Pieces of 8
Watch Out for Pirates!—Money 8's
Peso is the name of the currency in many Latin American countries today because of Spanish conquerors 500 years ago. At that time the peso was a silver coin minted (or made) in Spain. The Americas had vast deposits of silver which was used to mint millions of pesos over several centuries. The old silver peso was worth 8 reales ("royals"), just as the U.S. Dollar is worth 100 cents. Pesos were often physically cut into eight "bits", or sometimes four quarters, to make smaller change. People began to call the silver peso coins "pieces of eight." A peso cut into quarters came to be called "two bits" a term still used in the United States to mean a quarter of a dollar, or twenty five cents. "Pieces of eight" minted in the Americas and shipped back to Spain were a very tempting target for seagoing pirates who attacked and robbed many ships. Some pirates were among the richest people in the world. In fiction, such as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, pirates' parrots are trained to cry out, "Pieces of eight!"
[From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]
Don't Lose Time—Music 8's
Like the old Spanish pesos, most Latin rhythms are based on fractions of 8. These rhythms are written as fractions such as 4/4 or 8/8 and are called time signatures. This means that 4 or 8 beats are counted over and over in measures to help musicians play at the same time. Beats in measures of 4/4 or 8/8 can be divided to any fraction divisible by 4 or 8, such as 16, 32, 64. The smaller the fraction, the faster musicians must count to "keep time" with each other. Sometimes composers are nice and don't make musicians play a note for every beat, but they have to keep counting.
- Try following the rhythm pattern shown below.
- You will need at least three people.
- To help you count, everyone plays together on red "x"
- Make sure you all play together on the first beat of every measure.
- Good Luck!
