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 Teaching
4th and 5th grade children the percussion instruments
and rhythms used in the samba schools of Rio de
Janeiro has been a learning experience not only
for the children, but for the instructor as well.
I began teaching grade school children samba batucada
in the spring of 1995. Dr. J.C. Combs, professor
of percussion at Wichita State University, organized
fifty 4th and 5th grade children to perform at the
University Percussion Ensemble concert for that
spring. The following fall I instructed 4th graders
at Collegiate Lower School in Wichita, who were
featured on the "Samba for Kids" video with Dr.
Combs and San Francisco Bay Area percussionist Michael
Spiro. For two months during the spring of 1996
I met with 4th and 5th grades at Buckner Magnet
School in Wichita, and in April of that year they
performed at the MENC (Music Educators National
Conference) in Kansas City, as well as in the Percussion
Ensemble concert a few days later.
During my first meeting with a group of elementary
students, I give them a brief history of the music
of samba. I begin with a geography lesson- "Can
anyone tell me where Brazil is?", followed by a
history lesson- ("who colonized Brazil?, How and
why did Africans come to Brazil?, etc.). We then
talk about Rio De Janeiro and its poor neighborhoods,
the favelas. I describe as much as I can about the
living conditions, and why the samba schools (or
groups) in these neighborhoods help to bring the
community together. An Escola de Samba, or samba
group, includes 2,000 or more people (sometimes
as many as 7,000), all working towards the goal
of winning carnival - to have the best theme, song,
dancers, floats, and bateria, or percussion group.
The bateria is the driving force of the samba school,
propelling the group down the parade route, playing
the style of samba, known as batucada. The escola
uses a myriad of percussion instruments, but in
my teaching at the grade school level, I show them
the ganza, tamborim,
ago-go,
cuica,
pandeiro
and surdo.
The first instrument I introduce to them is the
ganza, or shaker.
While I'm playing it for them, I ask them what the
rhythm reminds them of: "a snake!"...no! "a washing
machine!"...getting closer "a train!"...YES!!!.
The rhythm should make one want to move, and playing
a ganza is much harder than it appears. I then demonstrate
the proper technique: Imagine a line in front of
your nose, move the ganza equidistantly above and
below the line.
The result of doing this correctly creates what
I call a locomotive rhythm. Initially when the students
begin playing the ganza they have the tendency to
use their whole arm instead of just the wrist. Some
will almost throw their arm out of the socket! It
takes a while for them to get the right touch and
feel, but I've learned not to worry about this at
first. I just keep reminding them why their arm
hurts after two minutes of playing. Once the ganza
players get the motion and the rhythm correctly,
they tend to move more to the beat than the other
sections. The next section that I teach includes
the tamborim. This small frame drum is played with
a small stick, or a few plastic dolwel sticks taped
together at one end. The basic rhythm that I teach
the students is phrased in a 2/3 "clave" rather
than the 3/2 "clave" (or phrasing) that is more
frequently played in Brazil. The rhythm looks like
this:
Starting
the pattern in this way makes it easier for the kids
to "lock in" to the rhythm because it starts on the
downbeat. Sherri Pilgreen, the music teacher with
whom I worked at Collegiate, came up with a method
of counting the tamborim
part to help the students verbalize the rhythm.
The agogo,
with two differently pitched bells that are attached,
provides a melody to the whole batucada. The rhythm
that I teach to the students is a basic pattern and
looks like this:
Students have a tendency to either play this
pattern too fast when the tempo is slow, or to play
behind the beat when the tempo is brighter. I tell
those in the ago-go section to make sure that the
second note on the low bell is locked with the high
surdo. The patterns for the tamborim
and agogo
bells may appear to be the most difficult of the
samba rhythms. This is not necessarily so, especially
since the most important rhythm is that of the surdo.
The surdos are the bass drums in samba batucada, and
provide the foundation for the entire ensemble. The
best players should therefore play the surdo parts,
and so I usually have "secret auditions" for those
who will play this instrument. The rhythm for the
high surdo is:
and
for the low:
and
the two together:
I
tell the students that if the surdo parts aren't played
correctly, the whole ensemble will fall apart. If
there are enough players, I add a third surdo that
plays:
This
is phrased along with the 2/3 "clave" of the tamborim
and ago-go parts. The ganza, tamborim,
ago-go,
and surdos
are the sections on which I concentrate. The pandeiro
is played using a thumb-heel-tip motion with one hand
but this is somewhat difficult to do, so I just have
the students shake the pandeiro like a ganza. As for
the cuica, I tell students to work on getting the
low and high sounds, without breaking the stick!!
I meet with the students once a week and for the
first couple of visits, Ihave them switch instruments
so that all may have a hand at each rhythm. Eventually,
the student stays with the instrument he or she
seems most comfortable with.
I play a drum known as the repinique,
which I use to teach the kids a rhythmic "call"
that tells the ensemble when to begin and when to
stop. With the aid of a samba whistle and hand cues,
I indicate to the students whether I want to feature
a certain section and have the other sections drop
out. We also work on call and response rhythms.
I play a rhythm and they play it back. Some of the
calls that I use I borrowed from the C.D. "Brasileiro"
by Sergio Mendes. Other calls can also be made up
by the instructor or by the students themselves.
The calls can be played at the beginning of a piece
and to close a performance.
I tell the students that the goal is to make music
with these percussion instruments, not simply to
make a bunch of noise. By the third week, the rhythms
start to come together. The most important thing
to me is seeing those kids who initially had no
interest in music now come alive as they beat a
surdo or an ago-go rhythm. Just one smiling face
makes it all worth it.
Janet currently teaches Brazilian and Afro-Cuban
drumming at Wichita State University in Wichita,
Kansas. For further information concerning samba,
check out the "Samba for Kids" video and book by
Mike Spiro and J.C. Combs. This book and video,
along with specially designed instruments for children,
manufactured by L.P. is currently available through
Rhythm Band Instruments, Fort Worth, Texas, 1-800-424-4724.
"Our
4th graders love the Samba Band program. We received
our drums in February, and were able to dazzle an
audience by April. Parents told us it was the best
thing they had ever seen their children do. Not
only did my kids learn a great deal about music,
they learned about how kids their own age lived
in Brazil and Africa. The cultural diversity component
of the program makes it a "must have" for students
in a global society."
By Dr. Howard Pitler
1996-97 Kansas Elementary Principal of the Year
1997-98 National Distinguished Principal from Kansas
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