“Volta ao mundo!” Interactive Performances

“I felt like a child again! The whole time! I couldn’t contain the joy! From their mesmerizing performances to the laughter and joy that could be found at every “hands on” station, every face in the room was smiling. Greg’s team are as humble and generous as they are gifted, and I know Greg has modeled this for them.  I want all of our students to experience what we did that day!” 

– Justin Jacobson, Director, Bellas Artes School of Music, July 2018

“I loved how much fun everyone was having with each other! It’s refreshing to see musicians dancing around with each other and having a good time instead of sitting in place and playing.”

– Maria Vick, Student, Larkin High School, November 2018


Through the “Volta ao mundo!” Interactive Performance, Arcomusical presents fun, engaging activities that keep students continuously active and involved. Students and teachers alike find themselves learning with Arcomusical members through a series of hands-on experiences that keep attention, excitement, and energy high.

When Arcomusical visits young student groups, we begin with a short performance and explanation of who we are and the nature of our mission. We then divide the students into even numbers of groups and send them to travel “Volta ao mundo!” (the name of a popular song in the capoeira tradition meaning, “around the world!”), spending time at a series of learning stations to cover specific activities and topics.

When Arcomusical member Ethan Martin blows his samba whistle, students know to head to the next station, and when the cycle is complete, students are ready to join Arcomusical in their final performance of the day!


OUR “VOLTA AO MUNDO” LEARNING STATIONS INCLUDE:

Capoeira Movement:

Gregory Beyer teaches very basic physical movements from the capoeira tradition that teach rhythmic flow, coordination, core strength, and creative imagination.

Call-and-Response Singing:

Raychel Taylor teaches the words and their meaning to exemplar songs from the Capoeira tradition that students will sing again at the end of the session with Arcomusical performing.

Berimbau Basics:

Ethan Martin  puts Arcomusical musical bows directly in students’ hands and has students playing basic sounds and patterns in no time.

Battery Basics:

Elena Ross teaches the names of the capoeira battery percussion instruments that accompany the berimbaus: atabaque, agogô, reco-reco, and pandeiro, and puts these instruments in students hands, getting them up and running on accompaniment patterns within minutes.

Instrument Construction:

Matt Schneider demonstrates his special work building Arcomusical musical bows and caxixi, showing students instruments in various stages of construction and explaining how the instruments function to make the music that we play.

Lappy-Baus:

For very young students with small hands, one considerable difficulty when first learning the berimbau is simply how to hold the instrument. Thanks to a laptop box-style monochord we loving refer to as the “Lappy-bau,” Arcomusical shares the joy of the berimbau with even the smallest of children and the slightest of hands. Co-designed by Arcomusical Education Director Alexis C. Lamb and original berimbau luthier David “Snappy” White, the “lappy-bau” allows the joy of musical bow discovery to be accessible to everyone.


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