eISSN 2317-6377
Body percussion in the band repertoire:
the case study of the work Palindromia Flamenca, by Antonio Ruda Peco
Percussão corporal no repertório de banda:
o estudo de caso da obra Palindromia Flamenca, de Antonio Ruda Peco
Salvatore Di Russo
1
salvatore.dirusso1@gmail.com
Vicenta Gisbert Caudeli
2
Francisco Javier Romero Naranjo
3
Antonio Domenico Pelizza
4
1
Universidad de Alicante, Grupo de Investigacin en Neuromotricidad y Alfabetizacin Motora (NEUROMOTRICITY), Alicante, Spain
2
Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, Dep. Interfacultativo de Msica de la Facultad de Formacin Profesorado y Educacin, Madrid, Spain
3
Universidad de Alicante, Dep. de Innovacin y Formacin didactica, Alicante, Spain
4
Conservatorio di Musica Statale “S. Cecilia”, Rome, Italy
SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE
Section Editor: Fernando Chaib
Layout Editor: Fernando Chaib
License: "CC by 4.0"
Submitted date: 21 may 2024
Final approval date: 20 jun 2024
Publication date: 01 jul 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2024.52694
ABSTRACT: Body percussion constitutes a decisive expressive-musical element in many works of the band repertoire. The
compositional possibilities that it offers from a rhythmic, timbral and choreographic point of view are often linked to traditional
musical elements as in the case of Palindromia Flamenca by Antonio Ruda Peco. In this work for solo soprano saxophone and
band the Spanish musician, through the almost constant presence of clapping, creates a musical climax very close to flamenco
as the performance, entrusted to a specific group of musicians, brings to mind the role of palmeros. In this article, through a
musicological investigation we intend to pay particular attention to the musical characteristics and functions that body
percussion performs within the composition. This will represent the basis for developing a teaching proposal based on the BAPNE
Method for the development of executive functions.
KEYWORDS: Bodypercussion; Band repertoire; BAPNE Method; Antonio Ruda Peco; Musical pedagogy.
RESUMO: A percussão corporal constitui um elemento expressivo-musical decisivo em muitas obras do repertório de banda. As
possibilidades composicionais que ela oferece do ponto de vista rítmico, tímbrico e coreográfico estão muitas vezes ligadas a
elementos musicais tradicionais, como é o caso de Palindromia Flamenca de Antonio Ruda Peco. Nesta obra para saxofone
soprano solo e banda, o músico espanhol, através da presença quase constante de palmas, cria um clímax musical muito próximo
do flamenco, pois a performance, confiada a um grupo específico de músicos, traz à mente o papel de los palmeros. Neste capítulo,
através de uma investigação musicológica pretendemos dar especial atenção às características e funções musicais que a percussão
corporal desempenha na composição. Isto representará a base para o desenvolvimento de uma proposta de ensino baseada no
Método BAPNE para o desenvolvimento de funções executivas.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Percussão Corporal; Repertório de banda; Método BAPNE; Antonio Ruda Peco; Pedagogia musical.
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Russo, Salvatore di; Caudeli, Vicenta Gisbert; Naranjo, Francisco Javier Romero; Pelizza, Antonio Domenico.
"Body percussion in the band repertoire: the case study of the work Palindromia Flamenca, by Antonio Ruda”
1. Introduction
Due to the rhythmic-melodic characteristics and the harmonic solutions it presents, the organology it
employs and the performative aspects through which it expresses itself, flamenco constitutes a source of
great inspiration for the artistic production of various authors of wind band music (Di Russo and Romero-
Naranjo 2021a, 2021b; Di Russo et al. 2023; Di Russo et al. 2024). Its ability to represent the Andalusian
(Dirkx 2021), Spanish (Winrow Hart 2013) and Mediterranean (Berlanga-Fernández 2012) identity and the
“true musical repertoire of rhythmic-timbral melodies (MERTS)”
1
(De la Torre-Jiménez 2019, 15) that offers
through body percussion, represent the primary reason for its use in order to recreate a musical surrondings
close to Iberian folklore. Las palmas (claps), in particular, an idiomatic element of the flamenco genre,
appears in the opera Duende by Luis Serrano Alarcón (Goodwin 2016; Iyescas 2017), in the II Concerto by
Oscar Navarro (Harbaugh 2019), La corrida de toros by Mario Bürki (Di Russo et al. 2024) and Palindromia
Flamenca by Antonio Ruda Peco (2006). In this latest musical composition, the Spanish musician, using a
palindromic compositional technique, like many other authors throughout the history of music (Eunha 2022),
creates a piece in which two groups of musicians, indicated in the score as palmeros (hands-claps players),
perform a sort of rhythmic counterpoint close to a palo de soleà, una particolare musical form of the
flamenco tradition. Starting therefore from a brief reflection on palindrome in music and on the
characteristics of las palmas in flamenco, the main objective of this chapter is not to develop hypotheses or
theses around this dance-musical genre, but rather to analyze Ruda Peco's work to be able to answer the
following questions:
A. What are the new elements that this work brings?
B. What are its main rhythmic-timbral-expressive characteristics?
C. Is there an evolution in the use of body percussion in band literature?
Q. Can the artistic-musical proposal of Palindromia Flamenca constitute an educational resource?
2. Palindromy in music
A palindrome in the classical sense is a word or phrase which, normally written from right to left, can then
be reread, unchanged, from left to right. This linguistic device, which clearly also includes a logical-
mathematical dimension (Isola 2016), has used as a compositional technique by various musicians since the
Middle Ages including Guillaume de Machaut, Bach, Haydn, Monteverdi, Mozart, Schubert, Bartok
(Chrissochoidis 2011; Dagdug et al. 2007; Eunha 2022). If until the dawn of the 20th century palindromy was
used proceeding horizontally, the introduction of twelve-tone and the slow liberation from tonality allowed
composers to apply it also experimenting with further possibilities as demonstrated by Schönberg's works
(Mailman 2015), Berg (De Rosa 2023), Webern (Venturini and Porceddu Cilione 2023), Ligeti (Iverson 2014),
Messiaen (Fabbi, 1989). The metaphorical example also used by Webern himself (Webern and Reich 1975)
to explain the theoretical and applicative concept of this compositional technique is Sator's magic square. It
consists of an inscription made up of five words: SATOR, AREPO, TENET, OPERA, ROTAS which, arranged on
1
“verdadero musical repertoire de melodías rítmico-tímbricas (MERTS)” (De la Torre-Jiménez 2019, 15).
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Russo, Salvatore di; Caudeli, Vicenta Gisbert; Naranjo, Francisco Javier Romero; Pelizza, Antonio Domenico.
"Body percussion in the band repertoire: the case study of the work Palindromia Flamenca, by Antonio Ruda”
a square matrix, in such a way that in the center the word TENET appears according to a palindromic cross
(Figure 1).
Figure 1 - Sator's square (by authors)
The words can thus be read in the same way following four directions: left-right, top-bottom, right-left,
bottom-top. Found in various archaeological sites that were once the seat of the Templars, its use would
have spread in the esoteric field and its meaning therefore remains unknown. Sator, the band piece by
Angelo Sormani (2004), was inspired by it, composed on commission by the International Festival of Military
Bands of Modena and premiered in 2005 by the Banda della Marina Militare Italiana and Sator for melodic
instrument and accompaniment by Daniele Trucco (n.d.). We can also find palindromic compositions in the
avant-garde jazz of Ducret (Mansilla 2020), in the pop of Nitin Sawhney (1999) and in the progressive rock
of Laghetto (2005).
3. The use of the hand in flamenco
Las palmas, states Sandra De la Torre-Jiménez in her doctoral thesis, is “the main manifestation of the
flamenco compás, and indisputable and pertinent criterion of classification for artists”
2
(De la Torre-Jiménez
2019, 22).
Its execution is entrusted to the palmero who, as a musician, bailaora (flamenco dancer) or singer,
professional or not, exercises an "labor de dirección orquestal” (work of orchestral direction) as mentioned
by De la Torre-Jiménez (2019, 118) fundamentally aimed at a rhythmic function linked to the execution of
the compás, the specific rhythmic sequence of flamenco. This does not exclude the involvement of other
musical characteristics of high aesthetic value such as timbric, using the sounds produced by the las palmas
sorda, with a sound “muffled and partial bass”
3
(De la Torre-Jiménez 2019, 122) and sonoras o claras, with a
“timbre full of treble and strong intensity”
4
(De la Torre-Jiménez 2019, 122) dynamic, with the alternation of
strong and weak accents, and executive, implementing improvisational processes. In flamenco, however,
the use of the hand is not limited to las palmas but expresses a broader form of body percussion that includes
sounds produced with the snapping of the fingers, pitos (whistles), blows on the chest, abdomen, quadriceps,
twins of the legs, feet and head (Figure 2).
2
“la principal manifestacin del comps flamenco, y criterio indiscutible y pertinente de clasificacin para los
artistas” (De la Torre-Jiménez, 22).
3
“apagado y de parciale graves” (De la Torre-Jiménez 2019, 122).
4
“timbre replete de agudos y de fuerte intesidad” (De la Torre-Jiménez 2019, 122).
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Russo, Salvatore di; Caudeli, Vicenta Gisbert; Naranjo, Francisco Javier Romero; Pelizza, Antonio Domenico.
"Body percussion in the band repertoire: the case study of the work Palindromia Flamenca, by Antonio Ruda”
Figure 2 - Actions of the hand on the body in flamenco as De la Torre-Jimnez (2019, 134)
4. Palindromia flamenca: a musicological analysis
Palindromia Flamenca is based in all the main components (melody, harmony and rhythm) on a refined work
of palindromopoiesis (Buratti 2011) as declared by Ruda himself who defines it as "a toy in the shape of a
soleá (or Soleares)"
5
(Ruda Peco 2006, 5) highlighting the ludic-intellectual operation, the underlying theme
of the project. This palindromic game is inserted in a precise ethnomusical context, that of flamenco music,
evoked through the organological palette, the stylistic features, the harmonic ambiguities but above all
thanks to the rhythm based on compàs characteristic of the genre and performed by identifying instruments
and by the manual percussion of a group of palmeros. In fact, as the composer himself declares in the score,
the listener is projected into an atmosphere "como tablao flamenco" (Ruda Peco 2006, 5), place where
flamenco is performed. A further element that favors an ontological framework of Palindromia Flamenca is
that linked to the dedication of the work "To Pedro Iturralde, who taught me the meaning of this word"
6
(Ruda Peco 2006, 4), a Spanish jazz saxophonist who, with two albums published in the years 1966 and 1968
by the Hispavox record company, entitled Jazz Flamenco (Iturralde 1967a, 1967b) opened the way to the
hybridization process (García Canclini 2000) between jazz and flamenco linked to a development of an
approach aimed at making “jazz attractive to Spanish consumers through the projection of “national”
symbols of identity in a more universal language”
7
(Iglesias 2005, 826-827). These instances are found in the
ontological profile of Ruda Peco's piece; the elements characterizing flamenco which are the Phrygian mode,
otherwise called Andalusian scale, the cante jondo, the improvisational introduction of the solo guitar (not
marked in the score but often present in performance practice), the characterizing metric and rhythm, create
a form hybrid musical by combination (Steingress 2022) with jazz-style pseudo-improvisational forms.
5
"un juguete en forma de soleá (o Soleares) (Ruda Peco 2006, 05).
6
“A Pedro Iturralde, que me enseñó el significado de esta palabra” (Ruda Peco 2006, 04).
7
“il jazz attraente per i consumatori attraverso la proiezione dei simboli dell’identità “nazionale” in un
linguaggio più universale” (Iglesias 2005, 826-827).
Between them
Over other parts
of the body
Sordas
Hands-clap
Sonoras
Whistels
Trunk
Feet
Head
Abdomen
Chest
Shoe
Twins
Quadriceps
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Russo, Salvatore di; Caudeli, Vicenta Gisbert; Naranjo, Francisco Javier Romero; Pelizza, Antonio Domenico.
"Body percussion in the band repertoire: the case study of the work Palindromia Flamenca, by Antonio Ruda”
4.1 Scoring
Palindromia Flamenca presents a wind band with the addition, essential for the specificity of the work, of
typical flamenco instruments: cajon, marked on the staff as “Percusion 1”, castañuelas (castanets) and
palmeros (hands-claps players) present on the “Percusion 2” line and guitar Spanish on the last staff of the
score (Figure 3).
Figure 3 - Scoring and specific instrumentation list in Palindromia Flamenca (Ruda Peco 2006, 02)
4.2 Structure
8
The piece is structured into 17 sections according to the compositional architecture illustrated in the
following table (Table 1).
8
In order to have a clearer understanding of this scheme and the subsequent analysis, it may be useful to
watch the video at the following link: https://youtu.be/F3hUoPWysg0
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Russo, Salvatore di; Caudeli, Vicenta Gisbert; Naranjo, Francisco Javier Romero; Pelizza, Antonio Domenico.
"Body percussion in the band repertoire: the case study of the work Palindromia Flamenca, by Antonio Ruda”
Table 1 - Structure of Palindromia Flamenca (by the authors)
4.3 Structural and harmonic-compositional note
LENTO (Intro). Bars. 1 – 4: this section serves as an introduction and creates flamenco musical environment
of the piece through a trumpet solo which, evoking an epic atmosphere from the bullring, supported by a
pedal of the medium-low instruments and by a tremolo of the guitar on the main harmony, in palindromic
form will constitute the leitmotif of the composition and the motivic archetype (the original and fundamental
theme) of the subsequent melodic material. The apparent main key of the piece is D minor but the actual
tonal zone is that of D (A Major)
9
, a device that projects the piece into the dominant Phrygian A, characteristic
of flamenco music. At the bar 4 a fragment of Andalusian cadence (Thompson 1985) built on the sequence t
– dP – sP which takes you back to the area of D in bar. 5. Not marked in the score, but widespread in
performance practice, this initial slow, for a more effective reference to the ambient of the flamenco tablao
and for an ideal connection to the work of Pedro Iturralde and Paco De Lucia (Garcìa-Peinazo 2023) and
preceded from a cadential episode, in free form, of the solo guitar.
ALLEGRO. Bars 5 – 6: two measures that launch the next episode through a fully organic crescendo D chord
underlined by a suspended cymbal roll, a consolidated stylistic feature aimed at creating a climate of
suspension and waiting, a teeming brain (E.T. 1921). Note the particularity of the instrumentation where the
trilled note is entrusted to the saxophone section excluding the most suitable woodwinds (flutes and
clarinets): in this non-canonical coloristic assignment one could read the Author's intention to underline this
timbre by creating an anticipation of the solo part of the Soprano Saxophone, protagonist of Palindromia
Flamenca (Figure 4).
9
The analysis is based on functional harmony and uses symbolism from Diether De La Motte (De La Motte
and Azzaroni 1988).