These links should help you to find out more about Mariachi bands, a popular type of Mexican folk music, and the Ballet Folklorico dancers who dance to this kind of music. Gather information from these pages to write your book. Some of these sites also have excellent pictures that you could use to illustrate your book, and sound clips that you can use on your read-along tape.
Some of the unfamiliar terms that you might find on these webisites include:
bolero (boh-léh-roh): moderate dance/popular song type in 4/4 time
corrido (coh-tee-doh): a ballad that usually includes facts about historical events
ensemble (on-sáhm-bel): a musical group of voices or instruments
guitarrón (ghee-tah-róhn): large, portable acoustic bass instrument, member of the guitar family, with a v-shaped back, short neck, and six strings.
mestizo (mehs-tée-soh): the mixture of Hispanic, Indian and African cultural and musical elements in the Americas.
polka: a lively dance in 2/4 time, originally from eastern Europe.
ranchera (rahn-chéh-ra): a popular song type, with texts dealing with emotions such as love for the land or people.
son (sohn): a lively instrumental/vocal/dance piece, characterized by the alternation of 6/8 and 3/4 time throughout.
vihuela (vee-wéh-lah): a small member of the guitar famil having five strings, v-shaped back, short neck, and producing a high sound.
waltz (walts): a slow or moderate dance in 3/4 time, originally from western Europe.
