Artist - Magic Drum Orchestra

Hello! 

Today I'll be telling you guys about a group that's a little bit different to the usual music that I like to share with you all. If you know what a samba beat is, you'll know roughly where I'm going with this, but don't worry if not, all will become clear. 

The group I am talking about is called 'Magic Drum Orchestra'. Now, I know you guys knew this from the title. I'm sure you're all dying to hear about their work and what they do that's different to everyone else. The orchestra is made up of 20 percussionists who all have a burning passion and love for drums. The group was formed in 2005 and come from Dorset, UK. I first heard about this group when I worked at Tru-Thoughts for my internship.

Before I start to tell you how a group of percussionists work, there is a reason I am doing this post on this band in the first place. I used to be part of something similar in my school years, it was a fantastic group called 'Spiritus' and we used to create similar Brazilian styled rhythms. When I first heard this band it took me back 2-3 years to when I was really enjoying playing samba. I hope you all can learn something from this magnificent type of music.

The group create obscure and quite creative beats with a drum that I never knew they could do. Surely though just having 20 drums all sound a bit messy and the same. The orchestra isn't just made up of drums. Let me give you the list of the instruments they use;

Caixa

• Surdo 
• Snare/Caixa
• Timba
• Repinique
• Tamborim
• Cowbells/agogo
• Shaker/Chocalho
• Whistle/Apito

I will leave you with some photos of some of the instruments throughout the post and I'll understand if you don't know what these specifically sound like or do. I'll leave a link at the end and you can hear all of those instruments above used in a 20 piece orchestra. A lot of these instruments are used for Brazilian drumming such as Samba or Batucada. 

Timba

You can see this type of drumming at any parade in a city. I used to perform in various parades in Brighton and London, we had to wear ear plugs because this type of music is VERY loud. All in the name for fun though, its something to get your feet tapping and your body shaking.

Repinique

Now here's a little lesson in the art of Brazilian drumming. First of is a 'leader', who posses the whistle and is at the front. Some people who have seen this type of band before live notice that the leader makes certain movements with their arms. This is to signal a break or a change in the rhythm from the main section, because the music is very loud you can't shout. So the next best thing is to make a different arm action for each different break, then the leader will count in and into the section you go. 

Surdo

Each instrument is given its own beat. The surdo is the beat of the rhythm, giving the low sounding pulse throughout with one at a higher pitch and one lower so its easy to distinguish and to count in the group. The Caixa and Repinique's have certain sticking patterns which are usually the main sections that you'll hear most. 

'Magic Drum Orchestra' album

The Magic Drum Orchestra show a fantastic example of all this in many different ways. Although you may think that music would get boring, they're musically talented in creating interesting breaks and uses of the instruments. 


They have even managed to do covers of famous songs with the percussion such as Snoop Dog's "Drop It Like Its Hot" and Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love". With constant tempo changes and percussion dropping out and coming back in leaves you with no part of boredom. 








I hope you enjoyed this different type of blog, I understand this was more of a lesson in Brazilian drumming, but I felt like I wanted to share my knowledge and love for this type of music. Go to your local parade and see this all for yourself! I apologise in advance now if I get any of the information in the post wrong (sorry)!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave your email address for updates on my next post! I update on twitter when the next post will be so don't forget to follow me using my fancy buttons up the top right! 

Until next time!

Lewis :)

Website: http://www.magicdrumorchestra.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MagicDrumO

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/magicdrumorchestra

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKAgq5XpLaZ3a2hGxjEMQxQ



A shoutout to Alex Mann too, for all the years teaching me at Spiritus and being one of the coolest people I know.