SERIOUS(?) SAMBA WITH MARCUS SANTOS

Our “Everything is a Drum” season of classes takes us to Latin America this week, where we — for so many obviously reasons — focus firmly on samba rhythms from Brazil.

Wanna be really happy? Meet samba by enjoying samba reggae with Marcus Santos.

While Jay is surely no Marcus Santos, Jay’s students, who skew at least a dozen years youngerand are much more likely to be sitting on mom’s lap while in class, can still start their samba drumming careers with a bang. The lesson starts very simply, dividing up the most basic rhythmic tasks among the crowd, assigning some to be surdos to lay down the bottom of the beat others to make melodies and solo to their heart’s content. With little kids and their grown-ups drumming may make for a musical mess, but it’s a good one. As the saying goes, every walk of a thousand miles starts with a surdo.