I have devoted much time on this blog over the years to reviewing music applications and software programs in hopes that audiences will find my input beneficial. Some programs fare better than others. In more extreme case, I have witnessed moments where updates to applications and programs have proven less helpful that older versions. The 12 Tone Matrix application represents such an example, in that I previously reviewed it two other times to determine its practicability and see what had changed. Is 12 Tone Matrix worth using in 2023, and are there other music applications that provide tools and guidance for understanding twentieth-century music theory analytical techniques?

Skimming through Google Play reveals plenty of (Western) music theory and composition applications (apps) for smartphones. Many of them concentrate on the basic educational elements of tonality in classical music: understanding notes, chords, keys, harmonic progressions, and ear training. They are primarily designed as tools that supplement learning some of the components of music theory and composition for audiences both inside and outside of academic settings. However, Western music theory can be an acquired taste and often requires years of training, which grows more complicated when considering some of the classical music written after 1900.

12 Tone Matrix and Matrix Maker function as tools for writing serial music from the twentieth century. That aspect serves as both a strength and weakness. Developed by datapluscode and Dead Hand Media respectively, both apps offer a 12x12 grid where users can pick the pitch classes (musical notes) to create a row of twelve tones. The apps give users the options to create the main row (“Prime 0,” or “P0”) via the musical alphabet or pitch class numbers and abbreviations. The application automatically fills in the rest of the grid when all twelve tones are chosen to complete the “P0” row. The rows can be written forwards (“Prime”), backwards (“Retrograde”), through “Inversion,” and through “Retrograde-Inversion.”
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12 Tone Matrix and Matrix Maker serve primarily as tools for music composition by automatically generating tone rows. They assume that people already understand the concepts behind analyzing twelve-tone music, which is not always true. The applications are not intended to provide theoretical contexts for how to create the tone rows and pitch class sets. They also do not offer historical context for how Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) devised the twelve-tone system, nor do they play back the tones for each row or feature musical examples from composers who use serial music techniques: perhaps, for copyright reasons. It would benefit both composers and Music Theory students to have an application that uses an interactive “pitch class clock” and provides background information about symmetry and set relations. Adding these components to future programs would prove useful. 12 Tone Matrix and Matrix Maker are currently available for free on Google Play.

The following photographs derive from my recent travel abroad in Canada via Québec City, Québec. Although that specific region of the country applies French linguistics and customs, one must also consider the British English impact on Canada. In this specific instance, I took the opportunity to visit the fortification known as the Citadelle de Québec. This area focused primarily on the historical significance of the fort: from the British capture and occupation of Québec to the modern era and the role of the Canadian Military from World War I through the Korean War and beyond. The Citadelle also functions as an active base for the Royal 22nd Regiment. This group was established in the 1920s with the express purpose of protecting the British Monarchy, such as when they had been directed to guard Buckingham Palace in World War II.
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What does this information have to do with music? Music served to entertain, provide comfort to, and strengthen the morale for Canadians involved in military combat throughout the global conflicts. Whenever necessary the musicians would also drop their  instruments and assist the wounded soldiers. The band of the Royal 22nd Regiments frequently presents music concerts spanning different genre with a diverse repertoire covering everything from classical to video game music.  

Those who follow the work on this website know that I cover a plethora of topics concerning music history and culture. I would like to expand on that by briefly exploring something that has been near and dear to my heart since childhood: video games. Or, more specifically, video game music. I grew up in the 1990s at the crossroads of the 8-bit and 16-bit gaming generations and was fortunate enough to experience different arcades, consoles, and PCs from that era. Video game music has left an indelible impression on me through nostalgic memories, and I am not alone in expressing this sentiment. Such music is now being treated with respect as part of popular culture history. The Library of Congress recently archived the “Super Mario Bros. Theme” as part of the National Recording Registry. The ongoing financial success of new Super Mario Bros. Movie from Universal, Nintendo, and Illumination (despite negative criticism) features a score by Brian Tyler that incorporates musical collages of themes by Koji Kondo and David Wise[1] from various Mario, Luigi, and Donkey Kong games.

​Perceptions about video game music have also shifted in the twenty-first century: from initially being publicly dismissed as “not music,” to achieving a place in academia via the branch of musicological research and performance called Ludomusicology. The literature and resources concerning Ludomusicology have been growing for the past twenty years or so and often combine multiple academic disciplines. As someone who researches African, Latin American, and Caribbean music and cultural customs, I must add that video game music frequently applies genres, rhythms, and instrument from these regions of the world both for inspiration and (depending on its use) maintaining some degree of cultural respect. Based on what I have compiled so far in my research via an open collaborative playlist, I have encountered many instances where video game soundtracks incorporate Hispanic, Latin American, and Caribbean[2] music. These instances often evoke geographical locations, like islands or deserts. They also serve to represent moods or characters: The variety of genres also becomes apparent: flamenco, salsa, bossa nova, cha-cha, mambo, and other Spanish and (Afro-)Latin American musical materials. Some video games also incorporate indigenous music, albeit more out of respect for Native American people. The PC game Inca from 1992 pays homage to indigenous Peruvian culture (in a futuristic way), through synthesized panpipes and guitars, as well as incorporating the Quechua language in the introduction to the game.   


[1] Surprisingly, Wise was not mentioned in the end credits to the film.

[2] When I say “Caribbean,” I include all areas of the region via the Spanish, British, French, and Dutch regions.

As 2023 marks the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary commemorating the official abolition of enslavement in Puerto Rico on March 22, 1873, it deserves mention that uncovering more details about the Afro-Latin identity and culture still maintains relevance across Latin America and the Caribbean. The Cumbre Afro 2023 conference, which I attended virtually, reaffirmed the urgency for more open dialogs about Afro descendants and culture in ways that avoid cultural exploitation. Many of the presentations and panel discussions that I witnessed would acknowledge racial and gender discrimination through invisibility and provided possible solutions to overcoming sociopolitical and economic problems through the arts, education, historical preservation, and other approaches. This conference additionally demonstrated the growing awareness and impact of African American identity, literature, and social struggles from the past and present. More specifically, moments like the Black Lives Matter movement have encouraged Afro-Latin and Afro-European communities in the United States and abroad to address and resist cultural assimilation and erasure.  

The Cumbre Afro 2023 symposium also discussed issues already covered in my previous works concerning Africanized syncretic religions in Latin America. The information presented not only explored the inclusion of the bomba music and dance as codes for spreading conspiracies and revolts in Puerto Rico. Afro-Puerto Ricans in the nineteenth century and beyond would incorporate the bomba through Africanized defensive martial arts. That aspect further shatters previous romanticized misconceptions about enslavement in Puerto Rico. As the symposium came to a close, I perceived the interest and concern from the audience to continue these conversations in the communities and daily life. 

In continuing the discussion from my previous post, I wanted to draw attention to how music has played a crucial role in helping enslaved Afro-Puerto Ricans in the nineteenth century to resist captivity and oppression. The bomba has been documented as one of the known performative genres extant since Spanish colonization in Puerto Rico. While the English translation of the word “bomba” signifies the word “bomb,” the word is actuallya Spanish mistranslation of the French word bamboula, roughly meaning a kind of drum. I have talked about the murky origins of bomba in Puerto Rico in From Ring Shout to Bomba: mainly, how the musical term is often attributed to the French botanist Andre Pierre Ledru in his trip to the island in the eighteenth century.

Bomba incorporates music and dance through group participation and often consists of a “call and response” approach. A leader sings a line of lyrics, and the rest of the groups sings back by “responding” to it. Instrumentation typically involves barrel drums, a log drum called a cua, maracas and singers. Bomba can be used for both religious and secular purposes and also consists of multiple drumming patterns: the most basic one being the bomba sica. The following tutorial video provides visual and musical notation examples for different bomba rhythms. How does this information relate to Afro-Puerto Ricans resisting enslavement in the nineteenth century? History reveals that enslaved Afro-Puerto Ricans used the bomba in the 1820s to secretly communicate with each other about plans for revolt and escape from the island. More of this topic will be included in my upcoming book.

It has become increasingly imperative over the years to understand the global connections, history, and identities of the African diaspora. I have spent the past decade or so perusing these aspects as they concern the Hispanophone and Lusophone (Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking) areas of the world. While my latest publication From Ring Shout to Bomba served as a comparative study of the Gullah Geechee people and Afro-Latin communities in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Brazil by examining their histories, language, religion, and musical aspects, I also had the opportunity last year to expand my research on the historiography about the African presence in Puerto Rico.

Those who peruse the latest additions to the photographs in the “Gallery” section of this website will notice that, this past September, I presented at the 2022 Slave Dwelling Project conference at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Created by Joseph McGill, the Slave Dwelling Project seeks to encourage candid and civil discussions about the effects of African enslavement and Colonialism in the United States and abroad through detailed research and travels to areas where such practices were enforced. While the topic that year focused specifically on the Stono Rebellion in September 1739, one of the most important enslavement insurrections to have occurred in early colonial American history, the conference also allowed for discussions concerning enslavement revolts that occurred beyond the Thirteen Colonies. My involvement in that conference provided a comparative historiographical analysis of enslavement and revolts in Puerto Rico during Spanish colonization.

Research on Puerto Rico has revealed the importance behind comprehending and preserving African enslavement history on the island. That often involves modifying that narrative with concrete data and, in certain instances, artifacts from the nineteenth century or earlier to avoid sugarcoating or romanticizing what occurred on the island.  Sources from Guillermo Baralt, Luis A. Figueroa, and others not only clearly illustrate the Spanish involvement in enslaving African people in that area of the Caribbean. They also indicate instances where the enslaved populations either fought back against oppression or had conspired to do so. Sometimes, they implemented musical means via group participation in the bomba singing, drumming, and dancing by transmitting coded messages about liberation and escape from Puerto Rico.

My goal lies in demonstrating to the public the gaps and challenges behind uncovering information about that part of the African diaspora resisting cultural erasure. In preparation for the one-hundred and fifty years of the official “abolition” of enslavement in Puerto Rico in 1873 on March 22, 2023, my next few posts will focus on issues related to locating and understanding documents about enslavement in Puerto Rico.