Designing a Practice Schedule to Build Flamenco Repertoire

Guitarists know there is no one perfectly designed practice schedule. A schedule should challenge and inform, question, refresh and enliven the music we live and aspire to find ourselves in. If I aim, to be an accompaniment guitarist to a singer or dancer, I need to solidify technique, memory of cante and simply execute, which is at the end of the day the only thing between practice and performance well done.

Here are some steps I've taken to bring my practice material to the stage.

1. Tagging video resources and files for study is one way to build the skills required for performance, at least on a solo level, before bringing the material to perform, for example., the accompaniment class.

2. Playing - drills, each part of the palo, take Solea - drill arpeggio, rasgueos, escobilla, intro, falseta. Alternating daus. Test with a metronome and compas timer like Solo Compas. However, it is not necessary to start outright with scales. It can be plain yucky to start your day with drills. This isn't the military!

3. Recording   take notes, mark dates in the filename, see what gaps need to be filled when compared with goals or some template used to study the palo. I noticed when playing soleá I can better emphasize the downstrokes on three which anchor the compás and provide strength to the palo, which is often airy and arpeggiated. The downstroke on E on the three, is a natural counterbalance to the intricate, yet typical details in the song.

The hardest part may be to overcome the self-critical mode that can get in the way of completing a whole song structure - playing it without stopping. - forgiving mistakes. Identifying where drills could bring structure and reliability to your playing in those challenging parts and transitions, the falsetas that are mind and time-bending...it will all work out. Just listen, practice, break, repeat.