> Grisha mentioned on the flamenco forum that he couldn't quite get Conde's speed, but close!  Interestingly, over there they had compared Conde's position to Grisha's (and Sabicas'), as opposed to Paco's.

> On Tuesday, September 18, 2012 12:51:26 AM UTC-7, Richard Jernigan wrote:

> > On Tuesday, September 18, 2012 2:42:58 AM UTC-5, Richard Jernigan wrote:

> > > On Monday, September 17, 2012 3:02:23 PM UTC-5, Murdick wrote:

> > > > On Monday, September 17, 2012 12:54:46 PM UTC-5, Cactus Wren wrote:

> > > > > Kent,

> > > > > please see this video, around 4:50 and then go back to your sax playing.

> > > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fqwOqWvqnlw#!

> > > > > On Monday, September 17, 2012 9:01:48 AM UTC-7, Murdick wrote:

> > > > > > On Sunday, September 16, 2012 10:08:42 PM UTC-5, JPD wrote:

> > > > > > > On Sunday, September 16, 2012 5:36:02 PM UTC-7, Murdick wrote:

> > > > > > > > Ahh, the joys of basic research.

> > > > > > > I've been doing some basic research on i-m alternation with a cool camera that captures 1,000 frames per second. Not very expensive, either, for such a video camera. Got it new from Japan through eBay.

> > > > > > > What I'm watching in particular are the differences between i and m. My m is fantastic. I'm trying to get it to teach my i. But they are very different fingers. In particular, i at rest is much more extended than m at rest. In Arpeggios, I think my i would be happier playing one string higher than m, rather than lower, frankly.

> > > > > > > The problem at the moment is that, compared with m, i has to flex several degrees tighter (away from midrange) in order to play the next-lower string in an arpeggio. In a fast, continuous arpeggio, this encourages i to accumulate tension. It has to do more flexing than m to hit the string, and it tends to want to *stay* flexed. Mine does, anyway. m is much more relaxed, doing all of its work cloer to midrange.

> > > > > > > The same goes for i-m alternation on a single string. i hardly has time to return to midrange before it has to turn around and flex again. The only way to get it to relax all the way out to midrange is to greatly overshoot the string on return.

> > > > > > > I'm guessing that when I was decades younger and a hot player, my i was conditioned to be more relaxed in a more flexed position. (Shearer's "prepared" position.) Nowadays, when my i returns to the prepared position, it's not relaxed at all. I have to extend it quite a bit farther to get to its relaxed midrange. So it's way out of position, or so it feels.

> > > > > > > I was looking at some slo-mo video of an older Yamashita the other day. He was playing blazing fast i-m alternation, and I noticed he was really overshooting the return with i. Taking a BIG swing with i, compared with m. "Swinging from the heels," as they say in baseball. I wonder if that's something he developed as he got older.

> > > > > > > Anyway, it's interesting fooling around with this slo-mo video cam. Basic research.

> > > > > > Ok, you will be on my list of people to send a video to. It could be that a problem with 'm' affects 'i'.  That is due to 'm''s lack of independence from 'i', tension builds and both fingers begin to lose coordination. Even though my 'i' has good independence 'm', as I speed up, the whole im complex tenses up and 'i' starts getting quirky.

> > > > Cactus says, "Kent,

> > > > please see this video, around 4:50 and then go back to your sax playing."

> > > > A) he's playing folk music

> > > Javier is playing a piece by Agustin Castellon Campos "Sabicas" a sophisticated composer, though probably technically illiterate in music. Sabicas claimed he did not read or write musical notation, though for someone of his talent, this was unnecessary to develop beautifully balanced compositions of several minutes length.

> > > Javier has copped the piece off a recording, pretty accurately. The recording is just a snapshot of Sabicas's continually evolving compositions in this genre, known as soleá. There are a multitude of sub-genres of soleá. Sabicas was proficient in all of them as an accompanist of dancers, of singers, and as a soloist. This is not :folk music in the sense of simple stuff handed down over generations. It is a sophisticated composition by a master, but Sabicas never played a piece the same way twice. It was always evolving.

> > >  Javier, good as he is, doesn't convey the nuances of Sabicas's playing.

> > > > B) he may (or may not) be tearing himself up.

> > > Whether Javier is tearing himself up remains to be seen. His technique differs a bit from Sabicas, who remained a virtuoso player into his late seventies. Javier's i-m technique is a little more like Paco de Lucia's than Sabicas's. Paco is 65 and still smokin'.

> > > > Now I will go back to my saxophone, which is getting better, BTW.Here's an

> > > Here's another dose of flamenco from Grisha Goryachev, a graduate of the New England Conservatory and student of Eliot Fisk. But he was playing concerts with his father in Russia when he was 12, or maybe younger, already with that machine-gun i-m speed.

> > > This is a piece by Paco de Lucia. It is more like jazz than Sabicas's through-composed stuff--a sequence of variations on a chord progression and metric pattern.

> > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMCak0-0WNw&feature=player_embedded

> > > RNJ

> > We saw Grisha at an Austin Classical Guitar Society concert at a private house Saturday night, with an audience of about 65. He and jeremy Mouffe played both flamenco and classical and brought the house down, with two standing ovations.

> > When we talked to Grisha afterwards he said he wasn't feeling particularly well. He had his doubts about the performance, but once he got into it he forgot about having the flu. Technically he was as good as the video, but for a live audience there was more expression and passion.

> > RNJ