Compas Flamenco app good for
For anyone interested in studying the art of flamenco, or indeed learning to play it on guitar, it is essential to have a thorough understanding of the various rhythms or compas of this fascinating Spanish style of music. There are many apps available for your SmartPhone to illustrate these styles, and after much research I purchased Magnus Wangs Compas Flamenco metronome app. And I was not disappointed. as apps go, the price of $11.99 is steep, but is the going rate for this type of app, and is certainly worth it.
In spite of my comments below, which are offered as improvements and suggestions, I would certainly give this a 5/5 rating since it fulfills all its functions well, and to incorporate everything that could make it perfect would make it over-complicated and deserving of a much higher price tag. The app is supported by the authors website which presents a worthy description of the styles and categories of flamenco music as well as a good demo of the product, presented by the author, although I would have found the demo more user-friendly if the author had spent more time talking one through the various functions of the metronome rather than merely presenting the features. I found that I had to pause and repeat the demo frequently to get the feel of how it was operating, and, as described further below, the initial difficulty in understanding it was compounded by the presentation of the various variations of the basic metronome themes, which made it more confusing. I think that it would have been more productive if the functions were described in detail in terms of basic rhythms, and then illustrated by a few variations.
The app is presented in the style of a clock face with colored circles which illuminate consecutively as the beat rotates. The main accented beats are clearly presented in red, so are easy to follow. The time can be adjusted in order to enable one to follow the beat easily, and in fact, if one uses this app as a tool to learn the rhythms practically on the guitar, there is a neat feature which speeds up the rhythm gradually until one reaches ones maximum speed capacity. Be warned though that playing a selected style too slowly, makes it difficult to associate the beats with the tempo used in actual performances and can make it confusing.
The app includes the various rhythms in the basic style, accompanied by either hand clapping or cajon sound, which is a drum-like box often used as an accompanying instrument instead of hand claps. But trying to interpret the variations, which include off-beat hand clapping and silent accents, can lead to confusion, and one should stick to the basic rhythm and listen to it over and over again, whilst watching the pattern rotate, until it is firmly engrained in ones consciousness. Only then should one proceed to the various variations of hand clapping.
An important point is that flamenco rhythms are presented as segments of beats and the app provides for alternative settings for 12, 4 and 3 beats. Most rhythms are usually 12 beats long, but can often be better understood in terms of 6 beats and provision is made for both representations. In this respect, I found, as a trained musician used to the representation of music in terms of time signatures, that this was initially confusing to me - but is the recognized representation in all flamenco rhythms in order to best convey the off-beat accents. For example, taking the Seguiryas rhythm as an example, this is in a repeating 3/4, 6/8 rhythm which can be counted in a segment of 12 quaver beats, (the first bar in 3/4 time containing 6 quaver beats "one and two and three and" and the second bar in 6/8 time also containing 6 quaver beats, but with a shifted accent, "one and a two and a" - 12 quaver beats in all. So the whole segment can be expressed as 12 quavers over two bars as "one and two and three and, one and a two and a" from which it repeats again. This sequence can take some time to become ingrained and recognize. Furthermore, the Seguiryas usually starts on the 8th quaver beat which corresponds with the last whole note beat in the 3/4 bar (three and), so, renumbering the sequence from the 8th quaver beat, and thinking of each beat as a quaver represented by each word, it can be expressed as (imagine the hand of a watch) "eight and ten and twelve and a three and a six and" which repeats from 8 again. This concept has to be firmly understood, after which the metronome will become very clear.
What I found essential to mastering the rhythms, was to select a short performance of each style in its basic form, and listen to this in association with the app, in order to recognize the pattern. After a while it will become clear in ones mind and one will be able to interpret the various styles intuitively. Listening to professional performances and trying to establish the rhythm is more often than not confused by the virtuosity of the performer and the inclusion of falsetas - the short melodies between verses which are often improvised by the performer. So my suggestion to the author would be to include a representative selection of basic performed styles on his website, which can be used in association with the app to assist the learner.
The names of the various styles covers a wide area, and many styles are grouped under the same name. The author has categorized many of them on his website, but I had a little difficulty finding the appropriate category for some. For example, the well-known Seguidilla falls under the category of Seguiriya, and the Farucca, is classified under the 4 beat Tango. There is a lot of information on the web regarding the flamenco styles and definitions, if one is unsure.
A trivial point to note is that the user must be aware that the volume is controlled by the system volume control of the smart phone or PC, and if this is turned down or muted, the sound of the beats will not be heard.
Starting off as a flamenco dancer level 2 is hard to find the right song with the right beat to practice to. This app gives me the chance to find the beat I can practice to and slow it down or speed it up as my ability gets better or needs a slower review. Awesome!
I really like the app
Anyways, although its kinda minor, but in the rumba compass, sometimes the off beat which comes right after the strong beat comes not exactly on the time it should, try listen Quietly for about 30 seconds, youll notice that,
Maybe the tango and the rumba should not be in the same option even though they both have 4 beat cycle,
cuz the tango also might have a silent (1) variation..
Maybe you can add some exciting variations for the Rumba?
I really like to compose Rumbas, and I wasnt very happy about the fact that you only have one variation for it..
every thing is else is perfect, and I do recommend it.
I like the variation for the buleria, fandango, siguiriyas..
And I really hope that you focus more on Rumba and Tangos.
