Paddy is a qualified teacher with  over 20 years' experience. As a self-taught guitarist who started learning flamenco guitar as an adult, Paddy is especially interested in helping other adults in their musical development. 

 

The majority of professional flamenco guitarists start learning as children under a strict teacher/guru-student dynamic. As a result, it is, in my experience, difficult to find an effective teacher for adults in Spain. 

 

The ‘watch, listen and copy’ method, although great for kids, has serious limitations when it comes to learning as an adult. Adults learn very differently. We are conditioned psychologically and physiologically by many ideas, notions and habits. Our muscles, nerves and tendons are already fully formed and set in their ways and our minds and ears often are as well. 

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Here are some key aspects of my approach:

 

Be present, be curious, be aware

 

Playing an instrument is a sensual experience. We use focus and awareness of sensation (touch and hearing) to find a path forwards for ourselves. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another, so we use an experimental approach to seek out a good path. What sound do we want to produce on our instrument? How can we best produce that sound?

 

Be a light onto yourself 

 

We engage with the community in our learning - teachers, colleagues, recordings, videos etc. However, ultimately we find what works for us and do not fully embrace any advice unless we have tried it and found it helpful. We cannot develop without community, but we take responsibility for ourselves.

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Enjoy the journey!

 

Some days we’ll feel we’re making great progress and others that we’re getting worse. We make a leap forward with our playing - we feel great - there’s no stopping us now! The next day it sounds terrible, we break a nail, nothing comes out right. We become attached to achieving a certain goal, but once achieved our satisfaction quickly fades as another goal takes its place! Isn’t it a pain being human? So we commit to cultivating a joyful, humorous and philosophical approach and enjoying the whole journey.