The head diameter is 22 inches, and the shell is about one foot deep. There is a short fat surdo called a bumbo. Often the drum is slung low and hangs between the knees. In Bahian styles players tend to prefer the waist strap and the drum hangs more straight. Which makes it really handy to wallop the snot out of it with your strong hand. The drum then hangs off the body at an angle. In Rio shoulder straps are all the rage! It's not like every single person uses shoulder straps but they are very common. In Bahia, samba reggae and samba afro styles the mallet heads are a little softer. The hard bead adds a lot of attack to the sound but the felt keeps it from sounding "slappy". In batucada, Rio style samba, surdo mallets have a hard bead head, covered in felt. Some people will swear that in Bahia they will only play primeras on 1 and 3, but just listen to some Ilê Aiyê CDs and you'll quickly hear that this is not always true. And segunda will, of course play opposite. They also use a higher pitched surdo mor, which plays a completely different 2 bar phrase.įor music from Bahia the primeras can play on 2 and 4 or 1 and 3. They do not have a surdo playing on 1 and 3. The lower pitched surdos play on 2 and 4. Mangueira throws all of this out the window. São Clemente used to also do this until 2015 when they switched to the way most other schools play. Primeras are playing on 1 and 3, segundas are playing on 2 and 4. ![]() Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel are notable exceptions to this, they have these reversed their primeras and segundas. The hits on the beat are muted with the hand. Often this is done at the beginning of a samba enredo when it is just the singer and stringed instruments performing. Terceira can also function as a time keeper alone playing a swung pattern called "pedal". These rhythms along with the caixa rhythms can be specific to each samba school. A trained ear can tell which bateria is playing just by hearing the caixa pattern and/or terceira! The terceira plays syncopated and some improvised rhythms over the top of the primera and segunda, with emphasis on beats 2 and 4. And we can think of segundas as playing on beats 1 and 3. So, with batucada styles we can think of the primeras as playing on beats 2 and 4. The segunda is also called the "resposta" or response. And the smallest is the "terceira" or third surdo with the highest pitch. The "segunda" or second surdo, is the middle sized with the middle pitch. The "primera" or first surdo is the biggest drum with the lowest pitch. Generally samba groups use 3 sizes of surdos. These are the biggest and deepest pitched drums of the ensemble. ![]() The first samba drum you hear as a bateria approaches from a distance is the surdo. A good surdo crew fills the samba with life and energy, but will also hold it down if things start to rush and speed up. But their effect on the ensemble is massive. Their essential function is to mark the time for the bateria and dancers. The surdo is the the deep bassy heartbeat of samba. I will explain the drum sizes, patterns played, and the mallets straps typically used when playing surdos. This is a quick overview of the role of the surdo in a bateria.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |