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Enhance students' cultural understanding and creative writing skills through the study and composition of corrido lyrics.
It's not often that popular music groups perform songs written in a traditional folk form that is over 150 years old. Yet
the corrido, a ballad form that developed in Mexico during the 1800s, still thrives today as groups like Los Tigres del Norte
and Los Tucanes perform to sold-out shows.
Share the following guidelines with your students, and they'll soon be on the path to becoming corridistas, corrido
composers.
If you enjoy a story, others will too.
While the subject matter of traditional historical corridos centered on actual events, corridos today are written about everything from tragic love affairs and the struggles of everyday life to catastrophes, heroes and villains, and major social and political events. Find the subject that most interests you, and you'll not only be excited to write the corrido, you'll also get others excited to listen to it.
Practice good form.
The traditional corrido usually consists of 36 lines, and each line contains 7 to 10 syllables. Try drawing 36 horizontal lines on your paper (six 6-line stanzas or nine 4-line stanzas). Then draw nine vertical lines down the length of your paper; each square should hold one syllable. Draw these lines in pen, and write the first draft of your corrido in pencil. This way, you can erase any mistakes you make while keeping track of how many syllables and lines you've written.
Rules are meant to be broken.
Most celebrated artists in history broke away from expected conventions. Don't sacrifice what you think is the perfect
word or image simply for the sake of sticking to the form. Be true to yourself, and honor the subject you want to write
about. The goal of writing corridos is to communicate ideas or a story, so if an idea cannot be communicated in under 10
syllables, don't force it. Still, the best corridos are those that follow the traditional structure.
Starting out can be very easy.
In traditional corridos, the first stanza sets the scene by providing the time and location during which the story takes
place. Many corridos also began with the storyteller addressing his/her listeners, such as "I am going to sing about..." or "This is the story of...". Sometimes writing the first line of a song is the hardest part, but if you imitate the traditional corridistas, the second stanza might be the greater challenge. In the corrido tradition, the words are most important; they tell the story, and the music is secondary.
Experiment with rhyme.
The rhyming patterns of the end rhymes in a stanza (rhyme schemes) vary from corrido to corrido, but the most common forms are ABCBDB in a six-line stanza or ABCB in a four-line stanza. Try these forms or create your own rhyme scheme. And don't stop at end rhyme. Try rhyming within the line (internal rhyme). Try using more complicated rhymes or off-rhymes. This will
show your sophisticated use of language. Use a dictionary and thesaurus to help find words that best capture what you want to
communicate.
What would poets do?
Corridos are very poetic. Think of your song lyrics as a poem and incorporate a few of the many techniques used by writers to create vivid and lyrical poetry. Experiment with repetition, alliteration, simile, metaphor, personification, and other tricks of the (poetry) trade, and your corrido will be a powerful piece of writing.
(See Poets.org for more examples of corridos.)
Keep listeners on the edge of their seats.
Reflect on the stories you had trouble putting down or the movies you couldn't tear yourself away from. Notice how the
writer or director waits until the end to reveal how an event resolves or what happens to a main character. Consider building
suspense throughout your corrido by waiting until the last or second-to-last stanza to provide a resolution to your story.
Write it like you say it.
Historically, corridos have reflected public opinion and were written so that they can be remembered. As a result, corridos are written in the everyday language of the people. Use the language and vocabulary that comes naturally to you even if it means using slang words, colloquial expressions, or a mixture of two different languages.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Theresa Sotto serves as a Program Consultant to ARTSEDGE.
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