Musics of the World Week # 5

Title- El Maraquero

Performers- Strings of Fire featuring Carlos Caro and Orquidea

Culture- South American/Venezuela

Orchestration- Harp, maracas, acoustic guitar, conga drums, bongos and wind chimes.



I came across this video of a group of musicians performing a selection entitled "El

Maraquero. The first thing that instantly caught my attention was the name of the

performer; Strings of Fire. I knew I was in for a musical treat even before I started

watching the video. El Maraquero has a style in which there is a lively samba type

feel to the music with the accompaniment of a harp. Just when you think there is

nothing else to the performance, the performers briefly shift gears at 5:03 and allows

the harp player to begin the second section with a more elegant style. The bongos,

maracas, and guitar gradually eased back into the performance by picking up

the groove back to it's original tempo. I feel that creativity is definitely incorporated

and quite noticeable in this video. The solo performances of the harp and maracas added

musical creativity which also led to audience engagement . The performers ability of

significant improvisation assisted with the music creativity of this performance. As

music educators we should encourage creativity in all realms of music. If we continue

or implement music creativity; I feel that our students will grasp an understanding and

an appreciation of the craft of music.

Musics of the World Week #4

Title- Soy Mexico Americano

Performers- Los Lobos

Culture- Mexican Folk Music

Orchestration- Accordion, electric/lead guitar, drum set, electric keyboard, and saxophone.



Last week I completed a blog post that showed a Mariachi band performing live

for an audience. This week I came across a video that shows a group of musicians

that are performing a type of music that is popular within the Mexican culture. The

style of music that is performed in the video is Mexican folk music. When some people

think of Mexican music the first style of music that comes to their mind is Mariachi

music. There is a wide range of music styles in Mexico which is based upon specific

cities and regions. The variety of music styles in Mexico can also be based upon the

various instruments that are used to produce the sound of the music. Traditional Mexican

folk music can be classified and identified by ensembles such as "banda" and "conjuncto

calentano".  I feel that as music educators, we should encourage and teach authenticity.

I feel that in learning about world music it is important to learn all of the authentic aspects

of world music. For example, in order for students to grasp the full concept of music of a

specific culture; the students will need to understand the relevance and reality of the music.

Musics of the World Week #3

Title- Popurri

Performers- Mariachi Los Camperos

Culture- Regional Mexican/Latin

Orchestration- Trumpets, Violins, Harp, Guitarron, and Vihuela (Plucked Instruments).



This week I chose to submit a video of a Mariachi Band for my blog. Coincidentally,

I will be doing my fieldwork observations this weekend of a live Mariachi Band. I

will be the first to say that I am not familiar with the historic aspects of Mariachi

music; however, I love how Mariachi music sounds. What I like about this particular

performance is how the different instruments are aligned with the vocal aspects of

the performance. Furthermore, I feel that the role of context in musical structure

is very important in music and particularly for the performance provided in the video.

For example, the harp, violins and trumpets provided an introduction to the vocal

section of the song. At 1:48 the strings and trumpets provide solo aspects to the performance.

At 5:19 there is an emotional change to the performance with the string instruments. At 6:12 the rhythm and feel of the performance is very similar to the beginning of the song and ends with

strong vocals along instrumentation.

Musics of the World Week #2

Title- Cloudy Sky

Artist- 12 Girls Band

Country of Origin- China

Instrumentation- Erhu (two string fiddle), Pipa (four stringed instrument), Zhongruan (plucked string instrument), Dizi (flute), Yangqin (hammered dulcimer), and Duxianqin (one stringed plucked  instrument)



12 Girls Band are an all female Chinese musical group that consists of 12 members.

The members of the 12 Girls Band were selected through an audition process. The

initial audition had over 4,000 contestants to compete to become a member of the

group. Each member of 12 Girls Band is classically trained in music. Each member

also studied music at various conservatories such as the China Academy of Music,

the Chinese National Orchestra, and the Central Conservatory of Music.



I feel that classification systems can be very useful for time periods as instrumental

classification. Specific classification systems can be used to classify specific music time

periods. For example, music time periods are currently classified according to years,

composers, and musical characteristics of the specific time periods. A classification

system can be very useful to classify instruments into specific groups or families.

For example, Chinese musical instruments such as the Erhu, Pipa, Zhongruan, and Duxianqin

 all belong to the string instrument family that can plucked or played with a bow.