14.07.2013 Views

Collective Difference: The Pan-American Association of Composers

Collective Difference: The Pan-American Association of Composers

Collective Difference: The Pan-American Association of Composers

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Mendoza, Daniel Ayala, Blas Galindo, and Silvestre Revueltas. Chávez was, therefore,<br />

among the first to teach non-Western music in an academic setting.<br />

Figure 1.2. Diagram <strong>of</strong> a teponaztli. Daniel Castañeda and Vicente T. Mendoza, Instrumental precortesiano<br />

(Mexico City: Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Historia y Etnografia, 1933; reprint Mexico City: UNAM,<br />

1991), unnumbered insert.<br />

One goal <strong>of</strong> these seminars was to explore ways to incorporate indigenous<br />

instruments, mostly percussion, into Mexican orchestral music. In a 1936 article in<br />

Modern Music Chávez explained that the seminars resulted in “the group <strong>of</strong> instruments<br />

we call the Mexican Orchestra . . . a specially balanced ensemble <strong>of</strong> conventional<br />

instruments with the addition <strong>of</strong> huéhuetls, teponaxtles, chirimias, and various kinds <strong>of</strong><br />

water-drums [and] rasps.” 18 At that time, however, although all <strong>of</strong> the seminarians<br />

worked toward incorporating such percussion in their compositions, none <strong>of</strong> them<br />

composed for an all-percussion ensemble. In fact, Chávez would not do so until 1942,<br />

when he wrote Toccata for percussion at the behest <strong>of</strong> John Cage.<br />

In Cuba during the 1920s the commercialization and internationalization <strong>of</strong> son<br />

and rumba led some composers to experiment with the Afro-Caribbean rhythms present<br />

18 Ibid.<br />

20

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!