Workshop: April 3 – 7, 2013
Concert: Saturday, April 6, 7:30pm
Faculty: Dudu Maia, Anat Cohen, Jovino Santos Neto, Henrique Neto and Alexandre Lora
Workshop Materials
- Choro Charts (easier) 10MB .zip
- Choro Charts (more difficult) 12MB .zip
- Choro MP3s (easier) 69MB .zip
- Choro MP3s (more difficult) 128MB .zip
Our popular Choro workshop is back, and better than ever. This year we’re excited to welcome back four artist faculty plus one new person. Joining the faculty for her first visit to Centrum will be the extraordinary clarinetist/saxophonist, Anat Cohen. Anat has been tearing up the jazz world for several years now (see the cover of the September, 2012 issue of JazzTimes). People familiar with her work also know she loves to play Choro and has spent months in Brazil learning the nuances at their source.
Back on the faculty by popular demand will be Dudu Maia, mandolin; Jovino Santos Neto, accordion, piano and flute; Henrique Neto, 7-string guitar; and Alexandre Lora, pandeiro/percussion. All are master teachers and outstanding performers who will show you first hand how much fun it is to play Choro.
Choro is a great way for both jazz and classically oriented musicians to meet on common ground. There are written charts with lovely and lively melodies accessible to any competent player. There’s also room for improvisation, and in a vein that’s a great way for classical musicians to expand their skills in this. This workshop is limited to forty-five people and is open to strings, woodwinds, accordion/piano and hand percussion (rather than drum set).
The workshop will focus on daily rehearsals and coaching combined with instrumental master classes, plus film and audio sessions of Choro innovators and masters. Participants attend group sessions as well as playing in ensembles.
Housing is in beautiful, large Victorian “officer’s houses” at Fort Worden State Park. Some of the most delightful moments of the weekend happen after dinner, when faculty and participants gather in the large living room and jam to their hearts’ content.
Participants will receive free admission to the April 6, 2013 performance in the Joseph F. Wheeler Theater.
What are the costs?
Tuition: $395
Room/board: $490
Who should attend the workshop?
Both classical and jazz musicians will feel comfortable in this workshop, and will enjoy expanding their skills through this style. You should be proficient on your instrument, i.e. comfortable with the mechanics of playing. There will be people of different backgrounds and abilities and we’ll be sure to match you up.
The Brazilian musical style of Choro represents the coming together of European melodic and harmonic traditions with African rhythms and sensibilities. Emerging in Brazil in the middle of the nineteenth century, Choro is a cousin of jazz, with a sense of yearning that is often described as a “sweet lament.” Many ethnomusicologists believe that the name Choro comes from the Portuguese verb chorar—that is, to weep or to cry.
It often seems bright and happy on the surface, but if you dig, deeper you find a kind of sadness – a longing that the Brazilians call saudade. Something about the combination of Portuguese and Italian influences resulted in melodies with a strong romantic feeling. When joined with its African influences, Choro has an irresistible groove and rhythmic momentum that is uniquely Brazilian.
What will the schedule be?
Wednesday, 4/3
- 3:30 – 5:30pm Check-in, Centrum office
- 6 – 7:00 Dinner
- 7:00 – 9:30 First session
- 9:30 Welcome reception
Thursday, 4/4
- 8:00 – 9:00am Breakfast for those who registered for it
- 9:00 – 10:30 Group session
- 10:45 – 12:15 Ensemble rehearsals
- 12:30 – 1:30pm Lunch
- 2:00 – 3:30 Master Classes
- 3:45 – 5:00 Ensemble rehearsals
- 6:00 Dinner
- Evening: Open for jamming
Friday, 4/5
- 8:00 – 9:00am Breakfast
- 9:00 – 10:30 Group session
- 10:45 – 12:15 Ensemble rehearsals
- 12:30 – 1:30pm Lunch
- 2:00 – 3:30 Master Classes
- 3:45 – 5:00 Ensemble rehearsals
- 6:00 Dinner
- Evening: Open for jamming
Saturday, 4/6
- 8:00 – 9:00am Breakfast
- 9:00 – 10:30 Ensemble Rehearsals
- 10:45 – 12:15 Master Classes
- 12:30 – 1:30pm Lunch
- 2:00 – 4:00 Ensemble coaching
- 5:30 Dinner
- 7:30pm Concert by Faculty in Wheeler Theater
Sunday, 4/7
- 8:00 – 9:00am Breakfast
- 9:00 – 10:30 Final session, participant performances
- 11:00 Checkout