The cuatro is a family of Latin American string instruments played in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and other

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

n countries. It is derived from the Spanish guitar. Although some have

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

-like shapes, most cuatros resemble a small to mid-sized

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

. In Puerto Rico and Venezuela, the cuatro is an ensemble instrument for secular and religious music, and is played at parties and traditional gatherings. Cuatro means ''four'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

; the instrument's 15th century predecessors were the Spanish

vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...

and the Portuguese

cavaquinho The cavaquinho (pronounced in Portuguese) is a small Portuguese string instrument in the European guitar family, with four wires or gut strings. More broadly, ''cavaquinho'' is the name of a four-stringed subdivision of the lute family of instr ...

, the latter having four strings like the cuatro. Modern cuatros come a variety of sizes and shapes, and number of strings. Cuatros can either have single-strings, like a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, or double- or triple-coursed strings like a

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

, and vary in size from a large mandolin or small guitar, to the size of a full-size guitar. Depending on their particular stringing, cuatros are part of the

subfamilies of the

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

family.

Cuban Cuatro

The Cuban cuatro (cuatro Cubano, or ''tres cuatro'') is similar to a Cuban tres, but with 4 courses of doubled strings, instead of the usual 3 courses. It is usually tuned

Puerto Rican cuatros

The word cuatro first appears in 1828, when an activity that included stringed instruments was mentioned in a Puerto Rican newspaper. The word cuatro was used to represent the number of strings that the instrument initially had, but a 10 stringed, 5 course cuatro was made in 1887, as shown in a photograph taken in 1916. By 1922, cuatro music was being played on Puerto Rican radio stations, like "Los Jíbaros de la Radio" (1932) and "Industrias Nativas" (1934). After many years of constant rise in popularity, the Puerto Rican government approved a law in 2002 declaring that every year on November 17, the Commonwealth would celebrate "El día del Cuatro y del Cuatrista Puertorriqueño" (Day of the Cuatro and Puerto Rican Cuatro Player). Only a year later, the Puerto Rican cuatro was one of three instruments that were declared the National Instruments of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and important symbols of Puerto Rican culture. Traditional style cuatro of Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rican cuatro is shaped more like a

than a guitar, and is the most familiar of the three instruments of the Puerto Rican ''orquesta jíbara'' (i.e., the cuatro, the tiple and the

bordonua The Bordonua (Bordonúa) is a large, deep body (sound-boxes are usually deep) bass guitar which is native to Puerto Rico. They are made using several different shapes and sizes. The Bordonúa is the least common of the three stringed instrum ...

). The Puerto Rican cuatro has ten strings in five courses, tuned in fourths from low to high, with B and E in

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

s and A, D, and G in

unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

s: The cuatro is composed of several parts that work together to formulate the distinguishable sound of the instrument: * ''Clavijero'' (

pegbox A variety of methods are used to tune different stringed instruments. Most change the pitch produced when the string is played by adjusting the tension of the strings. A tuning peg in a pegbox is perhaps the most common system. A peg has ...

): This is found at the head of the cuatro, which allows the instrument's strings to be tuned * ''Cejuela'' ( nut or hueso): This is found on both ends of the cuatro, close to the head of the instrument, and in the overall body of it. It helps keep the strings in place as well as aid in the tuning process of the instrument. * ''Trastes'' (

fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instru ...

): There are 18 to 20

s in a traditional Puerto Rican Cuatro. * ''Diapasón'' (diapason): Diapason is an addition of the cuatro that is placed under the frets, to allow the musician comfort to the hand and a grasp whilst he/she is playing. * ''Rosetas'' ( rosette): This is a circular ornament that is present at the mouth of the instrument. Although this is allows cuatros to be distinguishable, the actual function that these serve in the instrument is for feedback prevention. * ''Cuerdas'' ( string): The strings are the main element that is in charge of producing sound. By being struck with a pick, they are able to produce various sounds and variations of chords in a cuatro. * ''Puente'' (

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

): The function of the bridge is to be able to maintain the strings in the position they are supposed to be in. In the bridge there is a ''cejuela'', which aids in this task as well. * ''Caja'' ''armónica'' (harmonic box): This is the overall body of the cuatro. It helps modify the sound produced and helps spread it to the surrounding air or environment. Several sizes of the instrument exist, including a ''cuatro soprano'', ''cuatro alto'', ''cuatro tradicional'' (the standard instrument, also called ''cuatro tenor''), and ''cuatro bajo'' (bass): All have 10 strings and are tuned in fourths. There is also a ''cuatro lírico'' (lyrical cuatro), which is about the size of the tenor, but has a deep jellybean-shaped body; a ''cuatro sonero'', which has 15 strings in 5 courses of 3 strings each; and a ''seis'', which is a ''cuatro tradicional'' with an added two-string course (usually a lower course), giving it a total of 12 strings in 6 courses. The Puerto Rican Cuatro is played with a pick, and the ''cuatrista'' will strike downwards on the string with the pick in order to generate the sound that the person wants to produce. The most popular technique used to play the cuatro is called

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are two types of tremolo. The first is a rapid reiteration: * Of a single note, particularly used on bowed string instruments, by rapidly moving the bow back and f ...

'','' which occurs when a cuatro player continually strikes the same chord multiple times to generate a sound for a longer period of time. The ''tremolo'' is used to play longer lasting notes, like

whole note A whole note (American) or semibreve (British) in musical notation is a single note equivalent to or lasting as long as two half notes or four quarter notes. Description The whole note or semibreve has a note head in the shape of a hollow o ...

half note ''Half Note'' is a live album by saxophonist Clifford Jordan which was recorded in 1974 and first released on the SteepleChase label in 1985.

s, and tied

eighth note 180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest. 180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together. An eighth note (American) or a quaver ( British) is a musical note pla ...

s and

sixteenth note Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest. Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together. In music, a 1/16, sixteenth note (American) or semiquaver ( British) is a note played for half the du ...

s. Musically, the Puerto Rican cuatro, although it is used throughout the year, it is mostly heard during Christmas time ("The short history of the cuatro"). The genres of music where the cuatro's presence is really known in Plena, the

Trova ''Trova'' is a style of Cuban popular music originating in the 19th century. Trova was created by itinerant musicians known as ''trovadores'' who travelled around Cuba's Oriente province, especially Santiago de Cuba, and earned their living by ...

, the

Aguinaldo A thirteenth salary, or end-of-year bonus, is an extra payment given to employees at the end of December. Although the amount of the payment depends on a number of factors, it usually matches an employee's monthly salary and can be paid in o ...

and the Seis that were created in Puerto Rico. Sometimes, it is integrated in salsa and other genres of music like the waltz. Some of the ''aguinaldos'' and ''seises'' created in Puerto Rico are: * Alegre Vengo * De la Montaña Venimos * Saludos, Saludos * De Tierras Lejanas *Popurri Navideño * Caminan las Nubes * El Fuá * Seis Mapeyé * Seis Chorreao * Seis Celinés * Seis Fajardeño

Venezuelan cuatro

The cuatro of

has four single nylon strings, tuned It is similar in shape and tuning to the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

, but their character and playing technique are different. It is tuned in a similar fashion to the ukulele's traditional D tuning, but the B is an

lower. Consequently, the same fingering can be used to shape the

chords Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...

, but it produces a different inversion of each chord. There are variations on this instrument, having 5 strings or 6 strings. Other Venezuelan cuatro variants include: ::

Cuatros in other countries

Certain variants are considered the national instrument of some countries (e.g.,

). The cuatro is widely used in ensembles in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, and

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...

to accompany singing and dancing. In

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

it accompanies Parang singers. In

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Ameri ...

the cuatro is used as an accompanying instrument in traditional Sewenal music at Christmas time.

References

* * *

External links

* * * *A short history of the Puerto Rican cuatro and its musi

*LexJuris Puerto Rico. ''Ley Núm. 50. del año 200

' *LexJuris Puerto Rico. ''Ley Núm. 154 del año 200

' {{Authority control Guitar family instruments Mandolin family instruments String instruments Necked box lutes