Flamenco Guitar Techniques in the Music of Joaquin Rodrigo

ABSTRACT This treatise is intended to examine some of Joaquin Rodrigo's most well-known compositions for guitar from the perspective of the classical guitarist performer and pedagogue with flamenco guitar experience. This is a rare case as often a classical guitarist does not play flamenco guitar and vice versa. It is from this angle that the material is investigated. The paper looks at the classical and flamenco guitars also from a physical perspective to reveal differences between the two instruments. The final goal is to show that Rodrigo's music for the classical guitar employs various techniques that are borrowed from the flamenco guitar tradition and to describe these techniques to the classical guitarist while looking at how these techniques would be performed by a flamenco guitarist; some of these techniques are sometimes overlooked by classical guitarists. Ultimately, this analysis sheds some light on this subject, and on the flamenco guitar tradition, its practices, and its music which inspired Rodrigo. The paper also discusses fundamentals of style found in the composer's works, and other similar aspects that make his approach to composition, particularly for the guitar, unique.