Instruments of the Band in Brazil

Photo courtesy of Quim Perelló (@flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution Samba Music

Samba is Brazil's most well-known musical form and most widely played kind of Brazilian music.

Click on the photo on the right to listen to this exciting excerpt of music played by a Samba band. What instruments can you hear? The Samba Band

Samba bands are made up of many sections of different percussion instruments, which all have their own particular rhythms to play. Listen to each instrument of the Samba band; try clapping the rhythms they are playing. Click on the images of the instruments to hear how they sound. You can create your own samba music by playing each one after the other.

Caixa sound courtesy of Melack (https://freesound.org/people/melack/sounds/15799/) - granted under creative commons licence – attribution Surdo

The surdo (soor-doh) is worn around the player’s neck as all the drummers have to be able to march while they play. The player hits the drum with one large, fluffy headed beater and can use their other hand to dampen some notes. Click on the image to hear how it sounds.

This drum is the ‘heartbeat’ of the samba band. If you play this instrument, you must be able to keep a beat really well! Repinique

In the samba band the repinique drum (hepi-knee-key) is played using a stick and hand slapping. It is a medium size drum worn on a strap around the neck, usually played by the second in command. Caixa

The caixa drum (cash-a) is very similar to a . It is smaller than the repinique drum, but is still worn on a strap around the neck. When playing this drum the player has two drum sticks and plays lots of drum rolls in their rhythms.

Caixa sound courtesy of Melack (https://freesound.org/people/melack/sounds/15799/) - granted under creative commons licence – attribution Cuica

The cuica drum (kuweeca) is a sound box that has one end covered with a drum skin and a reed or bamboo stem attached to the inside centre. The player rubs this reed or bamboo stem up and down with a damp cloth to make a very distinct and unusual vibration. Using the free hand to press on the outside of the drum skin the player can change the pitch of the vibration Apito

The leader of the Samba band uses an instrument called an apito, which is a whistle. The whistle has two holes at each side, which can be covered by the thumb and finger to create sounds of different pitch.

The samba band do not have the music written down in front of them, so they play it from memory. The leader uses the apito whistle and hand signals to tell the band what to do. There are many different hand signals and whistles for all the different instruments. The apito whistle has to be piercing because the band is very loud. Agogo

The agogo bell is an instrument of African origin. Usually, the agogo bell has two cone shaped bells of different pitch which the player hits with a stick, but sometimes there can be three or four bells linked together. The rhythms played on the agogo bells can be very fast and tricky! Tambourim

The tambourim is the smallest drum of the Samba band. It is similar to a but doesn’t have the around the edge.

A tambourim player holds the small drum in his hand, and uses a special stranded stick to beat out the rhythms. By lifting their fingers on and off the drum skin, they can change the sound. Reco-Reco

Traditionally, the reco-reco (heco heco) is a metal instrument in the form of a box with metal springs which are scraped with a stick.

However, they are being more commonly replaced in samba bands with a wooden scraper because they make a more pronounced sound. Chocalho

The chocalho (show-cal-yo) sounds similar to the bells on a tambourine.

You hold it at both ends and shake back and forth in a constant rhythm. Ganza

The ganza is an instrument that is played by shaking. It is usually a metal cylinder filled with beads or sand.

There are different sizes of ganza. A medium-sized ganza can be held in one hand and shaken whilst the larger ganza can be held in both hands to be played. Expert players can also shake the double ganza; which has two cylinders joined together for more sound. Frigideira

The frigideiraFRIGIDEIRA (free (free-sha-sha-day-day-ya-ya) is) actuallyis actually a smalla small frying frying pan! pan!

‘Frigideira’ is the word for frying pan in Portuguese. It is struck with a small stick and makes a high pitched sound. Samba Instruments Quiz

Name the instrument:

A tambourim

B ganza

C apito Name the instrument:

A apito

B reco-reco

C surdo Name the instrument:

A surdo

B agogo

C reco-reco Name the instrument:

A caixa

B tambourim

C ganza Name the instrument:

A cuica

B surdo

C agogo Name the instrument:

A ganza

B caixa

C frigideira Name the instrument:

A cuica

B frigideira

C caixa Name the instrument:

A chocalho

B tambourim

C agogo Name the instrument:

A repinique

B chocalho

C agogo Name the instrument:

A tambourim

B agogo

C chocalho Name the instrument:

A frigideira

B tambourim

C repinique DIY Samba Instruments

Click on the icon below to watch a video about using everyday objects to create instruments for a samba band.

Can you think of other everyday objects which would make good percussion instruments for a Samba band?