Spring 2015
The songwriter Gabriel contacts me again. He is putting on a show in the Adelaide Fringe Festival. He'd like me to sing the song he taught me in the winter. He invites me around to his apartment, to practise it again.
Several months have passed since my first visit. He is now speaking very good English. And I've been to Brazil, so my language skills have improved, too. Our communication is now much easier.
He gives me the dates, and I agree to sing in the show.
We need to change the key of the song, because it's pitched for his voice, not mine. Our whole session is spent working out the right key for me. This song needs to be sung in a relaxed manner. I don't want to be reaching for high notes.
The music isn't written down, so the task of transposing it is not very easy. I type the names of the notes against the corresponding lyrics on my iPad.
Now I have the task of learning the song.
The theme of the show is his experience of moving from southern Brazil to South Australia. I listen to some of the other songs he's posted to Facebook.
After New Year, rehearsals begin with the whole band. In addition to the musicians, there are other members of the "team" - people who will work on the marketing, production, recording and so on. We all crowd into Gabriel's apartment.
Gabriel asks me if it's OK for them all to converse in Portuguese. I reply that I'm happy to get some listening practice.
Once everyone is assembled, Gabriel addresses the group. I manage to catch some phrases and to follow the general gist of the conversation.
A couple of guys disappear for a moment and emerge with two berimbaus. These are huge, exotic Brazilian instruments consisting of a long stick with a wire fixed at each end to create a "bow" and a gourd to give resonance. To see the berimbaus arrive makes me almost hyperventilate with excitement.
To my further amazement, they set about tuning them. Who knew that a berimbau needed tuning? How can you tune just one string? The extra piece is a stone that is held against the wire, so when you beat the the wire with a stick, you can produce two notes.
With the addition of the other instruments - pandeiro, shakers, conga drums, the music starts to take shape. The songs speak of the homeland and the challenge of making a home in a new place.
In my song, I have some difficulty with the transition of the melody between verse and chorus. I keep thinking I've got it, but I keep on getting it wrong.
Finally I manage to get a definitive recording that I can take home and practise with. Because the music isn't written down, there are no "dots" to help me. I can't do what I'd normally do - work it out on the piano. I need to internalise the changes and learn to hear them in my head.
No comments:
Post a Comment