Welcome to
SINGING CANARIES
the web site for
Canarian Music
Serinus Canaria
Welcome toSINGING CANARIESthe web site for Canarian Music |
Serinus Canaria |
Music Education in the Canary Islands
Music Education (Formal and Informal):
The history of music in the Canary Islands developed in kind of a parallel dimension. There was on one hand the conservatory, the Western European modality. Since these Islands were the perfect ship stop between Europe and the Americas many professional orchestras and solo musicians would give performances in the main islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria and use them as their rehearsal spots. Hence these musicians became quite fond of them. They also became the vacation choice of many of these artists. Thus the Canary Islands have an extensive, annual musical season that encompasses a world-variety of re-known performances. It has become a tradition that the locals expect and the government subsidizes.
The formal music education training in the Canary Islands coincides with that
of the rest of Spain and is similar to that of Europe. As previously mentioned,
it follows that of the Conservatory system. Children at the age of six wait
in line with their parents to sign up for classes at a minimal fee. There is
a very specific and strict curricula that is followed by professors. After a
student has studied a rigorous three years of solfége she can begin to
sign up for additional classes such as a chosen instrument and chorus. As the
coursework progresses, students add more and more courses. It runs parallel
to our Middle and High School as evening classes. If you take all of the workload,
which includes courses in Chamber Music and Music History, when you are done
you will have the equivalent of an University Degree and it will take you a
minimum of 10 years of study. Its demands though make it almost impossible to
complete in just 10 years. The other problem is that most are trained as performers
but most end up as conservatory teachers, with no teacher training or music
education background.
It is amazing to me as an observer that there is always a wait-line for hours
for the limited spaces available every year to enter the Conservatory. I remember
having to line up before 6:00 am when they opened at 9:00 am to register for
classes, and over 300 people did not make it in. They have the chance to work
privately and take the exams at the end of the year, but they cannot fit into
the already overcrowded classes. Such is the devotion for music in these islands.
Alongside the Western European training style of music, street Festivals, Religious
Holidays, and the highly regarded Carnival (which is like Mardi Gras in New
Orleans in the United States) are full of traditional music. The music that
my dissertation will be about is the music sang in these occasions. This is
the music of the people. This is what I refer to as informal music.
The Guanche native people that I have previously mentioned during my presentation
loved to sing and dance. They incorporated music to their rituals. Unfortunately,
not much is left from those days. When Spaniards conquered the Canary Islands
they too brought a long tradition of singing and dancing with them. Both of
these merged, but more so, it was the energy of the Guanches that continued
the heritage of a musical tradition. There are many children’s games that
are still played on the streets. They are passed from generation to generation
through the oral transmission. Grandparents teach their grandsons songs. Mothers
sing their babies lullabies. It is this legacy that I plan to study.
It has only been in the last few years that a new movement has risen to preserve
the culture of the Canary Islands. The government is beginning to realize that
if something is not done soon, other cultures will swallow a small archipelago
like this.
Why? Because of the big outside influences we receive from other countries.
This is mainly due to tourism. There are many people that because of the ideal
weather retire to these islands. Consequently, they are getting overcrowded
and the danger of loosing their identity has been becoming evident. The government
has taken it upon itself to promote the enrichment of anything that is Canarian.
Unfortunately, even though the oral tradition of music is strong, the documentation
of it is not. There is very little of this informal, traditional music actually
transcribed. Fortunately, the music itself is alive, well, and strong.
Instrument playing is also learned by rote. In the same manner that children
learn from their grandparents to sing and dance, they also learn to play the
native instruments. If the traditional ways of playing are not passed along,
these will be lost forever. The instruments themselves may be lost forever too.
For example: we have the “Huesaras”. This instrument is made out
of goat bones that are put together to create what many of you know as a washboard
or similar instrument. Some of you will recognize the “castañetas”.
In the Canary Islands we use only one of the pair to play the Huesaras. The
sound is obviously not as metallic as a washboard but it is used as a percussion
instrument. As with most cultures, the use of the local resources is evident
even in the arts and every form of communication. In this case, goat bones are
used to make an instrument.
Canarians also use other bigger castañetas called “Chacaras”
to parade into halls. Chacaras are played as Introduction and percussion sections
to musical pieces. Because of the size of these pair of instruments, they are
usually played by men. They are also meant to be played at eye-level, making
them a bit heavier. This traditional music is also characterized by not only
percussion instruments but by stringed instruments such as guitars, bandurrias,
and the most notable one, the “timple”. It is the highest pitched,
stringed instrument. It is considered the soprano of the string family. Consequently
it can speak the melody on many of the songs played. It is shaped as a small
guitar. The number of strings on it may vary depending on the island that you
visit. There are definite playing techniques that accompany each instrument
that require practice and study with a master teacher and exposure to the culture.
There is also a lot of singing that abounds during these performances. There
is a special tone that characterizes the music of these islands. To a local,
this is just the way things are done. To a foreigner, singing in this style
will require a new style of vocal production. Imitation, vocal modeling, listening
to live performances and recordings may be some techniques that a researcher
may use to study this use. This music is also almost always accompanied by dances.
Each type of music carries its dance and its tradition. The dances change island
to island. Each island also has its own set of clothing, etc. Due to all the
variations and changes that can occur island to island is why I have decided
to focus on just one, Gran Canaria.
When I first came to college in the United States is when I realized how little
it is truly known of the difference within the cultures of the Spanish realm.
I began to notice that music educators lumped any song that was in the language
of Spanish with the mother land of Spain and made no distinction within this
land. It is a vast country of over 40 million people. Not only do I intend to
study Spanish music but I intend to study the music of a small group of people.
The part that I have mentioned and that I am most interested in is the actual
informal oral transmission of the tradition itself. In my research I would like
to interview both professional and non-professional musicians alike to find
the relation of how this traditional music has been transmitted through the
generations in Gran Canaria. I plan to spend time there collecting data and
interviewing my research subjects.
As an ethnographer, I will be focusing on the informal level and its acquisition.
Here are some of the ways in which this oral tradition is transmitted from generation
to generation:
I. Mimicking others
II. Rote learning
III. A legacy passed down by experience
IV. Associations of amateur musicians
V. Hanging around musicians
VI. Being exposed to musicians
VII. Not being accepted in society if you don’t know the dances - pressure/being
complimented if you do
VIII. TV and media exposure
IX. Constant exposure through Carnival, holidays, and street festivities
To complete my study appendixes will be added that will illustrate
all interview questions, folklore institutes, museums and libraries used in
the islands visited, the history of the subjects interviewed, and other pertinent
information. A map and brief history of the island will also be included.
I believe that the hardest thing about being an ethnographer is the fact that one has to be so multifaceted. Being in this research field encompasses many disciplines and educational fields. You have to be well-informed, well-read, well-cultured, and most of all very aware of everything around you. Having an analytic mind is a must, yet it is one of the few research fields that requires the researcher to be social as a skill also. If you cannot get along with people, you will not be able to collect your data. It is also one of the few fields I know that needs the researcher to know herself and her origins and culture before embarking on the research at hand. You must also be extremely flexible to adapt to any kind of situation at any given time on a moment’s notice. It is demanding and rewarding.
Education System - The education system in the Canary Islands is ruled by the government in Spain. There are three types of schools in Spain: 1) public school; 2) consertado; and 3) private. The public school system works like the sytem in the United States. Students are assigned the school that they go to by the neighborhood they live in. The private school system is completely money based, again as in the United States system. The consertado schools are a mixed of both and it is government subsidized. A percentage of the population of these schools have to come from the neighborhood kids. They still pay a reduced tuition to attend. Due to this, the parents believe they are entitled to treatment, which has become an issue.
On October 3, 1990, the Spanish government introduced a new educational law called “LOGSE” or the Organic Law for the General Order of the Educational System. It was meant to give only broad goals to each school as guidelines for them to build their own curriculum. It was build on the idea that freedom would allow for flexibility. It has instead created inequality and unfairness. Unfortunately, the wealtheir areas are getting more privileged education and the poorer areas are not getting any opportunity. This is becoming a real problem. The society is also turning against the schools as ‘the problem’. Violence against teachers has become more ranpid.
Teacher Education - Teachers receive two different kinds of training. If you want to teach K through 6, you attend University for 3 years and graduate with a degree called “Magisterio”. This includes teaching courses and student teaching. If you would like to teach a subject area in grades 7 through 12, then you attend University for 5 years and get a degree called “Licensiado”. Now, here is the interesting part. This degree is all in the subject area. But it has no teaching courses and the student teaching is extremely limited. Most of these graduates have little to no experience in the teaching world. Yet their salary scale is higher than their elementary counterparts. Most of them feel very fustrated when they begin teaching due to the lack of teaching strategies and tools they have to teach in the classroom. They feel they know lots about their subject area but know little about how to reach their students nor how to transmit their knowledge. It, then, becomes even harder to write a curriculum as this law was intended to do.
Another problem is that under the new law, these teachers are responsible for writing their own curriculum. Yet, the textbooks are provided for them. This is the way it works: as a fourth grade teacher in the Canary Islands, I would call the publishing company in Madrid, tell them that I need textbooks for my classroom and they would write them, adjusting them to the local needs of my island and send them to me. So, someone, foreign to the needs of my the classroom, school, town or city and specially island, is writing my textbook. And they are including local customs that they assume exist. You can imagine the problems this can cause. It is normal to find many typos and erros in these textbooks. Then, as a teacher, I have to write a curriculum and adjust the textbooks to it. Quite an undertaking.
Budget is another issue. None of the teachers in any of these schools are given any budget. They are all given textbooks. The students in the public schools are asked to bring paper, pencils, etc. for the whole class. The consertado and private schools provide those materials for their students. Teachers are never given any extra money to buy science experiment materials or decorations for the walls. Many public schools even have computer labs that are never used because teachers are not given proper training.
The arts are still taught in the schools, fortunately. Grades 1-6 get 1 hour of music a week that consists of music reading, solfege and recorder. Older grades also get music but the amount of time is reduced.
Parents that can afford it take their children to private schools. There is a big push for bilingual schools right now. This is the latest fad. Learning a new language is in vogue, no matter how good or poor the education. These schools offer classes that are taught 50% in Spanish and 50% in another language such as English, Japanese, or German. The American School of Las Palmas is a good example. Even though it is not technically a bilingual school because it is taught solely in English, it does offer Spanish courses for those students that wish to continue their Spanish education as electives. This school’s system is solely based on the California-based curriculum theme of teaching. Unfortunately, for any Canarian student that attends this school, all education about local history and events is lost. This school also offers music and art education. It is based on the American education system.
There are two universities in the Canary Islands. Universidad de La Laguna (1817) and Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (1989).
The government subsidizes musical performances and events for public performances. It is not uncommon to see and hear concerts on Sunday morning, special holidays and festivities for free. This is part of a cultural outreach porgram. (Here is a photo of the Banda Municipal de Gran Canaria giving a open concert on Sunday, February 22nd at Noon on Plaza del Pilar Nuevo in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. (Photo)
The Recorder is used in many songs as the soprano or leading voice.
Strings instruments or Instrumentos de Cuerda such as the Timple, Bandurria, Laud and Guitar are the predominant accompanying elements of the typical Canarian folk band. The Timple is the soprano or highest of these string instruments. It resembles a Ukelele. It is a five string, small-shaped string instrument. It has a bright sound. It can introduce the melody and plays chords to accompany. It is probably the most well-known local instrument.
There are also other local instruments that are also quite played. These are from the percussion family. Some examples are the Chacaras, Huesaras. The Chacaras look like oversized castanets. They are not used or played the same way though. They are played by men because of their size and men usually march in playing them, announcing the performance. Huesaras look like a "New Orleans Washing Board". They are played with a castanet and are made of goat bones, due to the fact that there are many goats in the islands. The accordion is sometimes also used.
Fusion - The music of these islands has evolved like music everywhere. Music of South America has blended back with the rhythm of these islands.
The Styles - Isas, Folias, Malagueñas, Mazurcas, Polkas
The Musical Groups - Agrupaciones, Rondallas (photos), Parranda
(Enciclopedia - Canario,a = Danza antigua, probablemente procedente de las islas Canarias. Tiene un movimiento vivo, en compás de 3/8, 6/8 o 3/4. Estuvo muy en boga en España y en Francia durante los ss. XVI y XVII.)
Isas, Folias, Malagueñas, Mazurcas, Polkas
Each island has its typical, regional clothing. This is reflected in the local dances. It is beautiful to watch the local folk bands as each dancer and instrumentalists dresses in their appropriate attire for the region.
The aboriginals of the Canary Islands were called the "Guanches." They were known for a martial art called "Juego del Palo." This art is still played and displayed on the islands. You can see it on some local shows. Many games have derived from this indiginous art.
- Guanches
- History Of The Canarian Stick Fighting
La Gomera, one of the smaller islands, has been in the news lately. It has become popular for the way whistling is used as a language, not music, but a 'spoken' language among its locals. Due to its mountanous terrain, a whistling language was developed by the aboriginals called the Guanches before the Spaniards inhabited the islands, hence enabling locals to communicate with total accuracy from miles away. I was priviledged enough to visit the island during the summer of 2002 and wittness this myself. It is quite amazing.
CNN article about whistling in La Gomera
"Canciones De Mi Tierra Española: Islas Canarias" A folk song collection from the Canary Islands - sample page and ordering information
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Wednesday, January 2, 2008 6:07 PM
© 2008 Emma Rodríguez Suárez
