As you hopefully have noticed, I have tried to lift the level of the Samba School since January this year, mainly by introducing songs and making arrangements. I had to do this as I needed something more than what we'd been doing for the last years. I am very happy with the progress we have all made since then, and indeed I am extremely proud of all of you that have made this possible, but I have realised that something else will need to change as well:
If we just focus on improvement, and increasing the level of the samba school, there will be a huge barrier for new people to join us. Not only that, there will not be as much opportunity for the current members to learn other instruments. So, we probably need to go to some sort of combination of "beginners" vs "advanced class", or "learning" vs "rehearsal" classes. But, in what format?
One option is to split each class in half, e.g. the first hour beginners, then advanced. Or, every second week beginners, etc. But maybe you have better ideas!
As you are all part of the samba school, I'd really appreciate your ideas, so please comment to this post, keeping in mind that short and sharp ideas are probably most effective. Thank you!
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7 comments:
Remko, I like the idea. I am even available for a pre-beginner or kindegarten samba school(with milk instead of beer, and a little sleep at half time). Angus
I prefer the first option.
I've recently been thinking about the format of our sessions. I have strong opinions on this one, and could go on for ages, but here is my attempt at being concise. :)
Oh, and before I start, I should say I'm not trying to be critical, but rather, giving my honest opinion.
Re the classes in their present format: Newcomers are given an instrument, told to "have a go" and away we go, top speed. If they have good musical skills already, they can probably cope. But if they don't, then the situation can be so confronting that they don't want to come back.
This actually happened with a friend who I brought along some time ago. She wasn't a world-beating percussionist, but from playing with me in the Middle-Eastern percussion group, I knew she was capable of holding a steady rhythm and not speeding up or dragging; and God knows, we need those sorts of players. With some tuition before the class, and ongoing development, she would have become an asset to the samba school. But after one night I couldn't convince her to return.
On the website, we say "no experience needed - we will teach you". "Teaching", in my book, is giving tuition. The "sink or swim" approach can be counter-productive because new people are nervous anyway.
So I think it would be an excellent idea to split each class in half, eg the first hour beginners, then advanced. If there was a night when we didn't have any newcomers; the early part of the evening could still be used to revise technique skills, even for those of us who've been coming for a while. It would help us sound tighter. And it would be great to have a chance to gain some skills in an instrument we haven't used before.
For instance, I think those of us who are experimenting with agogo would appreciate having time to get together and practice stuff.
So, like Fernando, I like the first option.
I like the idea of calling the first section "learning" and the second section "rehearsal" because
even if we're not beginners, we're always learning.
And "rehearsal" gives even beginners the feeling that they're working towards a performance and that's a terrific motivation.
I'd really like to see this change happen.
Concise?!?!
Thanks Patty for the feedback. And about honest opinions, please keep them coming, don't wait till I ask, I really value everyone's feedback!
My hippie-djembe friends have established a similar system whereby the first half allow the beginners to learn some techniques and intermediate players are also given more difficult techniques to make it more challenging. All these different levels build on top of each other and merge as a polyrythmic improvising work.
The advantage is there is no cacophonic random sound but the more senior players hold the rythm for the beginners but also give the seniors challenging techniques.
Remko, we do these sort of made up improvisation anyway ( I quite enjoy them ). The main things are (a) you have to be consistent with the format week after week (b) spend time with the beginners and show them what to do.
Remko
The songs are good fun and you should continue with them and they add variety which should make for a richer audience experience. Perhaps you could alternate a 'song' week between a 'street performance session' this has the advantage of meaning that you only have to drag PA's and other gear every other week.
Spot on Mel, I was thinking about lugging all the stuff around too!
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