Flamenco Music Theory, Part 1a

This series of blog posts will introduce a little bit of theory that will go a long way toward an understanding Flamenco, Romani, Arabic, and Klezmer music.


Let’s learn a little music theory.This little bit of theory will go a long way toward an understanding Flamenco, Romani, Arabic, and Klezmer music. I will use the same notation in other posts to describe other Eastern European scales.

M2M is very interested in the sounds of Romani and Andalucian music. Julia Lynn Banzi (Banzi book), has a table listing the cantes gitanos as Alegrias (major key), Bulerias (Phrygian or major), Siguiriyas (Phrygian), Soleareas (Phrygian), Tangos (Spanish, not Argentine Phrygian), and Tientos (Phrygian). Under Cante Andaluz are listed Fandangos (Phrygian), Farruca (major and minor keys), Garotin (major and minor keys), and Sevillanas (major, minor, or Phrygian). Cantes Gitanos means Romani Songs.

With Phrygian being so prominent in all these types of tunes, maybe we should figure out what Phrygian mode means. In a series of Blog Posts, I'll show a way of thinking about musical scales using intervals, then describe how they appear in various genres of music, including Flamenco.