La vaquilla colorada (The Red Heifer)

Selection: La vaquilla colorada (The Red Heifer)
Performers: Francisco Leal & Agapito Salinas (vocals and guitars)
Recorded: Kingsville, Texas, May 2, 1939

Activity 1: Singing Cowboys

1. Teacher introduces the song through attentive listening questions.
   • What language might this be? (Spanish)
   • Do you recognize any words or know what the song is about? (See translation below)
   • What is the form of the song? (Verse-Chorus)
   • How does repetition factor into this song? (Every verse or chorus is repeated)
2. Students learn the chorus, by rote. The teacher might choose to first sing the melody on a neutral syllable before adding the text.
3. Teacher has students sing the chorus along to the recording.
4. Students add the verse melody by humming along.
5. Students split into four groups, with each group assigned the text of one verse. Each group is responsibile to sing and/or teach their verse to the class.
6. As a class, sing along to the song.

Lyrics and Translation
Verse 1:
Abre las trancas, vaquero,
del corral de la manada,
que tenemos que lazar
la vaquilla colorada.
[x2]

Chorus:
Uy, uy, uy, uy, uy,[1]
vamos a lazar
a la colorada
que tenemos que tentar.
[x2]

Verse 2:
Esa vaquilla trigueña
viene de buenos corrales;
la traen los caporales
de la tierra tampiqueña.
[x2]

Chorus:
Uy, uy, uy, uy, uy,
vamos a lazar
a la colorada
que tenemos que tentar.
[x2]

Verse 3:
Voy a lazar esa vaca
Y a cantarle a mi morena
Arriba los caporales
De la sierra Tepiqueña
[x2]

Chorus:
Uy, uy, uy, uy, uy,
vamos a lazar
a la colorada
que tenemos que tentar.
[x2]

Verse 4:
Esa puya, picadores,
hay que sangrar el morrillo;
que encierren en los toriles
a todos los becerrillos.
[x2]

Chorus:
Uy, uy, uy, uy, uy,
vamos a lazar
a la colorada
que tenemos que tentar.
[x2]

English Translation:
Verse 1:
Open the herd pen door, cowboy,
For we have to catch the red heifer (with a lasso)

Chorus:
Oy oy oy,oy
We're going to catch with a lasso the red one that we must try (to see how wild she is)

Verse 2:
They say that the red one has pointed/sharp horns
and they say that the cowboys and the keepers are afraid of her.

Chorus

Verse 3:
This brown heifer comes from good pens/herds,
The keepers bring her from the Tampico area

Chorus

Verse 4:
Bring this goad, picador / you must make the fat-at-her-nape bleed.
Let them shut the young calves up in the bullpens.

Chorus

Activity 2: Instrumental Variations

1. Teacher asks students to find the tonal center or the key of the piece (D Major)
2. Working on the introduction (the melody of the chorus), students discover the descending stepwise motion of the cadences on their instruments.
   

   Basic Melody of the Instrumental Introduction/Chorus

   

3. With further scaffolding, students learn the entirety of the introduction/chorus melody.
4. Knowing that the song is in D Major, teacher asks students to figure out the chords used in the accompaniment (D, G, A or I, IV, V).
5. Students independently determine the chordal accompaniment for the chorus and the melody.
6. Working on the melody of the verse, students discover the repeating pattern in the first phrase on their instruments.
   

   Basic Melody of the Verse

   

   Transcription by L. Clayton Dahm

7. With further scaffolding, students learn the entirety of the verse melody.
8. Working with parallel thirds, students can add harmony to the verse (as shown in the above transcription).
9. Teacher facilitates an instrumental arrangement that might include an introduction, verses(s), and chorus; with melody, harmony, and/or chordal accompaniment.

Activity 3: Working in Three

1. Teacher asks students to keep the steady beat along to the recording.
2. Teacher asks students to figure out the meter of the song (triple).
3. Students move around the room, stepping on beat 1 and clapping on beats 2 and 3.
4. Students come up with their own body percussion patterns to keep a three-beat pattern.
5. Students come up with rhythms that work in triple meter and play them using body percussion.
6. Teacher facilitates an arrangement of some student-created rhythms and transfer them to non-pitched percussion instruments. Various arrangements of these rhythms can be played along with the recording.

Activity 4: La Vaquilla Colorada – A Standard

1. Students listen and/or watch other performances of the song, such as recordings by:
   • Banda La Jaripera
   • Pepe Aguilar
   • Miguel Aceves Mejia
2. Students discuss the different arrangements and genres (e.g. Banda) and how they contribute to the feel of the song.
3. Extension: Students are assigned a new genre and are asked to arrange and perform the song in this new genre.

Activity 5: The History of Vaqueros

“Mexican vaqueros have largely been erased from Texas popular memory because they provide a picture of a Mexican that contrasts with racist depictions of them.” - Monica Muñoz Martinez, historian

1. Teacher leads students to learn more about the history and tradition of vaqueros in South Texas. The article, “The Original Cowboys” by Katie Gutierrez might be one place to begin this study.
2. Teacher asks students to conduct their own conclusions in relation to the quote above by Monica Muñoz Martinez.
3. Other guiding questions might include:
   • How do these depictions of vaqueros contrast with students’ stereotypical conception of cowboys? What sources have informed their imagining of cowboys?
   • What role did colonization play in the history of vaqueros in South Texas?