Flamenco Guitar Workshop with Leah Kruszewski - Starts Jan. 26

The Spanish folk art flamenco offers a wealth of inspiration for guitarists of any background. Solea, a fundamental flamenco song form, features profound and haunting harmonies and beautiful melodies. In this course, we will explore the sounds, techniques, and rhythms of flamenco in the context of Solea. Each class will introduce one particular technique and apply that technique to a falseta (a short guitar solo). Students who take the whole course will finish with a full-length solo arrangement of Solea. Students interested in one or two particular techniques are welcome to drop in on the classes that interest them most. For classical guitarists: learning flamenco is a great way to strengthen your classical guitar playing. Classical guitar uses the right hand fingers primarily in a contracting motion (moving the fingers toward the palm of the hand). Flamenco techniques like rasgueados and alzapua extend the fingers away from the palm and develop the opposing muscles. Incorporating a few key flamenco techniques into your playing will balance out your classical technique, strengthen your sound, and help you avoid strains. There is no required text - flamenco is typically taught by rote, so students can review material through videos.

COURSE STRUCTURE

Class 1: Rasgueados and Compás (rhythm)

Rasgueados are the flamenco version of strumming – they use different right hand finger combinations to create various rhythmic effects. We will begin with some introductory rasgueados and the basics of flamenco's 12-beat compás (rhythm) in the context of Solea.

Class 2: The thumb

Flamenco guitarists use their thumbs in unique and surprisingly effective ways. We will cover the essentials of thumb movement in flamenco and apply them to a falseta of Solea.

Class 3: Arpeggios

Every style of guitar has different ideals for how an arpeggio should sound. We'll learn how to make various right-hand arpeggios embody flamenco aesthetics and put that knowledge in practice with Solea.

Class 4: Picado (flamenco rest stroke)

​Flamenco melodies and climactic scales owe their brilliant, powerful sounds to the picado technique, a way of playing with alternating index and middle fingers. We will go over some tips for developing a rapid and well-controlled picado and learn picado falseta for Solea.

Class 5: Alzapua (flamenco strumming with the thumb)

Another one of flamenco's unique uses of the thumb. We'll learn how alzapua works, how to fit it into compás, and how to use it in the context of Solea.

Class 6: Flamenco Tremolo

Flamenco tremolo uses five right-hand finger strokes (p i a m i) to give the illusion of a sustained melody. Learn how to develop a fast and fluid tremolo and incorporate it into a falseta for Solea.

Class 7: Arranging Flamenco Solos – especially for students who enrolled in the whole course!

We'll gather all your Solea falsetas together and discuss how to arrange them into a coherent solo. There are always lots of different ways to arrange the same material, so every student will end the course with his or her own unique arrangement of Solea.

ABOUT LEAH KRUSZEWSKI

2018 Teacher of the Year!

Flamenco and classical guitarist Leah Kruszewski loves introducing young beginners to their first songs, helping adult students rediscover their inner musician, and guiding classical and flamenco players in advanced, specialized study. Leah accompanies flamenco singers and dancers in Seville, Spain and travels regularly to the USA for festivals and performances.

A native of Richmond, Virginia (USA), Leah studied classical guitar at Virginia Commonwealth University and performed extensively as a soloist and in local classical and world music ensembles. She founded and led the flamenco-inspired ensemble Sueños Gitanos and has been co-directing and performing in VCU's Flamenco Festival since its inception. While living in Richmond, Leah also played in the Portuguese fado group Fado Nosso and the Richmond Guitar Quartet (classical guitar). She moved to Seville, Spain in 2013, where she studied flamenco guitar at the Fundación Cristina Heeren and has since made performing flamenco guitar and teaching online guitar lessons her two primary pursuits.