Good news, we all said more or less when art flamenco could have had an optional subject in the third year of compulsory secondary education under the legislative regulations. This is provided for by the Ministry of Education from the Andalusian Government. Good news.
I, who have never advocated such a thing as such, but rather an interdisciplinary vision and practice, was also very pleased, of course. Well, one of the things that every subject needs is a good manual, a textbook. After thirty-five years of teaching in secondary school, and another one in primary school, I have always considered it necessary to have a good book, a guide for both teachers and students.
The Music Teacher Jerome Utrilla He gives us a manual book entitled culture of Flamenco, very well edited by the Sevillian publishing house Allegory In 2024, it's XNUMX pages, truly well-organized, with a wealth of information presented as it should be at these educational levels, in a user-friendly way, so that you'll read it almost without realizing it. To this end, the book is structured into three basic blocks, each containing several lessons.
Block one, The fundamentals of flamenco, brings us closer, on the one hand, to the origins and history of flamenco, that is, to the cultural fusion in Andalusia, the background of the flamenco and its birth and stages, and, on the other hand, its styles or palos, classified into families, those of the tonás, seguiriya, soleá, fandangos, tangos and cantes flamencos.
The second analyses, on the one hand, the musical characteristics of the flamenco, basic for the subject related to Music. Thus, we will see the cante flamenco, the dance flamenco, the guitar touch, the flamenco musical form and the elements of musical language flamenco –harmony, melody and rhythm–. On the other hand, the lyrics of the flamenco and literature, which brings us closer to letters and their stanzas, vocabulary, rhetorical figures and themes, as well as to writers and poets, such as Manuel Machado y Lorca, which have been inspired by the flamenco.
The third focuses, firstly, on instruments, clothing and dissemination of the flamenco, that is, aspects such as flamenco percussion, new instruments, the luthier's trade or flamenco clothing, and, secondly, in the flamenco as cultural heritage, that is, its international recognition, institutions for its conservation and dissemination, festivals, peñas, contests, tablaos, the media and the Internet or films and documentaries in the cinema.
«Jerónimo Utrilla, Music teacher, is a well-known expert in teaching music palmas flamenco, with other books in his career and many courses and conferences behind him. We applaud him for alegrías and bulerías, for his deep involvement and his splendid work. Among the manuals that are emerging dedicated to teaching this style of flamenco, flamenco will occupy a prominent place"
A section entitled is added Pure practice!, Practices of palmas flamenco, dedicated to the palmas for sevillanas and fandangos, the palmas through tangos, rumbas and tanguillos and, finally, the palmas for soleá, alegrías and bulerías. To learn to play the palmas, come on, pure practice, pure joy of getting involved in the rhythm and beats of the flamenco.
En this link, Soniquete App, we can see how the author develops this activity:
Finally, the book brings together three learning situations for these three practices, with a very interesting and collective proposal: having students prepare a performance with their teacher through subsequent rehearsals.
As you can see, there's a lot of good stuff. Theory, just enough, and plenty of practice, as each block includes questions and various exercises, especially listening and commenting on certain topics. canteand viewing of specialist dances. The highlights, such as the so-called Did you know…?, make reading more enjoyable and improve learning, to know, for example, what is the touch above or below, the cantes back and forth or the roots of the fandango. Very interesting aspects such as the structure and classification of the cantes, of the dance, the verses of the lyrics, its history or development, its musical characteristics, etc., will be before us with the complement of color images, timely QR or basic diagrams, thus achieving a truly necessary and interesting manual, which will surely bring, and very well, the flamenco to schoolchildren.
Let's see one of the canteto the one who invites us, I'm flying, Camarón, from the already legendary album the legend of time:
Congratulations, then, to its editors and to Jerónimo Utrilla, music professor, a well-known expert in teaching the palmas flamencos, with other books in his career, such as El flamenco one learns, and many courses and conferences under his belt, as well as articles, which we applaud, never better said, for joys and bulerías, for his deep involvement and his splendid work. Among the manuals that are emerging dedicated to this teaching of flamenco will occupy a prominent place.
Here is a link to the author's website to learn more about him:
https://flamencopalmas.com/jeronimo-utrilla-biografia/
→ Jerónimo Utrilla, culture of flamenco, Seville, Alegoría Publishing House, 2024
