Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Aires de Linares (Taranta)
In this video you can watch and listen to the whole piece Aires de Linares (Taranta) by Paco de Lucia (from Fantasia Flamenca).
To access the tutorials on the video, you need to click on the card links that pop up at the relevant sections of the music. Just watch the upper right hand corner of the video screen.
Or you can check out the following list of videos that cover the entire piece:
01 - Arpeggio Exercise - 30 - Aires de Linares (Taranta) INTRO by Paco de Lucia
02 - Mixed Technique Exercise - 20 - Aires de Linares (Taranta) by Paco de Lucia
03 - Flamenco Tremolo Exercise - 22 Aires de Linares (Taranta) by Paco de Lucia
04 - Arpeggio Exercise - 31 - Aires de Linares (Taranta) by Paco de Lucia
05 - Mixed Technique Exercise - 21 - Aires de Linares (Taranta) FINALE by Paco de Lucia
What is toque-libre (free form)?
Or how to play Taranta
A piece written in the free-form does not follow a predetermined compas and it cannot be transcribed into notation using the common meters of 4/3 or 4/4, or any other. Because the musical phrases in such a piece do not stick to a cyclical beat count. Some go on for a whole page while others last for a few notes.
It is possible to argue that the flamenco free-form is similar to the cadence sections of classical music where the musician is at liberty to play the notes however they wish. The cadence in this instance is a short break from the music where the musician showcases their virtuosity.
In flamenco, the following palos fall under the free-form category:
Each of these has very distinct musical qualities that sets it apart from other palos. However, rhythmical structure is not part of the criteria that defines it as such. Because of this, the tonality proves significant in identifying free-form palos. Granaina, for example, is written in Em. I guess it could be possible to try different keys por granaina but then the piece becomes really difficult to identify as granaina unless you make an effort to bring forward other features that resonate with the traditional renditions of the palo.
Due to the lack (or the blurry nature) of llamadas, remates, cierres, it is much harder to observe separate falsetas in a free-form piece.
As a teacher, I introduce free-form much later in my training as it demands a wholesome understanding of the flamenco guitar music. In that sense it is easier to play a buleria than, say, a minera.
If you pose the question of "how to play taranta” to the gypsies and native flamencos, they say that it is the "aire" that defines the palo in toque-libre. I am sure this makes a lot of sense for people born into this music. But for players like myself who approach flamenco with a ruler :-) mimicry is essential. In other words, to understand a free form palo, I must pick the recorded instance of a good composition and try to play it exactly as its master plays it.
Among the free form palos, Taranta is the darkest and most mysterious. I have read in several different sources that the palo was created by people who worked underground in coal mines. I cannot be 100% sure if this is the case but one can definitely hear the darkness and a sense of being lost when listening to a taranta.
Aires de Linares is Paco’s second taranta where many of the ideas for his later masterpiece Fuente y Caudal were born. I consider Aires de Linares to be the quintessential taranta piece that contains everything about the palo. It also has a rhythmical part that incorporates the more groovy rendition of the palo know as taranto.
The Aires de Linares video tutorials focus on various flamenco guitar techniques such as pulgar, arpeggio, picado, free stroke, alzapua, and rasgueado.
For free flamenco guitar lessons, simply subscribe to the atrafanaSchool mailing list.
To learn flamenco guitar technique via a structured curriculum:
Total Training
To access the tutorials on the video, you need to click on the card links that pop up at the relevant sections of the music. Just watch the upper right hand corner of the video screen.
Or you can check out the following list of videos that cover the entire piece:
01 - Arpeggio Exercise - 30 - Aires de Linares (Taranta) INTRO by Paco de Lucia
02 - Mixed Technique Exercise - 20 - Aires de Linares (Taranta) by Paco de Lucia
03 - Flamenco Tremolo Exercise - 22 Aires de Linares (Taranta) by Paco de Lucia
04 - Arpeggio Exercise - 31 - Aires de Linares (Taranta) by Paco de Lucia
05 - Mixed Technique Exercise - 21 - Aires de Linares (Taranta) FINALE by Paco de Lucia
What is toque-libre (free form)?
Or how to play Taranta
A piece written in the free-form does not follow a predetermined compas and it cannot be transcribed into notation using the common meters of 4/3 or 4/4, or any other. Because the musical phrases in such a piece do not stick to a cyclical beat count. Some go on for a whole page while others last for a few notes.
It is possible to argue that the flamenco free-form is similar to the cadence sections of classical music where the musician is at liberty to play the notes however they wish. The cadence in this instance is a short break from the music where the musician showcases their virtuosity.
In flamenco, the following palos fall under the free-form category:
- Granaina
- Taranta
- Minera
- Rondena
Each of these has very distinct musical qualities that sets it apart from other palos. However, rhythmical structure is not part of the criteria that defines it as such. Because of this, the tonality proves significant in identifying free-form palos. Granaina, for example, is written in Em. I guess it could be possible to try different keys por granaina but then the piece becomes really difficult to identify as granaina unless you make an effort to bring forward other features that resonate with the traditional renditions of the palo.
Due to the lack (or the blurry nature) of llamadas, remates, cierres, it is much harder to observe separate falsetas in a free-form piece.
As a teacher, I introduce free-form much later in my training as it demands a wholesome understanding of the flamenco guitar music. In that sense it is easier to play a buleria than, say, a minera.
If you pose the question of "how to play taranta” to the gypsies and native flamencos, they say that it is the "aire" that defines the palo in toque-libre. I am sure this makes a lot of sense for people born into this music. But for players like myself who approach flamenco with a ruler :-) mimicry is essential. In other words, to understand a free form palo, I must pick the recorded instance of a good composition and try to play it exactly as its master plays it.
Among the free form palos, Taranta is the darkest and most mysterious. I have read in several different sources that the palo was created by people who worked underground in coal mines. I cannot be 100% sure if this is the case but one can definitely hear the darkness and a sense of being lost when listening to a taranta.
Aires de Linares is Paco’s second taranta where many of the ideas for his later masterpiece Fuente y Caudal were born. I consider Aires de Linares to be the quintessential taranta piece that contains everything about the palo. It also has a rhythmical part that incorporates the more groovy rendition of the palo know as taranto.
The Aires de Linares video tutorials focus on various flamenco guitar techniques such as pulgar, arpeggio, picado, free stroke, alzapua, and rasgueado.
For free flamenco guitar lessons, simply subscribe to the atrafanaSchool mailing list.
To learn flamenco guitar technique via a structured curriculum:
Total Training