This is one of the most overlooked elements of playing samba, though I'm sure the same thing happens in any style of music. When learning a new style or rhythmic tradition, most drummers work out how to play grooves, which is what most book and resources focus on. But when it comes time to play a fill, they typically resort to the things they already know, leaving seven bars of decent sounding samba, followed by a bar of jazz or rock fills. These fills often interrupt the directional rhythm of the groove, in this case telecoteco, and therefore the overall flow. The fills are as idiomatically important as the groove itself because, really, they still ARE the groove. So, as with anything else, we must listen, listen, listen, transcribe, transcribe, transcribe.
Here is a page of some fills by two well-known and respected samba drummers who have been mentioned on this blog before, the late, great Camilo Mariano, and Cuca Teixeira. These all come from the same Maria Rita album that this repique de anel transcription came from, so this might have to become a little series of material from different albums.
These fills are all from phrase endings that have no ensemble hits that are specific that the tune, so these fills should be pretty versatile. Note how the groove in most cases, retains the structure of the telecoteco pattern or, at the very least, contains a lot of "e's" and "a's". The double bar line of each example marks the phrase ending as the fills often carry over into the first bar or two of the next phrase.
In re-listening to Samba Meu for the repique de anel arrangement in the last post I was also reminded of the fantastic playing by the two drummers on the record Camilo Mariano and Cuca Teixera.
The transcription below is of Cuca. You can clearly see/hear his style on this tune just as you can in the transcription of “Recado” that I did way back when. I love the interplay between the rim click and hi-hat. I’ve got a post in the works for further developing that sound, so hopefully I’ll get that up soon. In the meantime….
I recently received an e-mail from a former student with whom I worked on a lot of Brazilian music. He was asking about some of the break-neck speeds that many Brazilian drummers get out of their right hands. It turned out to be a rather lengthy response, so I thought I'd share it with you all.
There are a few different approaches to that kind of right hand speed:
*Wrist
I once interviewed Cuca Teixeira, who is Maria Rita's drummer, and asked him a similar question. He said that many Brazilians, simply from years of doing it, and the style of music they grew up playing, have really fast wrists. Some finger is surely used as well, but in general, many of these guys just have really fast hands. I realize that's not much of an explanation, but that is to say that I think this approach just takes a LOT of time to develop.
Check out how firm Cuca's hand is in this video:
This one isn't nearly as fast, but you can get a better look at his hands:
*Fingers
This is what I use the most. French grip (ish), with all of the speed coming from the fingers. Technically, as you may know, French grip is a three point fulcrum where the thumb sits in between the index and middle finger. I once heard a symphony timpanist say that if you lost your ring and pinky fingers you could still be a great timpanist. So it's not really French grip in that I'm using all of my fingers. Also, rather than a typical fulcrum where the thumb and index finger are directly across from each other, my thumb actually sits a little bit in front of my index finger so that I can use all four fingers to move the stick. This is just my personal approach. Edu Ribeiro, who is probably the fastest guy out there, uses this technique, although he seems to use more of a standard fulcrum - thumb and index finger directly across from each other. Here is a video of him talking about this technique (starting around 6:30):
There are a lot of great videos of Edu playing with this technique on YouTube. Search his name with "bateria", as there are other Edu Ribeiros out there, and also check out some live videos of Trio Corrente:
*Push/Pull
You've probably heard of this before. There are a million videos on YouTube about it. Jojo Mayer gives a nice breakdown of it on his Secret Weapons DVD, and Gordy Knudtson has some good videos about it as well. In short, you play a stroke with your wrist/hand and allow the stick to rebound with your fingers relaxed. Then, as you are lifting your hand in preparation for the next stroke you close your fingers, creating another stroke.
If you are going to use this technique in a samba setting I suggest inverting the strokes. Play the downbeats with the fingers, and upbeats with the wrist. Because the wrist strokes tend to be stronger it will fit the samba style more, and you will feel the emphasis on "e, a, e, a" more naturally.
I just recently discovered a video of a Brazilian drummer talking about this technique. He also talks about a three note grouping idea which seems pretty cool. If you use the "Moeller pumping motion", as it's often called, you can achieve a string of rapid 16th notes, albeit with an accent on the first of every three notes. It actually fits the samba feel quite nicely.
*This Other Thing
I have no idea what this is called, but I've seen more than one Brazilian player use it. The fingers remain pretty stationary, while the stick is moved laterally, catching the cymbal in each direction. I've seen players use a sweeping kind of motion, while others do it with more of a twisting motion.
Here is a video of Cesar Machado (no relation to Edison) using this technique:
Marcio Bahia, who previously played with Hermeto Pascoal, and currently works with Hamilton de Holanda uses this technique quite a bit with brushes. Bahia is left-handed, so if you're a righty and trying this idea you may want to flip the hands. Start around 7:10.
I asked Marcio about this technique once and he said:
"It's a very good tool to increase speed playing 16ths on hhat on medium/up, or fast tempos...I really don't know [where] or [who] came first playing like this. We've learned just watching street smarted drummers doing, [which] I love it! And works so cool! Just relax your wrist and bounce it from side to side with sticks on a loose grip, not [tightening] them."
Everybody knows that Brazil is a hot spot of rhythm and percussion. Besides the amazing pandeiristas and percussionists, as well as the bateria sections of Rio's samba schools, Brazil has got some absolutely killer drum set players; players who we in the northern hemisphere often don't get to see or hear much from. I would venture to say that some of the greatest drummers alive today are from Brazil. Guys like Marcio Bahia, Kiko Freitas and Edu Ribeiro are at the top of their game.
One of the most in demand drummers in Brazil today is Cuca Teixeira. He's a highly sought side man, having worked with Hermeto Pascoal, Marina Lima, Paula Lima, Michel Leme, Thiago Espírito Santo, and Jane Duboc. Arguably his biggest gig for the past ten years, however, and the one he is probably most known for, has been as drummer for Maria Rita. Rita is the daughter of the late singer Elis Regina, and pianist/composer/producer extraordinaire César Camargo Mariano, and is an absolute super star in Brazil at the moment. And rightfully so. Cuca's first recording with Maria Rita was her second release, aptly titled "Segundo". The album's second track, titled "Recado" features some of Cuca's best work. Check out the way he splits the syncopated Partito Alto rhythm between the rim click and accents on the hi-hat. I think my favorite aspect of his playing here, besides the incredibly deep pocket, is the patience with which he gets through the tune. As the song intensifies from the piano solo to the end many of us would be tempted to open up to a ride cymbal and snare drum. But Teixeira stays right at home on the hi-hat and rim click, building intensity with a confident subtlety that many drummers lack. This track certainly changed the way I think when someone calls a samba. For a PDF version of the transcription, please send me an e-mail.
