Blog hub
The gaita player's craft
What a gaita player does besides playing: the ceremonies, the instrument and its tuning, and the way of working. The craft told from the inside; and for anyone who wants to learn, there is a school: EMTI Fervienza.
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GuideWhat is the Asturian gaita mass
A Latin mass, sung in Asturian tonada style and accompanied by the gaita. What it is, where it comes from, how it sounds and why the Administration declared it a Bien de Interés Cultural in 2014. One of the oldest musical traditions of Asturias.
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TutorialThe pivot: the exercise my students use to memorise the notes of the Asturian gaita
I came up with this exercise years ago and I use it with all my students, at every level: you fix one note and alternate it with the others. This way you memorise the fingering of each note, learn to narrate the notes in your head while you play them, and gain the independence to play without sheet music.
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EssayHow we work at EMTI Fervienza
I designed my school so it doesn't depend on my schedule and the student's schedule lining up: recorded lessons, a platform that genuinely checks whether the student is progressing, and video tutorials that answer real questions and stay available for everyone. Here's how it works and why I built it this way.
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EssayMy gaita in C# by Chus Solís
I start the series on the luthiers I work with with myself. The first piece: why in 2018 I asked Chus Solís for a gaita in C#, a lesser-known key, chasing the same brightness in José Remis Ovalle's sound.
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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.
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EssayWhy bagpipes play at American funerals
Bagpipes at American funerals were not born of an aesthetic decision. They were born of the Great Famine, of the only jobs left to Irish and Scottish immigrants, and of a 1972 record that burned the image into the collective unconscious.
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GuideTuning the Asturian gaita: C, B flat, D and how to choose
The tunings of the Asturian gaita (C, B flat, D and others), what each one means, why there are several and how to choose yours according to what you plan to play.
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