When we accent this rhythm with a shaker, we notice how the rhythmic flow of the rest of the pattern changes, especially when the tempo is increased. These beats are outlined by the surdos (low pitched drums similar to a floor tom) while other instruments such as ganzas, chocalhos, tamborims, agogos, repiques, pandeiros, and caixas usually divide each beat (unevenly) in 4 while accenting in anticipation of each beat (in Western terms a 16th-note before each quarter note beat). In Western terms, this means the time signature is either 2/4 or cut common time. Most samba styles are felt in 2, meaning that in each bar there are 2 strong beats. I feel as though the best way to understand how this swing works, is by focusing on the sound created by a shaker. The samba “swing” does not fit into this triplet subdivision, nor does it fit into a 16th note subdivision, it fits somewhere in the middle and can be applied in varying degrees depending on how authentic you want the music to feel. In fact, the word “swing” can be misleading as in Western music education we’re taught that swing is where straight 8th-notes become triplets with the middle 8th-note missing. This swing is not the same as in swing music in the USA. I’ve already mentioned the unique swinging rhythmic momentum in samba, but haven’t gone into great detail about how it actually sounds. The percussion sections or baterias in these escolas can vary from 5 to 500 musicians in size and many of the most well known escolas can be heard in compilation CD’s, or seen in videos on YouTube. To learn the style, one must truly immerse oneself in these resources. In Brazil, samba is studied in Escolas de Samba, or samba schools. While the best way to experience samba is by travelling to Brazil, living in the 21st century means that we have an insight, through recordings (both video and audio), books, and the Internet, into how samba sounds and feels. Despite its many forms and the style morphing into different sub-genres and fusions, samba, in its purest sense, is Carnaval music created to be experienced on the streets. Of course, there is no true substitute for experiencing a style of music in the environment in which it originally developed. This article will look more closely at this rhythmic sway and explore some methods for learning this style of music as authentically as possible, without actually travelling to Brazil. One example I gave was Brazilian samba, which has a very unique rhythmic sway that cannot be accurately notated in the traditional Western sense. In the last article, we discussed some of the reasons that many traditional folkloric musical styles don’t translate seamlessly when applying Western notation.
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