This seminar will run alongside the Tuscany Jazz Vocal Summer School and there will be opportunities for students from both courses to combine, performing traditional songs from the carnivals of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Learn many different calls and rhythms, building to the final open air performance. Every night at the jam sessions there will be opportunities to play Samba Canção in a small group setting.

Teachers/Performers
Felix Gibbons has been playing percussion in the music industry for over 20 years, doing everything from samba and salsa to bhangra and pop with everyone from Brazilian Grammy winner Milton Nascimento to Peter Gabriel. He records for BMG/Sony and teaches internationally.

Felix was top in the União das Escolas de Samba Paulistanas judges exam and has many times judged the rhythm and melody categories in the Carnivals in São Paulo. In Brazil, Carnival is the country’s greatest festival but it’s also a serious competition. Playing in the “baterias” (drum section) he’s been champion there twice with the School of Samba Rosas de Ouro.

He’s also done post-graduate studies in this field at both the Universities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Samba
Brazil boasts one of the world’s greatest music cultures and one of its most popular genres is Samba, which is an expression of hope, freedom and joy at being alive. There will be opportunities to study and play both the lively, exciting Samba-Enredo and the more intimate Samba-Canção during the week, as well as learning about others forms such as Partido Alto samba, Bossa Nova, Choro etc.

The course will feature tuition on the typical percussion instruments such as Surdo, Repinique, Caixa, Tamborim, Pandeiro, Chapinhas, Cuica and many more. Places on this course are limited to 15 applicants – book early to avoid disappointment.

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