Juan Álamo, a Puerto Rican-born percussionist and UNC professor, carries his experiences from worldwide levels into the classroom, the place he teaches college students to grasp the cultural histories behind the music they play.
“We teach what we are and the experiences that we have, and the backgrounds that we have as people will influence the way we do pretty much everything in life,” Álamo stated.
As a professor for the Department of Music, Álamo teaches percussion classes and directs three completely different ensembles: the Percussion Ensemble, Global Rhythms Ensemble and Charanga Carolina. He additionally teaches Music 147: Introduction to Music of the Américas, a lecture course that explores the historical past behind Latin American music.
Álamo’s Puerto Rican heritage is woven all through his instructing.
In the Global Rhythms Ensemble, college students discover music from Africa, Brazil, Cuba and Puerto Rico. Álamo stated he incorporates devices with connection to Latin America inside his percussion instruction.
“As a percussionist, a lot of the instruments and the rhythms that we deal with have direct or indirect connections to Latin American music and culture,” Álamo stated. “I guess being from that part of the world and having that background and heritage helps me to help students understand the music, the culture, the history that oftentimes we explore and discuss in a class setting.”
For college students, that cultural perspective turns music into greater than one thing to carry out.
Faith Miura, a junior percussionist, stated Álamo was the rationale she got here to UNC. Miura stated that, as a mentor, Álamo locations emphasis on being a well-rounded musician.
“He shows you as a student a lot of perspective on different cultural music, on how to understand your music as opposed to just playing through it and working technique over and over again,” Mirua stated.
In Álamo’s ensembles, college students don’t merely study rhythms — they talk about the place these rhythms originated from and their significance. Miura stated she notably loved studying Puerto Rican bomba rhythms on the hand drums within the Global Rhythms Ensemble.
Zora Joyce, a junior music main who has taken each Álamo’s Introduction to the Music of the Américas class and his personal classes, stated she is moved when he brings Puerto Rican devices into class.
“He’s just very knowledgeable on everything he speaks about,” Joyce stated. “It’s also really interesting when he brings in the instruments that are from Puerto Rico, and we get to play with them and use them, and see the relation to the class as well as what we play.”
Álamo’s affect on his college students extends far past the classroom. Joyce stated he’s prepared to assist his college students by means of challenges of their private lives, and Miura stated Álamo is at present serving to her put together for graduate faculty auditions.
Álamo’s mentorship displays the broader attain of his work as a performer.
He recurrently travels for music festivals, the place he teaches grasp courses and performs in live performance. His upcoming schedule features a journey house to Puerto Rico, adopted by performances and instructing in Germany and Poland.
No matter the place he performs, his id as a musician stays linked to Puerto Rico.
“I grew up there, and then that obviously had an important impact in my development,” Álamo stated.
That affect continues to succeed in past his performances. Through his instructing, compositions and mentorship, Álamo provides his college students a solution to hear music as an expression of tradition, historical past and id.
@dailytarheel | [email protected]