I have been running, playing in and observing samba groups for quite a while. I even have a podcast called The Brazilian Beat since 2016 where we talk a lot about running samba groups outside and inside Brazil. Through these conversations themes begin to emerge. Things that are hold mediocre, low functioning groups back from being truly great.But first, what do I mean by low functioning groups? Groups that never seem to grow in numbers. Never seems to improve in quality or swing. Perhaps there is a core group of 10ish members who have been there forever but the band is a bit of a revolving door for other players. Constantly relearning the same material week after week. Players don't...
Don't be afraid to put yourself out there and get out of your comfort zone a little. You may surprise yourself on how much you can communicate and learn even if you do not speak the same language. There is an incredible amount of information that these teachers have that they can share with you.You are guaranteed to learn a lot and make a beautiful connection along the way!
Check out my post on playing caixa em cima and listen to the practice tracks here. Check out my post on playing repique mor and listen to the practice tracks here. Listen and Practice IMO the only way to get good swing is to listen and practice a lot so I created some looped audio tracks that I could play along with while I practiced.I started sharing these tracks with my students and people from Portland Samba and now I'll share them with you. I have tracks specifically for general samba swing (below). These are all recordings of Cariocas (Brazilian from Rio de Janeiro) playing.*I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO USE REFERENCE RECORDINGS FROM CARIOCAS NOT GRINGOS. Some gringos can swing their behinds off...
Check out what I wrote about swing and repique mor here. Listen and Practice IMO the only way to get good swing is to listen and practice a lot so I created some looped audio tracks for caixa em cima that I could play along with while I practiced.I started sharing these tracks with my students and people from Portland Samba and now I'll share them with you. I have tracks specifically for repique mor (below), caixa em cima, and general samba swing. The following are the repique mor tracks. These are all recordings of Cariocas (Brazilian from Rio de Janeiro) playing. Repique mor tracks here.Samba swing tracks here*I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO USE REFERENCE RECORDINGS FROM CARIOCAS NOT GRINGOS. Some gringos can...
On you samba drumming/music journey you will pretty quickly run into a conversation about samba swing. You are learning the basics of how to play and getting a little cocky about it and then someone says "It doesn't sound swingy." Swing Crisis My buddy calls this moment a "swing crisis" A time when you have to grapple with incorporating this illusive lilt into your playing. The swing informs pretty much everything and every instrument in a samba batucada group.A lot has been said about how to feel it, think about it and embody it. Us nerds want to math it out on paper and draw diagrams etc. Listen and Practice IMO the only way to get good swing is to listen and...
