What
happens in a samba workshop?
This really depends on the age group, the primary school
youngsters workshops are generally structured as follows:
1. Simple introduction 'call and response' rhythm.
2. An easy rhythm that everyone can play together.
3. A 'rumble' where everyone creates as much sound as possible.
4. A 'directed rumble' with 'dynamics' or loud and soft directed by the
team leader.
5. A rhythm that is passed around the group.
6. A chance to be creative where everyone has the space (one bar) to create
their own rhythm.
7. Some of these idea's can then be combined in a single percussion piece.
The secondary school pupils find it easier to keep a steady
rhythm and we can give them some proper samba rhythms:
1. An introduction, which is based on 'call and response' with the team
leader.
2. A central, main 'groove' or rhythm that combines different 'hits' from
each drummer, when combined together produces a specific 'groove' or rhythmic
'feel'.
3. A short 'break' which they all play together.
4. Direction of each section of the 'bateria' or percussion group to play
or keep silent whilst the other 'section' or group of people within the
group play.
5. Bringing everyone back into the main rhythm or 'groove'.
6. A drum 'chorus' where all the drummers play the same rhythm. This is
longer than the break' (see 3 above) which they may have played earlier.
7. If there is time another secondary rhythm or 'groove' can be shown
which contrasts with the main body of the piece.
These are some of the techniques used in a samba 'bateria'
or group. It depends on the age group and how quickly pupils can assimilate
the information. The rhythms are quite often necessarily quite simple.
Samba rhythms can be made simple, but there are more advanced rhythms
and the difficulty level can be increased gradually over a period of time
if a course of workshops is embarked upon. The act of hitting quite large
drums, agogo bells, tambourims, etc. is in itself enormous fun.
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www.wirral-samba.co.uk |