LA CLAVE

LA CLAVE

Las claves son un instrumento de percusión formado por un par de bastones cilíndricos de madera maciza. Su diámetro es aproximadamente 2 cm por 25 cm de longitud.

 Su origen es afrocubano.

La historia de la clave como instrumento musical tuvo lugar en Cuba durante los siglos XVI y XVII, se clasifica como un idiófono de golpe directo de entrechoque.

El nacimiento de la clave según el etnógrafo cubano Fernando Ortiz, se ubica en los arsenales para la reparación y construcción de barcos que existía en la Habana. Las claves o clavijas de madera dura se construían aquí para ensamblar tableros de los barcos. Estas claves tenían forma cilíndrica o ligeramente cónicas y servían como claves de unión entre las planchas de madera utilizadas en la construcción de la superficie de los barcos.

 La primera utilización de estas clavijas como instrumento de música ocurrió en los arsenales mencionados, fueron utilizadas para acompañar los cantes de los trabajadores. Desde sus inicios en la música las claves funcionaron como guías rítmicas del canto. Comenzaron así a ordenar rítmicamente la música que acompañaban que carecía del ordenamiento métrico.

Las claves ejecutaban patrones rítmicos de gran precisión, que servían para estabilizar y organizar no solo el ritmo, si no toda la música en sí.

Los esquemas rítmicos propuestos por este instrumento se convirtieron en equivalente al empleo de la barra de compás en la música escrita. Lograban impregnar a la transmisión oral exactamente la misma precisión rítmica y por lo tanto la misma capacidad de organización de la música que se lograba en esa época solo con su escritura.

Con el tiempo lo más importante no fue el instrumento en sí, si no los patrones rítmicos que con él se proponían.

Se trata de un esquema lineal de gran elaboración y complejidad que funciona como un increíble fuerte poder de estabilización rítmica.

Se puede decir que la llave de la música afrocubana es la clave. Frase de dos compases que delinea la llave de acentos en cualquier patrón de ritmos afrocubanos. 

La influencia de personas africanas y criollas en la clave es segura, pero las canciones con la cual nació la clave son Habaneras.

Las claves surgen y se desarrollan en un ambiente popular de las clases más marginadas de la estructura social colonial y neocolonial.

Como dice Alejo Carpentier:

 "La clave es una especie de constancia escansional"

APLAUDIDOR

 

RHYTHM ELEMENTS

Rhythm elements

BEAT

When you tap your foot to the music you are "keeping the beat", or following the structural rhythmic pulse of the music.

METER

When beats are organized into recurring accent patterns the result is a reconocible meter, measures or bar

The most common are:

         2/4 DUPLE METER: Two pulses per group

         3/4 TRIPLE METER: Three pulses per group

         4/4Quadruple METER: Four beats per group

So meter organizes beats into groups usually of two, three or four beats; and beats can divided into small units called SUBDIVISION usually two, three or four. 

TEMPO

It is the speed of the beat, wich can describe the number of beats per second.

Comparative chart of tempos
Slower			Faster
Adagio (Lento)	Andante (Tranquilo)	Moderate (Moderado)	Allegro (Rápido)	Vivace (Muy rápido)	Presto (Rapidísimo)
Blues	Pop	Funk	R and B	Rack and Roll	Heavy Rock

RITARDANDO: Gradually SLOWING down the tempo

ACCELERANDO: Gradually SPEEDING up the tempo

RITENUTTO: Slow down suddenly

SYNCOPATION

Putting accents “off the beat” between the counted numbers

POLYRHYTHM

Cross rhythms; More than one independent rhythm or meter happening simultaneously

EL SILENCIO

Notas tomadas de Fernando Palacios

THE SOUND OF MUSIC ICELAND 2018

THE SOUND OF MUSIC IV ICELAND 2018

MUSIC AS GENERATIONS OF EXPERIENCES

·        Music as a context of life. ·        Music as a tool while working with several different kinds of groups. ·        The creative process of music has an interdisciplinary character that brings the opportunity to unite different disciplines. ·        The most vital part of music is providing interactive, social and relationships actions. ·        Music as a collective meeting place as a process to experience with others.

PERCUSSION

·        No matter where you are born or what music you are listening, drums are present everywhere. ·        You don't need any specialist or expensive instrument either - anything goes. ·        Recycled instruments: urban environment provides tons of cool sounding material resources and found objects. It improves creativity, and building your own instrument is a challenge to anyone.  Once you make it you will feel so proud of your instrument. ·        Drum circles are great ethnic and cultural bridges; they harmoniously bring diverse people, instruments and musical styles together. ·        It promotes sociability, it makes you happy, it´s fun, it helps to focuss or to relax, increases coordination……

THE BODY AS AN INSTRUMENT

·        CLAPPING: Clapping the hands remains one of the most ancient gestures, bringing into play those eminently effective mechanisms to produce sound, palms struck one against the other. All over the world, the quasi-spontaneous gesture, the sound that changes according to the positions of the hands provides the most common rhythmic accompaniment to the voice, as well as being used to show enthusiasm in the form as applause- an instinctive action which has an invigorating effect on the whole body by stimulating parts that are especially sensitive.  ·        HANDS STRIKING DIFERENTS PARTS OF THE BODY: Another widespread practice consists in striking the hands against other parts of the body, used directly as resonators. Certain traditional dances used for the purpose of making time. ·        FEET: It would be hard to imagine a more primitive form of music than stamping on the ground pulsating rhythms lie at a very heart of the human experience. ·        BODY: Sometimes the body itself s metamorphosed into an instrument, more specially a rhythm instrument.  Concerned to make rhythms louder and more emphatic, humans soon moved on from objects as an extension of the body. ·        BODY PERCUSSION: As a useful tool for creating music in a group.   It is incredibly accessible; the human body is an instrument every participant possesses. It is also valuable for internalizing fundamental musical concepts. It provides an inspiring way to explore sound, rhythm and the physical relationship with music and encourage working out well with a group.

PERCUSION AND ITS SOUND ARCHITECTURE
MUSIC	·        Music is part of history and cultural heritage of peoples around the world. ·        Music, like all artistic manifestations, is a cultural product. ·        All cultures transmit and express their thoughts and emotions using music. ·        Music is a mode of expression that is related to a social community. ·        One of the virtues of music it is that it has the power of meeting, the sense of community, creates group identity, favoring the sense of belonging to a group. Therefore, it should be an essential tool in socials fields while working in groups. ·        Music that not suffer from domestication process, possesses a cosmic dimension, it has a liberating function, an evocative force and encourage communication.
LISTENING	·        First of all, in order to feel and understand music we have to listen to it, but we have to listen it with our whole body, we have to practice and improve in our active listening.
SILENCE	·        Music and silence go along together hand to hand, when the music sounds the silences always are there like a lake where the sounds float and move. ·        Silences fill the spaces between the sounds. ·        They print emotions to music, joy, euphoria, sadness, melancholy, love, happiness…..
TIMBRE	·        Is the particular and unique voice of each instrument or sound. ·        It’s the key that help us to differentiated different types of sounds. ·        Sounds have different colors and the timbre help us to recognize from witch source sounds come.
PULSE	·        Is the heart of music ·        It is life, movement and monotony ·        When you tap with your foot while listening music you are feeling the pulse ·        The pulse measures spaces of time ·        It is the one that control the speed of music
TEMPO	·        Is the speed, how fast or slow the music goes
RHTHYM	·        Is action ·        Almost everything we do in life always does go with rhythm ·        If there is rhythm there must be contrast, played with weak and strong accents, otherwise it would sound like a machine
DINAMICS	·        Intensity in which one or several sounds can be played ·        It depends on the force with witch the sound body is executed and the distance of the receiver of the sound source. ·

NOTE THINK ABOUT PRACTICAL EXERCISES FOR EACH OF THE DESCRIBED ELEMENTS

LA FAMILIA DE LA PERCUSIÓN

LA FAMILIA DE LA PERCUSIÓN

Llamamos PERCUSIÓN a todo el conjunto de instrumentos musicales que no pertenecen ni a la cuerda ni al viento. Así de fácil.

Sí hay algo que unifica a esta variopinta familia, y es que todos los instrumentos suenan cuando son:

GOLPEADOS, 

CHOCADOS, 

MENEADOS, 

SACUDIDOS, 

AGITADOS, 

BATIDOS,

PERCUTIDOS, CACHARREADOS, ESTRUJADOS, 

RASGADOS, 

RASPADOS, 

FROTADOS,

ROZADOS,  

ACARICIADOS.

Nota: Dibujo realizado por Eva Guatiza Tabasco