Friday, July 18, 2014
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.
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I think you make a valid point about authenticity. If we are to truly teach our students how to be well rounded musicians we must teach them all aspects of a particular culture, not just those that are stereotypical to that culture. I appreciate you presenting 2 different kinds of music from the same culture. This brings to the forefront the kind of differences in ethnic music that we need to present to our students.
ReplyDeleteAs well as context. It is important too to note the context within the culture of the music. I have also enjoyed learning about the development of these world musics and how they are interrelated. To illustrate, the Mexican mariachi music is a blend of European instrumentation with the native Mexican culture. It is interesting to see how other cultures will adopt 'foreign' instruments and then use them to further their own cultural development. This is something that is happening even more in current society. The first I can recall is the song, 'Love You To' by The Beatles which attempted to incorporate Indian instrumentation in Western pop music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nELEmTFwD2I
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