The Exchange

The music industry as a whole lacks regulations on the use of hearing protection devices (HPD) and the duration of exposure to high intensity sounds which ultimately leads to permanent hearing loss. The fact is, musicians of all genres, from heavy metal to classical, suffer from various durations of high intensity sound exposure. Percussionists are at particular risk of hearing loss given the potential for their instruments to produce short duration high impact sounds. Given that there are no regulations in the music industry on hearing conservation, it is imperative to educate yourself on music induced hearing loss and protect your most valuable asset as a musician...your ears!

his clinic, presented at PASIC 2010, explores three rhythms from the northeast of Brazil: Baião, Maracatu and Coco. We will begin by exploring these rhythms and instruments in their traditional context. Using four-way coordination and groove technique, we will apply these polyrhythmic voices melodically around the drumkit and discuss concepts for applying these rhythms in a jazz, funk, or rock context.

Since Vic Firth introduced drumming gloves to the recreational and educational drumming communities, they've been growing in popularity, and for good reason - They work!

"The Ijexá is played by the Blocos de Afoxé or Afoxés, associations of people bound to a specific Terreiro de Candomblé, that parades in the streets during Carnival."

Born in Salvador, Bahia on Brazil’s northeast coast, samba-reggae is as its name implies: a fusion of samba and reggae. The music is both folkloric and Música Popular Brasileira (MPB). For Carnaval bloco-afro annually parade on foot with massive percussion sections of surdos, repeniques, timbaus, and caixas.

I first started having trouble understanding what people were saying when I was in high school. I could hear speech but had trouble understanding words. For instance, my mother would ask me “What do you want to eat?” but what I heard was “Why don't you wash your feet?” There was much humor, frustration, impatience and anger depending on who I encountered as my hearing began to decline.

"The Coco rhythm first took shape in the singing of the "Tiradores de Coco" (coconut catchers), based on the sounds they made while breaking the coconuts to extract the meat."

It’s pretty fascinating how far computer-aided performance can go. Here’s a Wiimote-controlled robot that (at least according to Popular Science) will make “Human Hippies obsolete.” Not sure I’d go that far -- but still very cool!

The Maracatu is directly related to the Coronation of Black Kings ceremony, which was first recorded in 1674 in the city of Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco, in the Northeast of Brazil.

“Most people, if they have any basic knowledge of Brazilian music, only know Bossa Nova and Samba. But there is tremendous variety in Brazil’s music". -Bobby Sanabria