Disclaimer: Clearly this is a very broad swipe that leaves out a number of influences and sources, for example the Bavarian influence on Mexican music and the indigenous music of the Andes. I welcome any comments and suggestions as they will be needed to create a more comprehensive definition. Please email these to: "info@latinpulsemusic.com".

Making music is essentially selecting instrumental or vocal tones, also called notes of varying pitch (audio frequency), and deciding when in time, and at what rate, to play them so as to create a distinctive musical sequence with the specific purpose of eliciting an emotional response from another listener. In all cases, it is either the harmony, defined as the pitch values of the musical sequence (deciding which note to play among many and the relationship of the audio frequencies between multiple notes) or the rhythm, defined as the time/duration values of the sequence (exactly when and for how long a note is played and it's relation to when and how long other notes were played) that determines the fundamental characteristic of a certain style of music and defines a musical form.

Without understanding these concepts of harmony and rhythm it is difficult to establish the two main differences between African music and Western music, as it is the interaction of these differences which in turn establishes the basis for all Latin music. This is because, from a historical perspective, Latin music is "new world" music.

The first and most obvious difference is that, in African music, instruments that emit low frequency sounds are assigned to play more rhythmically varied successions of notes (movements that are more melodic) and instruments that emit high frequency sounds are assigned to play more rigid and pattern-like successions of notes (movements that are more rhythmically repetitive). So at its core, Latin music is like African music, played by people singing to an ensemble of percussive (mostly uni- membrane) instruments. Invert this and the same can be said for western music, where instruments that emit low frequency sounds are assigned to play more rigid and pattern-like successions of notes (like bass ostinatos) and instruments that emit high frequency sounds are assigned to play more rhythmically varied successions of notes (movements that are more melodic). Think of a classical pianist: the right hand plays the melody in the upper registers while the left hand plays the chords with the low bass notes in a pattern-like fashion.

The second difference is simply one of fundamental character. Music that places a much heavier emphasis on the nature and quality of the harmonic movement of a musical sequence is by definition western music. Clearly put, it is what notes you decide to play and how they relate in pitch to the other ones that makes one piece of western music more valuable and important than another one. On the other hand, music that puts a heavier emphasis on rhythm, and is characterized by the use of a fundamental rhythmic "motif" (idea or theme) by which all the other notes in the musical sequence are arranged, can be defined as African music. At this point, it is very reasonable to conclude that a group of people singing and playing a multitude of drums with their hands (and feet), where the high-pitched drums are playing very repetitive and pattern-like movements while the low-pitched drums are playing in a more rhythmically varied way, is much more likely to take place in places of warm and temperate climate. Obviously you can quickly injure yourself or even break your hand if your task is to beat a frozen drum (even if you use sticks your hands will hurt).

Which brings us to Latin America and its gateway the Caribbean. As African slaves, who brought with them a variety of ceremonial rhythms, were imported plantation owners made it a point to pick them from different regions of Africa; separating them so as to discourage communication and assembly. Consequently, they mixed these rhythms in ways that had not been previously done. Therefore completely different structures arose. In layman's terms, Latin musician's today use traditional classical (western) instruments, be it strings, woodwinds, brass, etc., to apply these evolved rhythmic movements and carry forward the influence of the primal beats. Each Latin style includes a (dual) territorial element (where it was born here in the new world and from what region of Africa it originated) and, more importantly, an underlying rhythmic concept that provides the foundation for the arrangement of the rest of the notes in a "Latin" musical work.

Example: google the word "clave"

Clearly this is a very broad swipe that leaves out a number of influences and sources, for example the Bavarian influence on Mexican music and the indigenous music of the Andes. I welcome any comments and suggestions as they will be needed to create a more comprehensive definition. Please email these to: "info@latinpulsemusic.com".