Complex Whistles Found to Play Key Roles in Inca and Maya Life

1
Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a
day of celebration for the people of Latin
America, particularly in Mexico and Central
America, and more recently for Mexican Americans.
Celebrated for thousands of years by
native peoples (Aztecs, Olmecs, Mexicas, etc.)
Aztecs were among dozens of Meso- American people
to celebrate Día de los Muertos. Aztecs kept
skulls of the dead as trophies these symbolized
death rebirth Día de los Muertos was in the
ninth month of the Aztec calendar, which is the
beginning of August on the Gregorian calendar
Mictecacihuatl was an Aztec goddess, known as the
Lady of the Dead Mictecacihuatl presided over
the month long Aztec celebrations
Mayan, Inca, Aztec Mesoamerican Music
The teponaztli, a sacred Aztec horizontal drum
Missouri University of Science and Technology
http//web.mst.edu/soap/docs/muertos.pdf
Honoring the dead is not a new tradition in
Mexico and Central America. Thousands of years
prior to the Spanish Conquest numerous ethnic
groups of the region including Aztecs, Mayans,
and Toltecs had specific times that they
commemorated the deceased. Special months were
dedicated to honor the deceased based on whether
it was the death of a child or the death of
adult. Other months were specifically associated
with how the person died like a drowning, in
childbirth, or in warfare. During these months of
celebration, the indigenous people believed that
the deceased would return and they would need to
offer them gifts. According to Carmichael and
Sayer, providing flowers, food, incense, dances,
and music was a way of gaining the favor of the
deceased. Smithsonian National Museum of American
History. http//latino.si.edu/DayoftheDead/
The importance of Aztec music in the lives of
the citizens of the empire is hinted at in this
quote from Spanish friar Gerónimo de Mendieta
Each lord had in his house a chapel with
composer-singers of dances and songs, and these
were thought to be ingenious in knowing how to
compose the songs in their manner of meter and
the couplets that they had. Ordinarily they sang
and danced in the principal festivities that were
every twenty days, and also on other less
principal occasions... Students between 12 and
15 would learn songs that were important in their
culture.  And, as we see in the quote above,
music was important enough that the nobles often
had their own band, song writers and studio right
at home.  Edlers in the home would teach children
the songs they needed to know.http//www.aztec-hi
story.com/aztec-music.html
Aztec Gods and Goddesses
In Aztec mythology, Mictecacihuatl was the Queen
of Mictlan, the underworld, and wife of
Mictlantecuhtli. Her purpose is to keep watch
over the bones of the dead. She presides over the
festivals of the dead (which evolved into the
modern Day of the Dead) and is known as the Lady
of the Dead, since it is believed she died at
birth. Her cult is sometimes held to persist in
the common Mexican worship of Santa Muerte.
Complex Whistles Found to Play Key Roles in Inca
and Maya Life
http//www.crystalinks.com/aztecgods.html
Civilizations in America http//www.wsu.edu8080/
dee/CIVAMRCA/CIVAMRCA.HTM
Myan Music (http//people.tribe.net/9f29c69b-109
d-450c-b978-3f2c89eb7634/blog?topicid8d9886ff-f76
9-4773-9727-a48bbbd27279)
NOTE Olmec civilization Curiously, Musical
instruments was another item archaeologists have
not been able to locate. Nowhere have they been
able to find drums, flutes, or anything of the
sort. The Olmecs A Mesoamerican Wonder
http//facweb.stvincent.edu/Academics/ReligiousSt
u/writings/lavin1.htm
The Aztecs (http//www.solarnavigator.net/history/
aztecs.htm)
Mayan History http//www.oneworldjourneys.com/jagu
ar/history.html
The below web site discusses the ancient history
of theAztecs, Toltecs, Mayans, Olmecs, and other
peoples of Mesoamerica.
This site holds a wide variety of web sites for
Mayan, Aztec, and Inca http//www.sfusd.k12.ca.us
/schwww/sch618/maya/ maya_aztec_main.html
http//www.theancientweb.com/explore/content.aspx?
content_id19
2
PREHISPANIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS  Mesoamerican
instruments belong in two groups idiophones and
membranophones. The existence of chordophones,
such as the musical arch (weapon for war and
hunting), has never been proved due to lack of
archeological evidence. Idiophones Idiophones are
musical instruments which generate sound from the
vibration in their body. Membranophones
Membranophones are music instruments which sound
generator is a vibrating membrane.

A fine original Aztec wooden teponaztli slit-drum
carved in warrior shape, National Museum of
Anthropology, Mexico City.
Music, Song and Dance among the Aztecs - a short
introduction http//www.mexicolore.co.uk/index.php
?oneazttwomusid395typreg
One
of the instruments on
display in the museum,
the Teponaztli, a wooden
drum, on display in the
Museum was considered
a gift from the gods and
was regarded as a
religious idol. The Teponaztli,
a hollow wooden cylinder, was laid sideways and
struck with rubber-tipped mallets, generating two
pitches. Since the religious calendar encompassed
260 days and the Aztec did not have musical
notation, each performer had to memorize at least
260 different pieces to appease the correct daily
deity. (American Museum of Natural
History) http//www.eastern.edu/publications/emme/
2004fall/art_reviews.html
http//www.mexicanartdealing.com/prehispanicinstru
ments.htm
Membranophone style
Aztec flutes and rattles
Musical Instruments The Incas loved music. They
invented many wind and percussion instruments.
Drums and flutes were very popular. The panpipe
was the most popular. A panpipe is a group of
single pipes tied together in a row. Each pipe in
the row makes a different sound, and he pipes are
arranged very carefully. Panpipes are still
played in the Andes Mountains today.
Some of the other instruments on display include
the Ayacahtli, a gourd-shaped rattle filled with
beads, pebbles or seeds and various wind
instruments including the Chichitli, a flute the
Cocoloctli, a flute which made a buzzing sound
the Huilacapitztli, a type of ocarina or fife
formed in the shape of an animal and a
Tlapitzalli, a three-to-five-hole vertical flute
made of bone or clay.
An additional type of instrument that has been
found is the aerophone group. Aerophones Aerophone
s are musical instruments which sound generator
is oscillating air. The word tlapitzalli (flute)
is the generic name for Aerophones. In
Mesoamerica were used tlapitzalli of straight
tube, transverse, global (ocarinas and
whistles), global multiples, bread flutes, double
flutes, triple and quadruple. In the National
Museum of Anthropology a great amount of
tlapitzalli of different sizes and kinds are
preserved. 
Inca Ocarina Whistle/FluteNational Museum of
Archaeology, Anthropology, and History of Peru
http//agutie.homestead.com/files/Inca_Music.htm
Inca Artifacts Lesson Plan http//www.nationalgeog
raphic.com/xpeditions/lessons/10/g35/artifactsinca
.html
http//www.peruvianwhistles.com/el-palacio.html
http//incas.perucultural.org.pe/english/histec4.h
tm