There are three ways of producing musical sounds without the aid of the human voice: making a string vibrate, making a column of air vibrate inside a pipe or tube and making a solid object vibrate. The basis for any orchestra includes the strings, the brass and woodwinds, and the percussion instruments.
Guadalajara's Orquesta Tipica, created 33 years ago to preserve and present the colorful music of Mexico, uses many of the instruments from these families, including flutes, violins, cellos, kettle drums, trumpets and clarinets, but adds folkloric instruments, the marimba, mandolins, guitars, and the 97-string salterio--instruments rich in timbre, or color, that enhance the presentation of the orchestra's Mexican-based repertoire. The repertoire, which is expanding through the inclusion of some previously unknown works from Mexican composers, reflects the evolution of Mexican music.
Pre-Columbian instruments
Archaeologists have noted the existence of more than 1,400 musical instruments used in pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America. These were used primarily for religious, and healing rituals and for ceremonies, but also for war, dances, fiestas and entertainment. Some of these instruments, primarily the huehuetl, and teponaztli, both percussion, and the tlapitzalli, a four-hole flute, were considered divine or endowed with supernatural powers, say Mexican archeologists, and were worshipped as idols.
The Incas and Mexicas (Aztecs) used flutes and trumpets made of clay, bamboo and metal. Drums, including the ayotl, made of tortoise shells, and other percussion instruments were used extensively. The huehuetl was the principal drum used by the Mexica and was made from animal skin stretched over a hollowed-out tree trunk. The teponaztli was made from hollowed-out trees or dried gourds, and sometimes gold and silver, with grooves or tongues cut into the top. Rich and varied tones are produced when played with small mallets. Pre-Columbian musicians also used cymbals, maracas, bells and even stones to produce their music.
European influence
With the invasion of the Spanish, these musical instruments were immediately used to help convert the indigenous population to Christianity, while the Conquistadors began introducing European musical methods and instruments. A Franciscan missionary, Pedro de Gante, established the first music school in Mexico in 1523 and trained students in the construction and playing of European instruments.
Little by little, all of the European instruments were introduced to Latin America, starting in the 16th century with organs, guitars, harps and flutes, and later followed by the violins, trumpets, mandolins and accordions. Especially important and influential were the Spanish guitars.
Guitars
The guitar, introduced to the Americas during the Conquest, was adopted quickly in Latin America. It also became the rage with the 17h-Century aristocracy in both Europe and the American continent. The guitar's rise in stature during that century was due primarily to the popularity of another string instrument, the lute. The guitar appealed to a greater number of people because it was easier to play than the lute.
Six-string guitars, viheulas, became extremely popular in Mexico with other instruments of the same family also put into general use: five-string charangos, tiples, or treble guitars, and a large 12-string guitar similar to a bass, the bajo sexto. The Orquesta Tipica consistently uses guitars and the bajo sexto in performances.
Mandolins
Another string instrument that became popular in Mexico was the mandolin. The mandolin, which comes from Southern Italy, is the most recent development of the lute family. It was popularized in Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Verdi's "Othello". The Tipica uses seven or eight mandolins for performances and one mandolinet, a four-string Mexican lute.
Salterios
The salterio, originally from Egypt, is a stringed instrument a little larger than a briefcase with a sound resembling a harpsichord and a playing method resembling a steel guitar or autoharp. The musician plucks the 97 strings while it rests on his knees; the sound is unique and quite beautiful.
One of the Orquesta Tipica's musicians, Federico Dominguez, makes his own salterios and has been playing the instrument since the orchestra's inception. Dominguez, who is originally from Oaxaca, makes the cedar salterios because it was "hard to get good ones." He has made four so far and the Tipica uses two of them.
Marimbas
Once the Spanish began importing slaves from Africa, these blacks began constructing marimbas, which imitated the African xylophone. The deep-toned marimba was made with wood and gourds and produced warm and mellow tones. The marimba became popular in Latin America, most notably in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua and in Guatemala, where it is considered the national instrument and where some marimbas are so large they require up to seven players, instead of the usual three to five. The Orquesta Tipica's marimba uses three players.
Diversity
The variety of instruments Mexican musicians and composers have access to has resulted in a distinctive music for this country. At least one Mexican composer, Carlos Chavez, has gained international fame with his integration of Mexican instruments, especially the precortesianos in his works, notably "Sinfonia India," "Xochipilli" and "Macuilxochitl."
The Tipica's director, Antonio Cabrero, plans to expand the group's use of folkloric instruments with the addition of more flutes, another harp and a larger marimba. The marimba, according to Bellas Artes Director Martha Gonzalez de Hernandez Allende, may be donated by the government of the state of Chiapas, where the finest Mexican marimbas are made. Cabrero also plans to research ways to incorporate some of the pre-Columbian instruments into Tipica music.
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