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‘Learn flamenco
cajón’ and ‘Practice flamenco cajón’,
by Guillermo McGill. Special feature
Intensive course in
flamenco cajón...
in the comfort of your own home
Martín Guijarro, October 2004
Thirty years after Rubem Dantas introduced the instrument
from Peru, the cajón, or box drum, is firmly established
as one of the basic elements of flamenco. Over these years
it gradually sought out a place for itself in amongst the
standard percussion for this music, somewhere between the
clapping hands and stomping feet. And now Uruguayan musician
Guillermo McGill and musicologist Faustino Núñez
- author of the ‘Comprende flamenco’ educational
materials - put their heads together and came up with their
newly released method for cajón flamenco on two DVDs.
‘Aprende el cajón flamenco’ and ‘Practica
el cajón flamenco’ together make up a complete
‘course’ which, starting out at a basic level,
provides an initiation in playing cajón, helping the
student to understand flamenco 'compás' and apply this
knowledge of rhythm to everything they play. ‘Aprende
el cajón flamenco’, as its name suggests, is
all about learning the basics, and contains everything you
need to know about theory, the basics of percussion, exercises
and compás. ‘Practica el cajón flamenco’
offers the student a chance to practice, playing a set alongside
a group featuring cantaora Eva
Durán and bailaora Ana
Salazar. The whole course is presented in Spanish, English,
French, German and Japanese, and utilizes advanced features
of DVD reproduction like the 'change camera angle' option,
so you can always keep the object of your interest in full
view: the cajón.
Guillermo McGill (frame
from 'Aprende
el cajón flamenco')
‘Learn flamenco cajón’
Before you start watching the DVD ‘Aprende el cajón
flamenco’, it's a good idea to browse through the accompanying
booklet, to familiarize yourself with the structure and make
the best use of it. Its more than fifty pages translated into
Spanish, English, French, German and Japanese, fully explain
the content of the DVD. To begin with, there's a brief history
of the cajón from its Peruvian origins up until its
incorporation into flamenco's standard instrumentation. Following
this is the ‘DVD accompanying notes’, providing
additional musical explanations of each of the chapters covering
cajón technique: sounds, the basics, exercises... There
are also texts referring to the intense section on ‘Flamenco
compás on the cajón’. In addition, the
booklet features biographical material for the featured artists.
And, at the end, there’s an appendix containing a sheet
music transcript of the exercises - with the score and the
names of the notes. There's also an annex with recommended
playlist containing albums notable for the outstanding
contribution made by the cajón and featuring, among
others, recording gems such as ‘Sólo quiero caminar'
by Paco de Lucía and ‘Tauromagia’ by Manolo
Sanlúcar.
The best way to watch the DVD is sitting on a cajón
with the remote control by your side and the screen straight
in front. Coincidentally, Guillermo McGill is left-handed,
so right-handed players have the advantage that the image
they see on screen should be like watching their mirror image.
This makes it all the more simple to copy the movements. Once
you get the hang of the basics (posture, positioning of hands,
sounds, different ways of playing, etc.), then it's time to
get busy. The cajón method presents a total of thirteen
different ‘rudiments’ - basic percussion exercises
to polish your technique, that can be practiced at your own
speed and with as much repetition as you need. The eight sections
on practice exercises which follow are aimed at encouraging
the student to try out combinations of the rudiments, with
increasing levels of difficulty.
Experienced percussionists might want to skip directly to
the chapter entitled ‘Learn flamenco compás on
the cajón’. The aim of this section is to have
the student apply their acquired knowledge of percussion to
standard rhythms and the musical idiosyncrasies of each flamenco
form or ‘palo’. It's presented in three blocks:
2/4 or 4/4 forms (tangos, tientos, farruca, garrotín...),
3/4 or 6/8 forms (fandangos, sevillanas, jaleos...) and styles
with a mixed compás (soleá, seguiriyas, alegrías,
bulerías...). Each one comprises an explanation of
the theory (analyzing the musical score and with a voiceover
providing an explanation), a breakdown of the styles with
theoretical explanation and practical demonstration, and more
exercises. To aid students, the compás is always chanted
(for example: 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2 1-2 1-2) while the guide moves
over the subtitled musical score. The repertoire of styles
studied is more than ample, and the analysis is in-depth.
From this point on the student has to choose the level of
immersion they feel ready for. To broaden ones knowledge a
little more, there's an additional chapter, which takes a
brief look at other percussion instruments that have a place
in flamenco: drums and the derbuka. To learn both, though,
you need an additional course. The DVD also contains additional
material including an interview with the teacher and a short
hall of fame of musicians past and present, outstanding for
their contribution on cajón.
Guillermo McGill (frame from 'Practica
el cajón flamenco')
‘Practice flamenco cajón’
Guillermo McGill's method is complemented with the DVD ‘Practica
el cajón flamenco’. This video presentation contains
a set featuring seven essential flamenco styles (bulerías,
alegrías, bulerías por soleá, seguiriyas,
tangos, tanguillos and rumba), performed live by a first-class
flamenco group comprising cantaores Eva Durán and La
Tremendita, guitarist José Luis Ordóñez,
bailaora Ana Salazar and, of course, Guillermo McGill on cajón.
All in casual dress - I mean we are in the rehearsal studio...
The idea is to offer the student a chance to apply the knowledge
gained from the DVD ‘Learn flamenco cajón’,
by joining a genuine flamenco group. To make studying even
easier, there are options to ‘change camera angle’,
in other words to choose the angle of the main shot, or to
watch the film with a simultaneous close-up of the cajón.
In addition, there is an option to lower the volume of McGill's
cajón so that the student can play along himself and
see how the group reacts. This way the ‘cajonero’
can get a first-hand experience of the relationship the cajón
enjoys with the guitarist, with the percussion of the bailaor's
feet, with the vocalist, and even with the handclaps of the
'palmeros' in live flamenco. Talent, though, is something
everyone has to come up with themselves...
Frame
gallery (Click the images to enlarge) |
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| Recommended
playlist on the DVD ‘Learn flamenco cajón’ |
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magazine@flamenco-world.com
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