Blog hub
Musical Learning
Guides, tutorials and, above all, the why behind things. What I know, I share — and if you want to go further, EMTI Fervienza is there.
-
EssayThe payuela, the soul of the Asturian gaita
Why the Asturian gaita's payuela has the length it has, explained from Pelayo Fernández's 2014 analysis, with the real case of the C punteru. And why making and fitting your own payuela was, for generations, a skill as necessary as playing itself.
-
EssayThe photo that named the school
I thought I already knew everything my family name meant. While researching a piece on the musicians of the valley, I found a photo that changed my mind — and ended up naming something I had just founded.
-
TutorialHow to tune the roncón of the Asturian gaita, step by step
How to tune the roncón of the Asturian gaita step by step: how to slide its pieces to adjust the octave against the punteru, when the reed is the culprit and not the tube, and what to do before every session.
-
EssayThe Bear Dance: it sounds medieval, but it arrived forty years ago
The Bear Dance sounds like old music, almost medieval, but it is neither Asturian by origin nor old: it reached Asturies in 1984. The datable story of how a Central European polka became ours, and why it is the tune that beginners on the gaita enjoy most.
-
GuideHow many notes does the Asturian bagpipe have? From traditional roots to chromatic chanter
The Asturian bagpipe doesn't start where most people expect: its note map begins on the low B and climbs all the way up to the requintu F. A journey from the diatonic scale of its roots to the chromatic chanter studied today at the Conservatorio Superior.
-
EssayCHALGA: 3D lutherie and a printed gaita-learning flute, the XIBLA
What CHALGA was, my 3D lutherie workshop in Teverga, and the XIBLA: a 3D-printed flute with the fingering of the Asturian gaita, to learn without buying a whole gaita. Why I joined gaita and technology.
-
TutorialThe punteru: first notes step by step, on video
The punteru of the Asturian gaita and your first notes, step by step and on video: posture, scale and fingering through my series «Your first songs», which teaches the notes by playing real pieces from C to B.
-
TutorialHow to start playing the Asturian gaita from scratch
The real first steps to play the Asturian gaita from scratch: what you need, where to begin, the typical mistakes and what to honestly expect in the first months.
-
GuideTraditional Asturian repertoire: where to start
Where to start with the traditional Asturian repertoire: what kinds of piece there are, in what order to listen to them, and which to take on first if you play the Asturian gaita.
Nothing here yet. Try another word — or drop me a line and I'll cover it.