Chapter 2 BASIC FEEL I 1 music, “feelings” and “feel” mean different things. "Feelings" are emotions that music may e! listeners, a complex reaction based on one’s experience and culture, What we are talking about in is chapter instead is the “fee!” of the music, which is sometimes referred to as the “groove” in the context of popular music styles that have a cyclic rhythm pattern that sets the listener to dancing or foot tapping. If you know how American jaz music sounds, imagine someone from a different culture hearing the swing rhythm for the first time, and what a hard time they would have matching the drummer's synco- pation on the ride cymbal: “DAH, da, da-DAH, da, da-DAH.... If you didn’t grow up hearing samba, ‘you would have the same sort of problem playing Brazilian music correctly. I's like learning to speak another language-you'll probably never completely lose your American accent, but with practice, atten- tion, and a good ear, you will definitely build a vocabulary, make new friends, and have a better time when traveling, In order to play the piano you have to learn to press the right Key at the right time with the right force. A non-native musician won't have too much trouble finding the right keys to play Brazilian music, but probably needs to develop a sense for its timing and accent, so we'll start our study by working on ‘groove. You should come back periodically to these examples after you start playing the tunes in the book, as they will help you internalize the feel on which Brazilian music is based. GANZA (SHAKER) ‘The best way to begin to learn to play Brazilian music is to internalize samba thythms, To do this, we will start with the part played by the ganzd, a cylindrically shaped shaker. Those meant for use in a samba parade are made of metal and are quite loud. You won't need so much volume since you'll be playing by yourself, so you can use any kind of shaker for these examples. Make your own if you don’t have one already, for example, by taping up some rice, seeds, or pebbles in a soda can, or find a small box of wooden maiches. You can use anything that makes a swishing sound and is comfortable to hold. Stop reading and go find or make something in order to play the following examples. Move your shaker forward and back, creating the constant string of sixteenth notes, which is Brazilian ‘music's underlying pulse, Track 1 demonstrates this. Once you feel comfortable with it, play along with Track 5, Keep working with the shaker until you fee! the rhythm and are playing in a relaxed ‘manner, ‘The internalization of the sixteenth-note feel in a two-beat pattern will be your foundation for playing Brazilian music. wt @ Tack [Now add the gecents on the first and fourth sixteenth in each beat @ Bx? Tack? We Gore Goce parece Pte