Samba

'Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.' - Jimi Hendrix

A few weeks ago we continued looking at rhythm. Rhythm creates music without needing melody. It can be the driving force behind the piece and different rhythms intertwined can create an interesting piece of music. I'm going to focus on looking at the Samba task I participated in towards the end of the session. Samba developed in Brazil, specifically Rio de Janerio, by the beginning of the 20th century and is heavily associated with carnivals (Sambassadors of Groove 2015).We were asked as a group to devise and perform a Samba piece based on the stimuli of some given rhythms which we then had to shape into a piece.

The first way we went about creating the piece was by appointing a conductor/lead composer which is important to give the group direction and focus and although no one wanted to do it, Amy eventually took on the role. I think during the next bit of the task where we were teaching each other the rhythms we showed good teamwork and chemistry as a group because we were able to use each other's strengths to help each other which enabled us to each pick up our rhythms quickly which meant that we were strong with these throughout the piece. I think this was a key element within our piece that was successful. Then we picked a leader who would also conduct the piece and this proved very difficult. Finally Amy was chosen but as we begun she lost confidence and enthusiasm and no longer wanted to do this. To overcome this obstacle I tried to encourage her to continue but upon realizing she wasn't going to do it so I said I would do it if that would make her feel more confident. I think this was important because if she wasn't confident or happy as the leader then this would have made the group feel nervous and uncertain also. 

I think from this task I realized that it is important to have good teamwork as a group as this creates a strong performance chemistry which I think was displayed within our Samba performance. Because of the pleasant, relaxed atmosphere it enabled us to do the piece with movement without people being scared or embarrassed. I think connection and chemistry between the group also helped musically because we were in sync with each other and were tight as a unit. I also learned about taking a leadership role. That although it is important to listen to other people ideas and incorporate them into the piece, it is equally as important to be decisive as otherwise not a lot will get done and you have to rely on improvisation too much in the actual performance, which I feel was shown in our piece. I thoroughly enjoyed this task because it was exploring a genre you wouldn't normally think of exploring.