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Well last month marked Flamenco-Lessons.com's 2nd birthday. I wanted to do something special and I came up with the idea to host a challenge/competition. I think the Intermediate challenge Florian did was fabulous and he deservs some credit for the idea...
Here is the skinny..... the winner gets a one year account to Flamenco-Lessons.com!(a $300 value)
The material to learn is a falseta I composed this morning and taped for a new advanced lesson on the site. The competition is open to anyone who reads about it here. The ideal situation would be a dedicated student who can't afford the subscription fee. Below are links to the 4 video segments of the lesson. There will be no tablature of the lesson offered, but I will be available here to answer questions about the falseta and do some coaching to the particiapants. I will not be judging the competition. On June 1st all submissions will be reviewed and a winner will be selected by Yaelisa, my wife and Emmy-Award winning dancer and Artistic Director of the New World Flamenco Festival.
To avoid any digital audio editing shenanigans we will only accept video submissions. Contestants must post a YouTube video with the title "Flamenco-Lessons.com Bulerias Challenge" before June 1st (California time). The falseta is pretty complex. It doesn't have to be perfect. Those participating in this will all improve as a result and in that regard all will be winners. Yaelisa will choose the best attempt in regards to rhythmic accuracy and sonikete, not technique. Here is what she had to say about it...... "One of the reasons playing Bulerias is so difficult is that the guitarist should convey an unpredicatability, while playing a complex rhythm with a good amount of groove and sonikete. Add to this the elements of a dancer and/or a singer, and it becomes one of the hardest tasks in flamenco. This falseta needs a huge feeling of relaxation within the groove. This groove is a feel, that a dancer latches onto and is hard to describe but you know when it's there."
To enter send an email containing a link to your video to info@Flamenco-Lessons.com and please put the words "Flamenco-Lessons.com Bulerias Challenge" in the Subject. Also please remember to put "Flamenco-Lessons.com Bulerias Challenge" as the title of your YouTube video.
The winner will be announced here shortly after the judging has been completed.
If anyone knows a talented player who is not a member here at the foro please tell them about it and get them to join.
Here are the videos and .......... good luck! Bulerias Challenge Normal Tempo: challengeF.mov">http://www.caminosflamencos.com/challengeF.mov
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to JasonMcGuire)
I´m in Jason!
This is a great idea and a great composition Jason! Well, there are some things inside which are typical for your playing. I think that will get most difficult to copy that.
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to Doitsujin)
Its not about copying my style. Its really about playing the notes of the falseta in rhythm with as much groove as possible. I am here to coach people that need help. Just ask..
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to JasonMcGuire)
Yes, I´ll play it in my style but with the given notes.
I´m always amazed when seeing your compositions... It would be so cool to be able to compose such complex falsetas which go through different tonalities and are really worth to be analysed in that detail. My respect to your composing skills.
Maybe an idea for the future. "composing"
I love these challenges,.. they are pushing me very much. Since my friends switched to rumbas (well they call it jazz).. Its not easy to keep the "magic of flamencoguitar".. There are not many people to jam with coz I´m not in rumba very much.. And uploading something for unknown people on youtube dont give me anything. .. But these challenges are really nice. They give me what maybe my rumbafriends are lacking at the moment.. I want to use all possibilities which a flamencoguitar and the music offer. Not just noodeling scales up and down.. But lets stick to the challenge. Rumba is another topic.
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to Doitsujin)
I look forward to hearing your work Doit. I am postive that this challenge will bring the participants many gifts beyond the prize that the winner will take. Like Florian put it in the Intermediate Challenge..... Let's keep thing fun and share ideas. I am glad to offer a prize as an incentive to work hard. Musicians don't always get an incentive for hard work especially when they are just learning. Setting a goal and striving towards that goal is yet another benefit of challenges like these. Soon these particiapants will learn to set goals for themselves and more importantly they will start achieving those goals in due time.
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to JasonMcGuire)
Wonderfull falseta Jason, great ideas! I doubt i can play anything of it. The only thing i could pull off right now is the rasg at the end. But the lefthand stuff? Oh no...
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to JasonMcGuire)
I know quicktime is a complicated software but I need it so I´m not going to change. And as I wrote, I updated it on one of my PC´s...... On the other PC I need to have an old version because if not I cannot handle the Videos my digicam makes... bad piece of software
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
OLE JASON !! wonderful idea amigo and very generous of you as always , happy anyversary and thank you for beeing such a nice guy..and always inspirational to me
I am so proud of the great trend we are developing here..we are helping and inspiering and motivating eachother more then ever while having some fun with it ..this is alot more fun than just... ": - practice more"
Posts: 4530
Joined: Aug. 9 2006
From: Iran (living in Germany)
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to JasonMcGuire)
Thats a great idea and very generous, Ole Jason! And very modern and nice Falseta.
---
Anders, you dont need to delete quicktime. keep it. But just download Videolan and install it - download the MOV file using right mouse button and "save as" (do not just click on it as usual) - then open it with Videolan (use right mouse button and "open with" function and choose Videolan from the List and do not doublecklick on it as usual because in this case normally it is automatically associated with Quicktime).
I dont know what your problem with Quicktime is (hard to say without sitting in front of your PC), maybe something has been written in your registry. Cleaning registry with CCCleaner sometimes helps with these issues but you have to be careful.
Also try other browsers like Firefox, if you are using Internet Explorer and see if it works.
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to Doitsujin)
Hey Doit! You say "rumba-friends" and the sort. If you were NOT to play rumba with your friends, WHAT would you play? I find it is VERY difficult to be able to play a duet of bulerias or solea. I mean, you have to be playing the harmony of a falseta, and there are not so many of these / relatively-easy ones around. What do you say about that? That is why I like playing rumbas with friends because the solos are relatively easy, and the chords are easy, and people enjoy them.
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to XXX)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Deniz
Wonderfull falseta Jason, great ideas! I doubt i can play anything of it. The only thing i could pull off right now is the rasg at the end. But the lefthand stuff? Oh no...
Deniz... It really is mostly one note at a time. I think just about anyone COULD learn to play a single note melody. Learning the notes is probably the easiest part of this falseta. I would imagine that the rhythm would be the most challenging. You may surprise yourself if you try. In 3 months if you don't have it down don't submit a video. I bet you will have improved your playing though. "Do not go gentle..."
quote:
If you were NOT to play rumba with your friends, WHAT would you play? I find it is VERY difficult to be able to play a duet of bulerias or solea.
If your compas is good its not hard to play duets in other palos than Rumba. Rumba is easier because it is more familiar. If a player becomes as familiar with other palos it gets much easier to do.
quote:
There are not many people to jam with coz I´m not in rumba very much.. And uploading something for unknown people on youtube dont give me anything. .. But these challenges are really nice. They give me what maybe my rumbafriends are lacking at the moment.. I want to use all possibilities which a flamencoguitar and the music offer. Not just noodeling scales up and down.. But lets stick to the challenge. Rumba is another topic.
I love playing Rumbas. I do them all the time with my friend Stephen Duros. Music is music. I must agree though that the typical "I strum chords and you noodle picados" approach to guitar duets is a bit boring most of the time. I much prefer creating subtle arrangements for 2 guitars.
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to rombsix)
quote:
Hey Doit! You say "rumba-friends" and the sort. If you were NOT to play rumba with your friends, WHAT would you play? I find it is VERY difficult to be able to play a duet of bulerias or solea. I mean, you have to be playing the harmony of a falseta, and there are not so many of these / relatively-easy ones around. What do you say about that? That is why I like playing rumbas with friends because the solos are relatively easy, and the chords are easy, and people enjoy them.
Comments?
..u can do anything to any palo the same as you would to a rumba..if you dont do the harmony u can improvise scales ..licks etc.. or at the very least do the same as you would in a rumba with your friends...do backing chords for a falseta..
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
You know it wouldn't be against the rules for people to help each other learn the material. 3 months is a lot of time....... I had just one hour to learn it myself.
Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to JasonMcGuire)
quote:
3 months is a lot of time....... I had just one hour to learn it myself.
Oh Jason, don't show off!!
quote:
You know it wouldn't be against the rules for people to help each other learn the material.
When I was working on the beginners challenge I didn't ask my teacher for any help because I thought that would be cheating. But perhaps asking each other for help would be OK.
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to Ailsa)
quote:
When I was working on the beginners challenge I didn't ask my teacher for any help because I thought that would be cheating. But perhaps asking each other for help would be OK.
No Ailsa...it doesn't work like that. You use ANY method you can... crafty, devious, underhanded or whatever, to achieve your best entry! (so long as it's not electronic editing etc).
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to rombsix)
quote:
Hey Doit! You say "rumba-friends" and the sort. If you were NOT to play rumba with your friends, WHAT would you play? I find it is VERY difficult to be able to play a duet of bulerias or solea. I mean, you have to be playing the harmony of a falseta, and there are not so many of these / relatively-easy ones around. What do you say about that? That is why I like playing rumbas with friends because the solos are relatively easy, and the chords are easy, and people enjoy them.
Comments?
Lets discuss that in a new thread. This one here is dedicated to the challenge Jason hosts.
Ok. Only one statement. I didnt meant to play at the same time with friends. You can have a lot of fun playing a bulerias and the others clap. Or just beeing together and one plays a nice granaina or solea. Thats great IMO. And i.e. bulerias has a lot more to offer than a rumba. As I wrote, I´m interested in technically difficult and well thought composed playing. When a player makes it through a hard bulerias it amazes me most. In contrast.. scales over and over bore me. Also if they are very fast and long. Sure anybody understands that. But it has not the "magic" of real flamenco (or better lets say serious flamenco.. :./ Rumba is nice but only a crowdpleaser IMO). I would always prefer some more change as it is already the case in tango in comparison to a rumba. I only play rumbas to get some easy money in a bar.
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to Ailsa)
quote:
Oh Jason, don't show off!!
Showing off is such a flamenco thing to do though
Seriously though, you could get help from your teacher on this one. Unless I am your teacher. I will not be teaching this in my private lessons until after the comptetition is done.... except for the 10 year old boy I composed the falseta for. He's not allowed to use the internet though, so he won't be competeing. Perhaps, I will make a video of him explaining the falseta. That might be fun. Lets give him a couple of weeks to learn it and see how he does. Posting videos to help each other is encouraged. The only people who lose out are those who don't even try. Once people begin to learn it and help each other learn it the positive energy just may take over.
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to Ron.M)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Ron.M No Ailsa...it doesn't work like that. You use ANY method you can... crafty, devious, underhanded or whatever, to achieve your best entry! (so long as it's not electronic editing etc).
That is indeed the right idea Ron. I am not offering a tablature of the falseta. If someone wants to be generous and make one available, I wouldn't be opposed to it. Learning it by ear/eye would be way more flamenco though.
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Anders Eliasson A question: Does the challenge include the compás de rasgueados at the beginning and at the end or is it ok to play your own intro and extro?
Of course you can and should play your own compas before and after the falseta. That will definitely not be a problem. I would recommend that everyone use a metronome or compas recording to play to when they record the video.... or get some people to play palmas live. That would be super cool.
quote:
quote:
except for the 10 year old boy I composed the falseta for
What are you trying to say here Jason?
I have had great success in teaching this particular boy. He is playing very difficult pieces by Paco de Lucia, Vicente Amigo and Pepe Habichuela aside from my own compositions. The main reason is........... he's 10 and he doesn't know or understand what "hard to play" is. He just does what I ask him..... He loves to play PERIOD. That I am sure is something we all here have in common. Forget about what is hard to do and forget about any self-imposed limitations. Learn the notes and try to feel the rhythm and if in 3 months you feel like sharing your work, make the video. Remember its not a guitarist who will be judging. It will be a dancer who has been around flamenco her entire life..... I can assure you that she doesn't get moved by displays of brilliant technique. Read her quote often and you will be reminded of the judging criteria. Its all about groove and feeling. She wants to be moved to dance....... Guitarists often criticize each other in a vacuum. We are often way too much into the tiny details. In the end it really is about...... groove, sonikete, aire, compas. Technique is not usually something that you hear non-guitarists talk about.
RE: Flamenco-lessons.com turns 2 - A... (in reply to JasonMcGuire)
quote:
ORIGINAL: JasonMcGuire
Remember its not a guitarist who will be judging. It will be a dancer who has been around flamenco her entire life.....
Ah ok, then its of course very easy Joke. I will give it a go! I always need some pressure to learn new falsetas, if its not for a dance. A question: does it have to be played without capo?
Hey but i actually like talking about technique. I mean, if women/dancers talk about shoes and hand movements.. we men/guitarrists also need something to talk about... or not?
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