Mexican Hat Dance

The famous Mexican Hat Dance is a traditional melody that has been used extensively in movie scores. This arrangement has used several creative compositional devices to make it more rhythmically and melodically interesting. The use of 3/4 interspersed occasionally throughout the piece breaks up the 6/8 feel. The form is simple – a short introduction, the melody [A] repeats several times; the [B] section starts slowly and dramatically (with clapping at the appropriate moments) accelerating, leading back to the [A] melody. What is interesting in this recap is that the two major themes are played simultaneously.