Carnegie Hall

Aim: What elements make up a plena song?
Summary: Students will explore the rhythms and instruments utilized in a plena song, and learn about the social context of plena music.
Materials: Musical Explorers digital resources, Musical Explorers Student Guide, classroom instruments
Standards: National 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 11
Vocabulary: güícharo, pandereta, plena, rhythmic layers, seguidor, Segundo

Plena originated among urban workers of Puerto Rico’s coastal areas, mainly in Ponce and Mayagüez, shortly after Spain lost political control of the island, and thus during the early period of US colonial rule. Like bomba, plena is sung in a call and response style. In plena, the singer, rather than the dancer and drummer, does the improvising. Lyrics are often inspired by current events. Thus, plena has sometimes been called “el periódico cantado” (the sung newspaper). More broadly, the songs relay oral history, and reflect the singer’s own perspectives, beliefs, hopes, and feelings.

• The instruments played in bomba and plena are distinct for each genre.
• Explore each set of instruments using Bomba and Plena Instruments (PDF).
• Discuss the similarities and differences between the two sets, focusing in particular on the differences between the two sets of drums.
• Using some of the listening examples on Resources for Teachers, see if your students can identify whether the sample is bomba or plena, based on the instruments.

• Plena music is sometimes referred to as “the sung newspaper,” because singers improvise lyrics about current events or their own personal experiences, punctuated by an established refrain.
• In this activity, your students will create their own plena song using The Sung Newspaper.
• As a class, decide on a subject for your plena song.
  • What is an important event that you’d like to tell the world about? Is it something in the news, something that happened in school, or something in your own life?
  • If you were writing a story about that event in a newspaper, what would the headline be? The headline will be just a few words, and will become the refrain of the plena song.
• Using The Sung Newspaper (PDF), students can create their own “sung newspaper” by filling in the headline, writing a short story, and then illustrating their story.
• Work with the class to create a chant or melody for the headline. Start with the rhythm of the words and then add pitches if desired, using classroom instruments as available. You can use Panderetas layer 1 seguidor, Track 38; Panderetas layer 2 segundo, Track 39; and Panderetas layer 3 güícharo, Track 40, to establish the underlying rhythm for the chant.
• If your students are ready, you can complete your plena song by adding an improvised response to the refrain: A student can read or chant a line or phrase from their story, and the rest of the class will respond with the headline refrain.

Folk tales about Juan Bobo are Puerto Rican classics. Juan Bobo, or Simple John, is a naïve young boy who can’t seem to follow instructions, leading to lots of funny misadventures. In Juan Bobo Goes to Work: A Puerto Rican Folk Tale retold by Marisa Montes, Juan Bobo encounters all sorts of obstacles as he tries to find work on a farm and at a grocery store.