Crossing Borders/Breaking Boundaries VI
The Arts and Artistic Legacies of the West African Civilizations, 700 - 1600 c.e.
July 17-25, 2006
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Lesson Title: Communication through Song: Corrido & Griot

Name: Jacqueline Gaskins and Jennifer Johnson

Discipline: Spanish

Grade Level: 7, 8

Time Period: Two 45 minute sessions OR One 90 minute session


I. Conceptual Framework

Big Idea: Communication

Rationale:
The Foreign Language (FL) program in the Prince George’s County Public School System is dedicated to the development of second language proficiency. In a curriculum driven by National Standards, known as the 5 C’s (Communication, Connections, Comparisons, Communities, and Cultures), students move toward proficiency in the target language and develop cultural understanding through a variety of contextual activities. The school curriculum now resembles a fusion of curricular agendas, and the integration of other content areas—especially the arts—creates a meaningful context of connectivity across the curriculum. Researchers and practitioners have clearly identified and affirmed the importance of using language in meaningful contexts (Curtain & Martínez, 1990).

In the Level I & II Spanish classes, students are expected to demonstrate an intermediate knowledge of language and culture and be able to communicate meaningful ideas in real-world situations. Students will be able to demonstrate achievement in each of the three modes of communication: Interpersonal, Interpretive, and Presentational. The language program is in a unique position to progress students toward language proficiency goals and cultural understanding through the integration of content, by including selected concepts from a variety of content areas.

The following is an integrated arts unit on Spanish language and related communicative expression and symbolism in both Hispanic and West African cultures. This unit is intended to develop students’ knowledge about the cultural aspects associated with two cultures that demonstrate significantly similar characteristics in musical expression and symbolism in the creation of textiles. Throughout this unit, students will have the opportunity to work individually and cooperatively to further explore these similarities and construct meaning through instruction and exploration.

Essential Questions:

  • How has the spread of important information evolved in our culture? How was such information spread within the Mexican and Malian cultures?
  • What are some of the similarities and differences between the communicative traditions of the corrido in Mexico and the griot in Mali?

State and Local Standards
National foreign language standards

Communication: Standard 1.2

  • Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics.

Cultures: Standard 2.1

  • Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.

Comparisons: Standard 4.2

  • Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.

Performance Standard

  • The students will explore the oral traditions of the corrido from Mexico and the griot from Mali to determine similarities and differences in the culturally specific musical expressions of the realities of current events in the community. Using the information that they have learned, students will be able to create and perform their own corrido.

II. Topics

In this lesson, students in Spanish I & II will take a look at two traditional forms of communication through song, in both the corrido in Mexico and the song of the griot in Mali. They will gain an understanding of the Mexican song form, the corrido, and its role as a vehicle for communicating the news and other important events, and will be able to make comparisons and contrasts with the song of the griot, who communicated the oral history of a community through specialized instrumentation and song.

III. Artworks

  • “Sonocal” by Eleuterio Cortez

IV. Lesson

Materials:

  • 6-8 sheets of paper with the same “Breaking News” on each
  • Audio clip of Kora playing and/or griot
  • Audio clip of a corrido
  • Lyrics to the corrido “Sonocal”

Vocabulary:

Griot kora
balaphone Sundjata
ballad Corrido

Background information/introduction:

Traditional West African music has many melodies and rhythms occurring simultaneously, making it both polyphonic and polyrhythmic. Many instruments are used, including strings, flutes, and many varieties of drums. One of the best known stringed instruments in Mali is the kora, a harp-lute type instrument, with 21 strings that are supported over a long neck made of rosewood. The neck pierces a large hemispherical gourd that is covered with cowhide. The back of the gourd is often decorated with interesting stud patterns. The kora is placed vertically in the lap of the player who plucks the strings with the thumb and index finger of each hand. The flute was traditionally played by Fulani shepherds and made from millet stalks, bamboo, and gourds. Drums are made in all shapes and sizes. Used for communication as well as music, drums are generally covered with goatskins.

Storytellers, called griots, were the village entertainers, oral historians, and genealogists. They would sing the praises of people celebrating life events and tell the stories of the great leaders of Mali, stories that were appropriately embellished to command respect and reverence. One of the greatest of these stories is about Sundjata, the Lion King, founder of the Mali Empire.

The corrido or ballad, developed during the revolutionary period (1910-1920) in Mexico. The corridos generally consist of the same musical repetition, but the words change to tell stories of great adventures, heroes, and love. They have always been music for the “people.” Publishing houses produced the inexpensive sheet music, folksingers learned the notes, but were often unable to read so they changed the words to fit the story that they remembered. Corridos about current events of politics are popular, but corridos that appeal to the emotions carry a near eternal quality.

Focusing student attention/"warm up":

Students should be divided into groups of five. Teacher will have students within each group number themselves. Students who are designated as 1 will be given some very important news that must be delivered to student 5 in their group. But before student 5 can hear the news, the news must first travel from student 1 to student 2 to student 3, and so on individually, but it must be oral—similar to the game "Telephone."

Students should receive the following instructions: Each group will spread out across the length of the classroom in order as if lining up for a relay race. All the 1s will receive the breaking news on a folded piece of paper, but they cannot unfold the paper until the teacher gives a signal. They will be given two minutes to read the news and do their best to memorize as many details as they can. When the two minutes are up, they must crumple up the piece of paper and return it to the teacher. Each student must "spread the news" to the next person in their group until the news spreads to the 5s. When all 5s have heard the news, each 5 will be given a piece of paper. On the count of three, the 5s in each group will write down the news as best as they can. Warn your class that the news will contain important specific details, so they'll need to pay careful attention when listening to and spreading the news. The group that has written down the most accurate news wins.

Development activities:

Teacher will begin by explaining to students that important news was spread by word of mouth before newspapers were widely printed and distributed. Teacher will also explain that one way individuals could help remember the details of a particular event was to write a song that told the story in its lyrics. It will be important to point out that we could each sing along to a number of different songs without looking at the lyrics, but would have a hard time reciting the same amount of stories by memory. Teacher will tell students that the corrido, a particular type of song developed in Mexico in the 1800s and still popular today, was often used to transmit information about current events. Teacher will also tell students that the West African griot was similarly a historian and praise-singer within the community, who would recount events through music.

Guided practice (teacher monitored):

Students will be placed in groups of 4 in order to participate in a reciprocal reading activity. Each student within each group will receive 4 articles, “What is a kora?” “What is a balaphone?” “What is a griot?” and “What is a corrido?” The groups will read each of the articles, reciprocally—rotating duties following each chunk of text. (Reader, Predictor, Clarifier, and Questioner)

Independent activities:

Teacher will pass out lyrics to the corrido, “Sonocal,” by Eleuterio Cortez. Teacher and students will listen to the corrido while reading the lyrics. Students will work in pairs to create their own corrido. The teacher must emphasize simplicity and a positive attitude while students are writing corridos.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed based on an oral presentation rubric for the presentation of their corrido.

Closure activities:

The students will share the corridos that they have created with the class. (Instruments may be used if desired.)

Differentiation:

Throughout the lesson, students will be exposed to various media and engaging in a variety of kinesthetic, audio/lingual, and verbal activities as they learn about corridos and griots. The use of audio technology as a teaching tool is a component of differentiated instruction.

Resources:
There are numerous invaluable resources to further explore this topic of communication through song. Some to explore are noted here:

  • Hale, Thomas A. Griots and Griottes: Masters of Words and Music. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1998.
  • Keen, Benjamin. A History of Latin America. 7th Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
  • Paredes, Américo. A Texas-Mexican Cancionero. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1976.

Internet sites:

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Sponsored by
the Center for Renaissance & Baroque Studies
and the Maryland State Department of Education