Coaxing the Corrido: Centering Song in Performance

Drawing on ballad performances on Mexico’s Costa Chica, I seek to isolate and identify a niche in the performance sequence that I refer to as “coaxing the corrido,” an interlude during which ballad performers indulge in muted renderings of the next song to assure their control over its words and music. I argue that comparable episodes are most likely present in many or most of the world’s performance traditions and that attending closely to them holds the promise of insights into the management of musical performance, the dynamics of artistic collaboration, and native modes of experiencing these art forms.