In search of motivation (Full Version)

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Message

Melchor -> In search of motivation (Jun. 15 2004 22:32:18)

Hi guys!

I know I haven´t post for a long time due to my fathers illness and my lack of motivation. Sometimes it is so hard to find motivation to play flamenco when you live in a foreign country. For me it is not enough to listen to cd´s. I need to watch it live, talk about it with friends, walk the streets full of orange trees. I am in Jerez for a short visit of three days but it has been enough to give motivation for the next few weeks. I went to see my friend/teacher El Carbonero. I went to say hello and go home but I had to stay the whole day. His son Manolito was rehearsing with Antonio Fajardo, a local cantaor, for a competition that will take place in Arcos de la Frontera. He sang for Bamberas, Bulerias and Siguidiyas. When this cantaor left I was ready to leave as well but then another cataor Cristobal del Palomar came and started singing as well. Manolito then offered us a beer. He sang Peteneras, Seguidiyas and Granadinas.
After they finished I was hungry for a guitar. Took one the guitars from the school and started playing. I don´t remember last time I got this feeling on the guitar. It makes me think about you guys. Where do you find your motivation to play this music so foreign to your ears and to everything that surrounds you. Moreover some of you have never been to Spain. What makes you stick to this music and not to pop, jazz or whatever the music you are exposed to?Some spanish people find it very difficult to understand that somebody from a far country love flamenco when some people here are not able to understand it or apreciate it.

Un saludo

Melchor



TANúñez -> RE: In search of motivation (Jun. 16 2004 4:26:43)

Hi Melchor. I'm sorry to hear about your Father not doing well. I will keep you in my prayers.

For me, no other music touches my soul the way Flamenco does. It moves me deeply. I used to love rock and blues but ever since I discovered flamenco, I rarely listen to anything else. Flamenco is always on my mind. The fact that I am longing for the chance to visit Spain and witness Flamenco in it's natural form motivates me more.

It has even driven me to start building flamenco guitars. I started too late to ever be a great flamenco guitarist but with woodworking experience and my love the the guitar, maybe one day I can be a great builder.

I wish you the best and hope you find your motivation.

Un Abrazo



Miguel de Maria -> RE: In search of motivation (Jun. 16 2004 5:57:17)

Flamenco is one of the great folk art forms, full of true passions. This can be very attractive to those of us from societies in which overt shows of emotion are discouraged. Also, flamenco requires advanced technique on the guitar, which inspires the competitive machos in us all. Also, a lot of people like things which are exotic and foreign to them, and reject the familiar as boring.



Escribano -> RE: In search of motivation (Jun. 16 2004 8:39:05)

Melchor, my friend, good to hear you back here. Best wishes to you and your family. My Mother is seriously ill and nearly died a couple of weeks ago. I had to cancel my visit to Andalucia and hold her hand in a Coronary Care Unit as her heart started to fail. She may be on a long road of recovery now and I wish the same for our father.

The only things I took with me to the hospital some 120 miles away were some clothes and my silent guitar. Practising outside in the sun, I could pretend I was back in Jerez, looking forward to meeting another new friend as I turned a corner or entered a pena.

quote:

It makes me think about you guys. Where do you find your motivation to play this music so foreign to your ears and to everything that surrounds you


I think the motivation was there long before I heard flamenco. Very difficult to learn, very difficult to play, sometimes difficult to hear - I have to be brutally honest with myself, there are no shortcuts; money and power makes no difference.

Motivation may wane but it never leaves.



Ron.M -> RE: In search of motivation (Jun. 16 2004 8:45:42)

Hi Melchor,
Great to hear from you again amigo!
I first heard Flamenco about 35 years ago on the Radio and I was fascinated by the sound of the guitar and for the next few years set about trying to learn something of the technique, including travelling and living in Spain for a while.
I must admit though, those days were fraught with anxiety as I was constantly frustrated at my lack of progress.
Of course, as I got older, work commitments became such that I practised less and less, finally stopping playing altogether for many years, save for the odd strum.
However, as you get older, your perspective on life and values change.
A few years ago, after completing the "Flamenco Master" metronome, which had been an ambition for a long time, I started listening to my old Flamenco records again and realized just how much I enjoyed them and was inspired to pick up the guitar again.
This time I enjoy playing around with the guitar much more than I ever did when I was young, since I have no ambition to be sucessful or make money or have a flashy technique or impress the girls LOL!
So there is no sense of urgency.
If I feel like playing, I play and if I don't, I don't.
I never force myself to practise.
My motivation for playing is probably a desire to get closer to the music, rather than just listen to CD's.
When I learn a partcular piece of new technique or finally make sense of a particularly complicated rhythm syncopation, then, when I play the CD again, I can understand what's happening and feel closer to what the performers are feeling.
As for the music itself?
I reckon music is a pretty universal language and a particular style of music either captures you or it doesn't. Flamenco just hits the spot for me.
I'm not a religious person, however, of course I have a spiritual aspect to my life and I find Flamenco gives me a place to go to in my head when I want to get away, or seek refuge from the pressures of everyday life.
And being a Scotsman, I also think a guitar is good value for money.
What else can you buy for a few hundred quid that gives you so much pleasure for years and years? LOL!

cheers

Ron



Miguel de Maria -> RE: In search of motivation (Jun. 16 2004 21:34:21)

Ron, you should write a book called "How to Play Guitar and Not Care if You're Any Good or Not."

:)



Ron.M -> RE: In search of motivation (Jun. 16 2004 21:44:39)

Mike,
I think a great guitarist called Moraito has the claim on that book title first (and maybe others like Diego Amaya afterwards?)
Anyway, hey, who's to say I won't get good?
I think "Snoopy"'s got it about right.
Little action, lotsa thinkin'..


LOL!

Ron



Miguel de Maria -> RE: In search of motivation (Jun. 17 2004 3:48:41)

Thinking is good. So is Moraito.



El Craic -> RE: In search of motivation (Jun. 17 2004 21:00:56)

Chori buen amigo love to your family and to your beautiful city. Give your brother a slap from me.

I don't need to find motivation for flamenco i just want it for myself and the dedication is a natural result of an intrigue and a fascination that wants more not less, the more I learn . That's why I chose guitar and not baile, coz I need to understand the music, for its own sake. The baile doesn't hold the same intrigue for me. I wouldn't attempt to sing like Estela's teacher advised, because apart from the obvious difficulties, someone once told me I sound like Billy Brag which is a horrifying thought and I have been vocally mute ever since. I could do with hearing good flamenco regularly but in its absence I am spending a bloody fortune on CDs.



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