Mexico Part 1

Bellwork: Define Terms

Guitarron fat-bellied guitar, plays bass line

Huehuetl—a single headed vertical drum in the shape of a cylinder, made out of a hollowed out tree trunk with jaguar skin which could be tightened or loosened to change pitch.

Vihuela: curved spined guitar, provides rhythmic chordal accompaniment.

Teponaztle a hollowed horizontal drum like a log block and played with rubber coated sticks

AnnouncementsTest on Mexico and Panama is Thursday, May

22nd

Reading #24 is due Thursday, May 15th

OutcomesScholars Will:

Learn Basic facts about Mexican music.

Logic: Perform an Aztec dance

Pre-KnowledgeHow many words do you know in Spanish?

Name a few Mexican cities.

Describe some typical Mexican musical sounds. What instruments do they use?

What is the landscape like in Mexico?

What is the name of the ancient civilization that existed before the European conquest?

What European country influenced Mexican culture?

Guitarron and vihuela-video

Huehuetl-2 videos

Teotihuacan—the pyramid of the sun and moon constructed between 100 BC and 250 AD

Miss Riley climbed the pyramids

Tomen Nota

Three part harmony, by means of the three chambered flute, sounded on Mexican soil half a millennium before Europe.

Music was a twin to ritualistic dance.

A great number of trumpeters and drummers announced the arrival of chiefs and priests.

There was a custom of marking the hours in Aztec temples with musical fanfare.

Music preserved memories of past glories, therefore musicians were free from paying taxes

Human Sacrifice in Aztec society The Aztecs firmly believed in giving in order to

receive, in offering gifts to the earth in exchange for daily sustenance (food), and in paying the gods back for the sacrifices they had made at the beginning of the Fifth Sun for human life to begin.

The ‘currency’ they used for these regular exchanges with their ancient gods was of course human blood, offered in the form of ‘tribute’

Just as the Aztecs received a constant flow of goods, services and people from the four corners of their empire, so they felt it was their mission to provide their gods with a never-ending supply of ‘most precious water’ ( chalchiuatl) to fuel divine labors.

Most of this, as we all know, came directly from sacrificial victims, whose hearts were cut, still beating,

Active Listening #1Ocarine, Transverse, Three Orifices, Tetraphonic Scale Can you hum the lowest note of this

tetraphonic scale?

Describe the timbre:

Is it:

Harsh or smooth

Sharp or fuzzy

Consistent or varied?

Just the facts #1Ocarine, Transverse, Three Orifices, Tetraphonic Scale

Simple flutes from the Gulf region tend to have a pasty sound (like a clarinet whereas Mayan flutes tend to have a nasal quality (like an oboe ).

Other types of flutes found contains a ceramic ball in the bore that changes the tone depending on how far along the bore the ball remains.

CFU: Ancient Instruments clinicSmall Ocarina

Two chambered ocarina

Lion roar

Conch trumpet

Pan flute

Small OcarinaCreates three tones

The tones create a minor chord in first inversion

All basic chords are made up of three notes stacked in triads.

Using the alphabet, you can create chords by skipping one letter.

In music, when you get to the note G, you cycle back to A.

On your packet write down some examples of chords,

like A C E.

A chord which is inverted starts on the second or third note of the stack of three.

Two chambered Ocarina Instruments were created in ancient Mexico

with up to three part harmonies contained in one instrument.

This ocarina is an example of that.

It is able to harmonize with itself in the following intervals:

Unison, Major 6th, perfect 5th, major 3rd, leading tone to tonic

(3 1 2 left side) Song is based on a major chord.

Conch TrumpetPlayed like a regular trumpet

Practice your buzz:

Hold up your scholar guide in front of your face and practice your buzz.

Jaguar instrumentThis instrument recreates the jaguar’s roar.

To achieve this sound you must roll your tongue at the front of your mouth while you blow out.

Start with your hand cupping the the front of the instrument, but don’t seal the opening.

As you breathe into the instrument, flip your hand out to get a more intense roar.

Map Quest: ID Mexico City, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and the Yucatan Peninsula

Aspects of Aztec music

Minor quality

monotony

simultaneous sounding of different pentatonic melodies.

Foods of the AncientsChampolines (grasshoppers)

Maguey worms

Algae, known as tecuitlatl.

Timeline-Dominant societies 1500 BC-600 BC Olmec

600 BC-250 AD Teotihuacan

250 AD-600 Mayan

600-900 AD Toltec

1325-1520 Aztec

1519 Arrival of Cortez from Spain

Tomen NotaThe Aztec musicians were vital to the

performance of rituals. As such, they remained at their posts no matter what, even when the situation became life-threatening.

Instruments were inscribed with carvings that tell symbolically the purposes their instruments were intended to serve.

Singing and dancing occurred every 20 days in public fiestas.

After the arrival of Cortez in 1519, millions of Mexican-Indian people died from European diseases, overwork and abuse.

By the 1700’s there was a Mexican identity developing that was different from Spain

CFU: Snowball

Create one question from the facts you learned in our class today.

Write it on a piece of paper along with your name and then crumple it up and throw it to the front of the room.

When you are instructed to, go up and choose one snowball. Open it up and answer the question then turn it in.

CFU: Danza Azteca/Aztec DanceAyoyotes are rattles for dancers ankles.

Dance begins with a salutation to the elements earth, land, fire and water—asking permission to dance.

Every step performed on the left is also performed to the right to remind us to lead a balanced life.

The theme is called a plant and the variation is called a flower.

Step 1This step is done diagonally to the left and then

the right.

To the left

Kick hop

Kick hop

Step Step Step (back)

Then repeat to the right

Beat: R left R left R L R L

Step 2: SpinHop and spin

Hop and spin

Step step step

Twice to the right

Twice to the left

Exit TicketWhat is a single headed vertical drum in the

shape of a cylinder, made out of a hollowed out tree trunk with jaguar skin which could be tightened or loosened to change pitch?

What do the carvings on the instruments represent?

Describe the type of three part harmony used by the ancient Mexicans: