Centrum Choro Workshop

Exploring a Brazilian musical style

I just returned from Port Townsend, WA, where I was one of the teachers at the Centrum Choro Workshop. It takes place over five days in this beautiful waterfront town. All events happen at Fort Worden State Park, a former Army defense post overlooking the entrance to Puget Sound. The other teachers are Dudu Maia (mandolin), Douglas Lora (7-string guitar), Alexandre Lora (percussion), Anat Cohen (clarinet) and Daniela Spielmann (saxes/flute). We had about 60 participants this year, spanning a wide range of experience and ages. Here’s a photo of the faculty, plus Gwen Franz, Choro workshop Program Manager at Centrum:

This is one of the very few places in the United States where choro music from Brazil has been taught yearly since 2011. The result is that many musicians have develop their skills in playing the music of great composers like Pixinguinha, Jacob do Bandolim, Ernesto Nazareth and many others, exploring the vast repertoire that has grown since the mid-1860s.

There were a lot of instrumental master classes, as well as rodas, impromptu jam sessions where participants and faculty play tunes together.

This year we started a new concept: the bandão, or a large ensemble with all participants playing together as an orchestra. I wrote a special arrangement for the bandão of Doce de Coco, a gorgeous choro by Jacob do Bandolim. Here is a video of our performance last Saturday:

Choro has been spreading worldwide, finding great acceptance as a way to perform the music of Brazil in an acoustic format, allowing for solo instruments, small ensembles and large ones as well…

Below I am adding a video of the first session of one of my online classes on choro, exclusively for my paid subscribers. Take your time to check it out, if you would like to know more about this Brazilian way to make music.

Thanks for your support!

Jovino