Construction of jazz drum vocabulary based on Brazilian rhythms.
Luis Mora Matus Jazz Drums 05-03-2012
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Construction of jazz drum vocabulary based on Brazilian rhythms.
Name: Luis Daniel Mora Matus Date:05-03-2012 Course: Jazz Drums School Year: 2011/2012 Guide: Jarmo Hoogendijk
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Index: 1.- Introduction: …. 4 2.- History of Brazilian Music: …. 5 3.- The Rhythms: …. 7 3.1. Samba: .... 7 3.2. Frevo: …. 14 3.3. Maracatu: …. 16 4.- Transcriptions: …. 20 4.1 Samba: …. 20 4.2 Maracatu: …. 24 4.3 Frevo: …. 26 5.- Adaptation to the Drum Set: …. 28 5.1 Samba: …. 28 5.2 Maracatu: …. 31 5.3 Frevo: …. 32 6.- Building a Jazz Phrase: …. 33 6.1 Samba: …. 33 6.2 Maracatu: …. 35 6.3 Frevo: …. 37 7.- Conclusion: …. 38 8.- References: …. 39 9.- Acknowledgments: …. 40 To read the drum set:
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1.- Introduction We live in a world where the culture that took over of almost every aspect of our life is the “immediate culture”. Everything is made and needs to be done for “now”. If we put attention, we will see that almost in every scale of our existence, like our economic system, the way that we see life and understand life, and the way that we face the problems are based in what gives us more profit now and how we can have an immediate solution for some specific issue, without really concerning about the future. We live in a system where the people look for “immediate solutions” in order to solve “immediate problems”. And therefore, we are used to develop a superficial knowledge about one subject, instead of really knowing it deeply. As a jazz drummer, I realize that I’ve been acting in the same dynamic. If I need to learn some specific subject for a gig or for a test, lets say “vocabulary of bebop”, I will just go to the books, study it’s patterns and licks that they show, and if I really put time on it, I can transcribe some tunes and play all the phrases there. Maybe I will end up knowing the phrases and I will incorporate them into my vocabulary Now, my question is: do I really know this phrases? If I know some licks that I transcribed from Philly “Joe” Jones and include them in my vocabulary, does it really mean that I know it? Do I know why did he play that? Do I know why his language was like this? The answer is “no, I don't know, I just transcribed them and I know it works in that context. “ This question made me think a lot about what do to really know music (and in my life!) but now I will not take this matter. I started to think that most of the things that I play are instinctive or due from superficial knowledge. I started to realize that when I play a solo, most of the things that I play, I play them because I know that they “work for that specific moment” but this don't mean that I know the language. So, together with increasing my knowledge in jazz vocabulary I started to think that I would like I need to have a drum language with phrases and elements whose origin and basic characteristics I really know them. Phrases that I would be able to track back and say “this phrase comes from here, because I took from this other place and its origin is there”. In that context, I decided to investigate Brazilian music, for I’ve lived realized that I have more experience and knowledge in it. I've lived there for several years, I speak its language, I know the culture and played in schools, traditional Brazilian music combos and samba school’s baterias. With this previous knowledge, I decided that I would really like to incorporate some elements of three specific rhythms into my jazz vocabulary - samba, maracatu and frevo. The only “problem” with thuis rhythms is that are played by “orchestras” with more or less 300 musicians. The big question came then: would I be able to reduce all this things in order to incorporated to my jazz vocabulary?” In order to answer this question, To this work, I searched for information about Brazilian music in general - more specificly into samba, maracatu and frevo, got some historical information and made some transcriptions, after reducing to drums and then applying them in a jazz context.
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2.- History of Brazilian music. The first step in terms of “knowing the subject”, is to look at the cultural and historical background of the subject we want to understand. In this case, to know about Brazilian rhythms, I need information concerning to the country, and to the origins of their musical tradition. Now, to talk about Brazilian music means to talk about more than five hundred years of history and this is not the propose of this work. If that would be the idea, it would take the whole work itself, due to its extension and quantity of rhythms and musical styles. So, the propose of this chapter is just to give a very short introduction showing how this music evolved, and got mixed with others musical elements. At first we need to start mentioning that Brazilian popular music is like the country itself: a fusion of cultures - European colonies from the Portuguese, French, Spanish, German, Italians and many others together with the African slaves and native people. In terms of music, maybe the most famous Brazilian music style would be the Samba, the style of brazilian carnival. However, Samba is just a little part of the rich country's music diversity. Styles like choro, frevo, forró, maracatu, boi, baiao, bossa nova, chamamé and many other contain a rich amount of information in rhythmical aspects, but also in melodic and harmonic aspects. Also through the years, this traditional styles started to mix with some other musical forms, such as jazz, rock, funk or rap, expanding even more the amount of information. There is no data about the native Brazilian music before the arrival of the Europeans. The first registers of music in Brazil were done by the Spanish Jesuits priests around 1550. They founded settlements called “Reduções”,where the native people received an education orientated to religion and music. Around the 1600, the reducoes had a great cultural development among the native people, that were really interested into European music. They also were really participative in the construction of the instruments that they were playing, and also in performing - instrumental or vocal. Over the years, native people started to be persecuted and made slaves. This fact originate huge fights between the native people and the Portuguese army. The ones who survived to massacres and diseases brought by the imigrants, escaped to different regions of Brazil. They began to avoid any contact with the Europeans and their participation in the European music disappeared. By 1700, Minas Gerais became one of the most important states from Brazil . It's name refers to the gold and diamond mines in the region. The most important city there was Vila Rica (today called Ouro Preto). Whith this progress, the region started to grow in a very “radical” way. This created a series of problems because the cities were not prepared for this explosive amount of people. There was too many people with needs of food, clothes, shoes and place to stay and this situation started to become with almost no solution.
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With the time, the resources of the mines in Minas started to decrease, and the population began to move again, this time to the zones of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In this context, popular music started its formation. The“native music” from these different áreas joined african and european traditions. Rhythms such as capoeira, afoxé or maracatu were taken by migration to big cities-São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro - and became very popular. Styles like chorinho show a very strong European tradition in its harmony and melody; Samba has more african influence; Bossa-Nova will have jazz influences,. Also in classical music we can see the same experience, the fusion of several influences, through the work of Heitor Villa Lobos.
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3.- The Rhythms 3.1.- Samba
Is the most known rhythm from Brazil and its considered the most important as well. We can find the origin of this style in the state of Bahia, in the XVII century, where slaves from Angola and from Congo brought to Brazil the “semba”, an African dance. At the end of the XIX century, the city of Rio de Janeiro, that was the capital back then, was the most important city of Brazil, and also the center of the culture of the country. Because of that, a lot of immigrants, specially from the state of Bahia, will come to Rio and stay there. In this place, they will mix their own musical traditions with a number of musical styles from all over the world, like polka, habanera or maxixe. In the beginning of the XX century, the neighborhoods close to Rio, like Morro da Conceição, Praça Mauá, Praça Onze, Cidade Nova, Saúde e Zona portuaria, were the house of all the immigrants that came from all over Brazil. Also in that place, the “Tias Bahianas” (aunt from Bahia) with their migration from the north, started to accelerate this process of fusion of this styles, making the perfect conditions to create the samba. In addition to their sweets and nice food, the “tias” brought the tradition of the parties of “fundo de quintal”, where they celebrate hand by hand the religious traditions with the profane traditions, and always with very good music.
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The most famous of this parties was the “Tia Ciata”, where a lot of young and talented musicians and composers like Pixinginha, Joao da Baiana and Donga used to go. This last one, Donga, was a son of the famous “Tia Amélia” and he frequently attended this parties. In 1917, he recorded the samba “pelo telefone” (by the telephone), which is considered the first record of samba, according to registers of the National Library. The music that was created in the parties of the Tia Ciata, was a sort of collective creation, where ins the first part had some fix lyrics (most of the time nobody knew who wrote them), and the second time, was an improvisation of verses. This new musical ideas started to get together with some drums “schools” that each neighborhood had, and each school started to give their own interpretation of the new style. Thats why we can find the different styles and names to the samba, like samba cancao, samba de exaltacao, samba de partido alto, samba enredo, and many many others. There are controversies about the metrical form of this style. The most traditional people believe that the samba is in 2/4 because of the pattern of the surdos, but in the modern point of veiw, people believe is in 4/4, because of the harmonic rhythm in the songs and, in terms of Schools of Samba, because the phrases of the Tamborim are in 4.. In 2005, the “samba de roda” became UNESCO Heritage of Humanity (http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.phpURL_ID=30973&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html)
Escolas de samba (School of Samba): the tradition of carnival in Brazil comes from the XVI century, when the Portuguese immigrants brought the Entrudo. This was a joke time where the people through between them all kinds of liquid mixed with flour and lemon. In the XIX century, the burguesy of the city of Rio de Janeiro, started to look for another way to celebrate this parties. They import masks, dances and allegory for parades from Europe. At the same time, the people from the city started to celebrate it in their own way. They made groups called Zé Pereiras, and they had their own parade under the sound of bass drums and some percussion instruments. Through, both carnivals, the one from the city people and the other from the rich people, started to mix, creating a unique tradition from Rio. In the beginning the schools started to get together in the favelas, so each favela had its own school. So, in 1929 the was the first school of samba contest. The one who won was Conjunto Oswaldo Cruz, Mangueira was in the second place and Deixa falar was the third one. This competition was the starting point of the schools of samba as we know today. However, between the years 1930 and 1932, the schools were only considered as variations of blokes of samba from Bahia, and in 1932 the owner of the newspaper “Mundo Esportivo” (sport world) decided that he wanted to organize the first Parade of Schools of Samba. The Newspaper established the criteria to judge, like each school need to have one “ala das Bahianas”, have more than one hundred members inscribed in that school or play a samba unpublished, among other things. The winner was Mangueira, second was Conjunto Oswaldo Cruz, or Portela. 8
In a very short period of time, the popularity of the Schools of Samba expanded to other states and in 1930, the school of samba “Vai Vai” (go go) was founded. This school is the most traditional and one of the oldest in Sao Paulo.
Bateria of School of Samba: the Bateria are the whole drum orchestra of the school. A normal school would have around 300 percussion players. The way that they organize is first with a “Mestre” (conductor). This person makes the arranging for the whole Bateria and makes the breaks and everything. The Mestre has also some assistant conductors, and they are located in the middle of the Bateria and, by following the Mestre, guide the rest of the players. The Bateria of the School of Samba rehears at least two times a week months before the Carnaval. The rehearsals can take more than three hours. In this rehearsals they decide how it will be the song that will represent the School in the next Carnaval. The disposition of the instruments by a general rules are always the same, but of course can be different opinions about it. The disposition would be starting with the tamborims, then comes the “body” of the bateria, with the caixas, repenique, and surdos. At the end we can find the agogo, cuica, pandeiro, ganza, etc etc.
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Instruments: Tamborim: is a small drum of aproximately 6” made of metal or wood. The head is normally made of nylon and is tunned very high, in order to sound very sharp and with almost no sustain. We can find this instrument in many different styles of Brazilian music, like bossa-nova or choro. Its function there is more like a little embellishment. However, in the School of Samba is maybe the most special instrument of the Bateria. While all the other instruments are keeping the groove, the tamborim has its own rhythmical lines and plays along with the melody and the lyrics. In other words, the tamborim would be the “melodic instrument” of the Bateria.
Repenique: Is one of the most important instruments in the School of Samba. Is made of metal and the heads are made of nylon. This instrument is also tuned very high. . It is carried using a shoulder strap attached to one of the tuning rods. In samba it´s played with one wooden stick and one hand. The first repinique is often used by the musical director as a lead instrument, giving the calls to which the rest of the Bateria answers. We can hear this very clearly in the beginning of every “samba de enredo”.
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Caixa: The caixa is a double-headed snare drum which is played with two sticks. It´s also carried using a shoulder strap attached to one of the tuning rods. The difference with a regular snare drum, is that the caixa has 2 or 4 wires/cables on the top head of the drum. The function of the caixa in the School of Samba is to keep the groove and, sometimes, give some other different lines that the normal groove.
Cuica: the cuíca is a friction drum. This instrument has a highpitched squeaky timbre. The origin of this instrument is in Africa, where the people used this instrument to kill lions, because the sound that makes is really close roar of the female lioness. Later on, this instrument was introduced to Brazil with the slaves. The body of the cuíca is normally made of metal. Has only one head made of animal skin, and its size goes from 6” to 10” in diameter. Also has a thin stick of bamboo that is attached to the center of the skin, in a perpendicular way. In order to play it, the percussion player has to hold it between the chest and under the arm, and with the other hand, bubs the stick up and down with a wet clothes. The rubbing motion produces the sound , and depending of how strong or light the person is holding the stick, the pitch will be higher or lower.
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Surdos: The surdo is a big bass drum used in samba, and many other styles. Normally consist in two animal skins, because that gives a richer sound and the body its made of aluminum or wood. Also the way that you hold this instrument is by a shoulder strap and attached to one of the tuning rods of the drum. In the School of Samba we can find three different types of surdos. By alternating each other you create the pattern which makes the samba “walk”. This three surdo parts are distinguished by tunings (and by the sizes of drum). Together these three parts create a distinctive pattern which propels and drives the samba. The “Surdo primeira” ("first") or marcacao ("marker") is largest and with the lowest tuning drums in the Bateria. The sizes are normally between 22" and 26" in diameter. This surdo provides the pulse, and rhythmic reference for the entire Bateria. In a bar of 4/4, this surdo would be played in the beat “2” and “4”. It can also give the pick up note to start with the song. The primeira is answered by the surdo de segunda ("second") or resposta ("response"). This surdo is a bit smaller and with a higher tunning. The sizes are normally between 20" or 22" in diameter. In a bar of 4/4, this surdo would be played in the beat “1” and the “3” The third surdo is called terceira ("third") or surdo de corte (cutter). This is the smallest and highesttunes of the surdos. The sizes of this surdo are between 14" and 18" in diameter. The function of this surdo is “cutting” the basic groove that the other two surdos are playing. In order to do that, the terceira has to play more complex patterns and fills in the middle, giving a different "swing" to the Bateria.
Agogo: is a sort of a cowbell, normally with two endings. Each of the endings have a different tone, one is higher and the other lower. The origin of this instrument comes from the music from Yoruba, which is the musical tradition from Nigeria. Its function in the school of samba is give this pattern, alternating the low tone with the high tone.
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Pandeiro: The pandeiro is another special instrument from Brazil. It consist in head that can be made of animal skin or nylon, and its body is normally made of wood. The middle of its body contains platinelas (metal jingles). To play it, the percussion player has to hold it with one hand and hit the head of the drum with the other hand. The patterns consist in alternate the thumb, finger tips, heel and finger tips again. Some other can add the palm as well. In order to make open tones, the person who is playing the pandeiro can mutate the sound or make it open by making variations with the pressure on the skin with the middle finger of the hand that is holding the pandeiro. Its function in the School of Samba is to contribute to the groove and give higher frequency to the sound.
Chocalho: this instrument is a shaker made of aluminum that normally has three rows of steel jingles. Its played but shaking the instrument to the front and back, in an horizontal or perpendicular way. The function in the Bateria is keep the underlying groove under the caixas and the drum section.
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3.2- Frevo
Frevo is a rhythm from Recífe, capital from the State of Pernambuco. The origins of this rhythm are located in Recife at the end of the XIX century, when military bands from that region started to compete between them to choose the best band. Each band had their own group of “capoeira” (brazilian martial art practiced by the African slaves) and they were jumping and dancing together with the music that their band was playing. The capoeiras were using big sticks or very old umbrellas, that in a case of fight, will help them to defend themselves and, why not, to attack as well. The dance steps developed by the “capoeiras” in front of their bands, was the beginning of the dance of Frevo, called “passo” (step). This combination of dance and music brings together maybe one of the most strange and beautiful folklorical performance in Brazil. In this subject, Valdemar de Oliveira wrote “Was, in fact, in Recife at the end of the XIX century, and the beginning of this one, that the music was starting to rise, and started to guide the music, or maybe the dance started to become so strong that the music follow. It is impossible to distinguish good: if the Frevo, (the music) brought the passo, or if it was the passo (dance) brought the Frevo. Both things were inspiring each other and also complete each other” (PP de pernambuco.. libro!). The word FREVO came from the word FERVER (boiling) and this name was giving because of the energy that transmits. The first reference for the newspapers was the ninth of February of 1907, in the newspaper “Jornal Pequeno”. Because of that, the ninth of February is the Day of Frevo.
The music: as the name says, Frevo is a style that makes people get “boiled” of energy. We can distinguish three different kinds of Frevo, those are: Frevo de Rua, Marcha de Bloco and Frevo Cancao. 14
Frevo de Rua: is the Frevo that participates in the carnivals. This is an instrumental form of Frevo. The bands that play this style use a lot of brass and wind instruments, like saxophones, trombones, tuba, etc. This form has changed also with the time. Maybe the most representative and famous song of this style is “Vassourinhas” from Matias de Rocha. In the first recording of this song (1949), he uses only traditional drum instruments. Also the timing was slower than now. With the years, the jazz music also influenced some ensembles that play this kind of music. The most famous one is “Spok Frevo Orchestra” that instead of have 10 percussion players, has only one drummer and two percussion players. They also make more modern arranging of this music, without living the tradition. Marcha de Bloco: this is a different kind of Frevo. Is played by an orchestra with acoustic guitar, cavaquinho, banjo and other wind instruments. Another characteristic of this style is that each band counts with their own dancers and choir. A representative song for this style would be “evocacao n°1” from Nelson Ferreira. Frevo Cancao: this kind of Frevo has a lot of similarities with the “marchinhas” from Rio de Janeiro. Is more focused in the lyrics. A representative song would be “Cala a boca, menino” from Capiba.
The dance: Passo: this unique dance was born more like an improvised style of dancing than a choreography. Is a style of dance that has a lot of freedom of movements. At the beginning was completely improvised with the “capoiras” jumping, dancing and turning. Right now, we can find more than 120 steps. There is not typical costume for this dance. The only requirement is to be really comfortable for the dancer, so thats why the prefer tight t-shirts and mini skirts. Also is very unique that they also dance with an colored umbrella. As we said before, the original use for this objects was because the capoeiras used them (and also sticks) to defend themselves in case of a fight. With the time, the umbrella became more like an object to make even more unique this dance, and also for the equilibrium of the dancer.
Percussion Instruments: we will focus more in the Frevo de Rua. We can find two instruments that we find as well in samba. This instruments are the Caixa and the Pandeiro. The only new thing would be the “Bumbo” wich is a normal bass drum.
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3.3.- Maracatu:
“Maracatu” is a type of music from the north-east of Brasil. The Maracatu as such emerged from the music and tradition of African rooted slaves. The state were the Maracatu was born is Pernambuco, being Recife, Olinda and Itamaracá the cities with the most historical traditions.
Historical back round: In the time of the colony in Brazil, there was a tradition called “Instituicao do Rei do Congo” (Institution of king of Congo), where the black people, slaves or not, got together to worship the King of the Black people. This ceremony consist in the election of one symbolic king – slave, and his duty was to by the boss or being in charge of of one specific district. The king and the queen had to get married by the priest of Freguesia, in the day of Nossa Senhora do Rosário. From that moment, they would have their own court, and was organized in a same way of a military jerarky. One of the most important positions in that court was the “Governador das tribos (or nacoes)” (Gobernator of the tribes or Nations) that were subdivisions of the black people in groups. In Recife, the nations were form by people from a lot of places, but most of them from Angola. When slavery was abolished Brazil in 1888, the existence of the institution of the Kings of Congo came to an end. But anyway, the “nacoes” continued to choose symbolic leaders and still realized coronation ceremonies for those leaders. The ceremony started to be called “Auto dos Congo”, and that was a special date where the African people get together to perform a theater piece, play music and dance. With the time, the part of the theater started to become less and less, till was no longer necessary to represented. Only the music and the dance stayed and the result is what we call today “maracatu” The lyrics of the maracatu are a mix of religious and vague spirituality. In some lyrics we can find references to the heart of the black king, as also worship their own gods and divine entities. They also refer a lot to the ancestress. The origin of the word “maracatu” still not clear. But, for the author Goncalves Fernandes: “maracatu is an african word that is related to the context of drumming” (Novos caminhos da bateria Brasileira, Sergio Gomes, pag. 67)
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However, when we speak about maracatu in musical terms, we can find two different types of maracatu. The first one is called “Maracatu de nacao” or “Maracatu de baque virado” and the second style is “Maracatu Rural” or “Maracatu de baque aberto”
Maracatu de Nacao: Is the most popular and traditional type of maracatu in Brazil. Its presence was really strong in the city areas, specially in the capital. In the beginning, the performances were in the yards of the churches of Recife, Olinda and Itamaracá, and were promoted by the “imandades” of “Nossa senhora do Rosario dos Pretos” and “Sao Benedito”. With the time, this celebration changed and started to celebrate the “parties” of the “reyes magos” (three kings of Jesus). This maracatu till that time was called “nacao” (nation), started to be called “baque virado” (sort of with the beat around). The people that were in the “nations” had African origin, and they follow the afro-Brazilian traditions. They sing to the death people, with verses with African precedence. Always one guy was making the first voice or the “call” and a choir of girls, called the “bahianas” (black girls from Bahia) answer the call them. Also the sound of one whistle is the sign to start and finish the song. The instrumentation is only percussion.
Maracatu Rural: This is a different type of maracatu. The oldest exponent is the group Cambinda Brasileira and was founded in 1898 and until today is located in the same place, in Pernambuco The people that participate in this celebrations are simple workers from the country side, that work with the sugar cans, work the land and realized really hard work. But, at the same time, when the time of their carnival is coming the men themselves do the costumes in a very delicate way, organize the music, etc, Why this type of maracatu started is a mystery, but its believed that started as a sort of a joke, where the man used the clothes of the girls. But actually, for them this is not just a joke: its a legacy that comes from they ancestors, and all this effort is only possible because they just want to share the thing with the most value that they have: their culture. Musically speaking, we can distinguish this type of maracatu with the maracatu nacao, because or the rhythm. The rhythm of the maracatu rural is much faster, and inside of the band we can also find brass instruments, like trumpets and trumbones., etc. the accents as well are much more clear, and has some similitude with the Frevo.
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Instruments: For the propose of my work, I will just focus in the instruments of the maracatu Nacao. Alfaia: also known as “Maracatu-drums”, the alfaia is a Brazilian instrument. Its body is made of wood, and the the heads are made of animal skin. The characteristic sound of this drum is very deep and heavy. To tune it, is necessary to tension or release the ropes that are placed along the drums. This instrument is traditionally strapped* by the shoulder, and its played by hitting with two fat wooden drum sticks. Also in this instrument we can find two different types. The biggest one is is called “alfaia-marcante” (Alfaia that marks) and the smallest is called “alfaia meiao” (medium alfaia).
Gongue: the gongue is a Brazilian instrument, coming from the family of the cowbells. Its an flat iron bell, and its size is in between 20 and 30 cm. In order to play it, most of the players support it against the body with one hand, because is very heavy, and with the other hand hit it with a wooden stick. Its function in maracatu is make accents and various rhythmical phrases, most of the time formed by the off beat and are really syncopated.
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Tarol: is from the same family of the snare drum. Is a little bit thinner and its tunning has to be higher. In maracatu, in contrast with the samba, this instrument is a minority comparing to the alfaias, which are the most important. Its roll in maracatu is to give the intrudoction and keep the time
Xequeré: this is a musical instrument originally from Africa. Is made by a head of a pumpkin that they make empty the inside from the seeds and everything, and later they let it dry. When is hard enough, is surrounded with a net with little pieces of wood or metal. The size of the pumpkin will define the sound of the instrument. In order to play it the musician has to shake it side to side. In maracatu, in generally played only by woman, and its function is keeping the groove.
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4.- TRANSCRIPTIONS 4.1.- Samba In this section I will start with transcriptions of samba. I made two transcriptions in total, one of “samba esquenta” (warming up samba) and one of “samba de exaltacao” (exaltation samba). This transcriptions are made by listening many School´s of Samba, and my experience playing in the School of samba “Vai Vai” . This school is one of the most traditional schools of samba in the state of Sao Paulo. I played caixa drum there for one year. A very interesting point is that “samba de esquenta” and “samba de enredo” share the same dynamic of “tension and release”. In a bar of 4/4, the release point would the the beat “2” and “4”. This result is achieved because the “surdo de segunda” is playing the beats “1” and “3”. This surdo has a highest pitch than the “surdo de primeira” that plays in the beats “2” and “4”. In addition to that, the melodies of the tamborims are always in communication with this dynamic, and are always resolving in the beats “2” and “4”. If we put this in a very graphical way, we could have the picture of a person who is walking, the beats “1” and ”3” the person is rising the foot to give the step, and then beat “2” and “4” , the feet arrive to the earth and the step has being made. This would be the resolution of the tension that causes the movement. Example 1: The first one is “samba de quadra” or “samba de esquenta” which is a sort of warming up of the school before they start playing the “samba enredo”. The tempo is around 80 BPM. The whole school plays this rhythm for more or less 30 minutes. Everything starts with a series of “call and answer”. The responsible for make the calls is the repenique. The musician who is playing the repenique will make a phrase and the whole school will reply to that. This series of call and answer can take five minutes more or less, until the repenique makes the last call, and with that, fix the tempo that they will play, and then the whole Bateria starts. The responsible of making the melodies are the tamborims. They are always playing the line that I transcribe. They are also responsible for the dynamics and the balance of the whole bateria. This is because they are standing in front of the whole Bateria, so with their movements, the rest of the “orchestra” understand if should be softer or louder, or if they should be standing or moving, and so on. Also in this style, the surdos have more freedom, in a way that they participate more giving more melodies and contra-points with their tones, specially the “surdo de tercera”. The repeniques have also a basic pattern, but is really open for the player to improvise as well. The caixas, agogo, pandeiro and rest of the instruments have also some specific lines, and they also have the space to play around them, but they cannot change it so much because their roll is keep the groove. 20
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Example 2: The last transcription of samba is “samba de enredo” or “samba de exaltacao” this is the main song that the school has to play. With this song the schools compete the year after for the carnival. The tempo is more or less 180 BPM. The whole Bateria plays this song in two sets, each one of one hour. Also here you will have no dynamics, the rhythm has to be very loud and very fast and strong The way of entering to the rhythm is different than the previous one. In this case, the singer and the harmonic instruments will start the song, for one form of it. When they are coming back the head, there is a stop and the repenique makes the call. This call will take one bar of 4/4. Again, the tamborins are the “melodic” part of the Bateria, and they strongly connect to the lyrics of the song (in terms of rhythm). They play a fix line, which is as long as one form of the song, and they always repeat it. In this style, roll the surdos is to keep the intensity and the balance of the band. They make the whole school “walks” because of the conversation of their tones. The difference of this style with the “samba de esquenta” is that here the surdos don't have as much freedom to improvise of make different lines. The “surdo de terceira” still can go playing in between the “surdo de primeira” and “surdo de segunda”. The repeniques have also a basic pattern, but is really open for the player to improvise as well. The caixas, agogo, pandeiro and rest of the instruments have also some specific lines, and they also have the space to play around them, but they cannot change it so much because their roll is keep the groove
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4.2.- Maracatu For this transcriptions I used material from the book of Eder “O” Rocha, and transcriptions from the School of Maracatu Porto Rico and Maracatu Nacao Estrela Brilhante. The rhythm of Maracatu is very special. The first point that I would like to put emphasis is that in contrast with the Schools of Samba and Frevo, the distributions of the tones here are in different priority. In Samba and Frevo, the priority in number of instruments with higher tones, like tamborim, caixa, repenique, pandeiro, etc etc and a relative “small” number for the lower tones, which are the surdos. In maracatu, the priority are the lowest tones, that in this case would be the alfaias. So the impact of the school is really intense. The rhythm starts with a “call” from the caixa. This call has a triplet feel and if we think in bars of 4/4, the call could take two bars. Then the groove starts and slowly start to increase the tempo, when they arrive to the tempo of the groove, which most of the times is around 100 BPM. What makes special this rhythm is the distribution of the accents of the groove. In a bar of 4/4, the alfaias would just play in the head of the beat in the first beat, the second, third and four beat, they play the second sixteen of the beat. This accents make the movement of the rhythm. The tarol plays kind of in between, Is playing 16th notes but the accents are together with the Alfaias. The gongue is making two different lines. The first one is a basic one with only one tone, and we can find it in the transcription one, the second one is a bit more elavoreted, is a bit more complex and is playing with two tones. This figure also is made by the whole School when they have a break. The Xequré are the ones who are showing where is the beat, they always play the same rhythm and makes a bit of contrapoint with the other accents that most of the time are in the off beat. Also the xequeré is only played by woman.
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4.3.- Frevo
For this transcription I used recordings that I found from traditional frevo and from the Spok Frevo Orchestra. This style is not so complicated as the others, has less rhythmical instruments and have not so much poly-rhythms. However, this style is very complicated because has to be played very fast and very light. The instruments that I put in the transcription are Bumbo, Caixa and Pandeiro. The Bumbo can make to different patterns. In a bar of 4/4, the first pattern would be always playing in the beats “2” and “4”, and the second pattern would be playing in whole the beats. The caixa is always playing the same pattern, based in 16th notes and always playing the same accents. The pandeiro also plays the same pattern.
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5.- Adaptation to the Drum Set In this section I will reduce the rhythms in a way that are possible to play in a drum set. The idea to adapt this rhythms into the drum set are not orientated to be the most musical beautiful grooves. The objective of this adaptations is to play as much as the voices from the schools of samba, maracatu and frevo into the drum set, know where we can find this voices into the drums and eventually modify them.
5.1.- Samba Make a reduction of an orchestra of 350 percussion players for one drum set (and one drummer) is an impossible task. However, in order to do it, I started to search for similarities between the part of the Bateria of the School of Samba with a normal drum set. Also live some instruments out of the procces because it would not so practical in this circumstances, like the cuica or chocalho. − The most similar instrument would be the snare drum, which is from the same family as the Caixa in the Bateria. − Then the surdos: to represent the surdos of the Bateria I used tom, floor tom and bass drum from the drum set. The representation will not be the same as in the school of samba. This is because in the school of samba we find three different kind of surdos: surdo de segunda (with a high tunning, which goes on the beat “1” and “3”. the surdo de segunda (lowest tuning, and is played on the beat “2” and “4”) and the surdo de corte, which plays in the middle of the other two. In the drum set, first the tuning and the sizes are completely out of proportions. The first idea was to do it exactly like in the school of samba: the tom of 10” will play the surdo de segunda, and the bass drum would be the surdo of primeira. The floor tom would be a sort of “surdo de terceira”. The result was not satisfactory for my taste. The difference between the the tom of 10” with a bass drum of 20” is not realistic, and doesn't make the groove “walk”. The next step was to play again the surdo de segunda with the tom of 10”, and the “surdo de primeira” with the floor tom of 14”. This floor tom would have another function as well, because we are missing the “surdo de terceira”, so I decided to make some phrases in between with it. Then the proportions were solved. To make it a bit deeper the sound, I played the bass drum in all the beats, in order to be a constant. This would make the surdos sound with more body. − Repenique: the adaptation of the repenique into the drum set got just till the half of the way. The pattern of the repenique is played in the snare drum. − Tamborims: the tamborins are the melodic part of the bateria, so it is really necessary for me to play it. So I played two of their typical lines in with the left foot on the hi hat. Groove one and two: the first example is an eight bar groove of “samba de esquenta” and as I said before, the surdos are represented by the tom, floor tom and bass drum, the caixa would be represented by the snare drum, and the tamborims are represented by playing the hi hat. In the ford* bar I started to modify the floor tom, making it look like “surdo de terceira”. The seconds groove is the same but we add the new figure in the hi hat.
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Ex. 1 Exercise 2
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Groove three and four: this are also two examples of eight bar each of “samba de exaltacao”. The grooves are very similar as the previous ones, but here the snare is not making the line of the caixa, but is playing the line of the repenique. Also I will not apply the surdo de terceira in this exercise. Exercise 3:
Exercise 4:
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5.2.- Maracatu The construction of the grooves here had the same method as the previous one. First we have to identify what makes this style unique, or in other words, identify the “vibe” of the style. Maracatu is a style where the low tones have the priority, so if we have to transport to drum set, we have to use this kind of drums. We also have to see the similitude between the instruments from the School and the drums from the drum set. In this case we can find some similitudes, but also will be important to apply dynamics, and give more importance to the low drums. Groove 1: For the first pattern I looked for the most basic adaptation that I could make. The alfaias would be represented by the floor tom and bass drum. The tarol can be played by the snare drum. And the Xequeré would be represented by playing quarter notes with the hi hat.
Groove 2: in this second pattern everything stays the same, with the difference of the tom and floor tom. This two instruments would play one of the pattern of the the gongue.
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Groove 3: in this groove everything stays the same as in the groove two, but I will change the representation of the Xequeré for the other pattern of the gongue. So the alfaia would be represented by the bass drum, the tarol by the snare drum, and both patterns from the gongue with the tom, floor tom and the hi hat.
5.3.-Frevo: To adapt this style into the drum set, the process was the same as the others. The original instruments that are played in the frevo are caixa, bumbo and pandeiro. Caixa is represented by the snare, the bumbo is represented by the bass drum and the pandeiro can me represented by the ride cymbal or the hi hat. Groove 1: in this first groove, is just the basic pattern of the caixa, played by the snare and the pattern of the bumbo, played by the bass drum.
Groove 2: in this groove, we add the pattern of the pandeiro, and it will be played by the ride cymbal, the accents of the pattern of the caixa would be played by the snare drum, and the bumbo pattern will continue be played by the bass drum
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6.- Building a Jazz Phrase As a final part of this work, I would like to incorporate some elements of this rhythms into the jazz context. Now, what do I want to say with “jazz context”? Jazz for me is interaction music, that means that is like a conversation. Depending of the situation, or depending on the people that we are talking, we use some different codes to communicate with them, like jocking, or bieng serious, or being relax, or more formal, etc. But in my opinion, everything needs to start from a very basic code, that again, depending in the situation we can make it more complicated or “busy” in a way. The idea to incorporate this new phrases into my jazz vocabulary will go from this principle, starting from the most basic codes and making them more “complex”. The result always has to be music.
Building the new exercises: the idea is to take some elements of the whole groove, and incorporate them into a jazz groove. Then the next step would be add another “voice” to the new pattern, that can be an ostinato or different phrase. And finally add another voice, in order to play the whole drum set. The results of the new grooves or phrases can have different applications, as in a comping situation or in a solo context, depending on how “busy” is the groove.
6.1.- Samba To start, I would like to take the tamporim pattern from the samba. Exercise 1: as a first exercice I would to add the tamborim pattern in a normal jazz groove.
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Exercice 2: now that we add the tamborim pattern into the hi hat, we will start adding notes in the snare drum, to complete the triplet figure.
Exercise 3: now we start to play the figure of the snare drum in the toms as well.
This would the result for the application of that pattern. As we can see here, we apply one phrase of the whole rhythm and we put it into a jazz groove, that can be play in a normal jazz context. We can also use the same phrase but with another orchestration Exercise 4: I added the tamborim phrase again, but now played in the snare drum
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Exercise 5: now we start to make distributions of the voice.
Exercise 6: now we add this figure to the bass drum, which would be three against four.
6.2.- Maracatu The prosess of applications of the rhythms into the jazz feel will be the same. I would take only one melody and I will try to apply it in many different ways, in order to make it possible to use it in a musical context. Exercise 1: in this exercice we will play a basic jazz groove and we will add the patter of the gongue, it will be played by the tom and floor tom.
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Exercise 2: in this exercise, we will come back to the basic jazz groove and we will add the other gongue pattern, but this time we will play it with the hi hat.
Exercise 3: in this exercise, we will combine the exercises 2.1 and 2.2.
Exercise 4: in this exercise we will play the basic jazz groove, and we will add the “alfaia” pattern played by the bass drum
Exercise 5: in this exercise, we will add the snare drum pattern
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6.3.- Frevo For frevo I started using the same proccess. However, the result that came up was not the one that I was expecting. Then I started to ask myself why was not working, and I start to check some points that I didn't obverse in the beginning of this working proses, and my conclusion was this one: Frevo is not a syncopated rhythm, is based in 16th notes with a fix groove and doesn't have so much voices that making polyrhythms. In fact I can only play three lines and those three lines are very related to each other. When I figure this out, I had to change my perspective in how should I apply this style, and came with the idea to apply it not in comping phrases, but maybe phrases for fills or solos. Exercise 1: here I play the basic frevo line in the snare drum with the cymbal and the bass drum.
Exercise 2: here I start to distribuite the accents in the tom and floor tom.
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7.- Conclusion: Concluding this work I would like to say that I am very happy with the results for two main reasons. First of all, for the musical aspect. I forced myself to do something that I have never done before - to go back in time in order to “make the present”. I realized that the construction of jazz phrases based in lines of Brazilian music is not only possible, but also very useful, because it accually gives another perspective to both styles (jazz and Brazilian music itself). I also realize that with the amount of information Brazilian music brings, even in this three rhythms, it's possible to make almost infinite combinations. And this makes me even more enthousiastic to continue with this project in the future, creating my own jazz vocabulary and phrasing based in Brazilian music. The other aspect that let me very happy is that during the process of making this work I realize that to arrive into a point of “deep knowledge” in music, we have to see far beyond music. It might look like a silly affirmation, thought it is not. I realize that Brazilian music is so//this way because of the Brazilian culture and people. Their music is really connected to their way of life, to the way they are related to each other, to the accent they do when they speak, the food they eat, and so on. I remembered the first time I went to Brazil and the impression that I had, when listening people speaking portuguese. Maybe cause I didn't speak portuguese, I hear people speaking with some special rhythm, I could even imagine a pandeiro playing and this impression immediately conveyed the samba feeling to me. Once I realized this, I concluded that if we really want to understand a music style in a “deep way” or really know the elements of an specific rhythm, we have to go even further back, to the culture whose this music belongs. Then the musical patterns starts to have another sense and we will not be playing licks or studied phrases but we will be speaking in the code according to the rhythm we are playing. And once we understand the codes, we will be able to apply them every where. we will feel when, where and how this material can be applied
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8.- References: 1. Apostila “V.E.R. – Vivência Experimental Rítmica – Simone Sou.no prelo.2012 2. Espetáculos Populares de Pernambuco – Carlos da Fonte Filho.Ed Ver Curiosidades.1999 3. Novos Caminhos da Bateria Brasileira – Sérgio Gomes. Ed Irmãos Vitale SA.2008 4. O Batuque Carioca – Guilherme Gonçalves e Mestre Odilon Costa – Ed Groove. Rio de Janeiro 2000 5. Wikipédia – References to some historical aspects and Illustrations 6. Apostila ‘’Maracatu Nação’’- Eder O’Rocha.no prelo,2000
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9.- Acknowledgments: I would like to thank the school for give me the freedom to choose what I wanted to research. I want to give to also thanks to my roommates, Javi, Tomasso and Reinaldo, and my friends Tie, Luca, Lucas, for make my life easier here. To my girlfriend Edda for being so special to me and because she is always there when I need her. And finally I would like to dedicate this work to my family in Chile to my father Juan Mora Romero, my out Itxiar Larrañaga Larrañaga, my mother Maria Alejandra Matus that is always helping me, my sisters Ale and Carol, and specially to my godmother Miriam Capua. Thank you for your unconditional help in every way and constant inspiration. With out you guys I would not be the person that I am. Gracias totales!
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