Carnegie Hall

Aim: What elements make up a plena song?
Summary: Students will explore the rhythms and instruments used 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; NYC 1, 2, 3, 4
Vocabulary: güícharo, pandereta, plena, rhythmic layers, seguidor, segundo, requinto

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.

• 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 (PDF).
• 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. To establish the underlying rhythm for the chant you can use the Panderetas layer 1 seguidor audio track, Panderetas layer 2 segundo audio track, and Panderetas layer 3 güícharo audio track.
• 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.

Rafi and his younger sister, Rosi, are bursting with excitement as they dive into the rich, traditional music of their native Puerto Rico. They pound out vibrant rhythms on bomba drums and twirl to the pulsing, rippling beats. With plena, they lift their voices in song and move their bodies to the lively, storytelling melodies. At a festive celebration, they eat savory paella and crispy, golden corn fritters, all while dancing with joyful abandon to the fiery, infectious rhythms of la salsa!