Surdo sizes normally vary between 16" or even 14" and 26" or even 29"
diameter. In Rio de Janeiro, surdos are generally 60cm deep. Surdos may have
shells of wood, galvanized steel, or aluminum. Heads may be goatskin or plastic. Rio baterias commonly use
surdos that have skin heads (for rich tone) with aluminum shells (for lightness). Surdos are worn from a waist
belt or shoulder strap, oriented with the heads roughly horizontal. The bottom head is not played.
Terceira
Surdo-used in the Escola de Samba groups, its primary function is to provide the
samba with "swing" by using a variation of embellishments in the surdo section info;
The
Pandeiro There are two important distinctions between a pandeiro and the common tambourine.
The tension of the head on the pandeiro can be tuned, allowing the player a choice of high and low notes. Also, the
metal jingles (called platinelas in Portuguese) are crisper, drier and less sustained on pandeiros than on
the tambourine. This provides clarity when swift, complex rhythms are played. It is held in one hand, and struck on
the head by the other hand to produce the sound. Typical pandeiro patterns are played by alternating the thumb,
fingertips, heel, and palm of the
hand.
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Tamborim (pronounced: [tɐ̃boˈɾĩ] or [tɐ̃buˈɾĩ]), is a small, round Brazilian frame drum of
Portuguese and African origin. The frame is 6" in diameter and may be made of metal, plastic
or wood. The head is typically made of nylon and is normally very tightly tuned in order to
ensure a high, sharp timbre and a minimum of sustain. The drum is devoid of snares or
jingles. The tamborim is used in many genres of Brazilian music. It is most commonly
associated with samba and pagode, but is also used in chorinho, bossa nova, and some
northeastern folklore rhythms such as cucumbi. In most musical styles, the tamborim is played
with a short, thin wooden drumstick. In samba-batucada, it is played with a beater made of
several flexible nylon or polyacetal threads bound together. On rare occasions, it may be
played with the fingers.
The tamborim is held with the
weaker hand, The beater is held by the very tip with the strong hand and the head is struck a
little off-center. A playing technique called virado is often used, in which the drum is
rapidly flipped upside-down to produce ghost notes and syncopated grooves. The instrument may also
occasionally be struck on the rim. Tamborim players alternate between repetitive groove patterns
and through-composed signature phrases which function as a melody and are easily distinguished
above the other percussion instruments.
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Repinique is a two-headed Brazilian drum
used in sambabaterias (percussion
ensembles). It is used in the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo Carnival baterias and
in the baterias of Bahia, where it is known as
repique. It is equivalent to the snare in the Western drum
kit.
Typically its body is made of metal.
The heads, of nylon, are tightened through the use of metal tuning rods. The
instrument is about the same width as the Brazilian caixa (snare drum) but several
inches longer in height and lacking a snare. It is held using a shoulder strap
attached to one of the tuning rods. In Rio-style samba it is played with one wooden
stick and one hand. In Bahia it is played with two wooden sticks usually but in
some cases also like the Rio-style (the Bloco afroIlê Aiyê for example). It may also be
played with a pair of beaters made of several thin flexible rods bundled
together.
Baterias
commonly include a group of repinique players whose patterns
set the tempo to which the rest of the bateria plays by elaborating on
the basic "1-2-3-4" rhythmic structure typical of samba. The repinique is
also often used by the musical director as a lead instrument, producing calls
to which the rest of the bateria responds in a set fashion.
Caixa is a drum used in most in the Rio de
Janeiro samba school baterias, and can be played at waist height or up on the
shoulder. It has a crisp, dry, high cutting tone, quite different from the European
style of snare drum. It has a wire snare and the drum is played with the snares on
top.
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Agogo The most common arrangement is two bells
attached by a U shaped piece of metal. The smaller bell is held uppermost. Either
bell may be hit with a wooden stick to make a cow-bell like sound or less commonly
a clicking sound is produced by squeezing the two bells together.
Chocalho This is a very large powerful shaker made of wood or metal
with a number of steel jingles. This is a fundamental element in the flavor of a bateria, and also
has an important function in helping the caixas to sustain the rhythm. In the old days samba
schools used ganzas.
Cuíca (pronounced KWEE-kah) is a
Brazilian friction drum often used in samba music. The tone it produces has a
high-pitched squeaky timbre. The body of the cuíca is normally made of metal. It
has a single head, normally six to ten inches in diameter (15-25 cm), made of
animal skin. A thin bamboo stick is attached to the centre of, and perpendicular
to, the drum head, stretching into the drum's interior. The instrument is held
under one arm at chest height with the help of a shoulder strap. To play the cuíca,
the musician rubs the stick up and down with a wet cloth held in one hand, using
the thumb of the other hand to press down on the skin of the drum near the place
where the stick is attached. The rubbing motion produces the sound and the pitch is
increased or decreased by changing the pressure on the drum head with the middle or
index finger. lesson prices
Reco
Reco (pronounced heco-heco) is a metal scraping
instrument which is held in one hand whilst the other hand scrapes its springs with
a metal stick. Reco recos are traditional samba instruments used less in modern
samba school percussion baterias than in former times, but they are still in use in
some Brazilian samba schools.