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
Announcements
 Test on Mexico and Panama is Thursday, May
22nd
 Reading #24 is due Thursday, May 15th
Outcomes
 Scholars Will:
 Learn Basic facts about Mexican music.
 Logic: Perform an Aztec dance
Pre-Knowledge
 How 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 #1
Ocarine, 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 #1
Ocarine, 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
clinic
 Small Ocarina
 Two chambered ocarina
 Lion roar
 Conch trumpet
 Pan flute
Small Ocarina
 Creates 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 Trumpet
 Played like a regular trumpet
 Practice your buzz:
 Hold up your scholar guide in front of your face
and practice your buzz.
Jaguar instrument
 This 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 Ancients
 Champolines (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 Nota
 The 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 Dance
 Ayoyotes 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 1
 This 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: Spin
 Hop and spin
 Hop and spin
 Step step step
 Twice to the right
 Twice to the left
Exit Ticket
 What 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: