Module 6

Title: “Controversia”

Performers: Adolfo Alonso and Justo Vega

Culture/Origin: Cuba

Orchestration: Marimba, Spanish guitar, Cuban tres, laud, tiple, string bass, clave, guiro, guayo, and two male vocalists

This piece of music is called the punto and is of Cuban decent.  This type of music includes instrumentalists who play rubato inbetween the verses of the vocalists.  The vocalists are improvising and reacting to each other’s lyrics.  Often times the vocalist will jump in with a response to what the other vocalist has said.  It begins with long stanzas and as the song progresses turns into much shorter stanzas.  The topic of discussion is often humorous and pokes fun at the other person or a specific topic.  Within performing this genre of music, play is essential.  The vocalists are creating their stanzas as a reaction to what the other person has created.  The idea of this happening in this type of music shows us the importance of play within socialization.  We often hear the phrase “Play nice!” as kids, but the only way for that to occur is to continually socialize through play with others.  When two people have a conversation, how one responds is based off of what has been asked or stated previously.  This type of music is a way to have a conversation with each other, hence creating a type of play or socialization.

Module 5

Title: Oye Mi Canto

Performer: Nore ft. Nina Sky, Daddy Yankee, Big Mato, and Gem Star

Culture/Origin: Transnational/Hispanic Caribbean

Orchestration: Female vocals, male vocals/rappers, drum machine, synthesizer

Reggaeton is a recent type of music that has its roots in the Hispanic Caribbean.  Moore (2010) describes it as a blend of black North American Music (rap specifically) and has influences of folkloric genres of the Hispanic Caribbean.  It incorporates a rhythm called the Dem Bow, which is almost identical to the habanera.  The verses of reggaeton are in Spanish and recited by rapping rather than singing.  Rap in America is often characterized as a manner of expressing feelings for young people.  Campbell (2004) describes creating music as creating and re-creating as an expressive art form.  The potential for new musical expressions can emerge from an outgrowth of experience and training in a wide variety of musical traditions.  For reggaeton, this is especially true.  The Hispanic Caribbean is has a blend of cultures, yet specific types of music are fundamentally important to people of any given area there.  Preserving tradition of the culture and expressing views through rap is the basis for reggaeton music and it is a major part of lives of the young people within this given area.  It has also gained popularity in America among non-Latino listeners even with the language difference.

Module 4

Title: Patria Borinquena

Performer: Los Pleneros de la 21

Culture: Puerto Rican plena

Orchestration: cuatro, guiro, guitar, seguidor, segunda, requinto, bass, piano, voices

This piece of music is of traditional Afro Puerto-Rican culture and is called plena.  The group that is performing this music focuses on traditional Puerto Rican music such as the plena and bomba.  The readings in this module have focused on authenticity.  Wade (2013) describes authenticity in regards to folk music as a process of oral transmission, continuity from the present to the past, variation from the creative impulse, and the selection by the community as to which music survives.  The performers of this specific piece are considered authentic performers because they are representing their own culture’s music and preserving so that future generations will be exposed to the music.  In regards to variation, the group has added the bass, piano, and cuatro which are thought of not to be standard instrumentation in a plena.  The addition of these instruments gives the music a more current sound, yet still preserves the history of the folk music.  Koops (2010), however, believes that in order for a performance to authentic it needs to be performed exactly how it was historically done.  In this instance are we to say that this performance is not authentic because of the addition of instruments to the plena song form? Would it make a difference if a performer without a Puerto Rican background performed it the same exact way? I think most would agree that Los Pleneros de la 21 have performed authentically since they are representing their own culture, but do these creative differences make it un-authentic? There seems to be differing ideas regarding authenticity and exactly to what extent something is considered authentic.

Module 3

Title: "Que vuelva"

Performer: Alex Bueno

Culture: Dominican Republic

Orchestration: Male vocalists, guiro, timbales, cow bell, cymbals, electric bass, electric guitar, bongos, congas, synthesizer




This piece of music is a modern form of the bachata which originated in the Dominican Republic but has gained popularity in other Latin American cultures as well.  This song is meant to be danced to and is up-beat and is somewhat controversial, particularly in its early days.  The lyrics often express feelings of male domination and excessive drinking.  It was not always an acceptable type of music, but has gained popularity.  Its origins incorporate aspects of the bolero and the merengue.  Hispanic caribbean music is very much a mixture of different cultures because of the history of the people of the area.  Moore (2010) speaks of how the slave trade and conquering influences of Spain and France have directly influenced the music of the Caribbean.  Most people are of mixed African decent, creating creolization of the area, more so than most other areas.  This complexity makes for new types of music that is directly influenced by already established musics of the world.  More so, Wade (2013) speaks of people being influenced by music that they can relate to, not necessarily what is represented by their ethnicity.  This is especially important in the Caribbean where people may be of, for example, Haitian decent but have grown up in the Dominican Republic.  While these countries lie on the same island, the cultures are drastically different and what a person is surrounded by will influence them in many ways.  Musical forms can change drastically by ethnicity, but blending of musical styles is common in this creolized area.


This particular example of the bachata is that of the modern version heard today.  The harmonies are fairly simple and the song is in a major key.  The bass line is also simple and consists mostly of a half note followed by two quarter notes which is very much from the form of the bolero.  The electric guitar has the melody and often uses arpeggios which is influenced by Western music.  This bachata form has direct influence from Western music, the merengue, and the bolero.  Like most Latin-influenced forms of music, dance is a major part of its performance.  While this video doesn't particularly emphasize the dance, the performers do incorporate some of the bachata steps but without a partner.

Module 2

This music is that of the Afro-Cuban decent and is called son.  This piece is called "Aquella Boca" and is recorded by a very popular group from the 1920s called Sexteto Habanero.  The son is a type of music that originated in the Cuban province of Oriente and then eventually spread to other areas.  The typical instrumentation of the son is the guitar, tres, claves, bongos, marimbula, botija, and maracas.  The rhythmic pattern that is played is called the guajeo.

While this type of music is native to Cuba, its influence has spread to other forms of Latin music over the years and has drawn influence from African music that was brought to the Caribbean during the years of the slave trade.  As Wade (2013) suggests, there are four basic classifications that instruments can be put into based on how the sound is produced; idiophone, membranophone, chordophone, and aerophone.  The instruments used in the son are primarily percussion and string instruments and can be placed into the idiophone, membranophone, and chordophone classifications.  There are not any aerophones (wind is used to produce sound) in this early form of son music.  Later versions of son incorporate brass instruments which would be considered aerophones.

Module 1

My chosen independent world listening is the Hispanic Caribbean.  The above video is a piece called "Baila Merengue" and is being performed by Alex Torres and his Orchestra.  The merengue has its roots in the Dominican Republic but is also present in other countries such as Puerto Rico.  The instrumentation of the ensemble has that of a horn section (brass and saxophones) as well as a rhythm section with plenty of Latin percussion instruments in addition to the vocal parts.  The lyrics are in Spanish and this type of music also has a dance to accompany it.


In America, we have representations of many different cultures.  With different cultures come many different types of music that represent different groups of people.  As described by Kelly & Van Weelden (2004), norms such as obedience to laws, celebrating certain holidays, going to school at a certain age, eating certain foods, and voting are shared by Americans and unite them even with different cultural backgrounds.  Because of the wide representation of different cultures within America, music education should be reflective of those cultures.  While places such as southern Florida have a high percentage of Hispanic Caribbean immigrants, other places throughout America do as well.  The merengue is very much a part of all that culture, but also the culture of dance.  Professional dancers are very well versed in many different types of dance, including Latin dance.  This familiarity makes this music something that a lot of Americans can recognize, especially with the inclusion of a TV show such as “Dancing with the Stars”.  As a music educator, making students aware of the background behind different types of music is an essential part of listening to music.  Teaching in a very diverse area makes the study of world music ever important.  The study of ethnomusicology is an imperative aspect of this study of music.  According to Nettl, ethnomusicologists carry out research about non-Western, folk, popular, and vernacular music, taking into account both the music itself, as sound, and how it interacts with other things that people do. These ethnomusicologists study the culture and music of the people of that particular area in depth to gain a better understanding of their music and how it affects their culture.  This is imperative for the understanding of how and why music has been developed.  Being an American, we are exposed to many different types of music, thus being influenced by them as well.  It is important to understand the background of the music, just as it is important to understand history.