Learning Flamenco Forms/Palos: Where to Start
You know, each piece has a generic identifier attached to it such as solea, buleria, seguiriya etc. These are palos. Flamenco music is categorized under several of these forms that have their unique rhythmical and harmonic laws. Different palos have originated from different regions in Andalucia.
There are training packages at atrafanaStore that deal with these forms. Since then I have received various queries regarding which one to play first or how to proceed.
Let me address these concerns here
We all strive to learn various falsetas composed/played by the masters we listen to.
That is all fine but it is crucial that you first learn the palo in which those falsetas were composed.
If you wish to learn how to play, say, Cepa Andaluza by Paco de Lucia, you first need to understand how buleria works. The mastery of the basic palo will guide you not only in learning the piece properly, but also make you understand why the musician plays certain passages the way he does.
In solea a deep understanding of the basic compas is even more crucial because almost all players stretch the solea compas and play some parts in varying expressive rhythms. Therefore, a verbatim copy of a solea performance you have come across on youtube will not yield good results. I tried it. I attempted to transcribe a solea falseta by Serranito exactly the way he performed it and the result was an incomprehensible patchwork of note durations.
Victor Monge Serranito - Solea section
It is not that Serranito was out of compas, he was simply "interpreting the piece" by taking some liberties with the rhythm. Solea does afford that kind of handling. So, I went back to the drawing board and studied solea inside out. Only then was I able to transcribe the falseta the way it was conceived - stripped of Serranito's beautiful interpretation. You see, then I was able to interpret it myself.
The bottom line: don't start working on a falseta or a full piece before you understand the palo in which it was composed.
Better yet, put aside all those fancy pieces that you wish to learn for a while and focus on learning the most commonly used palos.
Start with Solea
1- SOLEA
This is called 'the mother of all palos'. Paco Pena says solea(res) is the beginning of all flamenco.
Paco Peña - Soleares
Solea has all the characteristic ingredients that make a guitar piece flamenco.
Primarily it is based on the 12-beat compas, which is the most commonly used meter in flamenco.
Within one bar (measure) there are 12 beats (quarter notes) and each musical sentence starts and ends within these 12 beats. The "cierre" starts on the 10th beat and marks the end of the sentence and takes up 2 beats (no, you don't have to memorize that).
Then there are the accents that mold the flow of music into something that relates to a larger context of musical performance i.e. singing, dancing.
The accents are on the beats 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12.
You don't have to do much about these accents as a player really. Watch the videos in the compas packages paying attention to the compas counter. You will see that the accents are embedded in the music either as golpes or sounds/chords that stick out. And sometimes they are simply ignored as the music unfolds.
Accents take on a special importance if you are composing your own falsetas. But for now don't worry about that. Simply play the falsetas and observe how each musical phrase makes use of these accents to incorporate the feel and flow of solea. I will write about how to compose in a future article.
Solea is our entry point into flamenco music. Master this palo well, and you will figure out the others relatively easily.
2- BULERIA
Everybody wants to play buleria. And for good reason. It is the flashiest of all palos. Again it uses the 12-beat structure like solea but interestingly the compas takes 12 as the starting point. The accents fall on 12, 3, 7, 8, 10. Alternately, it can be 12, 3, 6, 8, 10. But I prefer the one that uses the 7,8 accents because when I do the tap tap golpe on those two beats, I am reassured that I have not strayed away from the compas. Or if I have gotten lost then I wait for those two adjacent taps to get back on the compas flow.
Solea can tolerate some rhythmical flexibility but buleria can absolutely not. You need to stay in perfect compas for your performance to be perceived and appreciated as buleria, and if you don't want your butt kicked by the instructor if you are accompanying a dance class.
The strumming has particular significance for buleria as it sets the tempo and the mood of the falsetas that follow it. If you have the compas package then my suggestion is to start with muted strumming exercise and make sure you have drilled that into your mind and hands. Then go ahead with the two strumming sequences I have provided.
Again, practise each falseta separately and then play them one after the other without having a prior sequence in mind. Play the strumming sequences in-between them. These sequences are good breaks for the player to think about what falseta to play next. That is why the strumming is extremely important to master.
Watch Tomatito in the following video and see how he uses the strumming sections to take breaks in between falsetas:
tomatito murcia peazo buleria 2011
3 -FANDANGO (de Huelva)
This one is completely different than the previous two. It is based on a "galloping" rhythm almost as if you are playing guitar on horseback. That is why the i-a-i strumming pattern is used extensively. I personally find fandango quite complex and it took me quite a while to figure out how to incorporate melodies into it's compas grid.
Here is me before figuring out the fandango compas:
Aires Choqueros (Fandangos) by Paco de Lucia
then again me after understanding the palo better:
Aires Choqueros Full Training
Especially after playing solea and buleria for a while, fandango feels very foreign at first mainly due to it's gallopy nature.
You need to practise the strumming sequences really well before proceeding with the falsetas. The compas I use is based on a 6-beat structure with the accents on 4 and 5. It have also seen a 12-beat fandango compas structure with an accent on every 3rd beat: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12. Either works the same way.
Watch the videos in the package on loop while doing muted fandango strumming over them. And if possible, tap your foot on every third beat. It is hard, I know. But Paco de Lucia does it :-)
I put these three palos into one package called Compas 101 because they make a great study bundle covering different ways of playing.
COMPAS 101 Trailer
There are training packages at atrafanaStore that deal with these forms. Since then I have received various queries regarding which one to play first or how to proceed.
Let me address these concerns here
We all strive to learn various falsetas composed/played by the masters we listen to.
That is all fine but it is crucial that you first learn the palo in which those falsetas were composed.
If you wish to learn how to play, say, Cepa Andaluza by Paco de Lucia, you first need to understand how buleria works. The mastery of the basic palo will guide you not only in learning the piece properly, but also make you understand why the musician plays certain passages the way he does.
In solea a deep understanding of the basic compas is even more crucial because almost all players stretch the solea compas and play some parts in varying expressive rhythms. Therefore, a verbatim copy of a solea performance you have come across on youtube will not yield good results. I tried it. I attempted to transcribe a solea falseta by Serranito exactly the way he performed it and the result was an incomprehensible patchwork of note durations.
Victor Monge Serranito - Solea section
It is not that Serranito was out of compas, he was simply "interpreting the piece" by taking some liberties with the rhythm. Solea does afford that kind of handling. So, I went back to the drawing board and studied solea inside out. Only then was I able to transcribe the falseta the way it was conceived - stripped of Serranito's beautiful interpretation. You see, then I was able to interpret it myself.
The bottom line: don't start working on a falseta or a full piece before you understand the palo in which it was composed.
Better yet, put aside all those fancy pieces that you wish to learn for a while and focus on learning the most commonly used palos.
Start with Solea
1- SOLEA
This is called 'the mother of all palos'. Paco Pena says solea(res) is the beginning of all flamenco.
Paco Peña - Soleares
Solea has all the characteristic ingredients that make a guitar piece flamenco.
Primarily it is based on the 12-beat compas, which is the most commonly used meter in flamenco.
Within one bar (measure) there are 12 beats (quarter notes) and each musical sentence starts and ends within these 12 beats. The "cierre" starts on the 10th beat and marks the end of the sentence and takes up 2 beats (no, you don't have to memorize that).
Then there are the accents that mold the flow of music into something that relates to a larger context of musical performance i.e. singing, dancing.
The accents are on the beats 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12.
You don't have to do much about these accents as a player really. Watch the videos in the compas packages paying attention to the compas counter. You will see that the accents are embedded in the music either as golpes or sounds/chords that stick out. And sometimes they are simply ignored as the music unfolds.
Accents take on a special importance if you are composing your own falsetas. But for now don't worry about that. Simply play the falsetas and observe how each musical phrase makes use of these accents to incorporate the feel and flow of solea. I will write about how to compose in a future article.
Solea is our entry point into flamenco music. Master this palo well, and you will figure out the others relatively easily.
2- BULERIA
Everybody wants to play buleria. And for good reason. It is the flashiest of all palos. Again it uses the 12-beat structure like solea but interestingly the compas takes 12 as the starting point. The accents fall on 12, 3, 7, 8, 10. Alternately, it can be 12, 3, 6, 8, 10. But I prefer the one that uses the 7,8 accents because when I do the tap tap golpe on those two beats, I am reassured that I have not strayed away from the compas. Or if I have gotten lost then I wait for those two adjacent taps to get back on the compas flow.
Solea can tolerate some rhythmical flexibility but buleria can absolutely not. You need to stay in perfect compas for your performance to be perceived and appreciated as buleria, and if you don't want your butt kicked by the instructor if you are accompanying a dance class.
The strumming has particular significance for buleria as it sets the tempo and the mood of the falsetas that follow it. If you have the compas package then my suggestion is to start with muted strumming exercise and make sure you have drilled that into your mind and hands. Then go ahead with the two strumming sequences I have provided.
Again, practise each falseta separately and then play them one after the other without having a prior sequence in mind. Play the strumming sequences in-between them. These sequences are good breaks for the player to think about what falseta to play next. That is why the strumming is extremely important to master.
Watch Tomatito in the following video and see how he uses the strumming sections to take breaks in between falsetas:
tomatito murcia peazo buleria 2011
3 -FANDANGO (de Huelva)
This one is completely different than the previous two. It is based on a "galloping" rhythm almost as if you are playing guitar on horseback. That is why the i-a-i strumming pattern is used extensively. I personally find fandango quite complex and it took me quite a while to figure out how to incorporate melodies into it's compas grid.
Here is me before figuring out the fandango compas:
Aires Choqueros (Fandangos) by Paco de Lucia
then again me after understanding the palo better:
Aires Choqueros Full Training
Especially after playing solea and buleria for a while, fandango feels very foreign at first mainly due to it's gallopy nature.
You need to practise the strumming sequences really well before proceeding with the falsetas. The compas I use is based on a 6-beat structure with the accents on 4 and 5. It have also seen a 12-beat fandango compas structure with an accent on every 3rd beat: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12. Either works the same way.
Watch the videos in the package on loop while doing muted fandango strumming over them. And if possible, tap your foot on every third beat. It is hard, I know. But Paco de Lucia does it :-)
I put these three palos into one package called Compas 101 because they make a great study bundle covering different ways of playing.
COMPAS 101 Trailer
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