Dr. Munarriz considered the term “Latin American Music” to be problematic because there are so many different kinds of music within Latin America. A simple way of putting it, there is music of the Indigenous people, African people, and Europeans. There is so much diversity trying to be summarized into one category. I do agree with his position because it makes the most sense. By putting all this music into one category it is only furthering the Eurocentric way that music is taught, as there is so much in Latin American musics to study but it is lumped into one category. It diminishes the value of the difference cultures that came together to create the different kinds of musics.

The different between Latin music and Latin American music is that Latin music is more general, covering music from Spanish speaking countries, while Latin American music is referring to music from Latin America that incorporates music from both the Indigenous people and the African slaves being transported to North America.

Ostinatos is a continually repeated music phrase or rhythm. It is the structural scaffolding of the Latin American musics, primarily how it functions the in the Caribbean. It is not structured by a single instrument, but instead a combination is used to create it. It presents these notes as support for improvisation and other things to happen over top of it.

Habanera Pattern involves the colour, texture, and role of a performance practice. It is used in different Latin musics and Latin Jazz pieces, and is a form of syncopation. One way of identifying it is the ability to repeat the phrase “café y pan” with it.