Spanish Popular Music in the Collegiate: A Cappella Style

Abstract

In my Senior Individualized Project (SIP), I take music from another culture and arrange it in the collegiate a cappella style, which is a "musical practice that uses certain techniques in order for the vocal-only presentation of a song to 'equal' the commercial recording (which usually includes instruments)" (Duchan, 2007). One of the issues involved in my project is the question of whether it is acceptable to take music from another culture and, by arranging it, fundamentally change how it sounds. In his book, Global Pop, Timothy Taylor writes, "if you respect the borrowed music, it's permissible to use it" (18). I show great respect for the music I have arranged as I attempt to broaden the repertoire of Spanish music in the United States by singing Spanish popular songs a cappella.