We are happy that you are joining us! Here you will find videos and notation for the songs we will be learning in the workshop. You will also find some information on the drums we use and basic music theory if you are new to drumming.
Samba Ja Workshop Resources
FALL 2026 SONGS
The workshop songs are the same songs we play in the performance group but they are often slightly altered to make them shorter and easier to learn in the time we have for the workshop. Our videos and notation might not reflect all of these changes so you could see parts in the videos or notation that are more complex or that we don’t play during the workshop.
We slightly edited from the first video we had posted to shorten it a bit more by removing the first call and response
Pagodao / Dida 2
BASIC MUSIC THEORY
How do the songs work?
All of our songs follow a similar formula. Usually every song will have 2 grooves that we play, an intro and an ending, and also breaks in the middle. The majority of the time in a song is taken up playing grooves. Grooves are a pattern that we repeat over and over again similarly to what a drum set player might play in a song. At some point during the groove we will play what is called a break. A break is usually short rhythm that generally we all play together that is different from the groove and gives us a "break" from that groove. Usually right after a break we will go back into that groove or play a new groove.
We transition between those things using a 1,2,3,4 count. The song leader will signal to the group what is happening next with a hand sign. Generally grooves and breaks have a number associated with them. For example, if we are playing a groove and getting ready to play the first break, the leader will make the hand sign for "break" followed by a number. When you see the hand sign for some sort of transition, don't actually start playing it. The hand sign just lets you know what is going to happen next and the actual transition only happens after the 1,2,3,4 count, which is usually whistled.
Terminology
We use some terms when discussing the music and instruments. Here is a probably incomplete list.
Beat: The pulse of the song and what you might tap your foot to if you were listening. Generally in our group there are 4 beats until the groove pattern repeats and we labe and count those beats as 1.....2.....3.....4
Bar: A bar comes from sheet music originally and just refers to the whole pattern that is played over the beats 1,2,3,4. Once the pattern repeats and we are back to beat 1, we are now in a new "bar". In other words, if we repeat the groove pattern 8 times, we just played 8 bars of music.
Quarter Notes: Quarter notes divide the bar into quarters and also just happen to line up with out beats, so 1,2,3, & 4 are all quarter notes.
Eighth Notes: Eighth notes divide the bar into 8 notes. These notes are twice as fast as the quarter notes as you have to play eight notes in the same space as 4 quarter notes. Basically we are adding in another note between all the beat notes and labeling them with "+", pronounced "ands". So counting eighth notes would go, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +.
Sixteenth Notes: 16th notes divide the bar in 16 notes. These notes are twice as fast as 8th notes and fall exactly between all the 8th notes. The note between the numbered beat and the + is called the "e" and the note that comes after the + is called the "a". If we write it out it looks like,
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a, with all the notes being played evenly spaced.
Rest: A rest is just when you don't play though it occupies the same space as notes.