Brazilian Music Ensemble 3 - Jeremy

Partial Transcript: A: Um, compared to the music you’re used to playing, how is the rhythm in the Brazilian music?
J: It’s really different. The beats, the beats in samba music is 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2..and the beats I used to play..like the songs I used to play always have the beats as 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4….so like a 4/4, or 3/6 or 4/8. But here, i think it’s only 1, 2, 1, 2..so it's hard to keep up. And...it’s more...the samba music i think is more catchy. It’s more like..it makes you, it makes you instinctively want to swing with the melody. Swing with the rhythm and you can’t help yourself. You kind of tap the ground and swing and just i don’t know, enjoy the music. In...it definitely opens a new door for me because I never played…..like...like any exotic type of music besides you know..pop songs, folk songs, those types of typical, typical like mainstream music.

Keywords: catchy; different; rhythm; swing; tap

Partial Transcript: J: And I’m not, i’m not, i’m...I just wanted to try something new. I don’t necessarily have to play guitar. I was really willing to try something different. Yes. I mean it’s really fun. So I really don’t mind play guitar or not. I just want to enjoy, enjoy with the group.
A: And, how do you, how do you like or don’t like the dynamics of the group?
J: Oh I like the dynamics so much. Like...everyone is just so chill and the whole atmosphere is so chill that it’s kind of like a relief from your normal class. Like I mean, it cannot even be considered as a class. It’s just a...like a jam session that everyone comes together and play…. That like one thing really..one thing I really like about this group is that, when there’s a break..and…...when there’s a break...for example, jonathan starts to play his drum stuff and anthony will join, zach will join and I will join. And we will do like a random jam session like without...coordination in advance. So we just play and everyone joins and it sounds really good. So I really like this. I mean everyone in the group is just so talented. I mean from my perspective. Everyone is so talented.
A: Yeah that’s true. I noticed the jam session once! I think it was the second time I was there. I think Anthony started off on his bass guitar
J: Right!
A: And jonathan started banging on the table and
J: Yeah, everyone joins and comes in and plays.

Keywords: everyone joins; plays together; random jam session

Partial Transcript: A: And what do you think like, brings together the people? Like they just hear it and they find the beat and rhythm and join in? Or is there like eye contact and
J: It’s like, cause music has patterns and if you know the patterns, you can join.
A: Mhm.
J: And the patterns...so generally speaking the pat..the music pattern is what catches people. If, if people feel such pattern, such repetitive pattern is catching. I mean if they can...relate themselves with the pattern, they can feel the music and they will like the music. That’s from generally speaking perspective and….but it’s also true for these specific situations that, for example, anthony starts to play and jonathan catches his pattern, he joins at a certain point not ruining the whole thing but like make it sounds better and then zach joins because he catches their pattern and he joins. Subsequently and not ruin the whole thing but make it better. And for example, i catch the pattern and then I join. So it’s like layer by layer by layer from the simplest layer to the second level layer then to the third level layer and then….then all sounds just make the whole thing perfect.
A: Do you think like, so you start with one pattern and then someone else joins, do they create a new pattern together or is it still the same pattern but just with another layer added on?
J: Um….. I mean you can look it in both ways. It can be seen as the same pattern but it can also be seen as different patterns instead playing on a different instrument.
A: Mhm.
J: But like…...uhh, you can view it as a whole thing because they are making, because they are trying to make it coordinated. They’re trying to make it sounds like holistic thing. I think you can look at it both ways.

Keywords: catches people; holistic; layer; patterns; repetitive

Partial Transcript: A: Yeah, that makes sense. That’s kind of what I was thinking too. I feel like it’s kind of hard to. Um, when you play, like different genres of music, do you get different feelings from them? Like different emotions?
J: Do you get different feelings from different genres? For, for the samba one, it’s obviously more….more...more colorful I would say. More bright. And it’s just happier. The feeling is happier because samba is kinda like a happy genre. It’s happy because it makes you want to move, it makes you want you to dance, it makes you want to swing the mus, the melody. But the one I used to play, the one I always play is Chinese folk. And that genre is more focused on lyrics. So it’s more, it will be more related to yourself. Like everyone will have his or her own interpretations on lyrics and find his or her own way to connect with the lyrics and that’s….that’s mmm, that’s just…mmm
A: So it’s very dependent on the lyrics and like what the lyrics are saying?
J: Right it’s really lyrics oriented.
A: Mmm
J: But i think this one is pretty..i think this one is pretty melody oriented. If the melody sounds good you want to, you just want to...cause i really don’t know the lyrics of any of them. But like, I, I ..i can feel like the spirit within each song. So I would like to like swing myself as I’m playing but Chinese folk song, that genre is more result from understanding the lyrics. I mean you can definitely feel certain kinds of emotions from the way the singer sings..but without understanding what lyrics say..you will not….have...that, that strong feeling the song want to say. The song wants to imply. So..that’s what I think the difference is between the genre i’m doing right now which is samba one and one I always do, which is chinese folk. Yes, one’s more lyric oriented, one is more melody-oriented.

Keywords: bright; colorful; happier; lyrics; orientation

Partial Transcript: A: Yeah that makes sense. And how do you find yourself embodying music? Like I know you say that you..the music wants to make you swing so I guess that’s the answer to that but I don’t know if you have anything else to say about it.
J: Mmm, I mean like universally speaking, generally speaking…..like...there are some types of music that, that makes people want to move, want to swing and I think samba is one of that. Automatically, for example, your hips move with the melody. Yeah so i think….sorry what’s the question again?
A: Like how do you embody music? Because I guess
J: How do I embody music…
A: Like people tap their feet and um, I guess for you, because you’re percussion you have, you like are the beat keeper in a way? Would you say that?
J: Yeah. Like i mean, when I’m playing I always look at other people’s feet. So, so i’m like double checking, i’m making sure i’m on the right beat cause if I’m, because if i’m, because if the beat i’m playing on is the same, same as the beat they tap the ground, I feel i’m doing the right thing. But if i’m not, I’ll stop, stop a little bit and figure out who’s right. It’s always me doing the wrong thing, so I kinda stop and repick it up, pick up the right beat again.
A: Mhm.
J: So I think, so i’m actually not the one usually who tap the feet. But my other classmates definitely tap their feet but I do swing with the music and nod my hair. Actually just that moment, professor Harding, Kevin, he have that...like..like when everyone is playing his instruments and everyone coordinates well with other, he has this, “yeahhhh. Righhhttt!!”

Keywords: automatically; look at other people's feet; same

Partial Transcript: J: “Niccceeee!” He always have that kind of sound. You know. I don’t know, in a way, he even brings up, even brings up the whole atmosphere.. I don’t know how to say. You can feel the whole atmosphere…..
A: More unified?
J: More unified, more activated and more colorful when he makes that sound. So everyone can feel it. Not only him, but everyone can feel the unify.
A: Do you think it’s by him saying, “oh yeah, this is it!” people become more confident in what they’re doing
J: Yeah that’s right
A: And they become even more stronger?
J: Yeah, yeah! Especially in the Nasci Para Bailar song…[bassi bala bala]
A: Oh yeah! I know what you’re talking about.
J: So like there’s, so at the end of each bridge, we all hit like one beat and then we stop and then we restart. We kind of restart the song. So for that specific song, the restarting point is always when Professor Harding says, like make the special sound. Yeah...i just feel like everytime we restart the song, the feeling..the atmosphere is more activated, more unifying and more..I feel like i’m closer to everyone at that point.

Keywords: activated; bring up the whole atmosphere; closer; colorful; confident; unified

Partial Transcript: J: Because i think one reason...i’m not saying other groups are not good, i’m just saying maybe it’s because kevin gives us more freedom doing different..doing play. He always, i mean he doesn’t teach us how to play. He just recommends us..for example the beat and then we can improvise, we can build on that beat to..we can literally play our stuff, our style. We don’t have..there’s not a standard, there’s not a standard to tell us what kind of beat. We do whatever we want as long as it’s coordinating with the whole thing. So i think that kind of freedom makes you think that we are pretty diverse because we are all doing different things and we are allowed to do different things and we’re like encouraged to do like different things.
A: Do you find yourself then, experimenting with like different beats or rhythms as you play.
J: [laughs] Yeah yeah!
A: Sometimes you’ll try something and it doesn’t..like
J: Sometimes I feel like [trolling?] sometimes I, apparently play something that doesn’t fit and I feel like I’m [trolling?] I just stop and try another beat to pick up and maybe it doesn’t work again, so I stop and try another beat again. So..and..that’s what I did for like previous classes. And since I talked to Professor Harding last time in my private guitar lesson, so I kinda knew the..mm..what I was supposed to do on some of them. So I basically, I’m still doing my thing but I started to build on what he taught me to make it sound more, sound more samba.
A: So he gives you the general advice and you kind of take it as your own?
J: Yeah so I take it and kind of improvise on the basis of that, right. [claps a beat] that’s what he taught me. That’s actually my version but I already forgot the version he taught me. He was kind of, he kind of say, “You’re doing the right thing, just keep it up!”
A: Yeah. Mmmm..yeah i think that’s really cool. Kevin’s really cool like that. Cause he really like, because like a few of my friends are in his guitar class, like he’ll give you just enough so you are learning something but making it into your own.
J: Right. He’s really good at that. Like encouraging other people to do their stuff, but not just like..he’s not like inputting his mind, his mind of music is your own. Like sharing his thought with you, so you can take if you like it and you don’t necessarily have to take it….i think that’s good.

Keywords: doesn't teach us; encouraged to do different things; experimenting; freedom; he just recommends; his mind of music is your own; i think that's good; improvise; take it as your own; there's not a standard