The name cuatro can refer to any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller in size than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although the current instruments may have more than four strings. Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ...
A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ...
A guitar is a stringed musical instrument. ...
The lute is a plucked string instrument with a fretted neck and a deep round back. ...
A string is a vibrating element used on many musical instruments, such as the violin, guitar, harp, and piano. ...
The Venezuelan Cuatro
The cuatro of Venezuela has four single nylon strings, tuned from low to high A,D, F#, B. It is similar in shape and tuning to the 'ukulele, but their character and playing technique are vastly different. It is tuned in a similar fashion to the traditional D tuning of the 'ukulele, but the D and F# are an octave higher. Consequently, the same fingering can be used to shape the chords, but it produces a different inversion of each chord. In music, tuning is the process of producing or preparing to produce a certain pitch in relation to another, usually at the unison but often at some other interval. ...
Ukulele The ‘ukulele (pronounced , or the Anglicised ), or uke, is a fretted string instrument which is, in its construction, essentially a smaller, four-stringed version of the guitar. ...
Ukulele The ‘ukulele (pronounced , or the Anglicised ), or uke, is a fretted string instrument which is, in its construction, essentially a smaller, four-stringed version of the guitar. ...
In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve or 8va) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double the frequency. ...
In music and music theory, a chord (from the Middle English cord) short for accord is three or more different notes or pitches sounding simultaneously, or nearly simultaneously, over a period of time. ...
History The predecessor of the Venezuelan cuatro is the four-string spanish guitar which disappeared in the 16th century after a short period of surging popularity. In the 1950s, Fredy Reyna documented the evolution of the renaissance guitar into the Venezuelan cuatro, and reinvented the cuatro as a solo instrument, equally capable of rendering traditional Venezuelan music as well as Renaissance pieces. The popularity of the instrument in Venezuela and elsewhere (esp. in Hawaii) may be due to the simplicity of the instrument, having only four strings, as well as its compact size. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...
Popularity is the quality of being well-liked or common. ...
// Events and trends This map shows two essential global spheres during the Cold War in 1959. ...
By region Italian Renaissance Spanish Renaissance Northern Renaissance English Renaissance French Renaissance German Renaissance Polish Renaissance The Renaissance, also known as Il Rinascimento (in Italian), was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution, religious reform and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ...
Official language(s) Hawaiian and English Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 43rd 28,337 km² n/a km 2,450 km 41. ...
Playing The cuatro is particularly designed for strumming: the fingerboard finishes flush with the top of the instrument, and the upper half of the sound board is completely covered by a scratch plate made from hardwood. The fingerboard, also known as a fretboard, is a part of most stringed instruments. ...
Beech is a typical temperate zone hardwood The term hardwood designates wood from angiosperm trees. ...
Most Venezuelan rythms rely on the cuatro as their rythmic and harmonic base. It is used in most genres of the different regions of Venezuela, such as Joropo in the Llanos, Gaita in Zulia, Galeron in the Oriente or calypso in Guayana.
A recent evolution in playing technique has made the cuatro a versatile instrument capable of handling, on its own, solo parts including both melody and harmony. The technical and musical knowledge and expertise required to be able to play the instrument in this way is astounding. The results have made Venezuelan traditional music leap to a whole new level of complexity, many times encompassing the utilization of Jazz harmonic structures and melodic phrasing to enrich many traditional tunes. An example of this is the exceptional technique and knowledge of the instrument demonstrated by Venezuelan Cheo Hurtado.
Tuning A popular way to remember the tuning of the cuatro among Venezuelan cuatro players is to play each string individually from top to bottom, while singing the words "Cam-bur pin-tón" in the same expected notes of the four cuatro strings. (Cambur Pintón means Ripe Banana in Venezuela. The phrase is used mainly because its four syllables are long and because of its easy-to-remember nature). A variation is "Hi-pó-cri-ta", playing the strings from bottom to top.
The 'venezuelan' cuatro in other countries The cuatro is also widely used in Trinidad and Tobago to accompany musical bands at Christmas time singing about the birth of Christ. This type of music is called Parang from the word paranda meaning to make merry. Parang music mixed with a calypso flavor has found itself deeply rooted in the culture of the people of this Caribbean country. The language use in the songs is mostly Spanish but Patois and English is used as well. This richly adds to the rythmic sounds of this versatile instrument. Christmas (literally, the Mass of Jesus Christ) is a traditional holiday observed on 25 December. ...
Parang is a style of music played in Trinidad and Tobago during the Christmas season. ...
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music which originated in the British and French colonial islands of the Caribbean at about the start of the 20th century. ...
The Caribbean, (Spanish: Caribe; French: Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Dutch: Cariben or Caraïben, or more commonly Antillen) or the West Indies, is a group of islands and countries which are in or border the Caribbean Sea which lies on the Caribbean Plate. ...
Patois, although without a formal definition in linguistics, can be used to describe a language considered as nonstandard. ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
The cuatro is also used in Colombia in the performance música llanera.
Some famous venezuelan cuatro players - Hernán Gamboa – Founding member of Serenata Guayanesa. Left in the 1980s to pursue a solo career.
- Cheo Hurtado of Ensamble Gurrufío (http://ensamblegurrufio.com.ve/)
- Leonardo Lozano – Uses the alternate stringing/tuning from the school of Fredy Reyna.
- Raúl Landaeta – Member of the group Rucan-Age. Recorded a solo CD that includes some interesting arrangements of guitar pieces (the well-known "Venezuelan Waltz #3" by Lauro and the "Canción Caroreña" by Rodrigo Riera).
- Rafael Brito
The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ...
The Cuatros of Puerto Rico The Cuatro is the national instrument of Puerto Rico. It belongs to the lute family of string instruments. Very little is know about the exact origin of the Cuatro. However, most experts believe that the Cuatro has existed on the island in one form or another for about 400 years. The Spanish instrument that it is most closely related to is the Vihuela Poblana aka the medieval/renaissance guitar which had 4 courses, 2 strings each for 8 strings in total as well as the Spanish medieval/renaissance 4 course citola and the Spanish Laud. The lute is a plucked string instrument with a fretted neck and a deep round back. ...
A minstrel playing a vihuela. ...
The name laud means the The Lute. ...
The cuatro of Puerto Rico has ten strings in five courses, tuned from low to high B, E, A, D and G, with B and E in octaves and A, D and G in unisons. In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve or 8va) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double the frequency. ...
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There are three main types of Cuatro: Cuatro Antiguo of 4 orders and 4 strings, "Southern" Cuatro of 4 orders and 8 strings, and Cuatro "Moderno" of 5 orders and 10 strings.
The 4-string "Cuatro Antiguo" This is the original Puerto Rican Cuatro. It was made from a single block of wood and used 4 gut strings. This instrument may have evolved from the Vihuela Poblana. It was used to mostly play Jibaro music. A jÃbaro is most commonly used to denote Puerto Rican mountain men, that is, those from the lush, mountainous heartland as opposed to those from the coast or the capital, San Juan. ...
The 8-String "Southern" Cuatro This Cuatro evolved from the old 4 string cuatro. It was made like a guitar and had 4 pairs of steel strings. It was used to play salon genres like the mazurka, danza, waltz, polka, etc.
The 10-String The Cuatro "Moderno" This Cuatro evolved from the baroque era 10-string Bandurria and Laud from Spain. It is made from a single block of wood and it has 5 pairs of steel strings. It is the most common used today and is used to play jibaro music, salon genres, salsa, pop, rock, classical, jazz, and even American blue grass and many more styles. The bandurria is a plectrum plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the cittern, primarily used in Spanish folk music. ...
The name laud means the The Lute. ...
Cuatros shapes and sizes Sound Box designs: - The antiguo design: This box resembles a medieval keyhole, also known as cuatro cuadrao, or cuatro araña. This shape has been found on some old dotars and citolas. 4 string, 8 string and 10 string Cuatros were made using this design. This was the very 1st design and the oldest and it might be 400 years old, sometimes some 10 string Cuatros are still made with this design.
- The aviolinado design: This box looks like a violin. It is the most common shape used today and most cuatros made today use this design. 8 string and 10 string Cuatros were made using this design starting in the 1800's.
- The dos puntos design: This box kind of looked like some old mandolinas made by Martin in the US during the 1900's. However it was 1st used 1800's in Yauco, Puerto Rico. 8 string Cuatros were made using this design.
- The tulipán design: This box looked like the antiguo design but with no straight lines and all curves and thus resembled a tulip. 8 string and 10 string Cuatros were made using this design during the 1900's near Yauco and Ponce.
- The higuera design: This is the rarest design of them all. This box was shaped like an organic oval. This was because the soundboxes were made from domed gourds instead of wood. 4 string Cuatros were made using this design during the 1800's in Puetro Rico by enslaved Africans on the Island.
Cuatros are tuned in 4ths. The violin and the mandolin are tuned in 5ths. However, like those instruments, Cuatro Orchestras were also created. From smallest to biggest they were the Cuatro Soprano, Cuatro Tenor, Cuatro Alto, and Cuatro Bajo. Yauco is a municipality of Puerto Rico. ...
Ponce, the second largest city in Puerto Rico outside of the San Juan metropolitan area is named after the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. ...
World map showing location of Africa A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second_largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ...
The pitches of open strings on a violin The violin is a bowed stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart, the lowest being the G just below middle C. It is the smallest and highest-tuned member of the violin family of string instruments, which...
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