Transcript Mexico - SCHOOLinSITES

bienvenidos
What do you know about Mexico?
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Open Discussion
 History
 Language
 Influences
 Music
 Food
Mexico
Olmecs
Aztecs
Mayans
Totlecs
8000BC-900AD
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c. 8000 BC: The first human experiments with plant
cultivation begin in the New World during the early postPleistocene period. Squash is one of the earliest crops. This
agricultural development process, which continues slowly over
thousands of years, will form the basis of the first villages of
Mesoamerica (including Mexico and Central America).
1500 BC: The first major Mesoamerican civilization--the
Olmecs--grows out of the early villages, beginning in the
southern region of what is now Mexico. This period is marked
by the effective cultivation of crops such as corn (maize),
beans, chile peppers and cotton; the emergence of pottery, fine
art and graphic symbols used to record Olmec history, society
and culture; and the establishment of larger cities such as San
Lorenzo (about 1200-900 BC) and La Venta (about 900-400
BC).
600 BC: In the late Formative (or Pre-Classic) period, Olmec
hegemony gives way to a number of other regional groups,
including the Maya, Zapotec, Totonac, and Teotihuacán
civilizations, all of which share a common Olmec heritage.
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250 AD: The Mayan civilization, centered in the Yucatán peninsula,
becomes one of the most dominant of the area’s regional groups, reaching
its peak around the 6th century AD, during the Classic period of
Mesoamerican history. The Mayas excelled at pottery, hieroglyph writing,
calendar-making and mathematics, and left an astonishing amount of great
architecture; the ruins can still be seen today. By 600 AD, the Mayan
alliance with the Teotihuacán, a commercially advanced society in northcentral Mexico, had spread its influence over much of Mesoamerica.
600 AD: With Teotihuacán and Mayan dominance beginning to wane, a
number of upstart states begin to compete for power. The warlike Toltec,
who migrated from north of Teotihuacán, become the most successful,
establishing their empire in the central valley of Mexico by the 10th
century. The rise of the Toltecs, who used their powerful armies to
subjugate neighboring societies, is said to have marked the beginning of
militarism in Mesoamerican society.
900 AD: The early Post-Classic period begins with the dominant Toltecs
headquartered in their capital of Tula (also known as Tollan). Over the next
300 years, internal conflict combined with the influx of new invaders from
the north weaken Toltec civilization, until by 1200 AD (the late PostClassic period) the Toltecs are vanquished by the Chichimecha, a collection
of rugged tribes of undetermined origin (probably near Mexico’s northern
frontier) who claim the great Toltec cities as their own.
Olmecs-The first civilization
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Notes
around 6000BC the first civilizations
began to emerge. The Olmecs began
around 1500BC and died out around
600bc
Olmec are often considered to be the
cultura madre (mother culture) of later
Mesoamerican civilizations
Olmec-in their language means “dweller
in the land of rubber”
Olmec territory flourished what is now in
the present day Mexican states of
Veracruz and Tabasco
Olmec Instruments
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The sound of the conch could signal different things: location,
danger, emergency, notice, a ceremonial call, or the beginning
of a religious rite.
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They learned over time that different sized shells would produce
different sounds, the positioning of the lips would produce a
different pitch, and the force of the breath into the hollow tip
could alter the sound
Other instruments were introduced later:
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Hard woods from the Yucatan jungle, el lancandon, where
they hollowed the wood out
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They used rudimentary drums to compliment the sound of
the conch
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Later they learned that they could cut the hollowed-out
logs into smaller pieces and stretch deer skin over the
open ends
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Later they also added, maracas, by drying out gourds and
adding pebbles
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Ticos- shorts sticks made out of hard wood
The olmecs used these basic instruments –trumpet, drum,
maracas, and ticos to imitate the sounds of nature around
them such as their rhythmic heartbeat and breathing.
-Olmec music began to be associated with religious rites and
other ceremonial activities…next their music began to
acquire another function: entertainment
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Mayans
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The Maya are a group of related American Indian tribes of
nations of the Mayan linguistic stock, living in Mexico, in the
states of Veracruz, Yucatán, Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas,
and also in the greater part of Guatemala and in parts of Belize
and Honduras. The best-known tribe, the Maya proper, after
whom the entire group is named, occupies the Yucatán
Peninsula. Among the other important tribes are the Huastec of
northern Veracruz; the Tzental of Tabasco and Chiapas; the Chol
of Chiapas; the QUICHÉ, (q.v.), Cakchiquel, Pokonchi, and
Pokomam of the Guatemalan highlands; and the Chorti of
eastern Guatemala and western Honduras. With the exception of
the Huastec, these tribes occupy contiguous territory. They were
all part of a common civilization, which in many respects
achieved the highest development among the original inhabitants
of the western hemisphere.
Mayan Music
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"The music of the indigenous people of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas reflects many varied
influences, past and present. These people are subsistence farmers, with shepherding, cattle raising,
hunting and handicrafts as secondary occupations. The four languages spoken here—Tzoztil, Tzeltal,
Chol, and Tojolabal—:all share their basic Mayan roots with both Aztec and Spanish borrowings. Ritual,
social, and religious expression are viewed as one concept by these people..."
Richard Anderson
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Track: Modern Mayan: The Indian Music of
Chiapas, Mexico - Vol. 2.
San Bartolo Venustiano Carranza (Fiesta de San
Bartolo)
Performed by:
Group of Carranza festival musicians
http://external.ecu2.classical.com.jproxy.lib.ecu.edu/l
isten/player4/index.php?token=$R~CCiCb~M9Ch$0
Wr0R2V999OH3dd~9HGZ9&rnd=203
Toltecs
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The Toltec Empire appeared in the Central Mexico area in the 10th
century AD, when they established their central city of Tula. It is
believed that the Toltecs were refugees from the northern
Teotihuacán culture and migrated after its fall in 700 AD.
Little is known directly about the Toltecs because the Aztecs
plundered the Tula ruins for building materials for their nearby
capital, destroying most of the historical evidence that remained.
Much of what we know about the Toltecs comes from legends carried
on about them by later cultures.
The Toltec Empire was the first of the extreme militaristic cultures in
the region that used their might to dominate their neighbors, a trend
associated with the later cultures in the region, especially the Aztecs.
Eventually the empire spread across most of Mexico, Guatemala,
and as far south as the Yucatan, as they conquered lands previously
controlled by the Mayans.
Map it Out!!
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Map out Mexico
Use color pencils to highlight different
civilizations
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Yellow-Olmecs
Blue-Mayans
Green-Aztecs
Red-Toltecs
Aztecs
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Dates of civilization
Culture
Notes
Taking a Look:
http://www.history.com/minisite.do?c
ontent_type=Minisite_Video_Clips&c
ontent_type_id=54075&display_ord
er=1&mini_id=1099
Music of the Aztecs
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The Aztecs used a variety of wind and
percussion instruments to make music.
The most popular wind instruments
included clay flutes, ocarinas, and conch
shell trumpets.
Aztec percussion instruments included
rattles, rasps, shakers, and a variety of
drums. The most important of these was
the huehuetl (pronounced weh-weht), a
large vertical hand drum covered with
stretched animal hide. The huehuetl
produced two tones — the lower by
striking the center of the drum head, and
the higher by playing near the outer
rim. Its horizontal counterpart was the
teponaztli (pronounced tay-po-nawtzlee), a cylindrical wooden log drum that
was played with mallets. By striking the
mallets on the left and right tongues, two
distinct tones were produced. The
huehuetl and teponaztli were traditionally
played together, and served an important
role in accompanying Aztec songs.
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Notes
Instruments
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Pre-Columbian Style Clay
Flute - Mexico
Archaeological digs of
the Aztec and Mayan cultures
have uncovers a variety of
flutes make out of clay. This
ocarina (vessel flute) has a
whistle-like duct on the back to
generate the sound and a
series of holes on the front for
changing the notes. The vessel
forms a Helmholtz resonator.
Each additional hole covered
(it doesn't matter which order)
will raise the pitch. These
flutes were not intended for
playing a melody as much as
imitating bird calls.
Mayan Flute -Ocarina
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Pre-Columbian Style Clay
Flute - Mexico
Archeological digs in
the Aztec and Mayan
regions of Mexico have
uncovered a variety of clay
flutes. This flute is a modern
replica of pre-Columbian
flutes. It is a duct flute with
finger holes to change the
pitch.
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The Aztecs were fine musicians, employing a
wide range of instrument types, materials,
pitches, tones, scales, rhythms and playing
styles. Central to any Aztec musical
performance was the vertical wooden drum
(known as 'huehuetl') and the horizontal slit
gong drum known as teponaztli. The huehuetl
belongs to a class of musical instrument
known as 'membranophone' because it has a
skin or membrane surface to play on. The
word 'huehuetl' means 'venerable old [man]' in
Náhuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and the
huehuetl has been called 'the most venerated
of Mexican instruments' (Robert Stevenson).
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Notes
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Aztec tlalpanhuehuetl player, Codex Mendoza (original in
the Bodleian Library, Oxford); notice the jaguar skin
drumhead! Usually huehuetls were made of cylindrical
wooden frames standing on three legs, with open spaces
between the legs. Most Aztec huehuetls were covered in
jaguar skin: playing with the hands on the evenly stretched
skin, a good musician could get two different sounds from
the drum - each tone a musical fifth apart from the other - by
beating the drum either near the rim or near the centre.
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Aztec huehuetl shapes became standardized, though the size
could vary from small 'huehuetl', medium 'panhuehuetl' up to
massive 'tlalpanhuehuetl' that had to be played standing up.
The three legs with sawtooth edges were iconic [they
became conventional] and some have suggested that they
symbolised lightning. The design was elegant and also for a
purpose: to allow firelighters to be introduced through the
gaps to heat the skin.
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All membranophone drums have to be 'tuned' - the skin (or
'drumhead') needs to be tightened 'on the day' to give the
best sounding tone. Modern drums have metal tuning screws
(or 'tension rods') to make adjustments easy; in the past
many drums had ropes and pegs attached to the drumhead.
But the Aztecs used a technology that is older still - heat.
Many professional drummers nowadays will keep an electric
hairdryer in the boot of their car as a back-up, and use it if
necessary to tune the drumhead: the heat rises from
underneath, quickly dries out the skin and in so doing causes
it to shrink slightly. This drying and tightening of the skin
has the same effect as stretching it, which in turn improves
the tone of the drum no end. And the glowing sight of
burning firelighters under the large Aztec war drums must
have been particularly dramatic...!
Sound Clip
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Composing
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Review the 2 Rules
Listen to examples:
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http://www.philtulga.com/Aztec%20Mu
sic.html#instruments
Learn the syllables
Rule #1: To and Ko will be low
tones. Ti and Ki will be high tones.
Rule #2: To and Ti will be
downbeats. Ko and Ki will be
upbeats.
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Quarter note
By applying these two
rules, we can recreate
the way Aztec
drumming patterns may
have sounded — and
the resulting rhythms
can be written with just
three musical symbols:
quarter note, quarter
rest, and eighth notes.
More Rhythms
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Quarter Rest
Eighth Notes
Create your own Aztec
Composition
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Use the sheets provided and break into
groups of 3
Compose 8 counts using the syllables