The purpose of these rehearsals is to prepare a show to be performed across the year. The set lasts for about 80 minutes. Past performances include Womad, Glastonbury and Rio Carnival. We are aiming for some large scale events for 2022.
In 2019, among other great events, we headlined the Street band encontro in Glasgow and also headlined Coburg samba festival in Germany.
Rhythms covered - Samba (done a few different ways), Coco, Quadrilha, Xote, Ciranda, Funk, 12/8, Ijexa, Maculelê plus a few of our own rhythm inventions, lots of breaks, stops, calls, responses, songs, choreography and great arrangements. Plus the added bonus of being tapped into the wider Brazilian percussion community in the UK, Europe and Rio.
COVID-19 info
We will be adhering to all necessary government guidelines in order to keep members of our group as safe as possible. We expect all participants to follow any guidelines put in place by us or the venue.
Please read our full terms and conditions here
Monthly Rehearsals
More info and registration
Dates for 2021/22
Muthers Studio Birmingham
14 Rea St South, B5 6LB
MAP
2021
September 26th (@ Band Factory, Leamington Spa)
October 17th (Open day)
November 14th
December 12th (@ Band Factory, Leamington Spa)
2022
January 9th
February 5th & 6th (weekender)
March 6th
March 19th & *20th Leamington Spa (Bossas tour sessions with Mestre Maurão, Gabriel Lopes & JP) *Additional £20 fee for this day.
May 7th & 8th (weekender)
June 12th
More info
Places are limited and are sold on a first come first served basis.
Existing members can sign up right away. For new members, please note that if you register and pay, but have not been invited to register, you will be charged a £7 admin fee and we will return the rest of your payment to you. Get approved here.
What level do I need to be?
The rehearsals move at a medium to fast pace with participants expected to learn the material in a short space of time and study it in-between rehearsals. We are looking for musicians who play professionally or unprofessionally, music teachers and talented music enthusiasts. This band is not suitable to people who are new to music.
Instruments
We use - Surdo 1st, 2nd, & 3rd, Caixa, Repique (comun and mór), Tamborim, Agogô, Chocalho and Triangle.
Drummers are asked to choose one instrument to play for that year. Some arrangements may mean that you will be asked to play a second instrument. Rehearsal videos are made where possible and a link to them can be found in our members area.
About the rehearsals
Rehearsals are held once a month on Sundays from Sept - June 1200-1700. Two of the months will include an additional Saturday to make a full weekend. We will try to hold a Roda de Samba in a local venue on the Saturday evening.
Special treat alert** Our April 2022 session will be a special closed workshop just for us led by Mestre Maurão, Gabriel Lopes and JP. This is all included in the course fee.
Held at professional rehearsal studios in Birmingham. Some rehearsals will be attended by our singers and string players.
Band members will be invited to be part of any necessary social media groups to share information.
Limited spaces are available in each instrument group. Therefore we cannot guarantee that you will get to play your first choice of instrument. But whatever you play there is loads to show you and we will endeavour to work best with your skill set so you get the most from the course.
There are loads of great arrangements, rhythms, choreography and songs which participants will need to learn in a short space of time. The result however is a very tight, powerful, well tuned, contemporary bateria.
Members area
There is a dedicated members area on this website that you will be given a password to when you sign up. There you will find links to rehearsal videos, written notation of the rhythms, and a sign up form for gig attendance. Please do not share the videos and notation with people outside the band.
Gigs
News on these will be given to members as soon as we have some bookings. We will also aim to do a gig early in the year.
We will provide members of the bateria with a t-shirt to wear for gigs.
