The sound of castanets is instantly identifiable - outside Spain at least! - as flamenco. Flamenco purists dismiss castanets as not being "authentic", but in fact, there are a lot of things about modern flamenco that aren't authentic - so why pick on castanets?
Look carefully at the hand position in this clip:
If you want to play castanets well, you must get the hand position correct, right from the start. Most beginners start out all right, then quickly let their hands fall into a more comfortable - but less efficient - position. Get into that bad habit and you'll never master castanets!
The other mistake beginners make is to have the strings too loose. Sorry, but you should have a nasty red groove in your thumb when you take off your castanets!
Finally, don't be tempted to buy cheap castanets just because you're a beginner. Many cheap castanets are made for tourists, not for real dancers. They're often too small, and even the correctly sized ones sound dreadful. If you buy a good pair of castanets and decide to give up dancing later, there's a good chance you can sell them on to another dancer.
Hi,
I was interested in your comment about castanets not being ‘purist’. When I was in Seville we avoided the shows they do for tourists and went to a ‘back street’ club (we managed to extract directions from the tourist information office there) which did flamenco – and yep, there wasn’t a castanet in site! And much the better for it. Just a shame that people are paying 30 euros or more to see an unauthentic show in unauthentic surroundings. Guess that’s what ‘tourism’ is all about.
Just my thoughts
Stephen.
Hi,
I was interested in your comment about castanets not being ‘purist’. When I was in Seville we avoided the shows they do for tourists and went to a ‘back street’ club (we managed to extract directions from the tourist information office there) which did flamenco – and yep, there wasn’t a castanet in site! And much the better for it. Just a shame that people are paying 30 euros or more to see an unauthentic show in unauthentic surroundings. Guess that’s what ‘tourism’ is all about.
Just my thoughts
Stephen.