Brazilian Maxixe,Choro - conga ideas
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by zaragemca » Thu Jan 08, 2004 9:32 pm
I have incorporated several Congas,and Bells Patterns in to some of those Brazilian Styles,together with Lambada,Batucada,and Samba,It is parts of my genaral Percussion Training.But again it is hard to discribe becouse in that type of music it is a sophisticated coordination of several drums and Bells patterns.
Edited By zaragemca on 1073597724
Edited By zaragemca on 1073597724
International Club of Percussionists
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by whammy » Thu Jan 22, 2004 3:05 am
When it comes to unfamiliar territory, just play what feels and sounds right.
How's that for advice?
I can tell you now that that is what every professional musician does in an unfamiliar situation. Keep it low key until you figure out something that totally fits. Then you can expand on that. Music is all about improvisation anyway, unless you're recording (and even then improvisation can be wonderful).
I have found that most of the rhythms and patterns played by the masters are already things I have messed with before, but they have taken a certain part of it and emphasized some rhythm that benefits the piece of music being played.
That is a lesson in itself... and you need not be Mongo Santamaria to benefit from that, I think the most important thing is just to play what's in your heart, and what goes with the music at that particular moment.
Edited By whammy on 1074741050
How's that for advice?
I can tell you now that that is what every professional musician does in an unfamiliar situation. Keep it low key until you figure out something that totally fits. Then you can expand on that. Music is all about improvisation anyway, unless you're recording (and even then improvisation can be wonderful).
I have found that most of the rhythms and patterns played by the masters are already things I have messed with before, but they have taken a certain part of it and emphasized some rhythm that benefits the piece of music being played.
That is a lesson in itself... and you need not be Mongo Santamaria to benefit from that, I think the most important thing is just to play what's in your heart, and what goes with the music at that particular moment.
Edited By whammy on 1074741050
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- Location: Omaha, Nebraska
by James McKaskle » Fri Mar 26, 2004 6:59 am
Brasil! Música do meu coração!
The choro. Here's a big topic. A choro group basically consists of cavaquinho (the "original" steel string ukalele) and/or mandolin which plays highly syncopated rhythm and melody, violão (nylon string guitar) plays the bass line, pandeiro plays steady 16ths, surdo (bass drum played with palm and stick) marks the time "ba doom...ba dit...", (the ba's are pickups to the main beats of doom and dit) and often a clarinet or flute. A choro is essentially an old style of salon samba played in Rio being first developed in the late 19th century.
A conga rhythm for choro would be mimicking the surdo, or playing a basic samba pattern |X X XX X X XX X |
Forró (pronounced fo-HO) is an umbrella term for several styles of music from Northeast Brazil: Forró, Xaxado, Xote, Arrasta-pé, and baião (all of the x's are pronounced "sh", and -te like "chee", and double r's like "h", or spanish j's).
The most common instruments used are the pandeiro, zabumba, ganzá, ago-gô, viola (a 5 string, double coursed guitar=10 strings, tuned to an open chord), triangle, and accordian. Most forró groups are trios consisting of accordian, triangle, and zabumba, but the original melody instruments were Brazilian flutes called pífanos.
Baião is the most important of the group being the oldest and most folkloric.
The basic forró rhythm is:
Xx..Xx..xx
this rhythm is played on the Zabumba drum. Zabumbas are bass drums strapped arounf the shoulder and given a tilt off of vertical sort of like as slash mark /
The right hand holds a mallet and plays the X's, while the left hand holds a stick and plays the small x's. The mark of the Baião is the syncopation of the two large x's.
The Forró and the baião rythms are pretty much the same. The xote rhythm, however, is:
X..xXXxXxX..xXxXXx
You can simplify this rhythm by leaving out some of the small x's. The Xote is a very radio friendly music, which is often mistaken for reggae because the accordian plays the same back-beat rhythmic punctuations which defines reggae.
The xaxado and arrasta-pé (foot slide) are faster, more polka like of the forrós, which were greatly influenced by European quadrilles (square dances in the US). Xote is in fact a Brazilian spelling/corruption of Schottische, which has a similar rhythmic feel and can be heard in Mexican music as well.
Maxixe is a type of polka dance transplanted from Europe and becam brazilianized. The maxixe is a style of choro, more melodic in variation than rhythmic.
The frevo is something I don't know nearly as much about other than it is a carnaval music similar to samba that developed in northeast Brazil. It has the same percussion make up as samba, but with a snare side drum added. The snare plays a loose marcha/samba like rhythm. That's about all I can say for that.
The choro. Here's a big topic. A choro group basically consists of cavaquinho (the "original" steel string ukalele) and/or mandolin which plays highly syncopated rhythm and melody, violão (nylon string guitar) plays the bass line, pandeiro plays steady 16ths, surdo (bass drum played with palm and stick) marks the time "ba doom...ba dit...", (the ba's are pickups to the main beats of doom and dit) and often a clarinet or flute. A choro is essentially an old style of salon samba played in Rio being first developed in the late 19th century.
A conga rhythm for choro would be mimicking the surdo, or playing a basic samba pattern |X X XX X X XX X |
Forró (pronounced fo-HO) is an umbrella term for several styles of music from Northeast Brazil: Forró, Xaxado, Xote, Arrasta-pé, and baião (all of the x's are pronounced "sh", and -te like "chee", and double r's like "h", or spanish j's).
The most common instruments used are the pandeiro, zabumba, ganzá, ago-gô, viola (a 5 string, double coursed guitar=10 strings, tuned to an open chord), triangle, and accordian. Most forró groups are trios consisting of accordian, triangle, and zabumba, but the original melody instruments were Brazilian flutes called pífanos.
Baião is the most important of the group being the oldest and most folkloric.
The basic forró rhythm is:
Xx..Xx..xx
this rhythm is played on the Zabumba drum. Zabumbas are bass drums strapped arounf the shoulder and given a tilt off of vertical sort of like as slash mark /
The right hand holds a mallet and plays the X's, while the left hand holds a stick and plays the small x's. The mark of the Baião is the syncopation of the two large x's.
The Forró and the baião rythms are pretty much the same. The xote rhythm, however, is:
X..xXXxXxX..xXxXXx
You can simplify this rhythm by leaving out some of the small x's. The Xote is a very radio friendly music, which is often mistaken for reggae because the accordian plays the same back-beat rhythmic punctuations which defines reggae.
The xaxado and arrasta-pé (foot slide) are faster, more polka like of the forrós, which were greatly influenced by European quadrilles (square dances in the US). Xote is in fact a Brazilian spelling/corruption of Schottische, which has a similar rhythmic feel and can be heard in Mexican music as well.
Maxixe is a type of polka dance transplanted from Europe and becam brazilianized. The maxixe is a style of choro, more melodic in variation than rhythmic.
The frevo is something I don't know nearly as much about other than it is a carnaval music similar to samba that developed in northeast Brazil. It has the same percussion make up as samba, but with a snare side drum added. The snare plays a loose marcha/samba like rhythm. That's about all I can say for that.
- James McKaskle
by James McKaskle » Fri Mar 26, 2004 10:16 am
One more note on the zabumba (I really should get some sleep first, post later) is that the right and left hands play on opposite sides of the drum. For a very folkloric Baião, I highly recommend the CD "Minha História" by Selma do Côco. The music is called "Côco", and is played on atabaques, zabumba, ganzá, and pandeiro, and is sung in call and response fashion, with a dance associated with it that, unfortunately I've never had the opportunity to see. It is unmistakably of African origin, but different than any other African Diasporic music I've ever heard. The subject matter is generally rural, and the verses are simple. There is also another type of Côco more typical in the cities called Côco de Embolada which is less rhythmically complex, but the verses are improvised and sung rhythmically, sort of like rap or some of the music of the Griots, and is often accompanied on viola (guitar mentioned earlier) and pandeiro-pandeiro playing baião rhyhm.
- James McKaskle
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