that today's aficionados, most of whom are enthusiasts of the guitar, feel that they have all the knowledge they need from the CDs they've heard and the performances they've seen, and their mastery of their own technique, so that they know all they need (or want) to know about flamenco. runner Hmm. I felt asked for an opinion and felt I gave it pretty clear. I can't in good conscience affirm that in general, the written stuff about music history is all that valuable. Based on what I read about music of the present day from "authorities". I find that most authors can't help but include too much theory, opinion, and conjecture and taste into their stuff, and I as the reader have to wade through it all just to get some basic facts. There are some exceptions of course, in particular when music is broken down in detail, rather than generalized. . Alain Faucher knows his stuff when it comes to "talking" about guitar history. In an other thread, we talk about Montoya's Rondena coming from Arcas. I read the same article i guess and was like, excuse me, WHERE IS THE SCORE!!!!. You can't just SAY that. I recommend NORMAN KLIMAN's site but he used recordings as reference. The info is crystal clear to me. Rito y Geografia is good too, for the video of performances more than the handful of "authorities" that are interviewed. It is all grain of salt for me, but seeing the singer and guitarist is literally "black and white" for me. About folks that think they "know it all" or can rest on their laurels, perhaps I am a weird case. I like to learn the music literally. Meaning yeah, instead of trying to listen to folks talk about a fandangos melody and categorize it, I try to actually sing it, note for note (in the shower of course!) Same with the guitar (ok, in public...). Then suddenly details pop out that are REALLY important, that the "talkers" obviously don't notice, because, well, they don't HEAR it, because they can't or don't do it. Again that is why I like Norman's work cause is there with the transcription and everything,crystal clear. I would like to quote John Mclaughlin about learning music, which I think is appropriate for flamenco too. He was asked if he teachers or talks about the emotional aspects of playing in his teaching video. He says "no" meaning he address difficulties of technique, and executing music, rhythm, etc, because "Every human being is full of emotions....I don'tneed to address these because they will come out in their own way. When you learn music, you are confronted with your inadequacies very quickly. Am I correct? We ALL become confronted with our incapacities and depth of our own ignorance for heaven's sakes. It's TERRIBLE! It is extremely depressing. At the same time, it is very encouraging because it gives us something to fight against. This is the real battle in music, is our own incapacity and lack of articulation in areas of our being that we are unable to articulate in a musical way. We are unable to say what we really feel....I have a theory that all musicians would be like serial killers if they weren't musicians." So I feel, rather than read and speculate what flamenco MIGHT have been, simply learning it and doing it is the best education for ME. I know it might be different for different folks, and I got no problems with that. But the opinions I give out tend to be what I would tell myself. Ricardo
|
|
|
|