The universal theory of samba

I went to a VamoLa Sunday practice today. Musically - and dance-ically too - they are solider than I thought last month. They've been in a thin phase recently, but it turns out they have a pretty good bank of talent now, and enough people to really pull it together. If they want to.

Tonight I played first-surdo again for VamoLa for the first time in ages. I was experimenting with seeing if I could push the band, since they've picked up a habit of sinking down into a mushy, elephantine tempo. I was pleased and surprised: after a few lurchy starts, they keyed right in and snapped into a clean, crisp, upbeat samba. We went ripping through piece after piece with no glitches at all. It suddenly sounded like the VamoLa of old.

Lesson learned: they just need a strong surdo section, surdos that PUSH, and they will be fine.

My Universal Theory of Samba is that all samba groups, everywhere, have the exact same problems. The same political and emotional problems, and the same musical problems. I've been in 10 groups now in 8 cities. The girl drummers always hate the current t-shirt. Everybody's always arguing over the costumes for the year's big parade. Advanced players are puzzling about how to add a cavaquinho when they don't have a sound system. The annual "We should to record a cd" effort that goes nowhere. The semi-annual panic at the discovery that the group doesn't have a back-up leader, and the annual surprise when whoever's been keeping the website together, and making practice cd's for free, suddenly burns out and quits.

But the only essential, universal musical truth is: Surdos Have To Be Solid. Every leader I've talked to agrees. You cannot play a good show without steady surdos; and nobody in the group can learn effectively, either.

So the classic challenge for a leader of a community groups is getting the surdo section locked in without hurting anybody.
What always happens is that people drift onto surdo when they're not ready for it. This has happened in every group I've ever played in, no exceptions! Either the group is going through a "small" phase and doesn't have any choice; or, a new person comes in and says they can play; or somebody just loves surdo; or has a surdo; or...whatever, suddenly there's someone new on surdo. And often they are doing quite well, and often they are improving steadily; but they are Not Quite Solid Enough - not yet. Then the band needs to play a show. Things crash in the show. Missed pickups, blown breaks. Train wreck. Ouch. Then the poor person is switched off surdo, and their little hearts are broken! Feelings are hurt and then everybody gets mad at the leader and then somebody quits, either the burned-out leader or the broken-hearted player.

If it sounds like I've seen this happen five or ten times, I have. It's always frustrating, because, in the majority of cases, the player would've turned out fine if they'd had another year of practice. But the thing is, the group needs to be doing performances during that year. Plus, remember, while surdos are wobbly, nobody else can learn either. So what do you do?

I've seen amateurs do very well and learn very fast on surdo, but only if the REST of the surdo section is completely solid. i.e. only one learner at a time. That way they get crystal-clear auditory feedback about where their own beat is falling; they can learn time from a solid partner; and they also can find their way back if they go astray. I saw this happen in the Lions and also in Banga: 1 fairly arhythmic person on surdo, the rest of the surdos very solid; 6 months later the arhythmic person was solid as a rock. But if more than 1 person is learning at once, it gets so muddy that nobody can learn; usually then a new surdo player needs 2 years, or longer, to lock in.

The thing about surdo is, it looks easy, but it's not. The mallet swing alone takes 3 months, even for pros; and then there's a layer of flippy mental weirdness to it - a mix of confidence, solid time through empty spaces, and undistractibility, that can take years.

The thing about surdo is, it affects the band so much. The deepest voice has the most power.

The thing about surdo is, it has to be 100%. On any other instrument, playing 99 measures correctly and blowing the 100th is not a problem. But on surdo you have to get all 100! Every time! 'Cause a single blown surdo measure can bring down the entire band. That's not true of any other instrument.

So what am I going to do in VamoLa? There are multiple people all trying to learn surdo simultaneously; and it's not hanging together.

OK, here's my ideas:
1. Train everybody in the group to play surdo and rotate everybody through it regularly. I don't want to do what I did before of closing off the surdo section entirely; that caused too many hurt feelings and eventually the surdo section shrank too much and nobody else knew how to play anything.
2. But in the "performance" surdo section: Try to have no more than 1 learner at a time. And that person on 2nd surdo.
3. Best surdo player on 1st surdo instead of 3rd, if they're willing. (They always would rather play 3rd.)
4. Require (or beg) surdos to have consistent attendance.
5. suggest wannabe surdos take lessons? But then I wonder if I should offer free lessons? 'Cause it wouldn't seem right to say "You have to take lessons" when I'd be the person benefiting financially from that. Yeah, free surdo lessons.
6. beg advanced players to rotate onto 1st & 2nd surdo when they are needed there. Offer them free beer or something.


and,
7. The crucial thing to convey to people is: if you aren't solid on surdo right now, it doesn't mean you won't ever be! It just means you need more time and more practice. Patience, practice, patience, practice...

Patience and practice. And not getting discouraged, and never taking it personally, and NEVER GIVING UP. Welcome to drumming!