Latin MusicIntroductionLatin music is a highly valued form of skill urbanized in a variety of Latin American countries, primarily Cuba, and is exclusive to the type of musical structures upon which it is based. It is a vocal and instrumental melody, initially following African spiritual ceremonies, today considered mainly as dance music. Its strongest feature, however, is its meter, which is extremely syncopated (when multiple rhythms played simultaneously generate counterpoints alongside each other in exciting cross-rhythms). It is conventionally played by local percussion and stringed instruments, namely the guitar, conga, timbales, bongo and tress (nine-string Cuban guitar) (Padilla,87). As time passed, the piano replaced the guitar as the vocal apparatus, while the bass, woodwinds, trumpets and trombones were added to play melodies and riffs (repetitions of sounds). Mainly Latin music is based on a rhythmic pattern known as clave. Clave is the foundational element of all Cuban music and is a 3-2 (occasionally 2-3) rhythmic prototype. Claves is also the name of the two sticks that play this 3-2 (clave) pattern (Padilla,100) Latin music usually uses a three-piece form with (1) A long introductory verse, followed by (2) A montuno section where the band plays a vamp (a progression of two or three chords), strengthening with a mambo-like strategy (where the front line members play complementary riffs) before (3) returning to the verse and closing the selection, usually with some kind of coda (a short, predetermined way of ending a piece; like a postscript at the end of letters). (Padilla,104)Some significant uniqueness of Latin music are: (O'Hagin,56)Clave: a s...... middle of paper ......alsa: Puerto Rican and Latin music. The Journal of Popular Culture, 24(1), 87-104.2. O'Hagin, I. B., & Harnish, D. (2006). Music as cultural identity: A case study of Latino musicians negotiating tradition and innovation in northwest Ohio. International Journal of Music Education, 24(1), 56-70.3. Kotarba, J. A., Fackler, J. L., & Nowotny, K. M. (2009). An ethnography of emerging Latin music scenes. Symbolic Interaction, 32(4), 310-333.4. Laó-Montes, A., & Dávila, A. M. (Eds.). (2001). Mambo Montage: the Latinization of New York. Columbia University Press.5. Campbell, P. S. (1996). Music in cultural context: Eight perspectives on global music education. Rowman and Littlefield Education.6. Wortham, S.E.F., Murillo Jr., E.G., & Hamann, E.T. (Eds.). (2002). Education in the new Latino diaspora: Politics and identity politics (Vol. 2). Greenwood Publishing Group.