【道與術】125音樂會後藝團成員的反思分享系列 [6] - 周瓊蕾

A Reflection on the 125 Homage to Paco Peña Flamenco Concert

What a wonderful evening with attentive audiences and supportive team!!! The Homage to Paco Peña Flamenco Concert 2023 marks another major milestone of my thousand-mile Flamenco learning journey. The experience is memorable.

When I got to know this June that I was arranged to play my own song “ Sunset Beauty”(a palo of Sevillanas) which I had yet completed the rest of the three Coplas for the song, I shift my daily focus to get the whole piece ready for the concert. I finalized my song in October, albeit some unexpected loads of advisory and academic supervisory work in the last quarter of the year.

When I composed my song, I first increased my familiarity with the scale of each of the rest of the three Palos like what I did for A major. I then tried to have each additional Palo harmonized with each other to make the song sound more coherent. With Au Sir’s feedback, I had harmonic scale to go with A minor and further fined tune the melodic line and compás. I dared not to use many barre chord because I did not want to make the first piece too difficult especially for performance, although I knew barre chord has greater harmonic effect. Hurray! I made it at the end of October.

With further feedback from Au Sir, I practised to try to make clearer differentiation between the high and low pitch when playing the rasgueado. I was asked to present a story about how I came up with my song. In additional, I was informed that I would be part of the M.C. for the show, so I re-scheduled my time to balance my energy attempting to have each part done appropriately. At this point, guitar – the concert becomes a serious project because it was not just for myself but also for the Los Duende.

During the course of rehearsal, I got more acquainted with the team. Thanks to the senior members who provided support to me especially when I was in uncontrollable embarrassing moment during my first rehearsal. My nervousness caused trembling in my hand and partly freeze-up my fingers. The Cajon and Palmas accompaniment from Sylvia and Angela right after my first rehearsal immediately helped me to regain confident. What really helped to reduce my nervousness was when the senior members acted as my audiences. All these enabled me to deliver my piece in the second rehearsal. Thanks to Mok who showed me some proper technical skill and hand position. I truly felt the inclusion in Los Duende.

The last rehearsal was taken place in the studio theatre. I felt more relieved because at least I was able to control my nerves and finished my piece, although it was not perfect. The imperfection served as a strong signal for improvement and acquiring more experience from open event.

As for my M.C. presentation, thanks to Raymond’s immediately feedback for content enhancement and time control. Thanks to Yu for pairing me up the M.C. part.

I like the photo taken during ‘Para Mi Amigos” and “Today” because everyone seemed much more relax and enjoying the stage. Also, I love the background picture.

∮Video : 【Homage to Paco Peña Concert 2023】Helen Chau Flamenco solo《美麗夕陽紅》(Sunset Beauty)

After the concert, I am aware that I need continue to strengthen my technical skill and muscle strength. Revisit previous fundamental exercise perhaps is in need. As for my song, I was not shy to show my first composed piece, though I know my song cannot yet be compared with any of the master pieces. Regardless, I am proud of being able to make another step forward.

As Raymond mentioned previously, my song could be drastically different by applying other skill, melody and chords. I hope this experience can enable me to create a more sophisticated piece in the future; this requires synchronization of my skills. To myself, keep up! At the same time, I ask myself – apart from my own practice, what’s next?

For this event, I appreciate the patient of Raymond and the accommodation of the Flamenco team. All words from them are full of support and encouragement. Their understanding for someone like me who is still green in the field is superb.

Thank YOU, Raymond again to provide such a great opportunity; the experience is invaluable. Thanks again to everyone, SK, Sylvia, Joy, Angela, Yu, Ben and Pauline for the team work and support! I also want to thank the support crew for managing the stage and shooting video for us.

Finally, I sincerely hope Raymond’s initiative and his team’s coordinated effort gain a larger population to get to know more about The Art of Flamenco Guitar music. Olé!

Helen Chau

17 Dec 2023