Eric Jimenez

MUSI 6340
Program Notes #2

Why I Chose This Program

As a first-generation Mexican-American student, I yearned to learn more about things I

experienced at home. I was eager to find out more about my people, culture, food and music.
Unfortuantely, when I would go searching for this information in my textbook I always found the
same short paragraph desciribing the work of migrant worker Cesar Chavez and Latino civil
rights organization the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). I thought to myself,
“is this it?”. As a young activist in LULAC youth, I met Benny Martinez, an active LULAC
member that collected historical artifacts that told stories of important Latinx individuals not
present in my school textbooks. He would share about their experiences to enter spaces never
entered by a Latinx individual and becoming some of the first public servants of the city of
Houston. I was fully engaged in his stories and inspired to learn more. This new information
sparked yet another motive learn more about the music from my parent’s home country, Mexico.

During the 2014 Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Convention, I witnessed
Dr. Abel Ramirez conduct “Huapango” with the 4A All-State Symphonic Band. Not only was it
inspiring for me to hear sounds and melodies that resonated familial experiences, but it was
suprising to see them in a “classical” context. At the end of the concert, some say he broke
concert etiqutte by publicly asking for his parents to stand in the balcony and proceed to thank
them in spanish for everything they did for him to reach this point in is career. This moment was
a huge shift in how I viewed myself in the work of instrumental music education. Since this
moment, I placed “Huapango” on the top of my bucket list of pieces to conduct.

The Priaire View A&M Univesity Wind Ensemble will journey through an evening of
music celebrating Latinx melodies, culture and composers. We begin our celebration
“celebracion” concert with Jose Pablo Moncayo Garcia’s “Huapango”. A hupango is a lively
Mexcan dance of Spanish origin that was popularized along the Gulf of Mexico. This dance is
traditionally performed by singers and instrumental ensembles that range from small string
groups of the “huasteca” region to full mariachi bands. Huapango is Moncayo’s first notable
work for orchestra. He based the piece on three authentic Mexican folk dances: Siqui Siri, Balaju
and El Gavilan. Moncayo takes us through various tempos and sounds that imitate a “copla”, a
song shouted between two singers, where he places this role in the trombones and trumpets. We
continue our celebration with a well-known piece, Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Marquez. Danzon, is
a traditional salon dance for couples.The piece begins with a memorable clarinet solo
accompanied by rhythmic sounds. The oboe answers the clarinet prior to the entire ensemlbe
joining the conversation. It utilizes the rondo form and stems from the culmination of French
dance the contredanse and Cuban dance habanera. Marquez pays tribute to the environment this
genre nourishes. Although the composition detracts from the intimacy of the dance, he attempts
to get as close as possible to the nostalgic melodies and whild rhythms.
 Eric Jimenez
MUSI 6340
Sensemaya was originally written for voice and a small ensemble. The term Sensemaya is
from Nicolas Guillen an Afro-Cuban poet and revolutionary. It was debuted by a large orchestra
without voice in 1938 in the world-renowned Teatro de Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
The piece will guide us through challenging rhythms through various meters. The piece contains
melodic ideas that are placed in a vibrant texture of counterpoint and polyrhythms. Each
rhythmic pattern is scaffolded upon the previous pattern to create a total of six patters happening
at the same time. During the final statement, one can hear the plunge of the knife to signify the
sacifice of a snake from the original poem.

After intermission, we return with a popular piece in film scores. Bernstein’s “Mambo”
picks up the tempo with an introduction of latin percussion and mambo rhythms. The clarinets
and saxophones represent the syncopated mambo melody while the bongos, timbales and congas
maintain the afro-cuban rhythms. During the broadway musical this musical composition is what
leads us to the widely known “rumble” in West Side Story that happens between two gangs. The
mambo is maintained throughout the entire piece and ends with the invovlement of the musicians
chanting count offs and the word “mambo”. During this part of our concert, feel free to break the
concert ettiquet and join us in the celebracion! As we near the conclusion of our program, we
celebrate the work of Mexicna composer Manuel Ponce. Ponce’s work was written with the
intent to connect the concert scene with the forgotten tradition of popular song and Mexican
folklore. Ponce is considered to be one of the most important Mexican composers that opened
the door for composers such as Silvestre Revueltas. “Chapultepec” is a representation of the
well-known castle of Chapultepec park in Mexico City. This composition was a jouney for
Ponce to discover himself as a Mexican composer of Western art music. We conclude the
concert with a piece titled La Fiesta Mexicana by H. Owen Reed. Reed spent six months on a
fellowship in Mexico. This piece represents his experiences and obserations of Mexican culture
during his time there. He utilized authentic Mexican folk songs found in Chapala, Jalisco and
Guadalajara Mexico. Additionally, he borrowed from Gregorian motifs and Aztec dances. The
bells at the commencement of the piece announce the opening of the party or “fiesta”. After the
fiesta, the celebrators settle down with a calming transition in the music. During the second
movement, Mass, he re-introduces the bells to remind us of the religious origins of a fiesta. The
final movement, Carnival, is full of joy representing the sounds present in a town lined with
mariachi bands and plaza celebrations.

Celebración

Prairie View A&M University Wind Ensemble

Huapango………………………………………………………..……………………….. Jose
Pablo Moncayo Garcia (1912-1958)
 Eric Jimenez
MUSI 6340
Danzón No.
2…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Arturo Marquez (1950- )

Sensemaya………………………………………………………………………………………..…
…. Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940)

Intermission

“West Side Story” Symphonic Dances No. 4 Mambo……………………………….. Leonard

Bernstein (1918-1990)

Chapultepec I.
Primavera………………………………………………………………………………..Manuel
Ponce (1882-1948)

La Fiesta
Mexicana…………………………………………………………………….…………… Hebert
Owen Reed (1910-2014)