The Metric Matrices of Flamenco: An Approach through Hand Clapping.

These 18 audio clips are referred to in the following article:Jiménez de Cisneros Puig, Bernat. "The Metric Matrices of Flamenco: An Approach through Hand Clapping" in K. Meira Goldberg, Walter Clark, and Antoni Pizà, eds., Spaniards, Natives, Africans, and Roma: Transatlantic Malagueñas and Zapateados in Music, Song, and Dance, (Castle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, forthcoming). Audio 1 Audio 2 Audio 3 Audio 4 Audio 5 Audio 6 Audio 7 Audio 8 Audio 9 Audio 10 Audio 11 Audio 12 Audio 13 Audio 14 Audio 15 Audio 16 Audio 17 Audio 18

Workshops (winter 2016)

Aquí tenéis la información detallada de los talleres que voy a impartir entre enero y marzo de este año. La inscripción está abierta, con precios muy económicos y una oferta variada de Flamenco, con varios niveles (guitarra, palmas, combo, introducción...).

1. Did you know that…

1 ... SEVILLANA and FANDANGO DE HUELVA are flamenco genres that share exactly the same metric structure? And that this structure is not just a triple time, but a superposition of ternary and binary meters in units of 6 beats?

It forms a polymeter, a combination of different meters in the same rhythmic phrase. Polymeter is an essential part of flamenco language, and is also present in such iconic genres as BULERÍA.
And a music resource that leads us to redefine concepts such as single meter and compound meter, according to the metric structure of music rooted in traditional dances.

2. Did you know that…

2 ... in SOLEÁ and ALEGRÍA there is a metric overlap which actually explains why flamenco artists give the number 1 to the second beat of the measure? ¿Or that the original metric correlation between SOLEÁ and SIGUIRIYA is, in fact, two metric cycles of Siguiriya for every one of Soleá?

In this regard, a clear distinction between metrical accent and rhythmical accent is needed, barely noticed in treaties of musical theory but essential for a proper analysis of music of oral tradition like Flamenco.
It is also necessary to state a definition of sesquialter beat pulse, the hallmark of a group of genres including SIGUIRIYA, GUAJIRA, PETENERA and FANDANGO ABANDOLAO, which makes cycles of 5 beats equivalent in length to cycles of 6, as well as cycles of 9, 10 or 11 beats to cycles of 12.

3. Did you know that…

3 ... TANGUILLO DE CÁDIZ is based on a subtle polyrhythm, a sort of swing which goes far beyond the simple 2/4 time signature? ¿And that the genre known as TIENTO is basically a very slow recreation of this swing?

For a proper distinction of flamenco genres in terms of musical meter, it is necessary to classify them through an analysis of pulse levels, such as the one displayed by Argentinian musicologist Silvia Malbrán in "El oído de la mente" ("The ear of the mind").
Thereby, for example, we will see that there are in fact 4 types of meter subdivision in Flamenco: binary, ternary, in triplets, and even an irregular one..

4. Did you know that …

4 ... harmony (the harmonic mode) is one of the three keys, together with meter and tempo, for distinguishing just by hearing the different 'palos' or flamenco genres?

Concepts such as the harmonic ostinato –introduced in Flamencology by the musicologist Faustino Núñez– and the metric formula enable a graphic expression of the essence of each flamenco genre.
In this regard, we establish some flamenco harmony principles according to Manolo Sanlúcar’s thesis, in order to unveil the 'sound story' implicit in the so called flamencan cadence.

5. Did you know that…

5 ... flamenco music is organised like any spoken language, with its grammar and syntax?

Indeed, in flamenco guitar playing there is a set of rules or guidelines when articulating musical sentences (called variations and 'falsetas') that show a true musical syntax.
From that point of view, it becomes easier to understand unique flamenco resources such as 'bulería rota' (broken bulería) or 'medio compás' (half metric cycle).

Artículo publicado en la revista OMNIA

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