MUSI242
song (as heard in the intro and after the first
two choruses) was difficult to transpose
into 12/8. I addressed this issue by adding
a short, four-beat long phrase to the end of
the riff. It also uses the raised sixth note of
the scale, alluding to the dorian nature of
the solo. I made sure that the tempo was
as fast as possible, as it is one of the main
features of flamenco music.
the start and end of the melodic phrases
were suspensions on the beat, or notes
belonging to the tonic chord but off the beat.
The majority of the song is based around
the A harmonic minor scale, whereas the
original song alternates between A major
and mixolydian. As most flamenco music
is minor in tonality (or modal in a similar
fashion), I altered the chord structure
accordingly. The chorus chord structure is
also altered greatly. I took inspiration from
the tradition of modulation in flamenco often pieces change the mode or scale
they are using. My tonality modulates to the
subdominant of D minor, using the raised
third of A minor. The chorus chord structure
also implies another modulation to the
subdominant, beginning with a transition
from Dm-D7-Gm. However, it resolves the
phrase on A7, clearly bringing the chorus
back to D minor. On the repeat of the
chorus, the phrase ends with Bb-E7, clearly
signifying a modulation back to A minor for
the verse.
I attempted to use typical instrumentation.
Flamenco as a genre tends not to use a
wide variety of instruments, with percussion
normally being provided by clapping, and
instrumentation never straying too far
from a group of Spanish/classical guitars.
Unfortunately, as I was unable to acquire
one of these I had to use a steel-stringed
acoustic guitar. I attempted to use EQ in
Logic to bring out the warmer tones to fix this
problem, as nylon-stringed guitars sound
wider and less bright than my acoustic
guitar. The clapping was also sequenced in
Logic using one of the percussion presets.
I used two different tracks to do the two
separate palmas, to make sure that the
parts sounded clearly separate. I also
changed the velocity of the clapping parts
to make them sound as human as possible.
I then opted to use the dorian mode for the
bridge, a common mode used in flamenco
music. I cut back the presence of the
rhythm guitar in the bridge, changing the
playing style to finger picking rather than
full chords. The tonality is also fixed around
the tonic note of A, with variations upon the
chord belonging to the dorian mode.
I replaced the bridge of the song with
a variation on the verses, to have an
instrumental song, as is common in
flamenco songs; many focus entirely on the
instrumental virtuosity of the performers,
so I considered it important to have a
section in which the main guitar part was
the focus of the music. I was limited at this
point, however, by my lack of training in the
flamenco guitar style. I was able to make
up for this by using the relevant modes
and stylistic features to make my playing
sound as close to the style as possible. I
decided to do the solo improvised as well,
in keeping with the tradition of flamenco
guitar style - this worked well overall, aside
from some occasional chromatic mistakes. I
attempted to take inspiration from flamenco
guitarists such as Rodrigo y Gabriela and
Paco de Lucia, which inspired me to use
a variety of upwards and downwards scalic
passages, and ornamentations such as
trills and mordents. I also found that often
I found the vocal technique quite difficult
to emulate, especially seeing as I was
somewhat ill at the time of recording.
However, I noted that the most important
stylistic features were similar to the guitar’s.
This meant during scalic phrases I would
endeavour to use mordents and turns. I
also attempted to use vibrato on longer
notes. My main sources of inspiration
for the vocal style was the Gypsy Kings,
whom I have listened to from a young age,
so I am familiar with the vocal qualities of
flamenco singing. I think the vocals would
have worked better in Spanish, which I
endeavoured to do. However, as a nonSpanish speaker, I found it difficult to figure
out where to place the syllables and also
how to accurately pronounce some words.
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