My first experience with the stringed instrument known as the tiple came in the form of my dissertation chamber piece, Estampas de La Isla del Encanto (2015-16). Even though this chamber work and accompanying documented research that I provided concentrated largely on the Puerto Rican cuatro stringed instrument and its connection to the theory of transculturation, I included the tiple with the cuatro and other instruments to try and use the instrumentation of the orquesta jibara (emseble of Puerto Rican folk stringed and percussion instruments) within a contemporary setting. Unlike the cuatro, which sounds one octave lower than written, the sounding pitch for the tiple is written a perfect-fifth lower.
Given this bit of information about the tiple, I must add that this instrument does not limit itself to Puerto Rico. Multiple versions of the tiple abound in other areas of Latin America and the Caribbean: from Argentina, to Colombia (where the tiple is regarded as the national instrument), Cuba, and Venezuela among others. This diversity clearly demonstrates the European Spanish musical impact on these countries.
Several other points also deserve mention, here. The overall shape of the tiple varies in construction depending of the given Latin American or Caribbean geographical region. The Colombian tiple retains the “figure-eight” shape of the guitar, while others like the Puerto Rican tiple have a more angular top. Additionally, not all tiples feature the same number of strings and courses (sets). Some can have at least five strings, to at most twelve. These strings can also be doubled or tripled depending on their construction, meaning that the same note can be performed on multiple strings.
For more information (in English and Spanish) on the Colombian tiple and other versions of the instrument, readers can check out the following links:
www.liutaiomottola.com/instruments/Alberto.htm
pacoweb.net/Cuerdas/cuetiple.htm
Given this bit of information about the tiple, I must add that this instrument does not limit itself to Puerto Rico. Multiple versions of the tiple abound in other areas of Latin America and the Caribbean: from Argentina, to Colombia (where the tiple is regarded as the national instrument), Cuba, and Venezuela among others. This diversity clearly demonstrates the European Spanish musical impact on these countries.
Several other points also deserve mention, here. The overall shape of the tiple varies in construction depending of the given Latin American or Caribbean geographical region. The Colombian tiple retains the “figure-eight” shape of the guitar, while others like the Puerto Rican tiple have a more angular top. Additionally, not all tiples feature the same number of strings and courses (sets). Some can have at least five strings, to at most twelve. These strings can also be doubled or tripled depending on their construction, meaning that the same note can be performed on multiple strings.
For more information (in English and Spanish) on the Colombian tiple and other versions of the instrument, readers can check out the following links:
www.liutaiomottola.com/instruments/Alberto.htm
pacoweb.net/Cuerdas/cuetiple.htm
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