About this blog

Aprende cantando is primarily a blog for my students, so they can appreciate the richness and variety of music throughout the Spanish-speaking world. 

Spanish has become a global language. There are 21 countries where Spanish is the official language. Currently, the United States has more Spanish speakers than all of Spain, the birthplace of the language; and, Mexico, has a population that already exceeds 130 million Spanish speakers, so learning this language makes perfect sense.

I don’t publish necessarily the big hits. I choose songs that are easy to sing, with good lyrics or that are culturally or socially relevant. A language is closely tied to its culture or, in the case of Spanish, to many cultures. There are also songs in other languages.

Here are some learning tips:

• Songs are an excellent learning resource … why?

• Singing will improve your spoken fluency, by encouraging better articulation of words.  You will improve your pronunciation and intonation, helping you master “difficult sounds”.

• You will become familiar with the different varieties of Spanish; each country has a distinctive accent or accents.

• Your memory will improve because the melodic structure of music helps the brain to retain new vocabulary, idiomatic expressions and complex syntactic structures.

• When you sing your motivation and confidence improves, because music is an enjoyable activity that helps you to relax and it puts you in a better mood. 

• Songs may offer insights into the intricacies of a culture. Songs often include slang and idiomatic expressions that you may rarely find in a textbook.

• Some songs may refer to certain aspects of the present or about past events or the future; it may take us back to a time when ... "women used to ..." or when "children didn't ... or when "it was so cool to smoke...."

• I update this blog periodically.

  

Notice:  Some videoclips from YouTube sometimes become unavailable or are disabled.