Suggested Methods

1. Play Las Tres Mujeres on the accompanying CD and pay attention to repetition both in the lyrics and the guitar accompaniment.
   
2. Examine other poetic qualities of Las Tres Mujeres such as the use of rhyme. Even though students may not speak Spanish, discuss the qualities that would allow them to appreciate poetic qualities in the lyrics.
   
3. Pass out copies of the lyrics and translation of the Las Tres Mujeres corrido. Explain that a corrido often comments on an action or event that is familiar to the singer’s audience. Ask students to explain the story in this corrido.
   
4. Examine the translation to see what poetic qualities are missing. Discuss whether or not the rhymes appear to translate and what images do not seem clear in the English translation.

Student Activity

1. Compare the corrido to the Norwegian ballad—see lesson 1.7, CD selection 15. Are the structures similar or different? How about the story? Write your own ballad based on one of the styles.
   
2. Take a dramatic theme from, say, Romeo and Juliet. Express the theme in corrido ballad style.

HIGH SCHOOL ADDITIONS: Ask students to consider the content of the corrido in relation to its style. The voices of Solis and Solis can be described as “sweet” and their singing “gentle.” Yet the lyrics of the corrido are so violent and tragic. Why might this be so? Does the form of expression have to mirror the content? Is it more or less effective if it does? What other types of genres may exhibit similar types of disjunctures?

Home/Community Connection

Check out the Iowa Folk & Traditional Arts Roster, or ask students if their parents know any corridos. Invite a corrido singer into the classroom to demonstrate various corridos and answer questions about content and aesthetic/ compositional patterns.

		Photo
		LESSON 2.6
	Eugenio (r) and Adalberto Solis perform at the Smithsonian Festival. Why is it more meaningful to perform a corrido in its original language?
				PHOTO BY JEFF TINSLEY