MU 103 Study Guide - Final Guide: Ranchera, Hu Hu Hu, Falsetto
1. Flamenco – Roma / Southern Spain: “Sale el Sol” (The Sun Comes Out) - alegría performed by Enrique
Morente
a. FLAMENCO: style of singing known as CANTE JONDO or “deep song”
i. Powerful, strong, and loud melismatic singing in one’s chest voice
ii. PALMAS: clapping that outlines the PALOS, or meters that are mapped onto a 12-beat
clock system
iii. TOQUE: guitar playing
iv. BAILE: dancing
v. Use a melodic system that borrows from Western and Middle Eastern musical influences
1. EX. songs may be in diatonic scales- E Major (E – F# - G# - A – B – C# - D# -
E) or E Minor (E – F# - G – A – B – C – D – E)
2. in modal scales like E Phrygian, or a combination of the two Western types of
scales, known as the MODO FLAMENCO (ascending: E – F – G# – A – B – C
– D# – E; descending: E – D – C – B – A – G – F – E; tetrachord groups are
underlined)
b. “Sale el Sol” (The Sun Comes Out) is an alegría, an upbeat song form that uses major, diatonic
scales and follows the SOLEÁ PALO
i. The SOLEÁ begins on the 1, but has accents on 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12
ii. We hear:
1. Arpeggiating figures: breaking up the chord
2. Strumming
3. and tapping on the guitar for the TOQUE
4. PALMAS: clapping
5. The voice enters singing vocables (e.g. “tra tra tran”) to expose the melodic
material and help the singer warm-up
6. The musical form continues with alternating instrumental/guitar sections and
verses/estrofas sung with lyrics
2. Flamenco – Roma / Southern Spain: “Cepa Andaluza" (Andalusian Lineage) - Paco de Lucía
a. FLAMENCO is closely associated to certain types of dance, food, fashion, places/spaces (e.g.,
hometowns of artists) and humor that are characteristic of many of the musicians' lifestyles and
community relationships
b. Performance contexts include small, intimate gatherings as well as more public stages
c. PEÑA: social club attempting to recreate the informal gathering and jam session of private events
or world stages (e.g., Walt Disney Concert Hall)
d. PALOS(song & dance forms): tend to adhere to strict characteristics and forms (e.g., musical
form, meter, harmonic progressions, style, etc.)
e. BULERÍA: derived from the word "bular" in Spanish, or "make fun of/tease," and referencing a
rough sense of humor, teasing, and puns that are part of social relations within ROMANI and
FLAMENCO communities
i. The BULERÍA is characterized by the use of a 12 beat meter, which is divided into feels
of 3+3+2+2+2, in which beats 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12 are accented
ii. PACO DE LUCÍA is considered one of the great masters of FLAMENCO music and
guitar playing
iii. Fast clapping and guitar strumming
3. Txalaparta / Basque (Spain and France): “Launaka” by Juan Mari Beltran
a. BASQUE: people are a cross-border ethnic group and nation located in the region of northern
Spain and southwestern France
b. Euskera: an isolated language that linguists theorize may be related to Celtic languages
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c. TXALAPARTA: instrument and style of Basque music that developed from smashing apples to
make cider, an important and celebrated Basque beverage.
i. People use wooden beaters – similar to those used for smashing apples but smaller – to
strike elevated slabs of wood that are different pitches
ii. No words
iii. Musicians perform in duos and the music is meant to be a type of competitive game
between the two TXALAPARTA players
iv. This music may sometimes be referred to by the onomatopoetic term “KIRIKOKETA,”
which describes the sound of the instrument
v. This music has been traditionally performed to announce and advertise when cider is
made and ready to drink
vi. It has also been performed at weddings, funerals, and on the street by buskers
vii. JUAN MARI BELTRAN: one of the contemporary masters pushing to preserve Basque
music and recontextualize it through fusion recordings and staged performances
4. Western classical/Jewish/European: “Nigun (Improvisation): Adagio non troppo” from Baal Shem (for
violin and piano)
a. ERNEST BLOCH: Swiss Jewish composer of Western classical music
i. well known for his unique adaptation of Jewish and folk music
ii. composed 12-tone music, which was popular among early twentieth century modernist
composers
iii. During the 1920s-1940s, when populist nationalism and Nazism were on the rise in
Europe, Bloch traveled between the US and Europe
iv. Like many of his contemporaries in music and the arts, Bloch eventually immigrated to
the United States in order to avoid persecution, settling on the west coast of the United
States and teaching at universities in Oregon and California
b. Our listening example is the second section, known as a MOVEMENT, entitled “NIGUN
(IMPROVISATION): Adagio Non Troppo.”
i. The entire work is named after the Jewish rabbi Baal Shem Tov who is regarded as the
founder of Hassidic Judaism, an orthodox branch of Judaism that believes music, dance,
and rejoicing are a means for connecting with God and achieving spiritual enlightenment
(Hassidic translates to “loving kindness”)
ii. A NIGUN: musical meditation performed in the Hassidic religion
1. These compositions may be original works by religious leaders, like a Rebbe, or
they may draw melodic material from other songs, such as Sephardic, Arabic,
French, or Russian songs
2. When performing a NIGUN, the performer is able to soul search, expressing his
innermost feelings that words fail to express
3. NIGUNIM may be performed with lyrics, vocables or as instrumentals
4. A related style of music that is secular and performed more for entertainment is
klezmer music
iii. The texture is relatively thin with the piano accompanying the violin, and Bloch’s
composition includes ornamentation that is reminiscent of Hassidic nigunim, such as
glissandi (slides) and vibrato
5. Ceilidh / British Isles: “Irish Jigs – The Donnybrook Boy; Biddy from Sligo; the Irish Washerwoman”
from Blue Bell Polka (Jimmy Shand and His Band)
a. CEILIDH: type of CELTIC social dance music that developed in the Scottish and Irish
DIASPORA
b. CELTIC: family of six languages and ethnic groups from the British Isles (Irish Gaelic, Scottish
Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, and Manx)
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i. It is also an umbrella term that encompasses many styles of music and dance, such as
Irish Trad and Irish stepdance)
c. CEILIDH, which means “social gathering” or “evening entertainment” in Gaelic, is music that is
primarily performed at social events where dancing is involved
d. CEILIDH music is HOMOPHONIC
i. upbeat
ii. Instruments:
1. FIDDLE
2. ACCORDION (button or piano)
3. MELODEON (like a button accordion)
4. FLUTE (transverse)
5. WHISTLE (end-blown)
6. PIANO, BODHRÁN (“bow-ran,” an open frame drum)
7. DRUM SET
8. BASS
9. A CALLER will also guide people by announcing dance moves that go along
with the music
iii. CEILIDH bands play a variety of repertoire that is shared between different CELTIC
styles
1. Jigs: 6/8, compound duple meter
2. Waltzes: 3/4, triple meter
iv. No words
6. Sacred Harp / Appalachia: “I’m Going Home #282”
a. SACRED HARP is an American religious style of music influenced by the unaccompanied or A
CAPPELLA ("in the chapel;" unaccompanied) singing adopted during the Reformation when
instruments were banned because they were considered a distraction from God (1500s; the
founding of the Protestant branch of Christianity that rejected Catholic leadership in Rome/The
Vatican
b. SACRED HARP is also another name for the human voice (it is not a literal harp/plucked string
instrument)
c. The style is also referred to by the name FA SO LA, which is the SOLFEGE system of syllables
used to sing pitches, and in the case of SACRED HARP
i. the system emphasize intervallic relationships or a moveable do system
ii. This system developed as an efficient way to teach musical literacy in religious
congregations found across the Appalachian region of North America
iii. Although primarily associated with Anglo-American religious practices, research
indicates that Native American and African American congregations of the southeast
have also practiced this music
d. The musical aesthetics of SACRED HARP feature:
i. unaccompanied singing (A CAPPELLA)
ii. a straight (i.e., no vibrato) and nasal vocal tone
iii. very loud dynamics
iv. a heavily marked beat and steady tempo
v. a melody that is featured in the tenor line (higher male vocal range; most Western
classical and popular vocal music features the main melody in the soprano line or highest
vocal range)
e. SACRED HARP repertoire is compiled into TUNE BOOKS, and members of the choir take turns
leading songs
7. Old Time / Appalachia: “Georgie Buck” performed by the Carolina Chocolate Drops
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