I have observed that it is not uncommon for the Brazilian temperament to avoid a simple direct route, preferring to find, or create if necessary, a seemingly more interesting unknown one.  Consequently, I have no hesitation in opening this month's article on the music of Brazil by moving off to Mexico.

Mexico really does have the variety, colour and history that is popularly attributed to it, but, more important for the musician, it is a melting pot for all the music of the Latin Americas. It has its own rich folklore and yet readily accepts that of others. I have never, in my own experience, heard more music played live than when I was living and travelling in Mexico. A few years ago, I happened to be living in a town called Mazatlán, situated on the West coast mainland, just opposite the tip of Baja California. Although Mazatlán is not a large town there is certainly a lot of music to be found there. In addition to folk groups, string orchestras, Mariachi bands, marimba bands and brass bands all typically Mexican, one could hear classical style concert presentations, jazz from North America, Indian music from Central America, a lot of music from Cuba, and quite a lot from Brazil.

Continually hearing so many different idioms allowed me to begin to understand the differences between them, and in distinguishing the music of the Spanish Americas from that of the Portuguese I started to appreciate the high percentage of African element in the latter and thus identify those aspects which were typically Brazilian. The form which is fundamentally and uniquely Brazilian is the Samba, and it is with a samba that we can begin our study.

The first real key in learning to play samba is to learn to feel 2 beats per bar not 4. I have discussed this point with many Brazilian musicians and all confirm that the natural and correct feel when playing samba is 2 beats per bar. The first project of any student of samba, therefore, must be to establish inside himself a 'feel of 2', no matter at what speed he is playing.

It is interesting to note that Brazilians use the word balançar (to balance) to indicate that the music is rhythmically good. That is to say that it swings, that it is playing itself, that it grooves. The word balançar explains how the Brazilian sees rhythm; that there is a balancing in the middle of movement. If one can strongly feel 2 beats per bar, the music, no matter how much it is stretched or contracted, will not speed up or topple over. In fact, one of the reasons for establishing the 2 feel is that, as we mentioned last month, there is a continual extending and contracting of the rhythm of the melody against the accompanying rhythm and if this accompanying rhythm is not stable the musical point becomes lost and the music risks falling apart. It is because of the reliability of the rhythm that the melody can be adventurous.

In the first article we raised the idea of regarding musical phrases as 'vocabulary'. This month, we shall continue with this idea and apply it to a basic samba form. It may seem a little old fashioned to think of music in terms of melody, rhythm and chord structures, but being clear about these 3 functions allows one to assimilate a new idiom at a faster rate than would otherwise be the case. We need only remember that, if we think about music this way, we are looking at one musical structure from 3 different points of view, not looking at 3 separate and detached activities. One point of view has a pitch bias, one has a time bias and the other, a colour/density bias.

Our vocabulary in this article, therefore, is in the form of some rhythm patterns, which will eventually make up a short samba study. We shall compound the study by first of all looking at its rhythm sequence, then add on the chord structures and finally introduce the melody.

It is worth noting that the bass line of the guitar phrases in with the surdo and/or bass drum and that, of the 2 beats in the bar, there is a light beat and a heavy beat. If the student will listen to authentic samba, he will hear that the first beat is the lighter one and that the second beat is the heavier one. In order to help the student to feel this, I have marked the first beat of the bar, in the bass, to be played shorter than the second and also, made this first beat of a higher pitch than the second, so that the sensation of a clipped, higher first beat falling down to a weightier, lower second beat is experienced.

As a general rule, it is the thumb of the right hand which maintains the bass line and the fingers which produce the melody and accompaniments. In presenting the rhythm patterns for the following samba, the top rhythm will eventually be played with the fingers and the bottom with the thumb.

I would suggest the following method of study:

1. Tap the top part with the right hand and the bottom part with the left hand.

2. Tap the top part with the right hand and feel the bottom part.

3. Tap the bottom part with the left hand and feel the top part.

4. Tap the top part with the fingers of the right hand and tap the bottom part with the thumb of the right hand. Next, tap through the piece itself to become familiar with the whole rhythm sequence. Finally, take the guitar; dampen the strings with the left hand and with fingers a m i of the right hand striking strings 1, 2 & 3, and thumb of the same hand striking the 5th string on the first beat and the 6th string on the second beat, play through the whole sequence endeavouring to reproduce the two lines rhythmically and establish the 2 feel of the samba. Do not be concerned with speed at this stage but aim for definition in the rhythm.

In the next article, we introduce the chord structures and add them on to the rhythm.